Congratulations to our winner - Ginny, who has reached an all time high score of 9.25 points. I figured this score was high enough to end this round. Good job Ginny!
Coming in second was Mom - congrats to her for winning silver twice!
A close third is my husband - good job sweetheart!
But thanks to all who played - always nice to have some friendly rivalry! ;-)
Monday, December 31, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
(Christmas) Food (On Fire)
Bram and I joined our extended family for Christmas this year. For Christmas dinner, we visited cousins Coby and Ap for a traditional Dutch Christmas dinner called gourmetten.
The concept is simple. You take small bits of meat and vegetables and grill them on your own personalized pan. Eating like this leaves plenty of time for talking while you wait for your meat to cook, and also leads to exciting combinations of flavors!
Dessert were pancakes cooked in the pans. We soaked them in Grand Marnier and then set them on fire!
Enjoying Christmas dinner.
A point if you can name these little sprinkles, what their name translates to, and why this bizarre name is given to these sprinkles!
The concept is simple. You take small bits of meat and vegetables and grill them on your own personalized pan. Eating like this leaves plenty of time for talking while you wait for your meat to cook, and also leads to exciting combinations of flavors!
Dessert were pancakes cooked in the pans. We soaked them in Grand Marnier and then set them on fire!
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| Au flambe! |
Traditional Christmas breakfast is little sprinkles, sort of like hagelslag, which are basically anise seeds covered in a candy coating. A tradition in the Netherlands is to bring toasted pieces of bread and these sprinkles in to work places or to gatherings when a child is born (pink for girls, blue for boys). So for Christmas, we eat blue sprinkles - to celebrate Jesus' birth!
A point if you can name these little sprinkles, what their name translates to, and why this bizarre name is given to these sprinkles!
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas - with some images from Groningen! Have a great day ya'll!
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| Town center with Christmas Tree |
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| Streets lined with lights |
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| Canal at night, with boats lit up with Christmas lights! |
Friday, December 21, 2012
The Chocolate Invasion
The departmental Christmas party this year had a theme of "video games". Of course, this had to feature the ultimate video game, Space Invaders.
Tasting a traditional cold weather food - pea soup.
The annual tradition of the department is a cake/pie contest. I made a flourless chocolate cake with butter cream frosting, and I took hagelslag and cut it into "pixel" shapes and arranged them as space invaders. It was awesome. I was quite proud of my space invader cake...
Hans with his creation.
Needless to say, I did not win.
The other competition. I really liked the Pac Man cake complete with dots that were cupcakes.
Trying to open the champagne...
... and successful opening of the champagne, literally seconds after the light was taken out by the cork. (Note, it is darker in this picture than the previous one.)
During the cake tasting portion of the competition.
The best part - we are all winners - we all get to eat the cakes!
The evening ends with a surprise visit from Mario!
One of the taller students holds a box that Mario can jump for.
Sadly, some of the "younger" members of my department did not know what Space Invaders were. Those who did only knew of them in the "historical" context. Sigh. I remember playing them at the local Pizza Hut as a kid. I am now officially old.
As part of the party, people dressed up as their favorite video game character.
As part of the party, people dressed up as their favorite video game character.
Tasting a traditional cold weather food - pea soup.
The annual tradition of the department is a cake/pie contest. I made a flourless chocolate cake with butter cream frosting, and I took hagelslag and cut it into "pixel" shapes and arranged them as space invaders. It was awesome. I was quite proud of my space invader cake...
... but then I saw the competition. This cake is made in the theme of Minecraft - and is complete with marzipan people, animals, and a tree made of cake and chocolate.
Hans with his creation.
Needless to say, I did not win.
The other competition. I really liked the Pac Man cake complete with dots that were cupcakes.
Trying to open the champagne...
... and successful opening of the champagne, literally seconds after the light was taken out by the cork. (Note, it is darker in this picture than the previous one.)
During the cake tasting portion of the competition.
The best part - we are all winners - we all get to eat the cakes!
The evening ends with a surprise visit from Mario!
One of the taller students holds a box that Mario can jump for.
And a point if you can name a video game depicted in this post that I have not already mentioned. One point per person possible!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Relativity
Recently, I visited a building that had a very memorable staircase:
This staircase, if viewed from the right angle, looks like you can walk up it in the normal way, or walk down it while upside down, if you could somehow adhere your feet to the ceiling.
This set of stairs was the inspiration for some of Escher's works. You can see the similarity here or here.
A point if you know where the Escher museum is located!
Saturday, December 8, 2012
A Website that Changed the World
The weather in the Netherlands is a bit unpredictable. Gone are the weeks of non-stop cloud cover, or the weeks of non-stop sunshine, common in France. It rains a lot here, but the next moment it can be sunny, then rainy, then windy, then rainy, then snowy, and then, yes, more rain.
Because of this, stepping out the front door can be a bit of a challenge. You never know just how to dress - if you will arrive at your destination relatively safely, or if you will have to dodge raindrops the size of Volkswagens.
All that changed a few years ago, when a website debuted that showed the radar over the Netherlands in real time. You could zoom up to street level, and see exactly where the rain was and will be, and plan your bike trip to fit exactly between rain clouds.
Normally, when it's raining, I have about 20 minutes to make it home - this must be the typical distance between clouds. Lucky for me, that is about how long it takes me to bike home.
It also lets you know what kind of day your in store for:
You're pretty much doomed to be wet:
Ah. That's better.
Precise planning is necessary.
You'll see this website everywhere. Embedded into other websites. On computer monitors in public areas. In supermarkets. In universities. Everywhere. If there is one thing Dutch people like to do, it's to talk about the weather. Now this can be done with great precision.
Because of this, stepping out the front door can be a bit of a challenge. You never know just how to dress - if you will arrive at your destination relatively safely, or if you will have to dodge raindrops the size of Volkswagens.
All that changed a few years ago, when a website debuted that showed the radar over the Netherlands in real time. You could zoom up to street level, and see exactly where the rain was and will be, and plan your bike trip to fit exactly between rain clouds.
Normally, when it's raining, I have about 20 minutes to make it home - this must be the typical distance between clouds. Lucky for me, that is about how long it takes me to bike home.
It also lets you know what kind of day your in store for:
You're pretty much doomed to be wet:
Even worse:
Ah. That's better.
Precise planning is necessary.
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| screenshots from www.buienradar.nl |
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Happy Sinterklaas Day
Today is the day that Sinterklaas comes into homes and leaves gifts in your shoes. Maybe it's because of this that today we got a very special gift.
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| From the Wikimedia commons |
It began to snow.
Big fat flakes began to fall from the sky halfway through our seminar today. My friend from India had never seen snow before. I looked over at him and he was smiling. He actually left the talk to stand out on the balcony, and when he came back in the room, his hair was covered in snow and he had a big smile on his face.
So that we all be that happy this season.
Happy Sinterklaas Day.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Sinterklaas is Coming to Town
One of the main events in the Netherlands to start the Christmas season is the arrival of Sinterklaas. He arrives by boat to one of the cities in the Netherlands, and then, an hour later, Sinterklaas clones magically appear in every other city in the Netherlands. The boat with Sinterklaas was due to pass by my house on the canal. I figured I would walk down there, stand with about 10 people on the bridge and wave at Sinterklaas as he passed, and that would be that. Well, when I got to the bridge, there were more like 500 people there waiting for the arrival of Sinterklaas.
When I looked into the water below, it was filled with kayaks, paddled by a whole group of Black Peters!
Black Peter (or Zwarte Piet in Dutch) is just as popular as Sinterklaas. Maybe more popular. I think the tradition dates back to the real St. Nick, who had a moor accompany him. Today's version is dressed in flashy colorful costumes, do tricks for the kids, and hand out candy and oranges.
Sinterklaas did not arrive by a single boat. No, it was instead a flotilla!
Children watch as the flotilla approaches.
A Black Peter, enjoying the nice winter day.
And one doing tricks.
Black Peters singing...
...and playing music.
The boats were huge - probably the biggest boat that could possibly fit on a canal.
As one of the boats pass by, we get to hear some of the traditional Dutch songs.
Sinterklaas! Check out that ring! I do think it is interesting that Sinterklaas looks more like a bishop, with his hat (that has a cross on it) and staff.
After Sinterklaas docked his flotilla, there was a parade through the city. The best part was Black Peter herding a flock of sheep down one of the major roads.
Black Peters, now making their debut on the streets.
And tiny ponies!
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| And blocking traffic! |
Black Peter (or Zwarte Piet in Dutch) is just as popular as Sinterklaas. Maybe more popular. I think the tradition dates back to the real St. Nick, who had a moor accompany him. Today's version is dressed in flashy colorful costumes, do tricks for the kids, and hand out candy and oranges.
Sinterklaas did not arrive by a single boat. No, it was instead a flotilla!
Children watch as the flotilla approaches.
A Black Peter, enjoying the nice winter day.
And one doing tricks.
Black Peters singing...
...and playing music.
The boats were huge - probably the biggest boat that could possibly fit on a canal.
Finally, we see him! Sinterklaas!
As one of the boats pass by, we get to hear some of the traditional Dutch songs.
Sinterklaas! Check out that ring! I do think it is interesting that Sinterklaas looks more like a bishop, with his hat (that has a cross on it) and staff.
After Sinterklaas docked his flotilla, there was a parade through the city. The best part was Black Peter herding a flock of sheep down one of the major roads.
Black Peters, now making their debut on the streets.
And tiny ponies!
Finally, Sinterklaas arrives once more.
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| The man, the myth... the legend. |
And now, in Family Feud fashion, I have the top 7 things that kids were excited to see or do on the day that Sinterklaas came to town, measured in cubic giga-giggles. Some are obvious, and some require some knowledge of the holiday. Answers near the top are worth more points (shown in the middle of the line). One guess at a time, and go...!
------------------------------------------- 1.75 -------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- 1.50 -------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- 1.25 -------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- 1.00 -------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- 0.75 -------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- 0.50 -------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- 0.25 -------------------------------------------
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