Hello everybody and welcome again to another episodes of Cookies Kitchen. This time me is going to tell you all about Patat, or as we call them Fries! Me love fries. It is baked potatoes, but different. And yes, maybe it is not typical Dutch, but they are yummy. Me love to eat them with apple sauce or with a little mayonnaise. They are yummy as a meal, but also as a side dish to replace your normal potatoes. But how are fries made? Ofcourse me is going to tell you!
Hello everybody. Me is back with another Dutch recipe for the cold winter time. The Dutch really like to eat Stamppot, a dish made of potatoes and some vegetables mashed together. Ofcourse with a little pit to put the gravy in. There are all kinds of stampot to make. Me chose Hutspot (hotchpotch), a dish everybody likes! Well… if you like carrots ofcourse.
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)
…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.
…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)
… i is for… well the week is over and this letter is giving me headache! It is a tough cookie. There are ofcourse lots of Dutch words starting with the letter i, but me want fun words, not boring ones, like internet or infrastructuur (infrastructure)… Well, for starters ik (I or me) starts with the letter i. And although me loves to talk about me, it is not good enough for me Dutch alphabet.
…haring (herring)! A fat little fish the Dutch love to eat raw. Like sushi, but different. They take the tail between two fingers, tilt their head backwards and eat it right out of the air! A lot of people think it is gross to eat herring like that and just cut it in pieces to eat it with chopped onions and sliced pickles. Still it is a Dutch tradition to eat a herring that way. The Hollandse Nieuwe (Dutch new herring) is thought to be the most delicious. Me is not really into herring though…
…groen (green). According to Kermit it is not easy being green. But Oscar from Sesame Street does not matter that he is green. He kinda loves it. You know what else is green? Groente (vegetables)! Well not all are green, some vegetables have different colors, like orange and red and purple. But in Dutch it is called groente. Well… what else starts with the letter G? (Oscar is groen)
