speculate, speculaas

[myra_musing]

I've been thinking back on the month of December in the Netherlands sort of wistfully the past few days. I missed the Sinterklaas celebration (Dec. 5) and I miss the food, the decorations, the people and the traditions of the Christmas and New Year's holidays there. If I were there, having no car wouldn't be the pain it is here, and I probably

Comments

[heuteistmeintag]

i don't know what i think about the new immigration policies, but i am not surprised. they have one of the highest % of immigration population in the EU and there have been a lot of tensions. i remember reading articles about dutch people wanting to move away because the immigrants are "taking over".

hmm

[myra_musing]

Yeah, I noticed this while I was living there, of course. Many people had unrealistic expectations about the amount of asylum-seekers the country could handle. They protested the government deportations and seemed to say everyone who made it to the Netherlands should be allowed to stay. Of course, I had to think to myself that that was impossible...especially in a country that tiny and already so densely populated. Back then, though, anyone who raised a stink was looked at suspiciously as a possible racist, since most of the asylum seekers and minority populations in the country are from Morocco, Turkey, Surinam, Indonesia or the Dutch Antilles. I think it makes sense, but why not just have balls and create quotas, rather than pretend it's about learning the Dutch culture. This test is basically designed to prevent people from immigrating in the first place, but creates a lot of unnecessary expense and effort on the part of people who will most likely be rejected anyway.

[auroraniteshade]

The first picture is of kruidnoten actually. I'm here in Dutchieland with my b/f spending the holidays again, like I did last year. Setting off fireworks in the street last year was so fun, I plan on doing it again. I've never gotten to do it before because they're illegal in my state. I do'nt like amandelstaafjes much either. I'm not used to eating so many sweets. Like when I want to snack at home, I usually snack on salty things (chips, pretzels, etc) but here it's all sweet to snack on and I'm like aaaahhh tastebud overload

[myra_musing]

The first picture is of kruidnoten actually. Yes, you're right...my friends in Groningen would always call them pepernoten, though, so I guess I started thinking of them that way. Apparently, it's a common error. From http://www.vd-wetering.nl/dechef/index.html?http%3A//www.vd-wetering.nl/cgi-bin/kookboek/show_recept.perl%3Frecept%3D1130259644%26feed%3Ddefault_menu%26naam%3DEchte%2520pepernoten%2520%28taaitaai%2520noten%29: Vaak worden pepernoten en kruidnoten door elkaar gehaald. Kruidnoten lijken meer op speculaasjes, en zijn klein, rond en hard. Pepernoten lijken meer op taaitaai. (For the non-Dutch speaking readers: Often, pepernoten and kruidnoten are mixed up. Kruidnoten are more like speculaasjes, and are small, round and hard. Pepernoten are more like taai-taai (a sort of tough chewy dough

[anonymous]

Dag Jessica!

Ik zat net te snuffelen op de web-log van Femke en vond daarop een link naar jouw pagina.
Lekker inderdaad al die snoepjes. Die mis ik ook wel. Ik zou ze nog wel kunnen ophalen, 40km naar de grens valt nog mee, maar ik heb besloten heel veel af te vaalen, dus valt het snoepen voor de volgende 6 maanden weer uit.
Verder alles goed met je?
ALs ik speculaas opstuur, heb je volgens mij alleen nog kruimeltjes wanneer ze aankomen, of niet?
Jammer...
Volgend jaar maar kijken wat een care-pakket naar Amerika kost!
Mijn mailadres is nberlekamp@yahoo.com. Laat eens van je horen!

Groetjes van Nathalie

[myra_musing]

Nathalie! :) Wat leuk om weer van je te horen. Zodra ik wat meer tijd heb (ben nu op het werk) zal ik je een e-mail sturen :)