Over the last few days I've done quite some cooking, in preparation of the first weeks when the baby arrives. I'm not exactly sure what's in store for us, but everybody says we'll be very busy and tired so I figured it's useful to have some frozen healthy dinners ready.

I made enough macaroni sauce for seven meals last week, and recently I cooked a huge batch of chili. I'm very happy with my two electric burners that allow me to cook on the balcony -- it's great for "smelly" foods like garlic and onions.

This week I'll also freeze babi pangang and perhaps some other dishes.

Suggestions?

It was snowing tonight and we woke up to a white world. It's the first snow this season, and it will disappear soon.

Last year when we visited D.C. for Sasha's interviews there was a very thick layer of snow in February, so there's still a possibility, but it has been a very mild winter so far.

I took three pictures and stitched them together with Hugin, an excellent tool.

In what seems to be good news for Dutch citizens abroad a spokesperson for minister Spies said that sending the controversial dual-nationality law to the Dutch Parliament "currently does not have priority". Radio Netherlands Worldwide reports that minister Spies did not mention when she will submit the proposal for review to the Tweede Kamer, and said that she will determine the time-frame of this "herself" -- apparently distancing herself from her predecessor Minister Donner who had earlier said that he would send the proposal before Christmas.

"A U-turn compared to last year"

Eelco Keij, spokesman and initiator of the protests again the proposal: "This means a U-turn compared to last year, and it seems that because of the public pressure the government is (temporarily) backing off. Needless to say, we remain alert, but for now it comes down to a 'standstill victory'. The exceptions for dual nationality for Dutch people abroad remain unharmed, at least for now."

The minister's remarks come after significant publicity around the effects of the proposed laws on Dutch citizens abroad, including in The Economist and the Huffington Post. The Economist wrote: "By seeking to toughen its nationality laws, the Netherlands is bucking a global trend". The online petition against the proposal currently has more than 20,000 signatures.

No formal decision to delay or postpone the proposal has been made, so it remains to be seen how things will ultimately play out. Says Keij: "we'll keep monitoring".

Minister Spies was named Minister of Interior and Kingdom Relations after Mr. Donner was appointed to be the new Vice President of the Council of State in December 2011. The proposed law has as goal to limit dual citizenship for new Dutch citizens and would impact Dutch citizens abroad as well.

Yesterday we saw a beautiful documentary, "Babies", about the lives of four babies in four different cultures. A baby in Namibia, Tokyo, Mongolia and San Francisco went through the same major milestones in life -- but in very different environments.

The cinematography and music were outstanding. It's a French movie but it has virtually no talking. The film captured beautiful landscapes and most of all great human moments.

Joy, a colleague, recommended this movie. Highly recommended. The trailer of the movie can be found here.

Over the Christmas weekend Irena threw a surprise baby shower for Sasha. She had arranged everything and invited our friends to Secaucus on Saturday.

A baby shower is an American tradition where a friend or relative of the future mom organizes a surprise party (usually just with girls) for her to celebrate the baby with drinks, food and a "shower" of baby presents.

Early in the morning while Sasha was still upstairs we decorated the house and prepared the drinks and snacks for the party. The decorations were adorable: pink baby balloons, garlands of tiny diapers, tiny giraffes and elephants. The cake was also carefully chosen for the occasion. We got a lot of baby presents and the girls had a fun time at the party which was spiced up by champagne (apple cider for Sasha though). Thank you, Irena, this was a great surprise! Special thanks to Ilana who chose some of the decorations and took great pictures.

While the girls were enjoying the party I went out for drinks and lunch with Jonathan and Ed.

We're preparing to welcome a third member to our little family!

Saturday evening Yaxin and David came over for dinner. They were the second guests we hosted in our new apartment (the first were Pascal and Hanna) and we had a fun evening.

After dinner we watched the Republican debate at 9.00 pm. Twelve hours later, this morning, we watched the second debate.

In the afternoon the FiOS technician came and replaced our internet router -- that seems to have fixed our connectivity problem.

Tonight we had a fun New Year's reception from the Dutch club. There were about 50 people in a clubhouse in Maryland, including many that we already knew. There were fresh oliebollen and bitterballen.

I was quoted in this week's Economist in an article on dual citizenship:

A new law proposed by the Dutch government aims not only to limit dual nationality among immigrants (in 2011 around 20,000 people gained Dutch nationality through naturalisation) but also to make it easier for the authorities to strip members of the 850,000-plus Dutch diaspora of their nationality, should they secure a second citizenship abroad.

Guus Bosman, a Dutchman living in Washington, DC, calls the proposal “mean-spirited”.

Very cool. I've been a reader of the magazine for over a decade and it's fun to see my name in it. To read more about the initiative against the proposed law, please visit www.nederlanderblijven.com.

Last year we made oliebollen for the first time. Jaap, my father, sent me his recipe and I have adjusted it for American measurements and ingredient names.

We used it for the New Year's Eve party this weekend and made around 100 oliebollen. Ilana helped make the dough.

For 30 oliebollen:

1. Soak 0.5 lbs of raisins in water for at least 30 minutes.

2. Mix the following ingredients:

- 4 cups of flour
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- 1.7 tablespoons sugar
- 1.6 cups of milk
- 1 egg

3. Proof 4 teaspoons of Active Dry yeast in 0.5 cup of water (100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit) with two teaspoons sugar.

4. Once the yeast has activated, add it to the dough, mix it, and add the drained raisins.

5. Let rise for 1 hour.

6. Fry in oil (I used canola oil), at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry in batches of 6 or 7. Start timer after the 6th is in the deep fryer, then wait 6 to 6.5 minutes. Don't use the cover on the deep fryer.