Living in Europe pt.3 // Food. Food. Food. Food.....Snob.

I'm one of those people that find comfort in food. I don't see it as being a bad thing. I see it as being a familiar thing. The taste of something can bring you back to your childhood. Ya know, like what happens on Ratatouille ? 

I didn't think it would be THAT different here once I started cooking and living and stuff. But. Come to find out it's been a bit more difficult that anticipated. The thing I miss the most? Boxed macaroni and cheese. You CAN buy it here, but paying 8 Euros for a box of Kraft mac and cheese just isn't really worth it to me? Maybe I'm just not that desperate yet. 

As many of you may or may not know, my partner- Brett, is vegan. Not only is he vegan but he doesn't like a lot of things. He doesn't eat processed foods. He doesn't eat sugar. *queue the crickets*

One thing I love to do? Cook for people. 
Getting used to this whole vegan thing was weird. I, personally, am not and don't forsee myself ever being vegan, but since living with him I've noticed myself eating less meat and more fresh veggies. Maybe it helps that I hate going to the grocery store and there are always vegetables in the fridge. Maybe not. Maybe we will never know. MAYBE it's just that a lot of the meat products here are questionable. 

Oh yeah, which brings me to the other big thing about me-- I'm a food snob thanks to the Portland Food scene. THANKS A LOT OBAMA.

This masterpiece is the first thing I made from scratch. Strawberry Shortcake. You know, really getting down to my Midwestern Summer roots. What's that questionable white liquid on top of it all? That was my attempt at whipped cream without a whisk or blender. #nailedit

I try to get cute with things. This is his and hers pizza night. His is all vegan. Mine is not because of cheese and ham. I finally nailed it with my cauliflower crust recipe. I'm really thinking about writing out some of my recipes and posting them individually. Would anyone be interested in that? 

This is a bitterballen. This is the questionable meat I speak of. Yuck. I need to hurry up and write this so I can stop looking at it. 

Luckily I have been able to find a few good places to eat out here so far that has delicious meats:

The Salsa Shop: Legit Mexican food. Well as legit as you can get with being in Europe. Similar to Chipotle. 
Los Pilones: Again. Delicious Mexican food complete with MARGARITASSSS! 
H. Burger: very "midwestern" style of a burger joint. Even has milkshakes!
Cafe Haarlem: Very delicious nachos and wings.
 

I've also been #blessed to find some things at the grocery store like BBQ sauce, Franks hot sauce AND wing sauce, and there's an American store in town where I bought A-1, Ranch, and some Cajun spice for 21 Euros. Worth it? Idk. I think it tastes better in America. Hahah. 

Best snack ever. 

Sometimes I take on cooking more courageous things like Fried chicken strip or popcorn chicken. Any tips for this would be greatly appreciated! 

Cereal here is weird. Now, I'm not the kind of person to really love sugary cereals, but the cereals here are muchhhh different tasting than in the states. My go to cereal was raisin bran, honey nut cheerios, or lucky charms and even the first two of those three are wayyyy sweeter than anything I've eaten here yet. Maybe I just haven't tried the right ones yet? This one is the best I've found so far. Translates to "Honey Rings". Thing of really really hard and bland honey nut cheerios with a hint of apple jacks. Then you get this cereal. lol

Here I am, excited as ever, to eat a donut. It was a pretty good donut, but it was nothing in comparison to some of the donuts I've had in Louisiana. Glazed donuts for the winnnnn. There are Dunkin' Donuts here now but I have yet to check it out. 

I'll leave this blog post with talking about Dominos Pizza. I've ordered it twice since I've been here. See that pic up above? That's the desert that has the cinnamon and sugar on it, but as you can see this seems to have more cinnamon and sugar than actual dough. It was insane. But I ate all of it because... MURICA. The pizza is pretty similar to how it is in the states. When I first ordered I was super excited because they offer a cheese stuffed crust option and then I get the pizza and the cheese inside the crust was a little stanky. Lawd help me with the stinky Cheese of the Netherlands.

Can I get an Amen?