On this rainy Sunday when no sane person would get out of bed earlier than 10 a.m., I got up just after 7 determined to make it a productive day. The Breakfast Club in the Zuidas part of the city opened at 8 a.m. and our hunt for home improvement ideas was meant to follow with a trip to Gamma, the local Home Depot, in the same neighborhood. With limited options on a rainy day like today, it seemed the perfect solution to impending cabin fever and a chance to tick another brunch place, however far from the beaten path, off the list.

We arrived to a quiet, cosmopolitan Zuidas, easily got parking, and walked in the drizzling rain to The Breakfast Club. It was much larger which allowed more spaces between tables, the service less harried – and maybe unsurprisingly non-Dutch – and the food plentiful and better presented – all a far cry from yesterday’s experience with Teds. The scoop of potent honeycomb butter was likely too much what my arteries could handle and there was so much pancake I barely and guiltily finished just half my order.

I was with Teko who for his part thought the place was just as small – i.e. just as bad – as those in the city center, found fault that he couldn’t order in Dutch, and that the food was just okay. He did like the neighborhood though so at least there was that.

After our quick meal, we were off to satisfy some home improvement wishes at the Gamma store where we were at last able to get a replacement dimmer switch for our Kartell bourgie table lamp that’s long been out of commission, as well as a tactile inspection of doors and cabinets to replace the ones that have long haunted our flat. Our lamp is finally back to giving us some much needed light in time for the dark days of winter ahead and we are this much closer to getting the best doors and cabinetry this apartment has seen in forever. It was a productive day indeed.