Desperately seeking local friend

Okay, maybe I'm not desperate, just curious. I have a growing list of questions for a local:

- why aren't the sidewalks de-ice'd? R and I have been slipping all over Rotterdam. In Austria and New York, regardless of whether that sidewalk in front of your property is city owned or private, that job to keep the sidewalk safe is yours. Do they not want salt in their waterways? An article I found on a Dutch news-site yesterday might be the answer. It was about the impending salt shortage for de-icing highways and low supplies for consumers who want to use it on their property. Also of low supply: ice skates. Even though officials are warning not to ice skate yet (the frost is still too young to allow for safe skating on the canals) ice skates are nearly sold out and tours are already being booked for skating tours. A friend in Vienna told us about this. The villages here are pretty close together and it's possible to skate the canals from village to village. Put that on the to-do list!

- what's with the lack of curtains? Our neighborhood, Kralingen, is really just made up of apartments (typically three stories tall) and not many shops. Most living room windows sit right on the sidewalk. And yet a drawn curtain is a rare find. Residents live out their lives in full display, expensive electronics, old antiques, and all. As I pass someone at their window, I notice they don't really look out their window or seem to notice any pedestrians walking by. R told me he and a friend were once in Amsterdam and had to do a double take after walking one particular window. A very naked man was standing at his window. He was still there when they walked back. I guessed maybe they really want to make the most of natural light.
One of the expat guides the school gave R reads "It is customary to leave the front-room curtains open day and night so everyone can look in. Yet on the other hand, no Dutch person would dare stare into the front window of another." (I guess the exception is the Red Light District in Amsterdam?) A nice change from the Viennese public transport system, where it feels like every person is staring you up and down for the duration of the ride.
I mentioned this while catching up with a friend on skype. An ex-boyfriend of hers was obsessed with Dutch architecture. Use of natural light was important she said and it was important not to feel one had anything to hide. A nice philosophy yes, but I can think of two former Amsterdam tourists who would definitely disagree!

-Why all the sheep? We drove to Delft on our first day (I'll admit, our first visit in Holland was to Ikea...the ladies will understand, the apartment didn't have a closet!). Loved our first glimpse of the countryside: v flat, loads of farmland (or as my dad said, "So this is Holland...flat and full of sh*t), lots of canals, and sheep everywhere. One of Holland's biggest exports is cheese made with cows milk and I don't know of Holland as a big wool export, so just curious about their importance here.

- Street food? There seem to be plenty of options: from fried goods, fish, fries with mayo to ethnic foods from former and current Dutch colonies. What's a must and where are all the best places? In Manhattan we could google "vendy awards" to find the results of the annual food vendor winners. They were always on point.

- Trips to the grocery store. I'd love to go to the grocery store just once with a local. 1-To help read labels. 2-to make recommendations on key ingredients for typical dutch meals. Our first grocery store trip I asked a lady for help reading milk carton labels. The one I had picked, she explained, was actually a sour tasting milk (something like buttermilk?) which most foreigners didn't like, but she said was refreshing in the summer. It'll be something to look forward to.