Guus Bosman

The cold weather brings memories of good old Dutch traditions.

I cooked hutspot the other day, and with the tea we had a real stroopwafel.

The other day in CVS we saw a pan for "Pancake Puffs". Well, that looks like a poffertjespan to me! (Got to love to nice long Dutch words).

There is a mail order store in the US that sells real, Dutch, poffertjespannen and even a poffertjesvork, for flipping the poffertjes over.

Gerben sent me an article about the history of the English language, and its roots in the language of Friesland, where Ettie and Gerben live.

"Modern-day Friesians put bûter on their bred, with a slice of tsiis, to make a tasty miel".

See the article below, or read more here.

Yesterday's New York Times had an article about the Netherlands.

"The Netherlands, a Low Country, Seeks Higher Ground".

The fake satellite photo of a tulip-island is funny.

My passport is about to expire and I went to the Dutch Consulate to renew it. There is a honorary consul for the Netherlands in Raleigh, a friendly Dutch business man who provides consular services. I'm glad he's here, otherwise I'd have had to go to Washington D.C., a 5 hour drive from here.

The Dutch, American and North Carolinian flag stood next to each other in the hallway, and the office had pictures of Dutch landscapes and of Queen Beatrix.

This year's bureaucratic experiences have made me cautious but it looks like this passport renewal will be fairly quick and efficient; it should be about 3 weeks.

Sunday afternoon we spent some time in Barnes & Noble. I was looking for a copy of a French cookbook that I borrowed from the library a while back.

I didn't find it, but between a Japanese book and that of another exotic cuisine I did see a book on Dutch cooking.

Ben sent me a link to a page with jokes about the Dutch that I found quite amusing.

"Don't make holes in the dikes. Such behaviour is commonly disapproved and in extreme cases it can get you stoned by wooden shoes. But feel free to put your finger in the dike if you feel the urge."

I saw a funny commercial the other day from E*Trade: "All you can do with 1 finger".

Watch it on Youtube.com.

The Dutch lady says something like "Dank ou mistah" -- presumably meaning "dank u mister".

On my way home from Washington I saw an intriguing sign next to the highway: "Dutch Gap Conservation".

I took the exit and followed the signs. It turns out the Dutch Gap is a short cut in the James river that was created in the Civil War by General Dale.

He had been to the Netherlands and had a number of Dutch engineers in his army, which explains the name.

Today is the Dutch-American Friendship Day.

It remembers the day that John Adams, the second president of the United States, was received by the States General in The Hague and recognized as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America.

It is also the day that the house John Adams purchased at Fluwelen Burgwal 18 in The Hague became the first American Embassy in the world.