All Things Holland

This video sums it all up. Oh, and this Pim guy seems awesome.

This article is too long for me to ruin by summarizing it here. Check this out... NY TIMES on Dutch Flood Control

Check this baby out!  Yahoo Story.   (I had a different picture posted here but you couldn't tell the length of it) Here's a quick post for you. A yacht that Steve Jobs commissioned is finally finished (October 27, 2012). Sadly it's after he passed (A year and a few days later). Why is this on this blog? Because it was built in Aalsmeer Holland by a Dutch shipbuilder. Figures the Dutch are good at building quality sea going vessels. Just slightly southwest of Amsterdam with a 'harbor'. Here's a brief synopsis of the article. There are more pictures of the boat there too.  Just over a year after Steve Jobs's death, shipbuilders in Aalsmeer, Holland have finally finished the yacht that the Apple visionary spent years designing. Her name is  Venus . (Or should that be iVenus? Sorry to easy).  B uilt entirely out of aluminum, the yacht was designed by Jobs personally along with some help from French designer Phillipe Stack. The ship is between ...

It's the wrong Holland but still. Holland MI is city located on the coast with Lake Michigan settled by Dutch colonists in the 1800s. I plan on visiting someday, maybe in time with the Tulip festival like we talked about before, and posting pictures. I plan a post on this city soon. In the meantime, check out this song by Sufjan Stevens. It's kinda sappy and slow but neat, especially set to pictures of Holland. Sufjan Stevens is from Detroit MI and loves all things Michigan.

I decided to wait a few days for the medals to pile up before posting an update. (If this was a blog about USA or China I wouldn't be able to keep up!) The Netherlands won 5 more medals since last I posted. 2 Golds in Swimming and 3 Bronze in other sports. Pushing their total to 8 ranking them 11th overall. Women's 8 Rowing - Bronze. Gold went to USA with Silver to Canada. I found a picture of the Dutch women's rowing team after they won. Looks like they are having fun regardless of getting 3rd. No offense to the lady in the middle but you can almost hear her snort from here. Men's 100kg Judo - Bronze (Henk Grol). Gold went to Russia, Silver to Mongolia and Netherlands tied for Bronze with Germany. Henk Grol. Sounds almost like a name from some Dan Brown novel (pictured below, chiseled). Dutch men aren't ready to be out matched in the tough guy department by the women just yet. Women's 50m and 100m Freestyle (swimming). 50m Freestyle (2 Dutchwomen Medal...

   Looking for some inspiration in 1972 the Beach Boys packed their bags and their recording studio and settled down in the Netherlands to record their album "Holland". They hoped that the change of scenery would snap their band leader Brian Wilson out of his depression. Although they did end up getting Brian to come along, 3 attempts, he did not contribute much to the album. (except it seems his very creepy EP Mt.Vernon and Fairway{ A fairytale})      Sailing and port towns are the themes of the CD which is applicable whether you are off the California coast or in the canals of Amsterdam. The single from the album "Sail on Sailor" sounds much like Stevie Wonder, who was a major player in the music scene around that time. "Holland" was famously expensive to record, which makes sense since they needed to send all of their gear to Holland; and it was recorded in the tiny town of Baambrugge which is in the interior of the Netherlands.  ...

Black licorice. The Bane of kids everywhere (in honor of the new Batman movie coming out tomorrow I had to slide that in there). In America when we hear the word licorice, we normally think of the straw looking red kind or the nasty tasting black tar taffy. In Holland, licorice is known as Drop and primarily comes in black and 2 flavors. No stringy red ropes either. Drop comes in these lozenge style shapes. And so I've read, I have never tried the stuff, it is a different flavor than what we're thinking of. One website states that Holland consumes the highest per capita consumption of licorice in the world. Or almost 4 1/2 lbs of the salty stuff a year. Wait, did I say salty? Yes, you read that correctly. Drop comes in a variety of flavors from sweet like we're used to, to this salty flavor. There's soft sweet, soft salty, hard sweet, and hard salty. With added flavors of honey, coconut, mint, etc. The current craze seems to be making the lozenges in the shapes of t...

This morning I was researching a new article I want to post soon and stumbled across another (dare I say better) Dutch blog. http://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/ Read their about page, very witty. It's written by someone not native to Holland but who lived there for 7 years (Slightly Jealous) and geared towards a more humorus view. I have never visited. I only read articles and watch documentaries on the country. Makes this little blog we do sound weak and uninformed.... http://blogs.transparent.com/dutch/ This is the one I've been reading. More geared toward learning the language but also very imformative. I've linked you to these because (obviously) I'm not allowed to straight copy from their blogs (even if I wanted to) without contacting them for permission and even then, I can only use 10% of what they wrote. Moral of the story. We'll keep plugging away here on All Things Holland but if you want honest to goodness firsthand knowledge check out these other ...

Although I would have loved to be at this years tulip time festival sadly I was not. However, to lessen the pain, a friend was able to enjoy the event and pass down the news. It seems that this years tulip time was lacking in tulips! This March temperatures rose to the 80's which started the growth of the tulips too early. When these temperatures hit, the tulip time committee decided to label the upcoming festival as stemfest; knowing in advance that the March heat would force the tulips to bloom too early. So the festival was pushed to do things differently. They used greenhouses for tulips which were brought out for tulip time , they revamped an old french organ, and they had a flash mob. Very nice job Holland! I'll post the flash mob video next.

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...

First off, an update on Fisherman's Friend from the last post. They come in a tin box similar to Altoids. They are little brown oval shapped waffers. Not very appetizing looking to be honest. But if you are a fan of Halls mints, this is for you. They have the almost overpowering nose cleansing and clearing power of a Halls lozenge. The other blog writer thought this would help her sickness but she is not a fan of the intensity. I took them home with me and use them as candy! Second. My aunt and uncle sent me a link to this neat store in Holland. The Frozen Fountain. They sell a range of different furniture items; mostly focusing on Dutch creators. LINK . More on the hippy side if you ask me but very very neat stuff. I especially like some of the lamps. This site has more Dutch stores as it focuses on Shopping while traveling. I'll post more about the other ones sometime. Meanwhile my Holland trip is still in the works.... Enjoy your weekend reader... whoever you are.

Recently I tried Gouda cheese like I posted about a while back. So here is a quick post and a quick non expert review of Gouda cheese. I'm not confident enough, and I don't think we have one anyway, to go into a fancy cheese place. So I went into our local supermarket to look for Gouda cheese. There were about 3 or 4 different brands and prices of Gouda. My thoughts on that is the more expensive, the better quality. I bought (I forget the name) a brand that was wrapped in black wax which I believe is a way of showing the age. Black being a longer aged cheese. I took it home and got ready to enjoy, hopefully with my crackers. Just like Wallace would have liked. First, reaction upon unwrapping the cheese. It STINKS! Then again I guess all cheese has a funk to it. After a bit I realize it wasn't as bad of a stink as I thought. I've smelled much worse and heard of cheeses being worse. I'm just used to classic cheddar or swiss. The cheese is white and kinda flaky onc...

As you are no doubt are aware by now, I won't be sticking to my 2 posts a week schedule I set for myself way back when. I hope to do at least 1 a week or, one when I find something really interesting or on my mind that pertains. Today, I have two things to talk about. One I've held back on you guys for selfish reasons. As you may remember, a majority of my ideas come from an official dutch blog ( http://www.transparent.com/dutch ) which I have referenced several times. A little over a month ago they had this posted ( click ). A dream come true! A free trip to Holland riding bikes..... The problem was, I had scheduled through the month of May, 2 weeks of training for my job. So, I showed it to my sister who I would have submitted my video with. Her friend and her put together a steller application video. I would have done a little less self-degradation but it wins votes! (She's going to kick me for taking so long to rally support for her but she's the only one who reads ...

I've been looking into the different national products of Holland recently and, if you've been reading this from the beginning, you remember the articles on the different beers. There seem to be 2 major brands of cheese that are native to Holland. I plan on trying these all one day. The first I've been warned isn't to my liking and the second, which I'll put up later, I actually heard about from Wallace and Gromit. My friend said Gouda was made with goat milk, LIAR. So, cheese # 1. Help for this post came from www.cheese.com . (I didn't know there was an entire website dedicated to CHEESE!) GOUDA Named after the Dutch town of Gouda, just outside Rotterdam. It accounts for more than 60% of the cheese produced in Holland and it has a very long history. Gouda is a traditional, creamery, hard cheese. It is round with very smooth, yellow, waxed rind. The flavor is sweet and fruity. As time passes, the taste intensifies and becomes more complex. Mature Gouda (18 month...

My parents went on a trip to California recently. They talked to people about my interest in Dutch things and the man they were talking to mentioned that I should look up Holambra, Brazil. So I did. This is an excerpt from a website I found ( http://www.v-brazil.com/tourism/foreigner/holambra.html ). Add this to the list of places that speak Dutch outside of the Netherlands and places I would like to visit. The town is on the South-East side of Brazil near Sao Paulo. Holland, in Portuguese, is Holanda. A city built jointly by Holland and Brazil should, then, be called Holan + Bra = Holanbra. However, Portuguese orthography requires that, before a "b", an "m" must be used. Hence, Holambra, a piece of Holland in Brazil. Or Hol land- Am erica- Bra zil. In 1948, after World War II, Holland was not so rich as today; many families, particularly from the countryside, didn't have bright perspectives in their country, and wanted to emigrate. Brazil was the option for som...

Today I thought I would start an ongoing portion where I tell you about semi-famous to famous people who are Dutch. Some you wouldn't have guessed and others you already know. First off are Movies..... ( Her picture here ) I could only find one big name. Famke Janssen - Born in Holland. Best known for her roles as Xenia Onatopp in Goldeneye and Jean Grey in X-Men. She recently appeared as Liam Neeson's wife in Taken. Interestingly, her first name means little girl in West Frisian and she speaks (besides Dutch) English and French. All the rest of the Dutch actors and actresses are not main stream enough to be recognizable.

( Map ) Both. Kinda. The country is known as the Netherlands (Nederland in Dutch). Holland is the name of the name of two of the twelve provinces that make up the Netherlands. North Holland (Noord Holland) is the home to Amsterdam while South Holland (Zuid Holland) is home to The Hague (Den Haag). The Hague is the "political" capital of the Netherlands while Amsterdam is the "real" capital. You have probably heard on the news about The Hague. It is in a way the political capital wester Europe. The European Union Courts are located there. I guess in a way the next powerful political establishment outside the UN. So the Dutch are Nederlanders but translated into english it is just Dutch. The reason that Holland is used interchangeably as the name of the country is that that is the most influential province of the country. We really don't have an example here in America. It would be like if the United States would be called Texas or something. I'm sure Texans w...