All Things Holland

When one thinks of Dutch food one might think of bland boring food; where one fills yourself to the brim with cheese, mayonaise and sardines. But, this a faux preconception. The netherlands has long been a colonising country, bringing Holland into contact with many "spicy" nations like Indonesia, Surinam,the Antilles and more recently Turkey and Morocco. We will focus on the most major culinary contribution by Indonesian cooking. I think one reason that the Dutch have adapted to this type of cooking is that, in general, stew is a favorite meal in the netherlands and stews are prevelent in Indonesian food. Indonesian cooking also uses a lot of meat, for those sport loving and very hungry dutch people. The first food that is a crowd pleaser in the netherlands is...satay Satay are skewers of marinated meat served with a sauce (in the netherlands normally a peanut sauce) The second is deffinately rijsttafe which in dutch literaly means rice table. This is an assortment o

With the 2012 Olympic games a little under 200 days away (It officially kicks off in London July 27 2012, I'm super excited!) I thought it would be neat to learn about how Holland has faired at previous Olympic games. The picture above is of the Dutch team walking into opening ceremonies at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Nice ties! The Netherlands have consistently sent competitors to each games since the year 1900 (Except for a boycott in 1956). They were the host in 1928 and are interested in hosting again in 2028. A bicentennial of sorts. Dutch athletes have won 246 medals at the summer games mostly in swimming and cycling; and 86 medals at the winter games of which 82 came from speed skating. Looking through their wikipedia medal count; The Netherlands top sports include; speed skating (which is a crazy passion of the country, more on that in another post I think), swimming, cycling, and equestrian rounding out the top 4. These also being their most widely recognized sports of

Could you spend 509 days alone in the middle of the ocean? Laura Dekker from the Netherlands is nearing the completion of her journey and when she does she will become the youngest person to do so. What has she done you might ask? She will become the youngest person to sail around the globe. As of 1/12/12 she was on day 509 with a possible 12 more days to go before she completes her trip. She left the island of St. Maarten (Which is a few miles east of Puerto Rico) in January 2011 after first traveling there across the Atlantic from Portugal. While my opening line may have been a little false, she did come into contact other people along the way, she has completed the act of actually sailing all on her own. She originally had this idea when she was just 14 but was blocked by a Dutch court who made her first take a first aid course and make some adjustments to her vessel before departing. More Pictures and a link to her own website here . What did you want to do with your life when you

When life gives you lemons make green tea lemonade. So, when one lives in the midwest why not make the best of it and explore the sites in this area? You don't need a lot of money or even a passport. That brings us to Holland, Michigan a Dutch settlement in America. Obviously the city is very proud of its Dutch heritage, as shown in the klompen picture at the top. Klompen is the name of the Dutch wooden clog dance. There are many dutch settlements in Michigan but what makes Holland so distinctly Dutch are its two festivals: the tulip time festival in the spring and the winter festival. The tulip festival is held in mid-May and lasts for 8 days. The festival includes tours at the local windmills, tulip farms, local dutch houses, as well as dances, concerts, street scrubing, and a dutch marketplace. One interesting thing about the Dutch costumes that are presented during the festival is that they are from the 8 out of 12 different provinces of the Netherlands. Here is

This link was on yahoo.com last week. When you think of Dutch products, cars normally aren't one of the first things that come to mind. Well how about a 340 hp Dutch car that goes from 0-60 in 3 seconds. 3 seconds! With a top speed of 160 mph. I mean look at this thing! The link has more pictures. While this obviously isn't a car you would drive everyday around town. It does look fun. Look at the 'teeth' in the front grill. If you are a fan of utilitarian vehicles; cars that don't cater to the extravagant, cars that deliver the simple necessities quickly and without the fluff. I'm thinking the older Jeep Wrangler models. Then Joop Donkervoort of the Netherlands and his Donkervoort D8 GTO is the car for you. This car dismisses the fancy plush seats and touchscreen displays and delivers a few things a driver isn't used to The driver is rewarded for ignoring the creature comforts by getting a ridiculously light vehicle and amazing speed over comfort. Donkervoo