Sinterklaas came to town! From Spain!
In mid-November we were among the lucky few (thousand+) to see Sinterklaas (the Dutch Santa Claus) arrive in Amsterdam on his ship from Spain. Accompanying him was an armada of some 600 "Zwarte Piets," from various Andalusian ports dressed in their best blackface/17th-c. regalia. Yikes...
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| Piets don't only give out candy to kids and dredge up problematic racial stereotypes, they also help direct traffic on Rollerblades! |
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| The anticipation...where's Sinter??? |
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| Sinterklaas! (Trust us, he's on the big white ship.) |
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| Marzipan pork roast for celebrating the 6th of December, Sinterklaas Day. |
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| If you leave your shoe out overnight for the two weeks before Sinterklaas day, Sinter just might reward you with one of these babies....Sold in every grocery store/pharmacy/tobacco store in town, Chocolate letters are pretty hard to miss. |
Thanksgiving
Strangely enough, all of these Dutch Christmaslike festivities were followed by...our American Thanksgiving. Even though we missed everyone back home, we had a great time hosting our own feast with great company, delicious food, and plenty of wine.
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| Highly focused last minute preparations by the kitchen crew |
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| Guests of honor: the Kerrigan sisters! (Moira and Zoe were in town from San Francisco and New York after visiting London) |
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| An untraditional turkey preparation necessitated by an unreasonably small oven: braising à la Mark Bittmann.... |
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| Rounding out the menu were the usual suspects: stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds, and cranberry sauce |
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| Serving our other esteemed guests/ downstairs neighbors, Jonah and Josef. They were somewhat dubious before trying pumpkin pie for the first time, but quickly asked for seconds! |
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| Come back!! |
Gezellig Amsterdam!
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| The first week of December brought the first dusting of snow! |
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| The best cure for the soggy and dark winter blues? Baking delicious cookies! |
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| Kerstdagen (Christmas) decorations lit up the city beautifully throughout December. This puppy is keeping it Gezillig! |
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| Kerkstraat -- part of our preferred bike route through the city (and to Linnea's school). Amsterdam knows how to make the long nights seem brighter! |
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| Prettige Kerstdagen from Cafe Club Smokey. |
Christmas on Stolwijkstraat
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| Linnea's homemade Christmas "mantle" display. |
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| Christmas breakfast featuring Three Kings' Bread, and a lot of it! |
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| Imported stockings (and glitter glue). |
A grab bag of some musical activities of late...
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| The docks at Amsterdam Noord, where Linnea rehearsed for one week with Camerata Ardesko. |
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| Camerata Ardesko concert in Haarlem. Video from our Onverwacht! concert in a mall in Utrecht. http://www.youtube.com/watch? |
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| Rehearsing for Benjamin Britten's Rape of Lucretia with Opera Studio Nederland. A light hearted Christmas show.... |
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| Noah presented an electronic piece at "Haguestock," an all-day Museum/Concert put on by students from the Royal Conservatory (the Headphones on the far right were playing his "Sanjo Blue") |
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| The exhibit took place at a large warehouse/artspace in Den Haag. |
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| It was not heated. |
