Finally ... A Snow Storm

Yesterday, there were weather warnings in effect for the late afternoon and evening in various parts of Holland. I am not sure how much of the European news is mentioned on local CNN in your areas, but there has been extreme weather across most of Europe with snow storms that have been causing massive disturbances to travel & traffic. Our part of Holland got hit early in the evening but to me as a Canadian who has experienced MAJOR snow, this was not the drama that the weather reports made it out to be. In Amstelveen, we get milder weather than other areas, so the storm was not as severe but according to NOS Nieuws, other parts of Holland got hit hard. Click the above NOS link to see a filmshow of photos they collected from around the country. For those of you living in the Canadian snowbelt, I know what you are thinking ...

Throughout the day we have been warned to stay home and avoid any unnecessary travel during the late afternoon. Bus service might be stopped due to icy road conditions & the trains might not be able to operate because of ice rain. Of course, I find this mildly amusing considering the amount of snow Toronto or other cities receive during a "normal" winter day.

But in all fairness, the roads in The Netherlands are made differently, with special pores to absorb the rain water (since it rains so frequently here) to improve visibility when driving. So you can only imagine how these pores behave when ice rain shoots down. Basically, the roads & highways turn into a never-ending skating rink and all the salt in the world will not solve the problem.

But if you don't have to drive, the snow is beautiful & takes me back in time. Before the ice rain started, we bundled up, grabbed our cameras & ran out the door like excited children. First, we went behind our house to the frozen pond to feed some bread to the ducks since food is limited during the cold months. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos to share of the ducks because it was too dark & flash created balls of light from the snow so ... I will try to get these photos up another time. It is soooooo entertaining to see the ducks run across the ice and slide on their bums when the try to stop - it just cracks me up! We go out every Saturday with our left over bread just so we can watch these cute, waddling birds slip and slide on their giant webbed feet. Each and every time, we laugh till our stomachs ache.

These are some shots in our neighbourhood - below is our street (our apartment building is to the left).

Below is my tiny putt-putt buried under the snow - identifiable by my trademark happy face.

Arnie below in front of our building - we were getting cold at this point (only 20 minutes into our walk). What can I say ... we are a bunch of wimps!

Wherever there is Arnie, there is Bubbles ...

Christmas Dinner with the Family

Christmas Day, Arnie & Bubbles got in the car & traveled up to the Northern part of Holland for a superb day with Ma & Pa N. A day with Mom & Dad involves a variety of activities - starting with EATING homemade treats, soup and other delicious food! We enjoy each other's company while sharing our various hobbies, watching something light on the television, updating each other on our everyday lives (since we only have the opportunity to do this 7 or 8 times a year - in person), and quality time.

Christmas in Holland is generally not celebrated on the same excessive scale as in Canada or America. Mainly because we have Sinterklaas on Dec. 5th as I explained in my previous posting SINTERKLAAS: Celebrated Dec 5th. So Christmas is usually kept simple ... but NOT in Arnie's family. The house is always filled with unique Christmas decorations - collected from various places & many hand made treasures. The house always has a very festive feeling with lots of effort made to make me feel at home, right from our very first Christmas together in 1999.

During previous Christmas celebrations, our dinner consisted of a "goumet" which is totally awesome! I must admit that I totally love this family tradition. Each person at the dinner table has a little pan on top of small flame. You have a selection of food to put in your pan: various wild & traditional meats, fish, veggies, sauces, spices and much more. This is so cool because it enables you to prepare your food the way you want, when you want and in the flavours of your choice, while socialising and enjoying everyone's company.

This year was totally different - since it has been close to 10 years since I have had my senses tickled by the aromas of roasted turkey escaping from the oven. I was ecstatic with the idea of experiencing a traditional turkey - it took me back to my childhood & Christmas in Canada. Mom has the most amazing recipe for turkey stuffing - it is just to die for!

Dit jaar was totaal verschillend - aangezien het bijna 10 jaar is geweest aangezien ik mijn betekenissen tickled door de aroma's van geroosterd Turkije gehad heb dat van de oven ontsnapt. Ik was extatisch met het idee van het ervaren van traditioneel Turkije - het nam me terug naar mijn kinderjaren & Kerstmis in Canada. Mom heeft het meest verbazende recept voor het vullen van Turkije - het moet enkel sterven voor!

Below is a photo of all of us enjoying our Christmas dinner together.

Hieronder is een foto van wij allemaal die van ons diner van Kerstmis samen genieten.


We had lots of fun with our camera timer & after a few tries, we perfected the process. I love both of these photos that I simply could not decide which one to share - so I will post them both.

Wij hadden veel plazier met onze cameratijdopnemer & na een paar pogingen, perfectioneerden wij het proces. Ik houd van beide foto's dat ik eenvoudig niet kon beslissen welke aan aandeel - zal ik hen zo allebei posten.

In the middle of the dinner, we realised that we forgot to take a photo of our turkey in its virgin, uncarved form. So then at the end we took a picture of the "turkey & Bubbles" a super special reunion to remember. Mom & Dad sent us home with a care package with leftover turkey which I ate for the next 3 days - there's nothing like leftover turkey - yummmmmy!

In het midden van het diner, realiseerden wij dat wij vergaten om een foto van ons Turkije in zijn Virgin te nemen, uncarved vorm. Zo toen namen wij aan het eind een beeld van "Turkije & Borrelen" een super speciale te herinneren bijeenkomst zich. Mom & de Papa verzonden ons huis met een zorgpakket met resterend Turkije dat ik voor de volgende 3 dagen - daar niets zoals resterend yummmmmy Turkije - at!

Christmas with Bubbles & Arnie

My last working day was Wednesday, December 21st so we have been busy preparing for Christmas weekend. We needed numerous shopping trips for goodies, wine and seasonal holiday delicacies. At last, we were able to do the final touches on our home to give it a festive look. Just thought we would share some of the highlights of our festive little apartment.

Above is a wreath that I personally created during our first Christmas together. Every year it comes out in memory of our first holidays together in 1999. In the lower corner, is one of our annual fresh centre pieces with candles that Arnold lovingly selects every year.

Above, is another annual fresh piece - red & white poinsettias - with our holiday candles that brighten up our living room during the holiday season and throughout the dark winter months. Also, there is our swinging Santa - he wiggles his hips to Jingle Bell Rock. Beside rockin' Santa is a rather sad miniature tree with lights that I actually bought for my desk at work.

Here is our Christmas snow ball collection - each one of these balls has major history or comes from a special place.

Lastly, is our sweet little Christmas tree. We have an artificial tree which is 2 or 3 times bigger but we just do not have the space for it anymore. So till we move to a house, we have decided to buy a real tree but in a smaller size - absolutely adorable.

Just for the sake of setting the scale - here is Bubbles with the tree on Christmas Eve.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE & ALL THE BEST FOR THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!

Bubbles & Arnie

XXOO

Taking A Walk - Honden Poep (Dog Poop): Part I

In the intro for this page, I indicated that I would also share details about life in Netherlands. Since there is so much ground to cover, I haven't a clue where to begin, so I thought I would start with something simple.

A couple of days before Christmas Eve, Arnie & I took a refreshing walk to the city centre to finish the last of our shopping - or in reality to start it (in my case) since I am terrible with personal time management (but a genious with my time at work - go figure). Enroute, we come across this park where children play and there is a famous sign that CRACKS ME UP, each and every time I see it.

First, a bit a history: Holland is heavily populated with 16,407,491 people in a total land area of 33, 883 sq km. If you could see the geographical area up close, you would discover that open land is quite a rare luxury (unless you move up North or to other less populated areas). There are many dog owners here, many in small apartments and those in houses have yards far too small for real "dog use". Therefore, it is quite common to walk your dog wherever you can so he/she can relieve themselves, when the need arises - without picking it up, I might add, SO I CAN STEP IN IT :).

Also, there is a shortage of places for children to play so there are special places, "dog-free" places, that children can run, play and do whatever without the worry of stepping in dog CRAP. At one of these places, I found this picture. Yep, these actually need to be posted to ensure that dog owners do not to take their dogs in this area. I absolutely love this sign. Have a look and tell me if this is not the funniest thing you have ever seen??!!. Just to be clear, the red outline around the sign signifies that it is forbidden. Doesn't he look like such a happy dog - not sure if he is smiling or if it his ear! What do you think?

SINTERKLAAS: Celebrated Dec 5th

Last week, I received an email from Lori asking if I was ready for Christmas CUZ she is ready - inside and outside of her house are all done & I received your Xmas card, with a gorgeous family photo - VERY ORGANIZED! To answer your question, we celebrated Sinterklaas on December 5th, and only after Sinterklaas is over do the Dutch prepare for Christmas or bring out the trees & start decorating. Unfortunately, this Saturday, I was in bed recovering from the flu so we did not get around to creating Christmas cheer ... yet. Arnie did bring a few or our "famous" Christmas pieces out:

Such as our Bubbles & Arnie cups which we made ourselves at Colour Me Mine in Amsterdam. What might these fine looking cups be used for, you might ask? These are our traditional eggnog drinking cups.

Next we have our famous stockings that came all the way from Macy's in New York City - one of our favourite cities.

Now back to the topic in my title: Sinterklaas celebrations and its traditions. I have had the pleasure of dressing up 3 times as his helper for the children's Sinterklaas party at work & then made a "surprise" visit to some of our friends with young children - really FUN as you can see below! I caught the girls by surprise in the pjs when I skipped through their back yard & into their back door with gifts, cholocate letters, snoopjes (little candies) & addressed them by their first names: Aleande, the youngest, was in a mild form of shock, as you can see from the photo. Her face lit with excitement because THERE WAS A REAL ZWARTE PIET IN HER GARDEN!!!!

These helpers are called "Zwarte Pieten" -> translates to "Black Peter", black due to smoke from chimneys and NOT because they are slaves - this is a controversial subject amongst expats and various other non-sense groups who like to argue for the sake of arguing rather than enjoying the simplicity & innocence in the spirit that it is intended - for the children.

Sinterklaas & his Zwarte Pieten arrives each year in the Netherlands around mid November & it is a big, BIG, MAJOR event! Click here to see some pictures of Sinterklaas in Amsterdam. The saint, who travels from Spain by steamboat, is accompanied by his white horse and his knight, Black Peter (Zwarte Piet), as well as several "help" Peters. Legend goes that Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet travel over the roofs of the Dutch houses at night. The Dutch children put their shoes (used to be wooden shoes) in front of the fire place. They sing songs and provide a carrot for the horse. At night Zwarte Piet puts gifts and candy in it. This is sooooo cute :) I have added a link in my additional link list that you can check out for more info on food, songs, and generally anything about its festivities.

On the evening of December 5th, Dutch families celebrate Sinterklaas' birthday. For the smallest children, who still believe, a LOUD, heart-stopping knock on the door signifies the arrival of Sinterklaas. Simultaneously, candy is thrown from upstairs by Zwarte Piet. When the door is opened, a large bag full of gifts awaits on the front step. Every year I learn something new about this tradition & this year it was the LOUD bang on the door & then ... I found 2 big bags of gifts on the door step. Guess who?

This year, I bought a new cheese fondu set with special Swiss cheese blends. I left work early so I could prepare the bread into bite size pieces, cut up different veggies & arrange the table. When Arnie came home, we started our evening by opening our white wine & lighting the fondu. I was so excited about this idea & I wanted to make this evening special for Arnie with a new Bubbles tradition. It was special alright but not like I anticipated. You see ... I had one of my "bubbles moments". It seems that in my "excitement" I sent up the fondu base upside down - dumb - dumb - dumb and basically BLEW UP OUR FONDU PAN!!! Yep ... not one of my proudest moments. Don't believe me ... look for yourself - this is all that is left of it.

We salvaged what we could by transferring it to a mental pan and tried to make the best of it. Luckily, we had more cheese and there was not too much of it all the walls. Poor bubbles, she really blew it - pardon the pun.