Throwing in a Sweetener to get Motivated… and LOVING IT!!!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

A question for Parents: What spurs your child on to eat their vegetables or meals when you want them to?

Ok, hunger… let’s take that one for granted.

But take two fussy eaters like ours (what did a Foodie like me ever do so badly, to deserve kids who think that a piece of tomato might kill them? or that trying a piece of pineapple or mango is an ordeal akin to torture?)

To be fair, Kiwi Daughter is getting more adventurous and she tried a piece of gherkin whilst we were here (but the grimacing faces she pulled whilst eating such a tiny morsel  probably did make any other  diners who might have been looking our way think that we were feeding her poison)

Getting back to the question… most kids will  co-operate (more than usual at least) if they think that a treat in any form sugary might be on offer afterwards.

In our case the treat that was the object of our children’s desire was in a big cabinet on the end of the long counter, located where you simply couldn’t miss it after your first step inside the door. Strategic… definitely strategic.

Little Mr. was even adamant that he could just this time, even forgo lunch completely and simply skip straight to dessert . Nice try kid, but we have done that one once in your lifetime already http://kiwidutch.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/ben-and-jerrys-jamacian-me-crazy/  and it wasa once in a lifetime occasion so forget any repeats before you reach adulthood.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

So… what is the massive kid motivator on this occasion?  …Ice-cream! an entire cabinet of ice-cream:  the flavours on offer are: Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Stroopwafel, Apple-Pear, Apple-Cinnamon, Pomegranate, Strawberry-Yoghurt, Stratiatella,  Orange, Catalana, Ferero Rochee, Caramel,  Raspberry,  Cassis (blackcurrant) Royaal, White chocolate, Lemon, Forest Fruits and Bounty.

After closer inspection of what’s on offer, even the adults in the Kiwidutch family are by now highly motivated to do some taste testing. I mean, you can’t give a café a full and complete review without a taste test can you? (sigh) someone gotta do it… life is tough sometimes…   …NOT!

We get two flavours each. Ooooohhhhh,  wow, Wow, WOW!  THIS is ice-cream! what brilliant flavours. it’s gorgeous!

I  go take photos, I ask the smiling lady behind the counter where does she get this amazing  ice-cream from? She grins “I make it myself”  she says.

The Oooohhhhh’s go up a notch… “…wow, all of them?”  I ask.  ”Yes, all of them“. Wow, I am seriously impressed. This ice-cream is seriously impressive. I could keep it a secret, but for the local readers around me… I’m sharing my discovery of a brilliant treasure.  It  truly deserves the advertising.

Even if family Kiwidutch don’t end up walking around the walls of the fortress of Brielle, we will be making a return trip back just for the ice-cream.

Maybe we should hire a refrigerated truck to come here in?  (ok, only joking on that one, but I did  find myself wishing we could somehow fit a freezer into our car so that we could take some home). Methinks any guests who come to stay with family Kiwidutch in the future are going to be forced to see the sights of  Brielle. We need an excuse. Guests are the perfect excuse, right?

Kiwidutch can heartily recommend that Chez André in Brielle should feature as a definite detour if you are passing close by… heck it’s worth a detour even if you aren’t!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The only photo I got of what we ate was mine…  I couldn’t get the rest of the family to stop eating theirs!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Feeling at Home at Chez André…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Now if you look carefully in the lower centre of the top map photo in yesterday’s post and in the bottom left corner of the second map photo, you will see a name : ‘Chez André ‘.

We were driving around Brielle, looking around from the comfort of the car in between cloudbursts of rain, and for a café or restaurant that was open and had parking close by so that I didn’t have to walk far.

It’s  public holiday, and almost all of the towns businesses are closed for the day so we start to think that we aren’t going to find anywhere, but by chance “Chez André”  is open and due to the foul weather, there are parking places aplenty right outside the door.

This looks like a really cosy place to take shelter in and have something nice and warm for lunch.

Himself orders ” Toast Champignons” which consists of  toast with fried mushrooms, onions, bacon, egg and cheese…

Since I’m allergic to mushrooms, Himself rarely buys them to cook at home for himself, so it’s nice that he can order them when we are out sometimes.

Little Mr.  says a pouty “no” to  everything on the menu and dithers until Himself  just orders him a “Tostie” (toasted cheese sandwich), he then moans that he doesn’t want it while it’s being prepared and proceeds  to inhale it once it arrives.  (kid, we know you better than you know yourself).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The photo was taken reluctantly because he wants to eat  right now!  Check out the little fingers waiting to pounce back onto it (eek, if I had only seen at the time how grubby his fingernails were!  ugh!)

Kiwi Daughter opts for “kroketten”  (meat croquettes) an item that’s  probably in the top three of  national Dutch take-a-way favourites…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I fancy a hamburger and go for the “Hamburger Hawaii”, with salad, pineapple, and there’s a portion of fries to share…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

All good solid Café fare.

We have fun with Kiwi Daughter as she ventures to try a sliver of pickled gherkin from my plate and  screws up her face  in an excessively  melodramatic fashion  as the sweet/sour taste hits home.

She gives it thumbs down .

(I can’t wait until my kids” taste buds  grow up!) but has earned herself dessert by at least giving it a go.

It’s cheap here too… amazingly for The Netherlands;

Himself’s  mushrooms were Euro 7.50,  my burger was Euro 8.95,  the two kroketten with bread were Euro 5.95 and with drinks and the rest of the meal it came to around Euro 25,- for the four of us.

Wow. I’m rather impressed actually. The meal was fine, the kids are having fun, the service was friendly (never take that for granted in the Netherlands!)

…and there is even a very nice surprise in store after we have finished our warm food, but that’s for you to find out about tomorrow…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)