New Years eve (or old years eve, as we actually call it in Holland) is really not the same without the traditional 'oliebollen' (literal translation = oil balls). I had never made them myself but as we now are the proud owners of a deep fryer (that had been sitting in the garage since the Queen's day 'bitterballen'), my dad and I decided we would give it a try!
We ate them warm out of the fryer and they turned out very nice! Definitely feels like a tradition coming on....
Over the years it has become a tradition that my dad and I prepare Christmas dinner. The preparations start with the 'Allerhande' and 'Delicious' magazines from Holland. Paging through them tot together a nice menu that will please everyone. This results in a long shopping list and a trip to the shops to find all the ingredients and to try and beat the crowds.
We invariably choose something that we have never prepared before and that might pose somewhat of a challenge. This year it was the 'kerststol' (Christmas bread filled with a type of marzepan), our lobster tails and the world famous (in Holland anyway) tiramisu cake!
We are very critical cooks but all of us agreed that everything turned out very nice!
The menu:
Grilled lobster tails
Thijs' famous yellow pepper soup
Italian style stuffed pork loin with potato gratin and green beans
Terrific tiramisu cake
Last week we were invited to a christmas party by one of Thijs' colleagues. The theme was 'ugly christmas sweater and tie white elephant party'. What the.....?
After some inquiries we found out we needed to find an ugly christmas sweater and some useless, funny gift that would be traded during the party. After abandoning some DIY sweater ideas we found a shop that sold the sweaters - by the hundreds - for the extraordinary price of $12.95!!!
Very difficult decision but we finally decided on these beautiful, one of a kind, irreplaceable sweaters.
Good night! Thijs had his first Martini, we ate great Louisiana gumbo and got a dirty old stuffed Santa and a gingerbread man robe as white elephant gifts!
An advent calendar has become a tradition in our house around Christmas. Every day the girls can open a little bag which contains a joke or a note and a small surprise. I hope they will remember this fondly when they grow up.
This year, however, we wanted to add something extra. Over the past year I have been reading a lot about acts of kindness on the internet and I think it is just such a nice thing to do. So together we agreed to try and do something nice for someone every day until Christmas (we won't stop then though, don't worry). At first, we wanted to make a list with a specific activity for every day but with school, homework and activities we were afraid we wouldn't be able to keep up. So we decided to take it one day at a time. Every day we will try to do a kind deed (or more than one). It doesn't have to be anything big or expensive but it has to be without expecting anything in return. Today Famke donated money to the Ronald McDonald house in her fifth grade 'buy a privilege week' (she got to wear a hat to school in return for a donation). Floortje waited a little longer to hold the door open for someone and was kind to her classmates. I left a candy cane on the ATM and my shopping cart and returned a lost cart from parking lot to the store. Thijs tipped someone a little extra.
On the wall we made a calendar on which we can write our acts of kindness and we have a list of ideas in case we need some inspiration.
I just wanted to share this with you, not to pat ourselves on the back, but with the hope that you will help us spread the joy a little bit more :)
Happy Holidays! We wish you only good things this season.
Last week Floortje joined our neighbors on a trip to the local shopping center. Little did they know that Santa was there with lots of fun activities. Such a nice surprise. She came home with crafts, little gifts and lots of stories. But for me the best part was the picture that Lori took of Floortje's letter to Santa.
(In case you need decoding: 'I am Dutch so you don't come to me. But I still believe in you don't worry. Your best friend, Floortje) Sweet!
A little while ago I took up running. I hate gyms and I like exercising outside and since we have a very nice area in our neighborhood with trails and a lake it seemed like the right thing to do. I started 'Running with Evy' which is a Belgian training program and in 30 lessons Evy gets you ready to run 5k with nice music and encouragements.
My friend Monique started doing this as well around the same time so we talked about working towards the 5k run on Thanksgiving Day. However,due to a fall on my knee I wasn't able to run as much as I would have liked.
Register or not? Yes, no, yes, no......, ok then!
And we did it! Nearly 6000 people took part in the 1 mile, 5k and 10k runs. Almost 3000 ran the 5k! It was quite an experience. Lots of people on the side of the road cheering us on, including my most loyal supporters :)
Felt very good afterwards!
