Hey everybody! Last February me sweet bunny buddy Dušana hosted the Altravelalphabet again. Remember last year? Me had so much fun participating and learning new words that have to do with mental health and traveling. Me loved it so much me blogged about is last year. Do you want to read it? Just follow this link: A is for… the Altravelalphabet. Take your time… me can wait… *dumdiedumdumdum nomnomnomnom COOKIES… dumdiedumdumdum* Have you read it? GOOD! Than now read this one. Because just like last year me repeating the new words and pictures here in a blog. (pictures of the bunnies by Altravelbunny and pictures of me by Berry)
On May 16 me started something new on me blog. Like a true Sesame Street Monster me decided to tell you more about the country that me live in through something called the Alphabet. And Cookies Dutch Alphabet was born! Now last week me concluded the Alphabet with, of course, the letter Z. Me like to recap the Alphabet today. Just click on the pictures or the letters and relive your favourite letter. And feel free to drop a note!
…zee (the sea or ocean)! Me love the ocean. It is the home of many beautiful plants and animals. Like the zeehond (seal) and zeeleeuw (sealion) to name just a few beautiful animals. And – that is no coincidence – their names start with the letter Z! Yes me finally got to the last letter of the alphabet.
… yoghurt! It is the same word in English as in Dutch, only the way you say it is different. Yoghurt is yummy and here in the Netherlands you can find a lot of different kinds of yoghurts. Fat yoghurt, skinny yoghurt, Greek style yoghurt, strawberry yoghurt, blueberry yoghurt or mixed with other fruits. Even with chocolate sprinkles! Yoghurt is often eaten with breakfast cereals, fresh fruits for dessert, with a little sugar or plain as an extra portion of dairy during the lunch. Also yummy is yoghurt ijs (frozen yoghurt) with pieces of fruit or other toppings. (Above: yoghurt)
…xylofoon (xylophone). A word that you almost write the same in Dutch and English. A xylophone is a musical instrument that you can play on with sticks. Another Dutch word with an X is X-ray (it is the same in English). And that is all me know to tell about the letter X. There are not many words in the Dutch dictionary that start with an X that really are interesting for little blue monsters. So me sorry, but this is all there is to this week’s alphabet. (Xylofoon)
…Walrus (well, it is the same in English as in Dutch…)! Me love the walrus. It is a very gorgeous and relaxed animal. And they have googly eyes like me. At the Dolfinarium in Harderwijk me can visit the Walrus family under water. Me love Raisa. She is very curious, cute and playful. Me have written about this encounter before. A walrus lives in the water. Another w-word that is the same in English and Dutch. They live in the Arctic sea though, so me is glad me can visit them at the zoo.
…Voetbal (European football or soccer)! It is a national sport here in the Netherlands. People are supporting their home teams or regional teams. Sometimes not. Then they are fans of another team or a bigger team. It can be crazy sometimes. Me love to hang out at FC Utrecht but mostly because Berry takes me with her. You can read more about it in me blog about the letter U! (Above: Voetbal)
…Utrecht! It is the city me is living in with Berry in the Netherlands. It is a large city in the heart of the country. It is also an old city, with beautiful old buildings, and there is water running through the old city through canals. It is truly beautiful. The most famous building in this University City is The Dom tower. It used to be attached to the Dom Church – a gorgeous Gothic church – but due to a big storm ages ago the tower and church got separated. Utrecht also has its own football (you know soccer) team: FC Utrecht. Me go to the games too with Berry and her dad. Berry even made me me own jersey! Cool huh.
…Teddybeer (teddy bear)! So soft and cuddly. Even Sammie (Berries puppy) loves to sleep with one. Equally soft but me not know how cuddly are tijgers (tigers). At DierenPark Amersfoort lives a family of five Siberian tigers. Me have posed with Ilya, Angara and one of the three cubs. Cute huh! Here in the Netherlands you also can eat tijgerbrood (tiger bread). No! No it is not made out of tigers! The crust is made in a certain way that it looks like stripes…
…Sinterklaas! The best Dutch holiday of the year! Every year, at the end of November, Sinterklaas and his friends come to the Netherlands with their stoomboot (steam ship) and on December 5th we celebrate his birthday. But instead of giving him presents, he gets us all kinds of gifts and candy! Isn’t he the greatest? Oh and the candy! Like pepernoten and oh boy oh boy, speculaas! That is a cookie full of yummy spices like cinnamon and such. It tastes so good! And…oh boy oh boy… schuimpjes too! Those are sweet, soft candies that you can really sink your teeth in… Well, me no have teeth, but you know what me means! It is kinda like meringue, but a little different… O no, now me is hungry!
…Rembrandt, a very famous Dutch painter! He was famous for painting portraits and he was greatly known for his special, mostly brown, golden and dark, colour patterns. His most famous piece is de Nachtwacht (The Nightwatch). Also his selfportrait is very famous throughout the world. Nathan Sawaya even made it with Lego bricks. (Rembrandt’s selfportrait made out Lego bricks)
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…Pino! He is Big Bird’s cousin living on the Dutch side of Sesame Street. Pino is also a very big bird, with gorgeous blue feathers and a great, sweet personality. Me sometimes visit him at his nest. Also starting with p is poppenkast (a puppet show at a puppet theatre). It is a children’s puppet show with old fashioned hand puppets with people hiding inside this wooden cabinet with a window in it. Jan Klaassen and Katrijn are the most famous hand puppets. There are often shows to see at the park, like a pretpark (amusement park) like the Efteling or other nice amusement parks in the Netherlands.
…oranje (orange)!. Oranje is the Dutch national and royal colour. They often speak of the Oranjes (the Oranges) when the Dutch speak about the beloved Royal Family, but also when they are talking about the national sporters and athletes. Oranje is also the colour of oranjebitter (a liquor made of oranges) and used as a part of the name of oranjekoeken (orange cookies). They are pink though… and eaten at weddings in Friesland. The spicey cookie is enriched with some almond paste, pink icing and whipped cream and fruit. But you can also buy cookie pieces at the local supermarket.
… noga (nougat)! A yummy treat often found in old candyshops or at the fair or carny covered in a thin layer of chocolat. Om nom nom! Me started off great on this yummy letter. The noga diamond is often wrapped in colourful tinfoil paper. Easy to hold on to the noga without the chocolate melting on your paw. That is nice right. (noga diamond)
…molen (windmill)! There are a lot of windmills in the Netherlands, like at Kinderdijk. Windmills were used for the wind energy. That energy was used to grain wheats (and such) to make flour for baking bread and cookies! There were other windmills too, like to use the wind energy to saw wood and such. A lot of old windmills are still preserved in cities, towns and in the country. The old ones are usually used as museum (museum is the same in Dutch and English) or are a monument (monument is also a M-word that is the same in both languages). There are also a lot of modern windmills that make wind energy to use to get electricity for homes and computers. (molen)
…leeuw (lion). Here you see Sabari the leeuwin (lioness). She is the Queen of DierenPark Amersfoort. Me love lions, they are so majestic and gorgeous. Sabari’s husband is the magnificent Tonga. They do not have any leeuwenwelpen (lion cubs), but at Dierenpark Emmen they do. Me love watching them and me thinks they quite like me too. O and did you know the Dutch word for love is liefde. Yes, that also starts with the letter L! (leeuwin Sabari)
KOEKIE (cookie)! That good enough for me. Finally. Well… me is done with this letter. It is the best letter, cause K is like C in English. After koekje nothing else is important… Hey, me is not called Koekie Monster (Cookie Monster) for nothing…
…Jan Hagel! It is a delicious cookie with almond shavings on top and sometimes little pieces of candy sugar. Me loves it. It is crunchy and spicey and made with a special mix of cookie spices. It goes really well with cinnamon tea, a latte coffee or just a delicious big glass of cold milk. But that is not the only Dutch specialty starting with the letter J! (Jan Hagel cookies)
