November Backblogging

Sunday, November 2nd

We headed out to a charming village called Hillegom to have lunch at the home of some friends'. Nearby was a really cute deer and goat zoo.

Sunday, November 9th

I had been intrigued by a Scandinavian cafe called Smorrebrod that I had spotted in the nearby de Pijp neighborhood. I had noticed they had weekend brunch so the brunch-a-holic that I am, I had told Dan about it. He made a reservation there for us to celebrate the anniversary of the day we met (November 8, 1997). We arrived and the brunch was incredible!! There were three kinds of herring (mustard, tomato-relish, and dill). There was fresh salmon, deviled eggs with shrimp, swedish meatballs with a horseradish-lingonberry sauce, an scrambled egg bake, waffles, and a special soup. There were plenty of toys for the girls to play with and it was very relaxing. For Liliane, they made pink lemonade and Swedish pancakes. It was a great way to celebrate with the girls!

Tuesday, November 11th

The Netherlands has a special children’s holiday called St. Maarten’s Day. In a way, it is like Halloween in that children go to neighborhood homes and receive treats. The difference is that the children do not dress up, but they carry homemade lanterns and must sing songs to “earn” the treat from the neighbors.

The girls and I went to Vondelpark and joined a procession that walked through the park. The procession was led by a police band that played fun music. It was great! In the park, there were some people on the side of the path that were giving out candy. There are some special songs to sing, but I didn't know them. It's possible Liliane knows them from daycare, but I couldn't have begun to guess. Instead, Liliane sang “Row, row, row the boat” to earn some candy. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand what the definition of a “lantern” was until I got to the procession. Because of this, the girls were without lanterns. There were many beautiful and creative lanterns. Because of the darkness, I couldn’t really get great pictures of them.

After the procession ended, the band stuck around to play a few songs. Then we stopped at a few homes where I had seen the owners opening up doors for kids. It was a great night!

Here were some lanterns:

A short video from the end of the procession:

Holiday Season

Wednesday, November 19th

Entrusting the girls to their loyal carers, we flew to London for an overnight. We arrived in London without issue and immediately made way to our hotel, the Claverley. We were given a great little room with a terrace and a view of the side of Harrod's. After settling in, we met some good friends. We squeezed a bit in to the afternoon - sightsaw Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben, Whitehall, and Trafalgar Square. Even though it's been over ten years since I've spent more than a layover there, I was surprised by how well I remembered where things were in relation to another. We took in pints at what we believed to be an authentic (ratty carpet, beautiful hardwood) pub and also got some shopping in.

Harrod's is in the middle with the flags.

That evening, we got decked out and went with our friends to the opening of a great new musical called Imagine This. The plot revolved around the experience of a theatre troupe in a Warsaw ghetto during WWII. One purpose of the musical is as a means to perpetuate the stories from the Holocaust so that the story is told since there are fewer and fewer survivors every year. To illustrate how this story affected people, at the end of the musical more than half of the audience was in tears. We went to the party afterwards and had a chance to speak with several cast members and others who had been a part. All of them told us how much it had meant to them to have been part of such a production and how the economic success was secondary. One actress told me that the personal growth she experienced was worth more than any acclaim she could derive from its success.

Madeline with the lead, Peter Polycarpou

The next morning, we had a delicious English breakfast that included out-of-the-oven chocolate croissants. We went with our friends to Paul, a French cafe (also found in many European airports) for a post-brekkie coffee and then we returned to Amsterdam. Dan went to the Rijksmuseum for a special exhibition that featured a jewel-encrusted skull. I stayed home to catch up on some reading. The girls were at the daycare (aka creche) for the day, so we relaxed before picking them up.

Sunday, November 23rd

We had originally planned to go to Lille, France, this weekend for its Christmas Market, but were deterred by the incredibly capricious and cold weather that hit our region. The 2oth in Amsterdam saw (a few times over!) rain, snow, hail, sleet, wind, lightning, thunder, and, of course the blinding sunshine. Since this limited outings to the indoors, we headed to De Bazaar, the self-proclaimed largest indoor market in Europe.

The market was indeed large and indoors, but not under a single roof. Everything was sold within and there were particular sections selling like items, such as antiques, furniture, fruits & vegetables, party & seasonal decor, Middle Eastern goods, Chinese products, and manicure services. There was also a great variety of food. We went in without needing anything and ended up being quite restrained. We walked out with only a disposable roasting pan for the Thanksgiving turkey, sweet potatos and a meter of Turkish bread.

Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 27th

My friend from school CM and I decided to make Thanksgiving happen, so we invited a bunch of people from class over. I spent Wednesday evening prepping my sidedishes and listening to NPR, which was quite relaxing. I got up early Thursday to pick up the turkey from Hanos which I had ordered 10 days prior (it was imported from France). CM came over later in the day and took charge with the turkey. Another friend arrived early and helped out immensely with the other dishes and general getting-ready. At 6:30 our guests started to trickle in and soon everyone was eating appetizers, drinking wine, and watching American football on the North American Sports Network. CM knows turkey, so it came out perfectly roasted at about 7:30. By about 8:30, the 16 adults were seated and ready to eat. All the guests brought food and drinks that made everything planning-wise easier.

the prep

American football!

We served turkey, endives, Brussels sprouts, apple-mushroom stuffing, garlic-nutmeg mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, honeyed root vegetable, cranberry sauce, clementine-vanilla cranberry sauce. For dessert we had apple pie, cherry pie, gourmet chocolate mousse cake, two pumpkin pies, and vanilla ice cream.

the guests

Saturday, November 29th

Our dear friend Jody flew in for some business in the Hague. Her fiance (also a dear friend) King who lives in Rotterdam picked her up at the airport and brought her to us. We walked over to the Albert Cuypmarkt to go shopping and for Turkish brunch at a place called Bazaar. We'd wanted to see how it compared to the Turkish brunch we had months ago at Theatrecafe Mozaik. It was difficult to compare since what was served was different. However, both were delicious. Luckily, there was a kids' corner in Bazaar with toys and Nickelodeon, so the girls, who were antsy at the table, took advantage of it.

the delish brunch

Out shopping, I bought a new bike lock. I got a bike about two weeks ago, but it was cut down from the pole where I had left it and brought to a bike impound. According to police, the poles should have displayed a sign that said 'No bike parking.' There was no sign and there had been another bike attached to that pole.

Also outside, who did we run into but Sinterklaas! Liliane was thrilled, though possibly more thrilled with the prospect of the pepernoten that the Piets were handing out! In the picture on the right, the Piet wearing blue and black cranking out music.

Sunday, November 30th

As mentioned above, we had planned to go to Lille, France, the previous weekend but were thwarted by the weather. We decided to compensate for it by going to Brussels, which is a two-hour drive from here. We got there in two hours, but spent an additional hour looking for a parking space. We walked in to town to the Grande Place, which was smaller than I had remembered. The girls had been really good, so when we stopped at McDonald's for a to-go coffee, we easily cracked to let them play in the playland there.

After they had their fill, and I finished my coffee, we headed out to the Christmas market. It was in St. Catherine's Square and a huge carousel was at the entry. Of course this sparked Liliane's interest. The market was medium-sized (this is a guess since I cannot yet compare), with a good variety of wares. It is kind of like a craft fair that lasts for a month, so the stands in which the merchants are in are permanent, with rooves, electricity and heat. They all had A-frame-type fronts with scenes of falling snow painted on.

Many of the merchants were selling hot, mulled wine. There was a large ice-skating rink. Our first stop was at an Argentinian stand for an empanada. I almost cracked and got an alfajor, but decided to stave it off and have chocolate later. There was a huge Ferris wheel set up and old-fashioned candy for sale. We kept walking till we hit a booth selling hot kriek (a cherry flavored Belgian beer), which was delicious. We saw a Quebecois cowboy selling hot sauces and other novelties. We picked up a few gifts. There was another carousel, so Liliane's wish came true. It was really cool because all of the vessels would go up and down pretty high. The rocket actually went through the top of the carousel. Afterwards, we got Liliane some corn-on-the-cob and we got some tartiflette!

Cowboys are generally associated with western Canada

tariflette - stages of cooking

We walked back to town and made a pilgrimage to one of Brussels' most famous sights, the Mannekin Pis.

schedule of outfits for the Mannekin

We then wended our way back to the Grande Place, where Dan got some truffles from Neuhaus.

at La Grande Place

The blue posts emitted cool electronic music.

We went to a small, nearby market and when we returned to the Grande Place, our friend Karyn was waiting for us. We then went to dinner at a place called Cafe Leffe which serves Leffe beer. We feasted on a signature Belgian dish, garlic and white-wine moules frites (mussels with freedom fries). After dinner, we dropped Karyn near a tram stop and headed home. It was a great day!

Sinterklaas Arrives in A'dam!

Last Sunday, on November 16th, we left our home to greet Sinterklaas as he arrived in Amsterdam. Sinterklaas is a different person from Santa Claus. Sinterklaas arrives from Spain via boat, accompanied by his assistants, all of whom are called Piet. On December 5th, we will celebrate Saint Nicholas' Eve (Sinterklaasavond), which is when Sinterklaas and the Piets bring gifts to children.





Liliane dressed up like a Piet and Amelie went as Sinterklaas. We got to the Scheepvaart Museum, where Sinterklaas' gigantic tugboat docked. Soon, a huge parade began, which consisted mostly of Piets doing all sorts of things - jump-roping, sweeping, chasing each other, unicycling, walking on stilts, springing high on special springs. The Piets would also run through and shake the hands of the children. For the kids, the most important thing the Piets did was hand out candy and pepernoten (small, gingerbread-like cookies). This caused an undercurrent of kids chanting "Piet, Piet, Piet" for the duration of the parade. There were a few floats, some bands and some vans called strooiwagens ("strewing cars," they held the pepernoten). At the end of the parade, Sinterklaas followed up grandly on a beautiful white horse.


Sinterklaas is on the bow.

Liliane celebrates his arrival!


Notice the Piets harassing the Pietzie (police).

the grand arrival



We decided not to even dare public transportation to get home, so we took a leisurely walk back. We stopped for lunch and at that time, we noticed the parade was coming past that location, so we ended up seeing it twice and the girls got even more pepernoten. It was a great celebration!




On the days leading up to St. Nicholas' Eve, Dutch television gives daily updates about his activities via the Sinterklaas Journaal. The Piets will be diligently putting together some elaborately wrapped 'surprises' (sir-pree-zes) along with poems from Sinterklaas. More updates on those after the big day!

Back to blogging...

Our Faithful Readers,

I wanted to let you know that we are going to try to blog more regularly, starting today. I will start with present things and try to backblog for August, September and October.

You may have been wondering why you haven't heard from us. In September, I began an LLM (master of law) program at the University of Amsterdam in the field of Public International Law. It is a one-year program and I expect to graduate in August. We run on an 8-week quarter system, with new classes beginning every quarter. I ended up enrolling in 5 1/2 classes during first quarter and had no extra time to update. This quarter is much better with a more manageable 3 1/2 classes. I love the classes and have made some great new friends! During the week, the girls go to daycare twice a week and Peruvian nanny watches them two days per week. So far, everything's been working out well and we are all quite happy.

Take care, and I'll try to jump right back in to blogging!
Madeline

what is different here and there

There is more to our Illinois trip and I will publish that later. In the meantime, I will talk about all the little differences I noticed.


I'll start with cultureshock. There wasn't much either way, but when I got to the US, it was really hard for me to think of floors in the American sense. Having the ground floor considered as zero makes sense to me. Back here in Holland, the only thing I noticed is this. Dan and I have a sort of agreement that whoever drives gets to choose what is broadcast on the car stereo. I was driving the other day and remembered this and for a split second I thought, "Why aren't I listening to NPR?"


I noticed a lot of seeming new-to-me things back in the US.


When we got to the Philadelphia airport, I couldn't believe how cold the AC was. There is some airconditioning here, especially in public buildings. But it never gets *that* cold.


Also, while waiting at the airport on the curb, all the cars seemed to be glisteningly clean. I also noticed that the US seems to have a lot more Japanese cars than we see here, particularly Toyota and Infiniti. One might expect to return to the US from Europe and notice how big the cars seem. I didn't feel that way, but in Holland, there is a good variety of car sizes. This is as opposed to France, where every car is no bigger than a compact.


On the subject of autos, I couldn't believe how the gas stations have evolved! Maybe Arizona just hasn't caught up, but in Illinois, there was live TV and radio broadcast at the pump. Given the fuel issues the US has been facing, I noticed little stickers on the pumps advising of the limits of gas that could be purchased. Finally, I saw an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper in a minivan window that said "Hyper Miler." My sister explained this phenomenon to me - basically, people alter their method of driving to create greater fuel efficiency standards for their cars.


At the Village Fresh Market that opened up in Carpentersville, I noticed that the shopping carts finally have what European carts have had for years. A coin slot! The carts are chained together and to release one, you must put in a coin. To get your coin out, you must return the cart. Here, it costs 50 eurocents to get the cart out of the corral. I think it's generally 1 euro in France. There, it was a quarter. There were no stray carts anywhere to be found in the parking lot, so even a quarter is enough to incentivize people to put the cart back. Although this method was only limited to this grocery store, hopefully it will catch on.


To buy certain cold remedies, I had to pick up a card and present it to the pharmacist. This is in accordance with state regulations regarding the sale of products that contain pseudoephedrine. I also noticed many kids had toy guns, which I have seen only once in use here (as a gift from a pancake house) and excluding water guns.


Finally, while I was in the US, Randy Pausch passed away. I had never heard of him until then, but his story was really amazing. Pausch was diagnosed with incurable, terminal pancreatic cancer. When they leave academia, professors often give a "last lecture" and invite friends and family to attend. His inspirational last lecture became a YouTube sensation and he went on to write a book based on the lecture. He said that his hope with the book was "[an attempt] to put myself in a bottle that will one day wash up on the beach for my children." He became one of ABC's three person's of the year and one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world.

Illinois, week 2

So after Dan left, the girls and I were left to our devices.

Monday 7/21 - pre-nap stop at Dolphin Cove. Dolphin Cove is part of the Dundee Township Park District and has all the features for kids in the summers. There are two waterslides, a wide kids's slide where multiple kids can go down, a smaller kid slide, a gradual approach into the water. In addition, there is a huge shaded sand area with running water perfect for sandcastle building and tons of sand shovels, pails and tools. There are large umbrellas for shade at the pool, a large grassy knoll to sit on, and covered areas for eating (you can bring your own food if you want). The girls had a blast and we ended up going there a few more times, including the day we left Illinois to come back here.

fantastic!

That night, we went to dinner at Lou Malnati's Pizza in Lakewood. Lou Malnati's is a Chicago area pizza restaurant chain. Marla had mentioned it to me at our lunch on Saturday and I couldn't get it out of my head. Oddly, I ordered the Chicago-style crust pizza, rather than their original crust pizza. I think I was in a pizza warp since I customarily order the Chicago-style crust at Gino's East, another Chicago-area pizza restaurant. It didn't matter, however, because the pizza was excellent!

a beautiful sunset at Lou Malnati's

Tuesday 7/22 - my mom and I went out to dinner a Francesca Campagna, a Chicago area chain of Italian restaurants. Because the chain is so small, they're able to maintain high standards. I always order vodka martinis at Francesca's because the bartender has excellent bleu-cheese stuffed olives that are served with them. He was on his usual par this evening. My mom enjoyed salmon and I had a lobster-based pasta dish. My mom and I had a great dinner, a great prelude to her birthday, which was the following day.

a perfect martini with bleu cheese olives

Wednesday 7/23 - It was my mom's birthday & she was in good form. We started, of course, at the Lavender Cafe and a lot of her friends stopped by. We spent the day at Dolphin Cove. My cousin Nick and his wife Pookie had us all over for dinner at their lovely home in nearby Algonquin. My Aunt Janet was there along with Pookie's parents who we always enjoy seeing. In addition, Nick & Pookie have two adorable kids named Isabella and Ercole who are about the same ages as Liliane and Amelie. Since Melinda and her boys also came, it was a veritable kidfest. Did I mention that our hosts prepared incredible shrimp on the barbie, as well as sumptious pork chops? Pookie even had mini monster cookies, which I love since they are a true Iowan (where I went to college) specialty.

Thursday 7/24 - My mom's birthday celebration continued the next evening at La Tasca Tapas Restaurant in Arlington Heights. My mom has been celebrating her birthday here for at least the last five years. It's a great restaurant with all sorts of amazing tapas and excellent service. This year was no exception. It was great to catch up with my aunts and uncles at such a fun place.

Friday 7/25 - In the morning, we went with Sarah and her boys to the Dundee Township Park District's Randall Oaks Farm. When I was little, we would go there in the winter to go sledding and drink great hot chocolate (probably out of a package, but it was sooooo good!). Once in a while, someone would have a birthday party there and there would be pony rides. I think these things still happen today, but in addition, there is a great petting zoo. While we were there, we ran into Pookie & her kids, so it was even better. A toddler playground has also been built, so it was a good way to wear the kids down for their naps.

After naps, my parents brought the grandkids to a carnival. When I arrived, Liliane had a stuffed animal snake draped around her neck and was carrying a blow-up plastic hammer. She had had a fantastic time. Our nephews were equally excited with similar prizes. Apparently, you are guaranteed to win stuffed animals and the like when you play these games. One carnival worker offered to upgrade the snake if I would play a $5 game. As tempting as this could have been, I just channeled Helen Buttigieg (host of neat & my organizational hero) and turned him down. After that, we had dinner at the New Hunan Chinese restaurant, where we've been going since we were little. The children of the original owners now run the place and it's still good.