I didn’t realize this, but many food products like Pop-Tarts, M&M’s, Cupcakes, Snicker bars, etc. have beef or pork gelatin in them. More »

The average supermarket in the Netherlands is the smallest in Europe, and the selection of food and drink here at grocery stores is also very limited compared to stores in Germany, France, UK, USA and even Belgium. Here is a list of several food products that I like to bring back when shopping abroad — stuff that they really should sell here in Holland. More »

We like to camp over weekends in the summer, but the hassle of setting up a small tent for a short getaway can make a short camping trip less enjoyable. When we first saw the 2-Second tent by Quechua at Decathlon, a sporting-goods store, we had to try it. Now we have the 3-Second Air tent and we love it. Here is a short review of both. More »

The Almere-Buiten branch of the Dutch supermarket “Plus” has introduced special shopping baskets for single customers. Shoppers who use a purple shopping basket are indicating to other shoppers that they are available. More »

Tailors and fabric shops were abundant in the towns we visited on our recent trip to India. In Agra and Jaipur we took the opportunity to have some traditional Indian clothes made. More »

I bought a Gel Mouse Rest from Kensington some time ago. As advertised the “non-reflective mousing surface” would ensure “optimum mouse performance”, but my experience was that the surface of the pad was too slick, allowing the mouse cursor on my screen to constantly slip away. More »

The first Subway in Holland opened in Eindhoven on 4 March 2000, and since then another 31 Subways have opened across the country. The sandwich company’s goal is to have 210 stores in this country by 2010, almost as many as the current 225 McDonald’s that we have here. More »

Since Coca-Cola introduced new types of bottles in the Netherlands they are now the same as those in Belgium. However, the Coca-Cola Company bottles here have a deposit of €0.25, but that is not the case in Belgium. Since the introduction Belgians have been crossing the border en masse to turn in their non-deposit bottles at supermarkets for €0.25 each. More »

After several years Disney has stopped offering their merchandise on eBay and has started their own auctions site. This move will enable Disney do more brand cross-promotions, as well as cross-link to other Disney websites. More »

Three weeks after Coca-Cola introduced new bottles here in the Netherlands, the soft drink giant raised prices of bottles this week with 40%, while many consumers have complained about the flimsiness of the new one-time-use bottles. More »