Trenton on the beach in Zandvoort, the Netherlands

bike trip from Haarlem to Zandvoort

We started our trip, in earnest, at Haarlem Station. We bought day passes in order to take our bicycles on the train and it couldn’t have been easier. We cycled from our apartment to Amsterdam Centraal Station, hopped on an Intercity to Haarlem and were soon on our way. The Art Nouveau style at Haarlem […]

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Tipping culture in Amsterdam

Regardless of what you think of tipping culture in the United States, one of its clear advantages is that the rules are pretty consistent. Expensive, yes, but consistent. Service workers in the Netherlands get paid a livable wage so, in theory, tipping isn’t required. Perhaps if you’re particularly wowed by extraordinary service, you might be moved […]

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enjoying some frieten at the Amsterdam Craft Beer Festival at Bret Bar in Sloterdijk

Fighting FOMO with festivals

Living in Amsterdam necessarily means reckoning with FOMO in one form or another. There is so much that you could be doing that you cannot, within the limitations of space-time, do it all. Some weekends, T and I cope with FOMO by resisting the pressure to experience life and deploying a willfully ignorant response, buckling […]

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The Hard Rock Café of Dutch-Indonesian cuisine

Indonesian food is prevalent in Amsterdam (Indonesia having been colonized by the Dutch), and one of the most popular Indonesian restaurants in town is Tempo Doeloe. According to their website, “Tempo Doeloe” roughly translates from Indonesian to “the good old days” and they are known particularly for their rijsttafels. A rijsttafel is a bit like Indonesian […]

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Stuff I ate in #Amsterdam – Authentic India grocery store

It’s a damn shame, but the Indian restaurants in Amsterdam are all pretty crap. Honestly, you can get better Indian food in Louisville. The Dutch have Indonesian food as their go-to takeaway and that, plus Holland’s fairly bland palate and intolerance of spicy foods, means that good Indian food is tough to find. I’ve tried dozens of […]

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My Old Kentucky Homesickness

I love Amsterdam, but every so often I get a hankering for my home town. Usually it’s not a specific thing I’m missing, more the general feel of the place. Sometimes it’s comforting to FaceTime with my friends and family, but I’ve discovered that nothing conjures up the feeling of being back in Kentucky like engaging […]

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Stuff I ate in #Amsterdam – WAU Malaysian Restaurant

I never would have found this place if my friend didn’t already know about it. It’s one of those restaurants in Amsterdam that’s totally unassuming from the outside with surprisingly delicious food. My theory is that these hidden gems have a higher density along Zeedijk (where WAU is located), but I need to do more research to […]

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Privileged American thoughts about the Syrian refugee crisis

Before I get started here, let me just get some qualifiers and caveats off my chest. I’m not a journalist, I come from a comfortable life of privilege, I didn’t study political science, and I’m no more informed about the intricacies and nuances of the Syrian war and refugee crisis than anybody else who reads the […]

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