A Little Taste of Home

March 16-  Today I received the opportunity to eat a dinner at a Dutch family's house with Tyler and Cree.  The dinner was a very stereotypical Dutch dinner with meatballs, green beans, and potatoes.  For dessert we were given Vla, which is basically a very soft pudding with whipped cream mixed in.  Everything tasted delicious and I felt just like being back at home or at my grandparent’s house.  There must have been strange with the food we ate because Tyler, Cees (the father of the home) and my stomach were all growling the whole meal, even afterwards too.  Once finished with dinner, Judith brought out a game called Sjoelen.  My grandparents have this game in their basement and I used to play quite a bit as a kid.  Basically what you do is slide these wooden pucks down the board and try to score in 4 small slots, each with different point values. 

Once you score the same amount of pucks in every slot, the points are doubled.  Apparently this game is played quite a bit at parties or other social gatherings.  Judith also served us coffee and tea along with cookies.  

Judith said that normal Dutch tradition is to let everyone have only one cookie and then put them away again.  But since she knew we were Americans and knew I love cookies, she kept them out so we could have as many as we desired.  She brought out stroopwafels, this buttercake cookie thing, and an almond paste dessert with a very long Dutch name that I don’t remember.  

The night was very nice and all of us left with our stomachs full and our brains filled with a little more knowledge on Dutch culture although I felt like I was back at home at my grandparents’ house because they also do the same exact thing when my family eats over.  But the night was a very good experience.