The Reese's Have Landed

Peanuts are a New World plant, believed to be domesticated in Peru, made their way to Mexico, and spread their way to the English colonies of North America. Spanish took them to the Philippines where they made their way to Indonesia. The Dutch came to love pinda (peanut) sauce during their years in Indonesia. We think the Calve brand of peanut butter we buy here is better then the brands we've had in the States.

The Spanish conquistadores found chocolate in Mexico and brought it back to Europe. A Dutchman, Coenraad Johannes van Houten, figured out how to make cocoa powder and then be able to make eating chocolate that we know now. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenraad_Johannes_van_Houten).

Joining these two wonderful tastes was an American invention: http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/reesespeanutbuttercups.asp

So, the Dutch peanut sauce in food and on french fries, and the Dutch love chocolate. But, there's no peanut butter-chocolate candy in the stores. They may have been at the expat specialty stores for an imported price. Several bags were always packed in our suitcases when coming back from our stateside holidays.

Then, last week when I was up at the C1000 grocery store in Wassenaar, at the check out, I spied a large basket of

Each pack had 3 cups, 51 grams. They were on sale for 69 (euro)cents each (normally 1,19 euro.) I don't remember what the listing was for their regular price. I looked on the back expected to find Dutch. Instead I found


(you may have to click on the above picture and blow it up larger to read.) Looks like English, German, Swedish and Arabic. I kid you not. We did not see Dutch at all. What surprised us the most was Arabic.

Looking further below the fold,


we found that the bar was manufactured in Canada licensed by Hershey. If you have any comments or problems, write Hersey in Leatherhead, Surrey, UK.

I brought the candy home and left it on the kitchen table waiting to see family reaction. Double takes were the norm. ER was the most fun when she say it, took a few minutes and then realized what she was actually looking at. We will keep our eyes open to see if this was an odd basket or if they are here to stay. If they emigrate to the Albert Heijn chain, then we will know they are here to stay.

A Visit from Massachusetts

Terry's parents, Anne & Jim, and sister, Kate,made it back to The Hague for a visit in September. They arrived early the morning of September 14. I dropped him off near the train station at 5:40 AM so he could take a bus to Schiphol airport to meet them and drive them down to the house. They arrived on Northwest Airlines from Bradley Airport, Hartford, Connecticut.

They were tired. Not easy at 86 to make such a trip. All went well and they arrived at our house. Beds were ready for them. Fresh flowers were in the living room plus plenty of food to eat.

The first day was getting over jet lag and talking. Saturday was touring around and seeing the old house where they lived for 5 years from 1968-1973. Here's a picture of it. There was enough room for 5 kids, 2 adults, a cat, and two dogs. Numerous are the stories that Terry has told of the pet and childhood escapades that took place in the house. No one was home so they couldn't go in. Looking through the windows, they saw that it was being renovated.



Sunday was going to Mass. The parish is the same as 35 years ago but the building was different. Now the parish, Church of Our Saviour, has it's own building. Back then, space was rented at St. Aloysius College.

Early in the afternoon, we rent for rijstafel (rice table) at the Pink Flamingo, a restaurant near to the house. Back in the old days, it was called appropriately Java. The enclosed glass portion of the restaurant we ate in was not built back then. It was lovely to be able to enjoy a meal and the sun. JA took this picture of us to commemorate the day so she's not in it.

A rijstafel is an Indonesian buffet very popular in Holland. The Dutch plantation owners in Indonesia introduced it as a way of sampling the native cuisine. The size of the tafel was often given a number by the number of servants who brought in the dishes. The cuisine is spicy and tangy. This was the first time that JA and ER had experienced Indonesian food outside of chicken satay with peanut sauce. They enjoyed it.

In the evening we celebrated Terry's birthday a day early with tompoucen, a dessert with inch and a half of whipped cream between two thin pastry layers and a thin layer of icing on top. Our landlords, Frans and Madeleine, came up to meet the family. Revealed that night was Zoey playing in their garden while we were on vacation. What prompted the revelation was Zoey wanting to run into their garden through a gate when ER and Kate had taken her out for a walk.

Monday while the girls were at school and Terry at work, all went down shopping to Van Hoyetemastraat to pick up flowers to take to a friend's house the next day, Dutch cheese to take to the French son-in-law, bread from the baker as well as a cake to celebrate September birthdays. Anne frequently shopped this street during the five years they were hear. Not much had changed.

At night we sang happy birthday again to Terry, JA and Anne and all the September birthdays in the family. Terry and JA blew the candles out.

On Tuesday, Anne and Jim went to visit old friends still living here. Starting with coffee and ending with a long lunch, they talked themselves out reminiscing and sharing stories. Kate and MA explored downtown and picked up everything on Kate's shopping list within an hour. Kate found a long walking poncho to protect her from the rain when she had to take care of her animals while it was raining.

On Wednesday, October 1, the three of them loaded up the car and headed down to Paris to visit another daughter, Cara, and her family. We'll get to see them again on Tuesday when they come back on their way to the airport back to the States.

We miss having them with us. It was wonderful to see our new home through their eyes and through their memories. The years in Holland were wonderful for the Smith family. We hope that our years here will be wonderful too.