This week we learned about beautiful Netherlands! I was surprised at how much there was that I did not know about this neat nation. Living in The Woodlands, Texas we have made many Dutch friends. Most of who work in the Petroleum Industry, Dutch Royal Shell being one of the largest employers.
Officially known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of twelve provinces in western Europe and three islands in the Caribbean. The Netherlands is often mistakenly referred to as "Holland", which in strict usage, refers only to North and South Holland, two of its 12 provinces.
While many people associate the Netherlands with Tulips, Liberal Government, Windmills, and Wooden Shoes, there is so much more to this fascinating country! For one thing did you know that The Netherlands has more than 4,000 km of navigable canals, rivers and lakes.
Vincent Willem Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) famed for his post-Impressionist work and far-reaching influence on 20th century art was Dutch. In addition to his world-famous vase of sunflowers and starry night, he produced more than 2,000 paintings in just over 10 years with most of his best-known works in his final 2 years.
This week we cooked three traditional Dutch dishes. Our first dish, pannenkoeken, was something my six year old fell in love with at a recent Girl Scout party. This Dutch pancake is made of flour, sometimes buckwheat, eggs, milk, and salt. The recipe I used called for cinnamon which I love. It is thinner than American Pancakes and much bigger, usually filled with sweet or savory ingredients, rolled up and eaten by hand. I added semi-sweet chocolate, powdered sugar, and fresh strawberries. They were divine!
Our second dish was a common fish served in The Netherlands, called Lekkerbek met Ravigotesaus (Plaice with Ravigote Sauce). We could not find Plaice, so we used the most common fish used instead in The Netherlands, fresh Cod. It was delicious! The sauce called for mustard, chives, tarragon, capers, parsley, white pepper, and vinegar. The fish was flaky, meaty and paired beautifully with the tangy sour sauce.
Our last dish is called Saucijzenbroodges. It is a savory meat pie with Minced Pork inside a flaky crust made of puff pastry. It was very tasty and good!
Here are the recipes we used this week:
The Dutch are the world experts on keeping back water from the sea and rivers turning Netherlands into an Atlantis. The US government turned to the Dutch for help during the hurricane Katrina disaster.
70% of the world's bacon comes from Netherlands.
The Dutch are the tallest in the world with an average height of 184 cm for men and 170 cm for women. Some believe its the combined result of DNA and dairy.The Schiphol Airport is actually 4.5 m below sea level.
It is only logical that the Van Gogh Museum and the Kröller-Müller Museum house the largest Van Gogh collections in the world.
For 4 evenings in a row during May and June since 1909, thousands of Dutch school children and their parents walk 5 or 10 km at a time through streets in huge processions called the avondvierdaagse, or 'evening four-day marches' while slurping on half-cut lemons and sweets on strings around their necks.
75% of the world's flower bulb production comes from Netherlands.
It was one of the six founding members of the European Union.
The highest point in Netherlands, Vaalserberg, is only 323 meters above sea level. The rest of the nation is as flat as a pancake.
Parental leave for both full-time working mothers and fathers, is up to 57 days and can be taken at any time until the child is 8 years old.
The main square of every city has its own brightly lit Christmas tree.
The Dutch are the world's biggest coffee drinkers after the Scandinavians with an average of 140 litres of coffee a year or 3.2 cups a day.
The famous Dutch windmills were used to pump away water for hundreds of years.
About 2/3 of Netherlands is vulnerable to flooding with 25 percent below sea level and 50 percent less than 1m above sea level.
Fans of Victoria's Secret will be interested to know that one of the lingerie brand's Angels, Doutzen ,is Dutch and one of the world's top earning supermodels, with her own wax figure in the Amsterdam Madame Tussaud's.
86% of the population speak English as a second language.
There are specially-designated "fietspaden" or bike paths all over the country and pedestrians cannot walk on them.
According to The Brewers of Europe, the Netherlands exports the largest proportion of beer production of any country in the world with approximately 50%.
Its commitment to foreign aid is 2nd among the leading 18 nations according to UNICEF.
It has the highest population density in Europe with 487 inhabitants per square kilometer.
About 30% of all Dutch births happen at home as a result of a large and established network of certified midwives.
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