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Christmas In The Netherlands
Christmas in the Netherlands
Now that Sinterklaas took his steamship back to his summer residency in Spain, people in the Netherlands are ready for the christmas season. It’s not done to set up the tree before Sinterklaas has left the country, so you can say that there is an explosion of Christmas sentiment right now. People are decorating their trees, making dinerplans and drinking hot chocolate to go with it.
It's Sinterklaas' Birthday!
It's Sinterklaas his birthday!
Earlier we've told you all about kruidnoten, and why Dutch children put shoes in front of the fireplace. In the mean time December 5th, Sinterklaas' eve (his birthday), has been approaching very rapidly. The shopping malls in the Netherlands are packed with people right now, who are buying the last presents, kruidnoten, and other Sinterklaas delicacies. And the children can't wait to be visited by his holiness and his two 'zwarte pieten'.
Dutch Children Placing Their Shoe With Sinterklaas
Why do Dutch children put their shoes in front of the fire place?
On November 12th Sinterklaas is visiting the Netherlands again (read more about Sinterklaas in our earlier post). All the Dutch children are very excited, because Sinterklaas means lots of presents. To receive these presents, the children put their shoes in front of the fireplace. But why do they do that?
Black Liquorice
Black liquorice is the most popular candy for the Dutch people. Every year over 31.000 tons of liquorice is consumed! You will come across it everywhere, in the supermarket, at the farmacy, at the gas station and at the market. While in other countries you will rarely see it, there they are used to candy being sweet and being colorful. Therefor it's not very surprising Holland is the biggest liquorice producer on this planet. Of course in other countries they are people who love black liquorice and it gets exported away from The Netherlands. The YummyDutch webshop is an example of that. A couple of examples of delicious black liquorice: 
Boerenkool Met Worst
With the summer coming to an end and autumn slowly kicking in, it is also time for the more winter-style dinners again in Holland. This summer in Holland was probably one of the worst we had in years and autumn already had the overhand for a few weeks here in Holland. In Canada it must have probably be one of the best summers ever, but here in Holland we are often stuck with lower temperatures and lots of wind. And since Holland was and still is a strong agricultural country with lots of farmers and glass houses (nurseries), winter meals like "boerenkool met worst" (boerenkool with a sausage) are amazingly popular. They are very healthy and make you more resistant to the cold ;). This is what the dish looks like:
Sinterklaas And Dutch Kruidnootjes
The Dutch Sinterklaas time is coming in three months already and soon enough the candy that comes along with it, will be in the stores again! Sinterklaas you say? I can hear you think, what are you talking about? Those with Dutch parents or grandparents will most likely know that the celebration of Sinterklaas is a very big tradition in Holland where children are the centre of attention! You can compare it to how Christmas is being celebrated with Santa Claus in the USA, Canada, Australia etc, where all the children are receiving presents. It's just like that, but instead of it being with Christmas, our Sinterklaas is celebrated on December 5th (or sometimes on December 6th) and has literally nothing to do with Christmas.
Authentic Dutch Apple Pie
Apple Pie - who doesn't love it? It could very well be the most popular pie in the world,.... but to the Dutchies, this pie is like the mother of all pies ;). Here in Holland everyone knows someone who can make the best apple pie in the world and if you have ever been in Holland, you must have noticed the signs outside of café's saying "Koffie en appeltaart - € 4.50". Yes, apple pie in Holland is so popular that bars and café's serve it on their menu's (and often served with sweetened whip cream)! You could say that coffee and apple pie belongs to the traditions of Holland. It is also almost always served on birthdays - and not after dinner as most of you would think, but before! In Holland we take coffee and apple pie on birthdays in the afternoon, after which the beers and wine is served. 
Authentic Dutch Bitterballs
One of the most popular snacks in Holland is the famous bitterbal. The bitterbal refers to consuming this awesome snack, while drinking - the bitter is the drink ;).
Traditional Poffertjes
One of the most famous typical dutch food products must be the legendary "poffertjes"! They are truly authentic to Holland and as much authentic as they are, they are good as well. If you are wondering what they are: small puffy dollar sized pancakes, which are usually consumed with a bit of real (dairy) butter and lots of icing sugar (or also called powdered sugar) or even with syrup or fruits like strawberries. Poffertjes are a real delicacy and are usually offered by stands on festivals or fairs. When they are offered on festivals and such, they bake them on rather large plates, like this:
Dutch Chicken Or Pork Sate On A Skewer
To go with the peanut sauce from last week, we would like to offer the recipe for a good original Dutch Chicken Saté. As mentioned in last weeks post, peanut sauce is originally an Indonesian sauce and it goes along very well with Chicken Saté which is also originally Indonesian. However, the Chicken Saté with peanut sauce is offered in almost every snackbar, lunch restaurant, beach clubs or road side food/snackbars.
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