Tag Archives: Netherlands

Jazz And Sinterklaas

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I’m listening to the Duke and Coleman Hawkins -Moody Indigo and Limbo Jazz- while working, and this thought just crossed my mind that I know two wonderful men who deepened my love for jazz. One was my dad who taught me about his connection with jazz while I was just a child. My mum never liked it and so my dad would end up sitting in his car parked in front of our home to listen to his favourite tunes. Just sitting in the car listening to jazz was a great adventure to me when I was that little girl so I would often ask him if I could come along and join him.

Having to ask him, slowly vanished over the years and twenty years later I would just sit there with him listening, each drawn into our own world, staring at what was going on around us. Not saying a word just enjoying that very moment. Not as often as in the past, since I moved out when I started my study in Amsterdam but still it was always our moment together. I wanted to pay him my last respects by playing some jazz at his funeral, ‘of course’ I wasn’t allowed to…

Yesterday I received a sweet eCard with a typical Sinterklaas scene from a friend, bless him for remembering half of my roots while they’re so different from his. Tomorrow is Sinterklaas evening so to all my Dutch friends: have a wonderful Sinterklaas. Last year I received a kilo bag of delicious Kruidnootjes covered in chocolate. This year I decided to bake them myself because I shouldn’t forget my roots and I’d like to celebrate just because I can *hehe*. I looked up the recipe and will bake a few batches to give to my Dutch friends here in London.

It’s been a typical wet English day with a sun peeking between the clouds every now and then, but I don’t mind, I have jazz to enjoy while in my head I’m dancing to ‘Limbo Jazz’ and I have a relaxing baking session to look forward to tomorrow or perhaps tonight.

For those Dutch out there who wish to do the same, the recipe is below.

My sky earlier today… while I tried to bask in the sunshine

Speculaaskruiden:

Grounded nutmeg [2 g], ginger [1 g], cardamom [0.5 g], white pepper [1 g], cloves [2 g], and cinnamon [15 g]

Kruidnootjes:

Flour 185 g

Baking powder 1 teaspoon

Brown sugar 85 g

Speculaaskruiden 15 g

Pinch of salt

Butter, refrigerated 125 g

Mix flour, brown sugar, speculaaskruiden, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the butter bit by bit and knead into a firm dough. Leave it to rest for half an hour. Heat oven: 150 C/310 F. Use baking paper or a greased baking tray. Form small balls of dough [+/- 1 cm Ø] and place them on the tray, not too close to each other. Bake for about 20 minutes then leave to cool. If you like you can dip them in melted chocolate…

Et voilà, there’s your homemade Kruidnootjes *hehe* Have a good weekend!

Energy Rush

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I feel so energised today I have no idea what’s going on, perhaps because I came to terms with certain things thanks to a friend who reminded me who I am, bless him. I received a sweet unexpected email from him while he is somewhere out there on the road and it so made me smile from ear to ear, such a wonderful surprise. I have some energy rush and it’s such a strong one that I could face going to my favourite love-hate store today to buy storage boxes for some clothes.

I have a major moth problem this year that needs to be solved as soon as possible so there is a plan of attack which I started last week and today 3/4 of the plan has been accomplished: cleaning out wardrobes, drawers, reorganising them, putting clothes that I don’t wear in bin bags so I can take them to the charity shops and putting all the moth repelling products where they belong. Some of my good woolen garments have already been damaged by the little buggers, hence my drive to nip this problem in the bud.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be getting up at 07.00 to go to my first car boot sale here in London which will be at the car park of the hospital where I was hospitalised almost a year ago. I’m on a treasure hunt for nice English porcelain teacups and saucers with bright colours, flowers and wonderful golden rims, the ones that only exist in the UK and in fairy tales. I want different kinds, colours and sizes because each day calls for a different angle or view, I’m not a plain woman and neither will be my teacups *hehe*.

This Sunday I will be meeting up with an old friend from the Lowlands. We have been friends for ages while I was a teenager but we lost contact ever since I moved to Amsterdam to study and live there. I haven’t seen her in a long long time. She will be here to film/make a documentary and I’m really looking forward to seeing her for a few hours. She’ll send me the details of where she’ll be staying tomorrow so we can make plans, she wanted to see me on Monday as well after a shoot somewhere North of London.

Work is good and I’ve finished a lot over the last few days. I’m pleased with myself for making such good progress. I do feel that at times when you need to solve a problem [design-wise, coding-wise] it’s best to put it away for a while and try again later. I did that with some php files that I needed to adjust. I had been staring at them for days but couldn’t come up with a solution so I worked on other things in the meantime until this morning. I solved the problem in half an hour, two problems actually… Taoism *hehe*

Well I’m off to enjoy my weekend, have a good one yourself!