My Little Dutch ABC Book ~ R

My Little Dutch ABC Book

R

Regen ~ Rain

Growing up I always sang the children’s song

Rain, rain go away

Come again another day

Little Johnny wants to play

Rain, rain go away

Well, in The Netherlands if that was the way it was… the kids would hardly ever get to go out to play.  But thankfully everyone seems to take the rain in stride and just go on their merry way.

So.... I'll just keep......

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+singing+in+the+rain&view=detail&mid=4B56C89A333C436BC9AD4B56C89A333C436BC9AD&FORM=VIRE2

My Little Dutch ABC Book ~ Q

My Little Dutch ABC Book

Q

Queen ~ koningin

Yes, I realize I’m doing this backwards compared to the other words in My Little Dutch ABC Book but hey it’s my blog so I figure I can bend my own rules when I feel like it.

Koningin in Dutch is Queen and yes we are a country with a monarchy system. To this American Girl it’s like something out of a fairy tale novel. I love the Pomp and all the glory that goes with it.

When we first moved here to The Netherlands 5 years ago, my first trip to Amsterdam happened to fall on Queens Day. Koninginsdag is the day in which the entire country celebrates the Queens birthday. Now that Queen Beatrix has passed on her throne to her son we now have a King in the Netherlands. King Willem is definitely fun to watch as well. With his beautiful Queen by his side and 3 adorable little princesses growing up with us all watching, I can truly say they are a beautiful family.

Here’s a little poem I wrote for our Queen when she abdicated her throne to her eldest son Prince Willem.

http://americangirlinholland.blogspot.com/2013/04/to-queen-beatrix-and-our-new-king.html

Photo source Getty/ Toussaint Kluiters

My Little Dutch ABC Book ~ P

My Little Dutch ABC Book

P

Pofferjets ~ Tiny little pancakes that taste like their from Heaven

One of my first Dutch delights that I was introduced to in The Netherlands were Pofferjets.

They sell them at the market and I thought well.. lookie here.. These look normal. After hunting and hunting for maple syrup but still coming up with thick brown sludge. I finally figured out how to truly enjoy this perfect breakfast delight by doing it the traditional way….. pat with butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Mmmmmmm Perfect Pofferjets!! Eet Smakelijk!

My Little Dutch ABC Book ~ O

My Little Dutch ABC Book

O

Oudejaarsavond ~ Old Year’s Evening

With the approaching Holiday season upon us and our calendars about the turn to a page I thought I’d share a story I wrote the first time I discovered the meaning of the letter O word for the day. Here in The Netherlands, instead of celebrating New Year’s Eve.. the Dutch celebrate Old Year’s Evening.

I wrote this first one December 31, 2011

http://americangirlinholland.blogspot.nl/2011/12/oudejaarsavond-old-years-evening.html

This story I wrote January 1, 2015. As I reread this story about Oudejaarsavond celebrated here in The Netherlands, I’m reminded of what some think of the insanity of Americans and their love for guns. I guess having a love for fireworks is not too far off. We all have our ways and a few adjustments to both, people might be a tad safer.

http://americangirlinholland.blogspot.nl/2015/01/new-years-eve-in-netherlands-im-not-fan.html

This is how my friends and I like to celebrate in America. We usually check into a hotel with our best friends so that no one has to drive after drinking and then we have dinner and dance the night away. So much fun!!

My Little Dutch ABC Book ~ N

My Little Dutch ABC Book

N

Nederland ~~ Netherlands…. But if you want to speak Dutch you are speaking Nederlands

What can I say about a country I love so much? Five years ago, this week our incredible journey to the low lands began. It all began with a message on LinkedIn requesting an interview with my husband about a job in The Netherlands. I didn’t even have a passport. My husband had been asking me for years to travel with him on his work trips to different places in the world but to be honest, I was scared. Scared to leave my children, scared to fly on a plane that long and the fear of leaving my country to a land unknown to me.

But as our family discussed the opportunity, excitement surpassed my fear. Yes, I was still afraid and I still am at times… but I knew it was the right thing to do for our family. Leaving 2 of my children in the States to continue college (along with a chunk of my heart), we began our new life here in The Netherlands with our youngest daughter in tow.

My husband fully committing himself at work, plus surrounded by all the newness of international finances for our family, taxes, running of the house with all the differences. My daughter jumped into her new international school and made so many life time friends from all over the world. And I … forced myself out the door to begin what would be a life altering time in my life.

Joining not only the North American’s Women’s Club of Eindhoven, I also joined the International Women’s Club of Eindhoven. The North American club would be my home. Surrounded with friends who just “get it”. We all have that group or I hope you do if you are away from home. People who speak the same language… not only my mother tongue of English but also understanding words like Target, Nordstrom’s, Cream of Mushroom soup, Pumpkin Pie mix in a can… stuff at home I took for granted but here became a real challenge. Yes, I’ve made a pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin and hey it’s actually better! But people who just get it!

My international friends that I’ve made here have changed my life in ways I didn’t even know I needed. My eyes and heart have been opened to a new understanding of the world around us. I won’t say I know everything because that is impossible. But I will say my little world has changed. It’s so very interesting to sit and really listen to someone from another culture explain their way of life and why it’s important to them. And to have them listen to me and truly understand that American’s are not like the Kardashians.

But I’ve also done something I can highly recommend if you ever get the chance to live in another country other than your own…. Step outside and meet your neighbors. Yes, it’s a tad scary but once you get over the fear of saying Hi my name is … friendships can begin. I have made a ton of friends in my community that are Dutch and I love that and them for helping me along the way but also laughing with me and sharing life stories.

So when people say What’s it like to live in The Netherlands… I’ll say sure it’s windmills, tulips and a whole lot of water… but it’s also home for me. A place that will always be in my heart. Nederland… my home away from home.

My Little Dutch ABC book

My Little Dutch ABC Book ~ M

M

Molen ~ Mill

Molen is one of my favorite words as it’s attached to two of my favorite things to see here in The Netherlands… Windmills (Windmolen) or Watermill (Watermolen)

Two of my favorite places to see these....

The Kinderdijk  
http://americangirlinholland.blogspot.nl/2012/07/the-kinderdijk-childs-dike.html



The Roosdonck
http://americangirlinholland.blogspot.nl/2013/08/windmill-wednesdays-roosdonck.html

Laughing Out Loud ~ The Day I Spent Making Chocolate Candy

Laughing Out Loud

The Day I Spent Making Chocolate Candy

Don’t you just love to laugh? I truly believe that life is more enjoyable when you get to laugh. I try to surround myself with people who are cheerful and amusing.

Growing up, I loved watching the tv show I Love Lucy. Of course it was in black and white. With my mother sitting by my side, we would laugh and joy would fill our house. After losing my mom several years ago, it took me only a little while to realize that Lucy will always remind me of my mother. Although Lucille Ball was a few years older than my mom, the style, the mannerisms, the laughter were all so similar to my mom.

The I Love Lucy show has some great classics episodes. My favorite was the one where Lucy gets a tad tipsy selling Vitemeatavegamin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-wErh2qp2o

Trying desperately to get the script right all while having to taste over and over the little bottle of peppiness. Are you unpoopular? Do you pop out at parties? hahhaa

Another one of my favorite I Love Lucy episodes was called Job Switch. Lucy and Ethel get jobs at a Chocolate factory while Ricky and Fred hold down the house doing housework.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPzLBSBzPI

Of course who would not want to repeat the fun of Lucy and Ethel making chocolate candy? And that’s exactly what my friends and I did!

First my friends and I stopped in the centrum of Valkenswaard for lunch at a lovely little place was called Miss Coffee.  

We were served an array of salads, sandwiches, fruit and desserts. It was truly delightful. Next we drove 5 more minutes to Winter’s Chocolaterie.

We immediately put on our little plastic aprons, and our little plastic bonnets. We all washed our hands several times and then we were ready to learn and discover.

Mixing all the ingredients to make chocolate was so much fun (and delicious). Milk, pure and white chocolate… coming fresh from the mixer… just a fabulous messy delight.

We all got to pour and mold our own candies and then take them home. Mine I filled with hazelnut filling. Oh my!! 

And we did our very best to not let any chocolates get past us so we wouldn’t get fired!  Oh we for sure were on a sugar high. Laughing and having so much fun. At the end, we asked our teacher to take a silly photo of us playing out the I Love Lucy moment… right before she and Ethel get fired. Oh I Love Lucy!

Thank you Winter’s Chocolate for letting us come have fun in your factory. Truly a dream.

Oudewater Weigh House~Something Wicked this Way Comes

Oudewater Weigh House

Something Wicked

This Way Comes

With Halloween almost upon us and magic in the air,

My friend Ruxi and I visited a weigh house and thought we would share.

We traveled to Oudewater on a bright sunny day,

But what lay before us, neither could say.

Canals, leaning trees, we followed the winding path

Driving back through time when people took their wrath.

Men, women and children, 1000’s under trial

Thought to be witches, their lives had taken a spiral.

Burn them, cut them, see if they bleed,

Weigh them, let’s see if they are light enough to fly, indeed.

The Oudewater Weigh House became famous that’s true

For finding these witches were just people… making stew… not brew.

If you’d like to find out if you are a witch or not

Just drive to Oudewater and give that scale all you’ve got!

Champagne ~ The Search for the Perfect Glass of Bubbles

Champagne

The Search for the Perfect Glass of Bubbles

My weekend with friends celebrating a birthday, friendship, good food and laughter.

In celebration of my friend Jane’s birthday, she asked several of her friends to join her in the Champagne region of France. Eight of us, all Americans, took off early on a Friday morning driving the 4 short hour to Reims, where we would be touring several Champagne Houses.

There is no way I could possibly tell you the process of making champagne correctly, even though I listened quite intently several different times. I will leave that up to the experts. But I will say these are the things that I loved learning about champagne.

In order for the sparkling wine to be called champagne the grapes must be grown in the Champagne region of France and follow the rules of the Champagne appellation. They use three different grapes to make champagne…Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes are black which makes you wonder about the color of champagne, but inside the black skin of the grapes is white juice.

They hand pick all the grapes. Yes you read that correctly, handpicked! Then they have 30 minutes to get them to the presses carefully without damaging or bruising the grape so the skin does not bleed into the juice.

After the juice has been pressed it is placed into a barrel. This is where the first fermentation takes place. Then it is placed into the bottle in which it will be sold.  The wine is mixed with a triage of wine, yeast and sugar. This is when the special champagne secondary fermentation takes place over time. This is the process that makes the wine bubbly.

 The wine is then aged for at least 15-30 months. I think this depends of the type of champagne. The next process is rotating the bottles over time slightly everyday either by hand or machine allowing the dead yeast cells known as lees to a new position.

As the bottles are rotated they are also lifted slightly each time upside down. This allows the lees to settle into the neck of the bottle.

 Once they have settled fully into the top of the bottle, the neck of the bottle is frozen, thus containing all of the lees into the neck. The crown cap is then removed at which time the pressure in the bottle forces the iced neck containing the lees to pop out. Wine from former vintages and sugar is then added to level off the champagne. The bottle is quickly corked and the wire cage attached.

As I said above, I am not the professional… just the girl who got to see the process and enjoy a “few” glasses of the beautiful bubbly delight during our girly weekend. We had a wonderful time wandering through the Champagne Houses, the vineyards, dining in French restaurants and even munching on a few croissants. But the best part was just being with friends enjoying our friend’s birthday.

Happy Birthday to our dear friend Jane… and many more.

Our tours of Champagne Houses:

G.H. Mumm, established in 1827.

Champagne de Castellane, established in 1895

We went to Moet & Chandon, established in1743. We were unable to get a tour so we just went to the boutique shop and outside on the grounds. Stunning!!!

For lunch we first toured the family owned Champagne J Chopin, established in 1947. 

The family has been cultivating the vines since the 18^th century, but they lost it during World War 1. It was taken over by the J Chopin family and the champagne was established in 1947. We had lunch served by the owner while we were there. Truly a delight.

Then on to Champagne Bouche Pere & Fils, established in 1920.

Happy Birthday Jane, and thank you for sharing it with us! Truly the time of our lives!!

September Picture of the Day~Out My Window

September 22~Out My Window

Always on the wrong side of the window.