(no subject)
May. 5th, 2006 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omimouseToday is Bevrijdingsdag in the Netherlands. Yesterday was a day of memorial .
Yesterday, at 20:00 in the Netherlands, it was quiet for two minutes. The streetlights went out. Traffic stopped. People stopped where they were. When I lived there, the start and finish of this period of time was announced with an air raid siren. It probably was again yesterday.
I remember the first 4th and 5th of May that I spent in the Netherlands. I was 11 at the time. Even at that age, I remember comparing how it was treated by the Dutch to how I'd seen Memorial Day celebrated in America. I remember that my Opa and Oma, who had both lived through the war (my Opa in a slave labour camp because he refused to join the German army) were usually pretty quiet on the 4th. I remember that it was one of the few things that my highly irreverant Opa took very seriously.
I remember the silence, the country-wide silence. Something like that has a great deal of weight to it, and it was the first time I ever felt like part of a country.
The 5th of May is a great deal louder. Celebrations and stuff. There was a parade, that year. Opa explained to me that freedom was being celebrated, because I was very confused about such a ruckus happening one day after such silence.
Of course, now I really miss all the stuff I was allowed to eat on the 5th. Koek, vla, stroopwafels, olliebollen, patat met, poffertjes, frikandel, kroket . . . Lucky for me, I was having my 'bottomless pit' stage, so I didn't give my self a tummy ache stufing my face. Olliebollen were the rare treat of the lot, so I ate a lot more of those than probably should have.
Ahem. Pardon me, seem to have drifted off into introspection and babbling there.
Yesterday, at 20:00 in the Netherlands, it was quiet for two minutes. The streetlights went out. Traffic stopped. People stopped where they were. When I lived there, the start and finish of this period of time was announced with an air raid siren. It probably was again yesterday.
I remember the first 4th and 5th of May that I spent in the Netherlands. I was 11 at the time. Even at that age, I remember comparing how it was treated by the Dutch to how I'd seen Memorial Day celebrated in America. I remember that my Opa and Oma, who had both lived through the war (my Opa in a slave labour camp because he refused to join the German army) were usually pretty quiet on the 4th. I remember that it was one of the few things that my highly irreverant Opa took very seriously.
I remember the silence, the country-wide silence. Something like that has a great deal of weight to it, and it was the first time I ever felt like part of a country.
The 5th of May is a great deal louder. Celebrations and stuff. There was a parade, that year. Opa explained to me that freedom was being celebrated, because I was very confused about such a ruckus happening one day after such silence.
Of course, now I really miss all the stuff I was allowed to eat on the 5th. Koek, vla, stroopwafels, olliebollen, patat met, poffertjes, frikandel, kroket . . . Lucky for me, I was having my 'bottomless pit' stage, so I didn't give my self a tummy ache stufing my face. Olliebollen were the rare treat of the lot, so I ate a lot more of those than probably should have.
Ahem. Pardon me, seem to have drifted off into introspection and babbling there.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-06 04:14 pm (UTC)A frikandel (plural frikandellen) is a sort of minced-meat hot dog. It is a long, dark-coloured sausage that is eaten warm. Unlike other sausages, a frikandel is deep-fried. Sometimes it is served on a piece of bread, and is called a broodje frikandel.
The croquette or croquet is a parcel of food such as minced meat or vegetables, shaped into a cylinder, encased in breadcrumbs and deep fried. (Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.)
Poffertjes are little pancakes served with butter and sugar. In contrast with pancakes, poffertjes are turned before one side is completely done, which results in a much softer inside than pancakes. (Nummy. Very, very nummy)
Olliebollen are a yeast dough ball that's been deep-fried in oil, the liberally covered with powdered sugar. Best eaten fresh.
Koek could probably best be described as a sort of heavy loaf cake. Some are sort of ginger-breadish in flavour. Very popular to bring out with coffee for guests.
Patat met is Belgian (not French; the French do not bloody know how to make real fries) fries. They're called French Fries because they were thought up in the Belgian area, and border lines between Belgium and France were pretty wiggily at one point.) Very thick. Very, very thick fries. With mayonaise on them. That's actually what the 'met' indicates. 'Patat' is the fries, 'met' means with, and I've only ever heard it used for mayo. There's a special way of making them, BTW, that I've only ever found in the Netherlands and Belgium. Don't have a clue what it is, but my mom has a cookbook with a recipe for 'Belgische(sp?) Patat' in it. I think the major difference comes in at the oil stage.
Vla is a thick sweet milk pudding which is similar to English custard, made mainly from milk and offered in a variety of tastes ranging from vanilla and chocolate to strawberry. (Not exactly like custard, but that is the best comparison out there. They sell it (and yogurt!) in the same size and shape of carton that milk gets sold in. Large.)
Stroopwafel is a unique type of cookie that has been around for centuries. are made with two thin wafle-type wafers that have a very special caramel filling. The waffle is cooked at a very high temperature on a waffle iron then sliced in half. The syrup then spread on and the two halves come together again. (Best when fresh off the iron. Trust me.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-07 11:23 pm (UTC)Bevrijdingsdag isn't exactly what it used to be, nowadays - it is for the elder people, but us from the third generation? It just doesn't mean as much. The silence is nice, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-08 06:24 pm (UTC)