I'll have to try the kroket when I'm back there again. Don't know about the headless fish. Peanut butter and banana sammich, with mayo. Don't knock it until you try it, Adam. One of my local friends suggested bacon in it, also. Sounds dee-lish, will have to try.
Herring has been a staple in Northern Europe for thousands of years and two of these fish supplies most of the required daily protein plus many vitamins and minerals. In it's salted or pickled form it fed armies, navies and nations. It really is a superfood with some substance unlike goji berries etc. And it is so cheap.
Here's one recipe and the story behind it. Fool's Gold Loaf - Wikipedia Here's another one favored by the King himself: Peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich - Wikipedia Spoiler for my British friends and compatriots (not THAT king, THE KING). Never tried either one of those, but I fashioned a modified version at home one day. It was just peanut butter, bananas and honey though. On toast. Pretty danged good I might add. Had one of them Elvis sammiches in the form of a shake once in Hernando, Mississippi once. Stopped in at a drive-in and saw on the shake menu "The King Shake". I had to ask. The girl said it was a vanilla based shake, with peanut butter and bananas pureed up together. So I ordered one to go with the burger and fries. King sized of course (64 oz, not sure what that is in metrics, but it was a pretty big one). Not bad at all. Sort of hard to work through a straw though. They used the old style paper-based straws there. Not a good tool for the King Shake. Bring one of those new-styled plastic ones if y'all are ever in the area and get a hankering for a King Shake. Get the King sized of course. The burger and fries are pretty good too.
I love how foods like oats and seaweed are now regarded as superfoods and sold at a premium rate when it was previously the food of the poor. At one point in the 19thc, domestic servants demanded that they were never served salmon nor oysters more than twice a week.
I'm similarly discomfited by the current fashionability of Gin. Hands off, hipsters. I don't want it in a sodding jam jar.
Sort of like crawfish here in Louisiana. Back in the old days (pre-1960s) eating crawfish was for the po folks. Now it is considered a delicacy, causing people go all apey with the onset of crawfish season. Never cared for them myself. I always preferred crabs (the kind you eat), shrimp, ersters and such.
Bakc to Holland vs Turkey. We actually love theTurks. Did you know that the tulips (well-nigh the Dutch national flower) were brought over from Turkey!
If you google History of the tulip you will learn that they were brought to Holland in the late 16th Century. The name Tulip derives from the word turban, which was worn by the Turks. The Turkish sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (around 1550) was very fond of the flower and grew them in his palace gardens. They were quite expensive and only for the elite. It was one of his guests who brought some tulip bulbs, given to him as a gift, to Holland in 1593. Being very popular and rare, they led to a real 'Tulipmania' in Holland around 1634 - 1637, with prices soaring: a flower bulb sometimes costing over € 6.000,- (at the time the value of a house). One of the first economic 'soap bubbles' in history. In february 1637 the hype was over and prices fell, some had earned fortunes others went bankrupt. See: Tulpenmanie
In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered Princess Juliana and her daughters for the preceding three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, in the Second World War. The most noteworthy event during their time in Canada was the birth in 1943 of Princess Margriet to Princess Juliana at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. The maternity ward was declared to be officially a temporary part of international territory, so that she would be born in no country and would inherit only her Dutch citizenship from her mother. In 1946, Juliana sent another 20,500 bulbs requesting that a display be created for the hospital, and promised to send 10,000 more bulbs each year. In the years following Queen Juliana's original donation, Ottawa became famous for its tulips and in 1953 the Ottawa Board of Trade and photographer Malak Karsh organized the first "Canadian Tulip Festival". Queen Juliana returned to celebrate the festival in 1967, and Princess Margriet returned in 2002 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the festival. Canadian Tulip Festival - Wikipedia
Hmm the mighty herring.. Matjes herring is very good. I have fond memories of herring sandwiches from the Nordsee sandwich shop chain. As an Englishman I prefer my herrings smoked The Dutch were quite a warlike bunch. You don't have colonies on five continents without being willing to fight for them. The Netherlands was born from the 80 years war with Spain in the C16th. Generally the Turks, as Spain's enemy in the Mediterranean, had a common interest with the Dutch. But the Dutch did manage to find the time in their war with the Spanish to hire ships to the Venetians in this naval battle against the Turks. Battle of Focchies - Wikipedia
