Wednesday, December 7, 2011

You know you're Dutch when...

I saw this on a blog and thought that it was really funny and very true!
You know you're Dutch when...



  • The temperature is so low in your house that 2 sweaters is a bare minimum if you want to be remotely warm.
  • During the winter it's warmer outside than it is inside.
  • You open the freezer and are excited to find a container of ice- cream, only to open it and discover it's full of homemade soup or stamppot.
  • When looking in the fridge, you never trust that the yogurt or margarine containers contain what the label says.
  • You were green before it was popular. Why recycle when you can just reuse!
  • You have a pair a wooden shoes in your house.
  • Your china cabinet is filled with Delft.
  • You like pickled herring.
  • You've eaten oliebollen at New Years.
  • You enjoy chocolate sprinkle (hagelslag) sandwiches.
  • You have cousins who wear size 14 shoes and are over 6'4"
  • You wash and reuse plastic cups and plastic cutlery.
  • You have soup and open-faced sandwiches for Sunday lunch.
  • The most frequent phrase uttered growing up was "Turn off the lights!"
  • You get a chocolate letter every year for Christmas.
  • All the tables in your house are covered in tablecloths.
  • You like croquettes.
  • You know that Vla is better than regular old pudding.
  • You drink tea with breakfast, coffee at 10 am, tea at 3 pm, and coffee again at 8 pm (with cookies or biscuits of course!)
  • You have an afghan knitted by your Oma.
  • You collect coupons like they're going out of style.
  • Your Oma had a calendar with everyone's birthdays & anniversaries spelled out in capital letters (bonus points if it hung in the bathroom!)
  • You've been known to recycle aluminum foil. And ziploc bags.
  • You own a special utensil that is only used for cutting cheese.
  • You know that Gouda is the best cheese ever.
  • You have at least 5 relatives with the same name (and somehow you always know which one is being talked about).
  • You reuse teabags
  • When you hear all the "new ways to save energy" you yawn and say "I've been doing that all my life!"
  • You eat your sandwiches open-faced. "What? You want another slice of bread? I'll make you another sandwich."
  • You rarely have both meat and cheese on the same sandwich.
  • You have never met half the relatives at your family reunion
  • You have 100 roles of toilet paper in your house because they were on sale.
  • You put a little water into the jar of tomato sauce and shake it to make sure you got it all out.
  • You have trouble shopping for hats. There should be at least two sizes: 'one size fits all' and 'dutch'.
  • You wipe the last of the butter out of the container with your bun.
  • All your cookies taste like almonds.
  • You make the bed in your hotel room.
  • You have lace on your windows but not on your underwear.
  • You like dubbel zout drops, and have occasionally tricked a friend into trying one.
  • You've put mayonnaise on your french fries.
  • Your kitchen is filled with milk bags drying, waiting to be reused in the freezer.
  • You drink Heineken out of pride.
  • You have a front room but nobody sits in it (or it's only used for special occasions).
  • You have a spoon collection.
  • Your favourite mustard comes in jars that can be reused as drinking glasses.
  • You leave a window open year round to get fresh air.
  • You eat stroop waffles.
  • You love the colour orange.
  • You have a vegetable garden because there's no way you're paying that much for veggies at the grocery store.
  • Your fridge is always stocked with leftovers. Throw out food? Never!
  • You go to the "Dutch Store" because the smell brings back so many childhood memories.
  • You have pictures of windmills around your house.
  • Everything is Do-It-Yourself - it's cheaper than hiring someone.
  • You use "washandjes" (facecloths that you can put your hand into).
  • You have to explain what 'om' and 'tante' means when you're discussing your relatives with non-Dutch people.
  • You own tea towels and oven mitts patterned with windmills and dancing women in clogs.
  • You call it "MELK" not "milk".
  • All your cousins have the same names as your brothers and sisters, because everyone is named after Oma and Opa.
  • And finally, you know you're Dutch when..
  • You're laughing along with this list because you can relate to most of it!

Traditional Dutch Split Pea Soup


It is that time of year in Holland...time for Ertwernsoep!
Ertwensoep (also known as snert) is a typical Dutch winter meal. It is a pretty thick meal of a soup, but that's how it should be. In fact, the Dutch believe that erwtensoep should be so thick that you can stand a spoon upright in it. It's traditional to serve this hearty winter soup with slices of rookworst (smoked sausage) and rye bread topped with katenspek (a type of Dutch bacon that is first cooked, then smoked).

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Christmas Cookies!

It is never too early to start making Christmas cookies! We got cookie cutters while we were in the states so Kees was wanting to try them out. The star was his favorite.
Kees taking a sample of the frosting.
Making colored frosting was a big hit with Kees.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Thanksgiving...late

Yesterday was our missionary field meeting and late Thanksgiving dinner. It was nice to have a real Thanksgiving meal together. Kees has had a cold so he was sleepy on our 4 hour drive to the Amsterdam area.

Even Kees had a special place at the table!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Maastricht International Playgroup!

This morning and every Wednesday morning from 9-12 is the Maastricht International Playgroup. It was our first time this morning. It was so nice to be able to spend time with other moms who are also away from their home country. Kees loved playing with all the kids! It meets in a karate center so there is a big open space with mats and balls and toys to play with. Today was the Sinterklaas party!
Kees having fun checking out all the new toys. He is so social and loves to be around other kids so I was so happy to find a group like this.
There was a knock at the door and in came a big bag of gifts from Sinterklaas! The lady in the picture has a three year old daughter and is from Scotland.
Kees gettting down to business opening his gift from Sinterklaas!
Hey! A Sinterklaas toy with horse, Zwarte Piet and toy bag! It was an answer to prayer to find a group like this for Kees and I.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Monschau, Germany

It was Steve's day off from the office Monday so we like to do something with just the three of us. We decided to go to Monschau,Germany since we are so close now to Germany. They are getting ready for the Christmas markets to open to many stands were being set up. It was beautiful!



Saturday, November 26, 2011

DRUM Meeting

Last night at the church office was the first DRUM (Damascus Road University Ministry) meeting. It was great to see all the students who came that are interested in being leaders! Each Wednesday at lunch the students of DRUM are going to meet at cafe 'Kiwi' in the city center. We plan on having the main meeting on Wednesday evenings.

Kees enjoys every chance he can get to go to the church office. It works out well that the church we are renting for the office has a nursery. Kees gets the place all to himself in the evening.
This is a look of 'I got to stay up tonight and come to the meeting!'
Busy making sure to play with each and every toy!