By admin , 16 January 2012

Movie: The Silent Historian

A fascinating documentary about the filmmaker’s grandfather, the prominent Dutch historian Loe de Jong, known for his research on the history of the Netherlands during World War II. De Jong grew to national prominence when the war history of public figures such as Prince Claus came to light. After his death, the family made a discovery—Loe had concealed personal documents about his twin brother, Sally, who didn’t survive the war. Why did Loe never give these letters to Sally’s children, who spent their lives looking for information about the family that was broken apart by the war?

By Guus , 14 January 2012

Baby shower Sasha

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.

Topic
dailylife
By Guus , 12 January 2012

Cooking for Gracie -- the making of a parent from scratch

I'm looking forward tremendously to becoming a father, but I'll admit I also feel a little trepidation, especially for the first weeks. I've heard the stories of a lack of sleep, and I'd not enjoy giving up the pretty healthy eating that we do now -- cooking a lot at home.

So I was interested right away in this book, about a cooking-loving writer for the New York Times who became a father of a little girl and saw his life turned upside down.

The book is beautifully written, and I enjoyed reading it. I believe that my cooking is more down-to-earth than the author's pre-baby culinary baseline so in that sense the transition will be less stark, but it was great to get some insight in how life changes with a newborn.

The book also includes several recipes. I enjoyed the articles about the family's first year together, and I would have preferred to read about that and fewer recipes. Still, I'd like to make the 'Family-Style Roasted Cauliflower with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette'.

By admin , 11 January 2012

cartwheel

ha, a translation of "handslag"

By admin , 8 January 2012

A busy weekend

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.

Topic
dailylife
By admin , 5 January 2012

Quoted in The Economist

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.

Topic
dailylife
By Guus , 5 January 2012

a dead ringer

a dead ringer for somebody/something - someone or something that looks exactly like someone or something else

By Guus , 3 January 2012

Oliebollen recipe

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.

Topic
foodanddrinks