Tuesday 5 January 2021

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 5 January 2021 - T for liquorice, market and tea

 Hello lovely ladies,

Happy New Year! I'm a little late to send you my wishes for 2021, but I am not at home. I am in the Netherlands visiting my 96 year old mother (against all government guidelines). I just wanted to see her (although we ar not allowed to hug or kiss). That's hard, but I'm glad to be here. 

So today I have no postcard, but lots of photos from Rotterdam.

In Holland the traditional New Year's treat is 'oliebollen'. (The round ball on the plate). They are deep fried sweet dough balls often with raisins in them. The two other things are apple fritters. Apple deep fried in  batter (sweet of course). None of us really enjoy deep fried stuff but we bought some for tradition's sake.

I always make a potato salad (like my mother before me). It contains (apart from potatoes and mayonaise) pulled beef, ghurkins, tiny pickled onions, beetroot, boiled eggs and sometimes lettuce. We omitted the lettuce this time. The date is carved from sliced beetroot.

We were officially in quarantine but we had to go shopping of course, so we chose Tuesday as there is a market outside mum's building. During Covid only food stalls allowed. 
This is the nut stall:
And typically the cheese vendor:
And this is where they sell fish:


In Holland face masks are not compulsary outside, but thankfully many people do wear them. They are compulsary on public transport and in shops.

I did a lot of cooking and baking for mum. We cleaned the freezer on the first day and the rest of the time was spent filling it up again with lots of small portions of nice meals and cakes. Here is a typical Dutch apple pie I made called 'appeltaart'.
Apart from defrosting and cleaning the freezer, our other yearly job is to take down the net curtains and wash them. Mum has no washing machine of her own, but there is a laundry on the ground floor. It works on tokens, which we buy at reception.

The other day we heard music outside and when we looked out of the window we saw the street organ:
It was raining so it is covered with a sheet. People usually throw money down, but mum lives on the 5th floor and I didn't know quite how to go about it. By the time I had wrapped some money in some paper, they had gone..

This morning (Monday) we had to go into town to take a covid test. We have to have a negative result to be able to fly or to enter Spain. Here I am waiting for the Metro taking us into town:

The lab was ten minutes walk from the station along this canal. One of the statues in the water had ben dressed as a santa.

One of the front doors of the houses we walked past. Most of them were in this style:

This is the bicycle storage at the back of the station:


As today is T-Day, organized and hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth, I wanted to share another drink related subject. I wanted to buy some herbal tea as hubby is suffering from bowel cramps. This is what we found:


It was a joy to behold so many different teas! We bought a packet of fennel tea in the end.

One last photo. The Dutch do like their liquorice. (I do too). I particularly like salted liquorice. Here is a selection in our local supermarket:

That's it from me today. 
I wish you all a happy T-Day,
Stay safe,
Hugs,
Lisca
















17 comments:

  1. Your market stalls look just wonderful. It's great that you are able to see your mother despite all the obstacles. Have a safe and healthy new year in 2021 -- better than 2020!

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  2. So glad to see how happy your mom is with your visit- good decision for sure! Love seeing the area and reading about the Dutch traditions. Those market stalls looks super!! And that bicycle storage-wow!
    Let's not forget about that amazing tea selection either;)
    Safe travels home, and happy T day!

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  3. Oh, my goodness! I would go crazy with all those teas! Love it!
    So happy you visited your mom. So nice that you were able to do so much for her while you were there. I didn't know they still had street organs.
    Thanks for sharing the sights while you were there. Happy New Year! Happy T Day1

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  4. What a wonderful selection of licorice and tea. I love licorice but I can usually only find the red kind (twizzlers) which is really not licorice. We have a lot of those tea brands available at our local store but several of them I have never heard of.
    Your Dutch apple pie along with all the other yummies look like the perfect way to start the new year.
    It is wonderful that you were able to spend so much time with your mum. Have a safe return trip home.
    Happy Tea Day,
    Kate

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  5. That's a great photo of your Mom, your husband and yourself Lisca. It looks like you had a fun New Years and nice to see your Mom. I am sure she appreciates it. And you have to feel better about it also. I didn't get to see my mom this Christmas and it was hard. It is also great to see the shops and the scenery. Arm chair travel is all I can do right now. I hope you have a great T day and get a negative covid test so you can go back to Spain. Hugs-Erika

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  6. Wow those food vendors are so awesome! what a wonderful way to shop for foods-I love that. The tea store was amazing too-I have never seen so many teas in one place. I think that's wonderful you were able to defrost the freezer and then fill it back up again-that will save your Mum allot of work. Hope you get negative covid tests so you travel back home. Your pie looks so beautiful. Happy T hugs Kathy

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  7. Glad you were able to see your mother and get around to the market and the stores. Hope your texts are okay! Stay safe, happy T Day, hugs, Valerie

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  8. It was great to see how you and your mother spent New Year's eve. Lots of bubbly and happy faces.

    I was surprised the markets didn't require masks, but it was good to see so many were open and with such specialization, too.

    I enjoyed reading about your trip to be tested and it was nice to see you as you walked there. Better to be safe. And you got some nice shots, too.

    What a wonderful, wonderful tea shop. I would have been tempted to buy more than one container of tea. I saw several I would have gotten. Thanks to taking us with you to your mother's for Christmas and New Year's celebrations, as well as photos of the markets, and the tea shop you shared with us for T this Tuesday, dear Lisca.

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  9. Looks like huge poffertjes, those oliebollen.
    Funny, your potato-salad is like our Labskaus, same ingredients even!
    Hmmm, cheese! And the street organ! 5th floor, you could hit the man badly, LOL! Sad he left before you could without hitting him...
    The Santa-dress-up is a very cute idea, too.
    Oh, boy, loads of bikes indeed. Yep, we have most of these teas, too, so beautiful.
    Big fan of liquorice, that would really be a dangerous shop for me ;-)
    A happy T-day to you, hugs!

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  10. I've never seen so much licorice in my life! I would love to hear what the street organ sounds like ~ It looks like part of a merry go round on wheels. I'm glad you had a nice visit with your mom and made some new memories. Your apple tart looks yummy too ~ Blessings to you!

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  11. Your oliebollen sound similar to donut holes, but I bet they have more flavor. I love apple fritters. Like you, I haven't had either for a long time. The only deep fried food I like, from time to time, is French fries.

    You potato salad sounds very different. It could make the whole meal!

    How nice that you took care of annual chores and restocking the freezer for your mom. The apple tart looks delicious.

    I enjoyed the statue dressed as Santa. Clever and easy decoration.

    I hope Your test results were negative and that you have (or had)and a safe trip home.

    Wishing you the best in 2021 and a Happy T-day today! Hugs, Eileen

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  12. I enjoyed seeing the streetscapes. The outdoor markets are nice; we don't have anything like that here.

    Happy New Year and Happy T Tuesday! Safe travels :)

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  13. Your potato salad and pie look delicious! and what a colorful display of tea, very tempting. Happy New Year!

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  14. Great New Year celebrations! Loving all that tea too 😁. Happy T Day and wishing you all the best for the New Year! Hugs, Jo x

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  15. How great that you got to see your Mum! I loved looking at the traditional food but hubby was quite excited to see shelves full of liquorice! Good to see the market stall too! I remember being surprised at the number of cycles at the station in Amsterdam a few years ago! Happy T Day and happy New Year, Chrisx

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  16. So nice that you were able to spend time with your mom and to help her out with household chores. I love the fried dough balls as they remind me of an Italian treat, zepole which I haven't made in quite some time. I enjoyed the walk through the market, the hurdy gurdy man, and I was so surprised by the bike rack at the train station. All that tea! Glad you found something to help your husband. All that licorice! And I'd really like a slice of your apple pie. Stay safe, take care, Happy New Year and Happy T Day

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  17. Ohhh what a lovely post. I love seeing different places and your photo are wonderful. I have a couple of customers that live in the Netherlands so the photos for me are very nice. I am glad you are spending this time with you mom. Have a great day.

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