The Arrival of Sinterklaas in Groningen

Sinterklaas

In my Dutch class, we've been discussing some of the winter holiday traditions of the Netherlands. I learned that, instead of an overweight man from Finland delivering presents via a flying sleigh powered by eight tiny reindeer (Santa Claus), Dutch children receive their presents from a slender bishop who arrives on a boat from Spain (Sinterklaas). Both of these individuals derive from the story of Saint Nicholas, but it is not clear to me how one ended up in a remote part of Finland surrounded by elves and the other gets to live in the much milder Spanish climate. Additionally, the Dutch exchange presents on Sinterklaas Eve (December 5), while followers of the Santa Claus story must wait until Christmas Day (December 25).

Zwarte Piet

In my Dutch class, I also learned about Zwarte Piet, who is Sinterklaas’s helper. Actually, several friends warned me about the Zwarte Piet story beforehand, in order to prepare me for seeing a bunch of white people wearing blackface and Afro wigs - something that would certainly not be greeted with smiles and cheers in the USA (and rightly so!). The story behind all of this is that Zwarte Piet was a slave/servant of Sinterklaas who helped keep track of which children were worthy of presents and which children would receive the punishment of being stuffed in a sack and taken back to Spain on Sinterklaas’s boat (naughty Dutch children go on vacation to Spain instead of receiving a lump of coal, by the way). I’ve been told a "more politically correct" (albeit logically inconsistent) version of the Zwarte Piet story, which holds that the Piet characters are not in blackface, but are supposed to look like they are covered in soot from jumping down chimneys to deliver presents.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, and to explain the photos that I've posted here on my blog, it is necessary for my readers to know that Sinterklaas parades include large groups of people in blackface, and that this occurs without much protest or controversy from the onlookers (although this might have something to do with the fact that calling Zwarte Piet racist can get you arrested). 

Now that you’ve got some back story, I bring you my photos from the Sinterklaas Intocht (Arrival of Sinterklaas), which was celebrated in Groningen on the 19th of November.

Huge crowds on the way to see Sinterklaas

The first thing I noticed was that Groningen’s Sinterklaas celebration was extremely crowded. In fact, most of Groningen’s center was packed with folks who were on their way to catch a glimpse of the Sint (Sinterklaas's nickname). Honestly, the only time I’ve seen such a large crowd in the United States was on the way into a stadium before a football game.

An even bigger crowd at the epicenter, meeting Sinterklaas's boat

 When I finally arrived in the area where Sinterklaas would alight from his boat from Spain, I noticed that the parade procession was being lined up. The parade was set up to reflect Groningen’s rural location, with lots of horses and sheep in attendance to welcome Sinterklaas’s boat and lead him through the streets to his annual meeting with the mayor.

Horses preparing to guide Sinterklaas through Groningen

Sheep, also preparing for the Sinterklaas parade

Dogs herding the sheep along the parade route

During the parade, Zwarte Piets performed for the crowds and handed out pepernoten (little spiced cookies) to the children. In addition to the horses, sheep, and sheepdogs, there were also marching bands and a gang of unicyclists.

Zwarte Piet

Zwarte Piet Band

Marching Band #2

Marching Band #3

Horses

Mustachioed women following Sinterklaas on horseback

Unicycle Gang

A wagon full of gifts for the kids who are not stuffed into sacks and sent to Spain

Dutch Food: Bruine Bonensoep

With only my Dutch lessons, social calendar, and volunteer work to keep me occupied, I've been devoting a lot of time to cooking and learning how to make typical Dutch foods.

This week, I would like to share a recipe for bruine bonensoep (brown bean soup).  It's a hearty soup that's extremely easy to make. It requires only minimal preparation, then you can literally throw it in a pot to simmer and forget about it for an hour.

Bruinebonensoep

Most recipes for brown bean soup include some combination of butter and/or pieces of bacon (spekjes), but these are easily left out or substituted, and you still get a very flavorful soup.  I was able to create a vegan soup after adapting several recipes that I found on the Internet.

The raw ingredients: soaked brown beans

...and lots of chopped veggies

Vegan Bruine Bonensoep
(makes 4 servings)
Ingredients:
200 grams (1 cup) of dried Swedish brown beans, soaked overnight and cooked for 1 hour (or 2 cups of canned beans, rinsed)
750 ml (3 cups) of water
15 ml (1 Tbsp) vegetable oil
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 small leek, sliced
1 large carrot, diced
1 medium onion, diced
45 ml (3 Tbsp) tomato paste
15 ml (1 Tbsp) curry powder
15 ml (1 Tbsp) dried basil
2 dried bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
optional: 1/2 cup seitan (wheat gluten) diced small
Instructions:
In a large stockpot, sautée the seitan (if using) in vegetable oil over medium heat.  When the seitan has browned (or if not using the seitan), add the onion and leek to the hot oil with the curry powder and sautée for about 3 to 5 more minutes until the onions are slightly translucent.  Add the water and vegetable bouillon, and cook over medium-high heat until the bouillon is dissolved.  Then, add the beans, carrot, tomato paste, basil, and bay leaves. Mix well. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for one hour.  Remove from heat, add salt and pepper.  Remove bay leaves before serving.

Sunny Photos of Groningen

The weather in Groningen has become very wintry lately - freezing temperatures and gray skies, with a mix of mist and fog.  In an attempt to remind myself that my new home can be quite beautiful and sunny, I find myself looking back at the photos of Groningen that I took when I visited in June and when I first moved here in September.

Since I haven't shared a lot of photos of Groningen on this blog yet, here are some favorite photos of Groningen in warmer, sunnier weather.  

View of the Grote Markt from the Martinitoren

Prinsentuin

De Helper at the Paterswoldsemeer

Hornse Meer

The Noorderplantsoen

Shopping on the Vismarkt

Dutch Food: Stamppot

In search of a "typical Dutch" dish to prepare for dinner, I informally surveyed several international friends here in Groningen.  When asked to name a typical Dutch dish, nearly everyone included stamppot among their responses.

So, what is stamppot?  It's simply mashed potatoes with a variety of other veggies and herbs thrown in and smashed together.  As this is primarily a vegetable dish,  stamppot is extremely easy to "veganize" (just omit the sausage or bacon that most recipes call for).  So, I decided that stamppot would be a good dish to start with as I enter the exciting world of Dutch cooking.

Here's the recipe that a good friend here in Groningen helped me put together:

Vegan Stamppot (serves 2 as main, 4 as side)
Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 cups curly kale (boerenkool), chopped
1 medium leek, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 ml (2 tsp) dried rosemary
5 ml (1 tsp) dried thyme
10 ml (2 tsp) olive oil
freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste
Instructions:
1. In a large stockpot, boil the potatoes and carrots for 25 minutes, or until tender.  After 15 minutes, add the chopped kale.
2.  In a separate, lightly oiled pan, sautee the garlic and leek until tender.
3. Drain the potatoes, carrots, and kale.  Return everything to the pot, and add the garlic and leek.  Measure out and add the rosemary, thyme, olive oil, salt, and ground pepper.
4. Mash together until smooth.  A splash of plain soymilk can be added for a smoother texture.

And here are some photos:

Boiled potatoes, carrots, and kale are mixed together

Herbs and olive oil are added

Plated and ready to eat!

I served my stamppot with quinoa and marinated, baked tofu for a well-rounded, hearty meal.  I enjoyed the stamppot - it was a great accompaniment to the baked tofu, and a fun way to dress up otherwise boring mashed potatoes.

After perusing some Dutch cookbooks, I've found that there are a lot of variations on stamppot, so I'll post updates when I try out other recipes.

Tell me in the comments if you have any fun Dutch recipes that I should try out!

A Weekend Trip to Brussels

My first journey outside of the Netherlands since my arrival in Groningen was a weekend trip with my husband to Brussels, Belgium.  Just a 5-hour train ride from Groningen, it was very easy to set up our trip so that we would arrive on Friday night and return to Groningen on Sunday evening, while still getting to see and do a lot in Brussels.

On Saturday morning, we were up bright and early so that we would arrive at the Cantillon Brewery when it opened at 10:00 AM. We'd heard that this is the place to learn about the lambic, geuze, and kriek beer-making processes, and we were not disappointed. We learned that lambic beer is unique because yeasts are not added during the brewing process; rather, the beer is exposed to the yeasts that are naturally-occurring in the air overnight before being stored in barrels. This is known as "spontaneous fermentation." The result is some very sour and very tasty beer! Here are a few photos we snapped during the tour:

The hop boiler

Organic cereals

The big, flat copper vat in which the wort is exposed to the natural yeasts at the brewery

Framboise, Lambic Grand Cru, and Kriek

Something that became clear to us during our tour of Cantillon Brewery, is that they are very dedicated to producing their beer in a responsible manner.  They use organically grown cereals and they control insects that are attracted to the fermenting beer by respecting the spiders living in the brewery - allowing the arachnids to do the pest-control duties naturally. 

After our brewery tour, we headed over to Den Teepot, which is a vegetarian (almost entirely vegan) restaurant west of the Grand Place. My husband and I are both vegetarians (I'm vegan), so we were very excited to find out about Den Teepot. The restaurant is above a health food store, so it was a little bit difficult to find, but the search was worth it.  We both had heaping plates of vegan deliciousness that would prepare us for a long day of wandering Brussels, sampling chocolates, and drinking great beer.

Vegan lunch at Den Teepot - delicious!

After lunch, we took a long meandering walk around Brussels, and then went sight-seeing on the Grand Place and window-shopping at the various fine chocolate shops.  We also paid a visit to the famous peeing-boy statue, known as Manneken Pis.  Here are some favorite photos:

The Grand Place

Window-shopping at the chocolate shops on and around the Grand Place

Manneken Pis, dressed up in honor of the Belgian Paralympics Committee

For dinner, we met up with a dear friend who was in town after a conference. This meal was at another vegetarian restaurant, known as Slurps, in the Ixelles neighborhood.  Slurps serves dishes representing cuisines from all over the world, beautifully presented and very tasty. It was a little off the tourist track, but definitely worth the journey.

After dinner, we decided to increase our knowledge of Belgian brews at Moeder Lambic, a hip bar that had a large range of brews from hoppy to malty, and light to strong.

On Sunday, we had brunch at Le Pain Quotidien, where the chocolate spreads are plentiful and the vegan dishes are all helpfully marked on the menu (which is available in French, English, and Flemish).  It is a very affordable place because one can order small dishes a la carte.  The rest of Sunday was spent wandering Brussels and taking in its many parks and cityscapes, before heading home to Groningen.  Some more photos:

Many of the buildings in Brussels are adorned with scenes from beloved comic strips. It was a lot of fun spotting them on our walks around the city.

Here are some cost-saving tips that we learned along the way: To keep costs down, we booked a "weekend return" deal through the NS Hispeed web site and found a good hotel deal at the Sofitel Le Louise on Booking.com. We found that Brussels is actually a pretty affordable place to visit as there is a lot of free or low-cost stuff to do there. Our brewery tour cost only 6 euros each, which included a couple of glasses of beer at the end of the tour.  A walk on the Grand Place is free, and window shopping for Belgian chocolates is also free - if you can resist the urge to buy them.  As you can see from our photos, Brussels also has quaint parks, great views, and public art that can all be accessed free of charge.  Food was the major expense, but we found the prices to be quite reasonable given the generous portions.

Cheers!