Dutch delights

Being that I'm far from home right now, anything that can bring me back to my roots is welcome. So when I met a Dutchman in Timmins, I was delighted! He has been in Canada for 10 years now, but given my Dutch origins, we had lots in common and seemed to get along swimmingly.

His wife is wonderful also, and she is Francophone, just like my wife, so that worked out great! Another couple we could hang out with! They invited us over for supper on New Year's Eve and it was a blast. Our kids played together, which up to that point had been a novelty for Sacha. We actually got to sit and have adult conversation that didn't involve discussions of bowel movements and household chores.

Turns out my Dutch friend has connections at a Dutch grocery in Ottawa and he orders gouda cheese and other Dutch delights frequently. Well, when I found this out I had to hitchhike on that truck. You see I grew up in a home influenced by Dutch culture, specifically in a culinary sense. But it has been a long time since I've had quality gouda and I had to jump at the chance.

I picked up my gouda today. It was like Christmas. I brought it home and immediately cut a piece. It was a gustatory orgasm. Brilliant. My dad says that when his relatives come to Canada, they always comment that the gouda we get here is actually better than they can get in the Netherlands because they export all the good stuff! It truly is the cat's ass.

And to make my life even more sweet, I ordered some hagelslag at the same time. It has been even longer since I've enjoyed these tasty morsels of chocolate goodness. The typical means of ingestion are via a piece of toast with a bit of margarine spread on and then the hagelslag sprinkled on top. Pure heaven. And if you think there can be no difference between these and regular chocolate sprinkles you get at the grocery store, you are sadly mistaken.

What Dutch culinary delights do you enjoy? You may be surprised to know you've tried some. How about stroopwafel, a thin waffle cookie drenched in syrup? Maybe you like Voortman's cookies? How about Mentos? They originated in the Netherlands. Or black licorice babies. Mmm. Salted licorice. Genius. Or poffertjes, mini pancakes lightly dusted with icing sugar. Ahh. The Dutch culinary arsenal is eclipsed only by the upstanding character of those who make it.
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