Journal Journal: personal log, stardate:
I should not have mentioned that is was slow on the late-working front. Our TSM-database has sprung a leak, and we are restoring the backupsystem. Indeed, Quid qustodiat ipso qustodes. Time enough to contemplate the simple fried potato or chips, preferred takeaway food of our proud Dutch overtime tradition. The Dutch fries are the golden average between the thin and long French fry and the much shorter and thicker flanderian fry or Vlaamse Friet. Flanders is supposed to be the origin of the chip and theirs is three times as thick as a French fry and fried well done, as opposed to the English chips who are the same size, but soggy with strategically placed black crunchy bits. The English prefer their chips with vinegar (which is probably why they are soft and soggy), the Belge with sour mayonnaise and the Dutch drown them in sweet-creamy mayonnaise, combined with tomato ketchup and sliced onions ("Special") or peanut/sate sauce ("War sauce"), curtsey of our colonial past. The taste of the French fry is mainly determined by the crust, the English Belgium by the potato and the Dutch take the best of both worlds. Very popular by the younger children are the "kreukelfriten" or cringed fry. These are normal fries cut into a sawtooth like pattern, to increase crunchy surface area. There are also fries made entirely out of mashed potatoes. The potato mash is pushed through a sieve directly into the hot boiling fat, creating a smooth and long curly fry. A little bit too smooth for my liking but there is no discussing taste. And a good Dutch "snackmeal" is of course combined with deep fried, overly spiced meat of suspicious origin, but that is for another overtime....
Tancque
