As I write this, I am at 24,000 feet over the North Sea, heading for home. Sadly, I had to say my farewells at the airport, but I am sure to visit Holland again.

The nice thing about living in Europe is that all these diverse countries are within easy reach. It took my taxi driver longer to get to the airport than my flight from Amsterdam to London. Although technically the UK is not 100% part of the European Union, we still gain some of the benefits from the EU community.

One such benefit is the ease of entry upon my encounter with immigration. You somehow feel slightly sorry for the Americans and other foreign nationals, as you gaze along the never-ending queue they have to endure at passport and immigration control. Nevertheless, entry into Amsterdam was smooth and stress free for me. Unfortunately, it goes both ways and when I go to Chicago in June, I am sure to experience the lengthy wait for myself.

Along my travels, my friend introduced me to some typical Dutch food and I documented some of these. I have compiled a list of tastiness for you to try, should you ever get the chance to go to Holland yourself.

• Kaassouffle – A delicious cheese crispy pancake. The word “Kaas” is cheese in Dutch.
  

  Kaassouffle

• Kroket – Potato and minced meat wrapped in breadcrumb. You can mash this on a bread bap with mayonnaise.
  

  Kroket

• Frikandel – Sausage-like made from off cut meat.
  

  Frikandel

• Poffertje – Mini pancakes. Lovely with Stroop syrup.
  

  Poffertje

• Pannekoek – Much larger version of the Poffertje, you can have different ingredients to make the pancake. Such as adding mushrooms, cheese or Spek (see below) into the mixture.
  

  Pannekoek

• Spek – How to describe this, I suppose you could call it bacon ham.
  

  Spek

• Stroopwafel – My absolute favourite Dutch delicacy, heavenly when made freshly hot with dripping Stroop syrup.
  

  Stroopwafel

• Zoethout – This is a strange one. It’s a liquorice stick, it looks like a twig. In fact, it looks exactly like a twig or branch from a tree. You chew it to get the sugar from it, but the twig itself is not edible.
  

  Zouthout

• Hagelslag – A typical breakfast compliment, you butter a slice of bread and then sprinkle this on top. Comes in different flavours, such as chocolate and vanilla.
  

  Hagelslag

• Komijnen Kaas – Cumin cheese that is mild (belegen). One of my favourites and Holland is famous for its cheese.
  

  Komijnen Kaas

• Vla – Yoghurt/mousse dessert. Although this is so much better than yoghurt, it comes in a milk carton and you spray Slagroom (see below) on top to serve.
  

  Vla

• Slagroom – Whipped cream.

I need to sort through my holiday pictures, so I will post them over the next day or so. You can do a lot in 4 days…

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Today is my last day, I am sad to leave such a wonderful country. But it does mean I need to come back, so I can visit my friend again. Although next time I think she will be coming to Blighty, she needs to see outside of London.

I best start packing *gulp*.

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