Artistic Dutch Treats


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Europe » Netherlands » South Holland » The Hague
August 17th 2011
Published: August 24th 2011
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Wednesday 17th August, 2011

The Hague.
We arrived early by train, and enjoyed a starbucks breakfast at the railway station.
We set off on foot, armed with google maps on the iphone to find our main destination for the day; the Maurizhous, an art gallery with a collection of Dutch masters including Ver meer, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Franz Hals, Holbein and others. The most famous painting they house was featured in a film,The Girl with the Pearl Earring.
We walked down the quiet streets of closed shops, past the houses of government, where important looking people were arriving for work. We arrived at the museum just after opening. There were no throngs of tourists at the entrance.
The building is a grand house with an imposing foyer featuring a double staircase up both sides of the grand marble foyer. We didn’t get to enter this way, the entrance to the museum is via a small set of stairs descending from street level to a small door (the servants entrance?), and into a small room where the tickets are sold. Past the cloak room to another set of stairs, and we end in the grand entrance via a side door.
The paintings of the dutch masters were grand, stunning in their realism, and many depicting faces of important people, princes and the well to do, long since gone.
Memorable events, idyllic pastoral scenes, and lovingly detailed floral arrangements, intended to make the viewer reflect on the fleeting nature of life and imminent death were other themes. I don’t know…It was all very beautiful, grand and interesting, but…I have really struggled to find anything more interesting to say about it. And failed.
The next stop was the MC Esher Museum located in the palace of Queen Emma, next to a large tree filled square, edged by grand houses. Once again, it was great to see the works of this artist, with his prints of geometric, mathematical and sometimes impossible visual puzzles in the flesh. Interesting, Nice, But…
The highlight of the day for both Leena and Myself was the Lunch at le bistroquet, a restaurant popular with diplomats and parliamentary crowds, but for us the choice was made by – “we aren’t walking any further right now”. It was a pleasure to be sitting under the trees of the park, relaxing and being served good food. It was a fantastic experience. My entrée of Tuna – Dublin Bay prawns, Raw, fried, lime, cucumber, oyster blade, quinoa, was a feast for the eyes and for the mouth, presented on a slab of grey slate, two perfect circles of mouthwatering taste. The main of Veal cheek, Gently cooked, beets, springonion, potato, flat cheese just melted in the mouth with an explosion of pleasure, and a pleasing visual experience.
The coffee arrived together with a slate slab on which rested some pastry creations: two fried dumplings of coconut pastry, two coffee macaroons with pistashio cream, and two terracotta pots of soil with a small herb growing in it. The soil turned out to be crunchy chocolate crumbs, covering a white chocolate mousse, and the tiny sprig of mint just set off the sweetness to perfection. – I decided that this is the way to live… I could get used to this really fast.
The next day, inspired by all the art we had seen in the last few days, we had a day in the studio. I tried my hand at painting a la Van gogh, from a photograph I had taken in Amsterdam. All the time I was painting, all I could think was “man this guy used some paint”. It was a great productive day, with a lunch- a bag of carrot sticks.




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25th August 2011

I start to repeat myself - wanna be there too...... I could use to it as well.... You describe so perfectly - especially taste of food. Have fun!
27th August 2011

the food looks devine .. and you did that painting in a day? Are you kidding? It's fabulous!

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