Here's a nice example of a cross-over food: Dutch style hagelslag, produced in Indonesia and imported into the United States.

The packaging has an image of a girl on a bike, and it says "smulpaapjes" on the side -- clear pointers to a Dutch heritage.

Hagelslag is a very popular sandwich topping in the Netherlands. In the US it is referred to as 'jimmies' or 'chocolate sprinkles' but is not typically used for sandwiches but more for cake decorating.

I saw this hagelslag last week in Grand Asia Market in Cary, NC; it's also available online. I brought a package from the Netherlands and that will last us a long time, so I won't try the Indonesian product anytime soon.

Tonight I attended the rijsttafel dinner organized by the Dutch club in the Triangle, De Wieken.

There were at least 40 people and a large variety of food. I especially liked an Indonesian 'salad' consisting of mixed rice, shrimp, currants and chopped vegetables. There was a huge bag with krupuk. True to Dutch habit, the evening started at 5.00 pm and dinner was served pretty much right away. Quite a difference with yesterday's dinner. The party was in a club house of a community in North Raleigh, about 30 minutes away from us.

I brought some of the serundeng I made earlier this week and beets pickled based on a recipe my parents gave me, atjar beet. The latter worked out really well; with a subtle delicious flavor.

Someone I spoke with, of Indonesian descent, recommended a new store in Raleigh that carries a lot of real Indonesian ingredients, including dried shrimp paste (trassi), something I've been looking for for a while. I'll check it out next week.

It was a nice, relaxed evening and I enjoyed the company a lot.

Making pisang goreng, baked banana.

Next to the bookstore in the National Gallery of Art there is a lunch restaurant.

When we walked by it I was surprised to see a menu in Dutch, with dishes such as gebakken vis and rode kool. In line with the exhibition, the menu was in Dutch style and the restaurant was temporarily called "Cafe Amsterdam".

We had already had lunch so we didn't eat, but the appeltaart was on a buffet and looked very authentic. According to the menu there was also boterboek and flensjes with apples.

"But can New York revert to New Amsterdam?"

The New York Times has an article about Dutch bikes, which 'may be the first status symbol of the Great Downturn':

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/fashion/16CODES.html?em=&pagewanted=a…

St. Maarten provided a wonderful mixtures of French food, tropical beaches and Dutch grocery shopping.

The island was not "as Dutch" as Curacao was -- the island felt more American, and more French obviously, but there was certainly plenty of Dutch influence and the grocery stores had a lot of Dutch brands and Indonesian condiments such as ketjap and seroendeng.

A wonderful shopping experience!

In Philipsburg we had Dutch snacks the day we arrived, including bitterballen and kip sate with Indonesian peanut sauce.

Later in the week, in Marigot on the French side, we bought some delicious French things for breakfast -- and a Volkskrant.

We went shopping for Dutch (and French) groceries a few times during our stay, and we came back with a suitcase full of goodies. One of the supermarkets even had freshly baked raisin rolls (krentenbollen). They weren't quite as delicious as true Dutch ones, but it was still nice. I'd like to see if I can bake them myself.

Sunday I was a Chinese store in Durham, and noticed this can of meat, "made with pork and chicken".

The Holland name is accompanied by a windmill, so they must mean the country, but the meat itself was packed and canned in Los Angeles, CA.

Last night I went to a klaverjassen evening in Durham and it was a great night.

It was organized by the Dutch club of the Triangle, De Wieken. It was a very friendly group of people.

Klaverjassen is a Dutch card game. There were decks of Dutch playing cards, so we played with Boer, Heer, Vrouw instead of Jack, Queen and King, which was nice. It's been at least 6 years since I played klaverjassen; we used to play it a lot in college and playing the game brought back nice memories from the Vrije Universiteit. I missed many a lecture playing kraken.

It took me a while to get back into the game but it was a lot of fun with nice people.

The cold weather brings memories of good old Dutch traditions.

I cooked hutspot the other day, and with the tea we had a real stroopwafel.

The other day in CVS we saw a pan for "Pancake Puffs". Well, that looks like a poffertjespan to me! (Got to love to nice long Dutch words).

There is a mail order store in the US that sells real, Dutch, poffertjespannen and even a poffertjesvork, for flipping the poffertjes over.

Gerben sent me an article about the history of the English language, and its roots in the language of Friesland, where Ettie and Gerben live.

"Modern-day Friesians put bûter on their bred, with a slice of tsiis, to make a tasty miel".

See the article below, or read more here.