Pepernoten
I wanted to write this post 1.5 months ago but got distracted.
Backstory: Sinterklaas! For those of you that are not of Dutch origin that have not been following this blog may wonder what this entails.
Well, If you look at the Christian name for December 5th you’ll see that it is actually called St. Nicholas. This is because there was actually once upon a time a Bishop who was raised to Saint status by this name. Nicholas of Myra worked for many years to better the lives of people that lived in what is now known as Antalya in 3rd century roman empire.
Yadda yadda yadda. He gave gifts. And as a child in Holland you are introduced to this mythical figure giving you gifts. Who the hell cares about he was a Greek born bishop in Turkey like a million years ago.
So . . . This guy comes from spain and gives pressies to the kids! That’s all the back story you are interested in unless you study history or smthg. Gifts!
Oh. And Candy!
Sinterklaas comes with his own specific candy. Kruidnoten, Chocolate-letters, Speculaas-dolls.
Sinterklaas is like a kids dream come true.
So I got home from Japan on September 1st. 2nd, I moved. 3rd I went shopping.
I came across this:
I am actually not sure what Yoda is doing there. But there were kruidnoten.
3! months before the actual thing. And I only noticed it then because I didn’t enter a Dutch store before (not being on the same continent and all).
Over the years I’ve heard many people argue about finding Christmas decorations earlier and earlier in stores (We came across some in Lille this weekend) and they’ve started selling these Sinterklaas-specific candies in the summertime(though app we didn’t have one of those this year), 3 months before the start of it.
We had to ban kids from bringing Sinterklaas candy into schools (Dutch only, sorry I doubt this made headlines in any other language) 3 months before the holiday is here.
And euhm . . .
Yeah, all around sillyness
And Yummieness
Damn those things taste good.
Next year. Chocolate bunnies in January!
Well, Fingers crossed
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Quote of the day:
There are 3 set ways of going bankrupt. Gambling, Women and Engineers. The first two are fickle but will at least give you pleasure. The last one is the only sure way to reach bankruptcy while giving you very little physical pleasure. Congratulations, you have now joined this elite group
- Some guy speeching at Raph’s school to the graduate students