Odds and Ends

Life has been kind of slow in our home lately; hence the lack of exciting blog postings or any blog posting at all for that matter.  Here are a few items of interest.

Open for business

Following our return from Bonaire I was walking the dog on January 2 when I noticed that all the public trash receptacles in our neighborhood were "closed".  Each one had a metal plate locked in place to prevent people from using them.  I finally figured out that this was a protective mechanism.  The locals love fireworks on New Years Eve.  They really love fireworks.  The trash containers are perfect targets for destruction so the town fathers close them down to prevent kids from blowing them up with firecrackers.  By January 3, all the plates were removed and the trash cans were open for business.  It's all very practical and very Dutch....rather than outlaw fireworks and ruin a tradition, they simply protect those things that they don't want demolished.  They also have "no fireworks zones" in areas where there are thatched roofs.

I recently baked a lemon meringue pie.  There is a long story about why I baked this pie, but let's just summarize it by saying that I ended up with a baked pie crust and needed to put something in it.  Lemon meringue pie seemed to fit that need perfectly.

I used the recipe from the Woodburn Family Cookbook.  My sister put this cookbook together over 30 yeas ago; it's a great collection recipes from cousins, aunts and siblings.   There are no contributions from uncles or my father.  Man cooking, especially among the farmer crowd, hadn't caught on yet.  My brothers and I all contributed.  Not that we ever prepared any of the recipes we provided; we just liked to eat them.   My contributions were cinnamon-raisin rolls, caramel corn, Hawaiian chicken, rhubarb crunch, apple dumplings and lemon meringue pie.  I guess Carol didn't tell me there was a chapter on salads and vegetables.

Even though the lemon meringue pie recipe had my byline, it was really my Mother's.  And so I was reminded once again of the pitfalls of using recipes from very experienced cooks.  They tend to assume you know as much as they do about cooking; therefore they don't write everything down.  For example, when I baked my pie the meringue shrank away from the edges, leaving a strip of exposed lemon filling that served as a "warning track" similar to baseball stadiums.  When I shared this result with my Mom, she  informed me that I was supposed to push the meringue all the way to the crust and form some sort of anchorage point.   My wife and daughter told me the same thing.  Seems like that would be a good thing to write in the recipe.   Regardless, the pie was quite tasty.

As I was baking the pie, I contemplated cooking my way through the cookbook much like the woman in Julie and Julia who cooks her way through Julia Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking.  I'm sure it would provide more interesting blog postings.  However, I was reminded that almost half the recipes in the Woodburn Cookbook are for cookies or desserts.   I didn't think that my waist-line would survive.  Seems like the Woodburns weren't much for balanced diets.

Kievietslaan under repair

One big event in our life is that our street is torn up for sewer repairs.  Torn up as in demolished and closed.  Torn up as in we have to park 1-2 blocks away and haul everything to and from the house.  They've been replacing the sewer lines in our neighborhood for the past year and they've finally gotten to our street.  Hopefully, they've refined their technique during this time so that our downtime (and hauling) will be minimized.

Having this machine on your street is not a good thing

The other big event is cold weather.  Most of January was actually quite warm.  So warm that some of the crocus began to come up.  Now we've dipped down below freezing for the past few days and are expected to remain there for a week or so.  Everyone's excited because the canals may freeze enough to hold the Elfstedentocht, a 200 km outdoor ice skating race between 11 cities in northern Holland.  The last time that the weather cooperated and provided suitable ice was 1997.  If it happens this year, the entire country will shut down to watch.

Of course the downside to the cold weather is that the ground has frozen, suspending all sewer work.  So our street remains demolished but there will be no progress for at least a week.

I'm sure the Canadians across the canal will be playing hockey this weekend

Graber was wondering why I was taking pictures of the canal and not of him.  He had a bath this week so he's all clean and fluffy.  

We have a new neighbor.  Actually, it's a new neighbor dog.  He's an 8 month old German Shepherd.  He and Graber love to run along the fence and chase each other.  Unfortunately, this usually results in some sort of destruction to the landscaping that I installed last year.  Hopefully, neither one of them will figure out that they could get together and play by going around the fence on the ice of the canal.

On a final note, this is my first blog written on my new Apple MacBook Pro.  Santa felt sorry for me toiling away on a five year old HP hand-me-down from Grant so he brought me a slick new Apple.  I don't know that it has improved my blogging at all, but it's much more reliable.  It's interesting to see how Apple products have woven their way into our life.  Five years ago our Apple products consisted of iPhones for Kate and Lori, and maybe an iPod.  Now we have two iPhones, two iPads, an iPod, a Nano, a wireless router and four portable Apple computers.  I guess this explains Apple's record revenues in 4Q2011.