Tag Archive for: favourites

That’s Nuts!

We were in Ijsselstein on Saturday visiting my brother-in-law Rob, for his birthday.
After a lovely visit together, we decided to take a walk into town to do some Christmas shopping.
Setting off on our little journey, “Maybe you’ll find some fresh nuts” quipped Monic.
We both love fresh nuts!
The streets were filled with music, lots of families with little children all enjoying the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas, with countless Piet’s around town.
We were in and out of several little shops and it wasn’t too long before we came across one selling fresh nuts and cheeses.
The Dutch have a passion for fresh nuts!
Looking at the tempting array I asked “Mag ik deze proeven?”
As always, I tried a few different varieties of mixed nuts before settling on a favourite.
Different spices and a range of mixtures gave the nuts a special flavour and zing!
“𝑽𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆” I thought.
Spices play a significant role.
They impart flavour to our food, as well as making it tasty and inviting!
I purchased two different mixtures.
One turned out to be our firm favourite with little dried cherries mixed in.
In a similar sense, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.
Maybe we are a little nutty (I’m sure many will agree!), but fresh nuts have become a popular choice for us.
Loaded with antioxidants, Brazil nuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, macadamias and any more, are all good for your diet.
You certainly can’t beat a good nut; I’ve noticed there are a few of them around! 😉
What is your favourite mixture?

My Favourite Dutch Words

One of the missionaries asked….“What are your favourite Dutch words?”
Here are my top 5 for the moment!
𝐋𝐞𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐫 – The adjective lekker, denotes several positive attributes including nice, appealing and high-quality. Tasty food is commonly called lekker. However, the word extends well beyond food! For example it is often applied to nice looking people, well-made clothes, nice weather and even a good night’s sleep.
𝐆𝐞𝐳𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐝 – This is a fascinating word – it is often equated to cosiness but means even more than that. For the Dutch, I think gezelligheid represents a much broader spectrum of fun, joviality or even amicable situations that are all united by a warm sense of personal comfort and togetherness. Its just a lovely word!
-𝐭𝐣𝐞 – The Dutch use diminutives much more often than we English speakers do. They make words sound smaller, cuter or friendlier by adding the suffix –tje. For example, a small dog is a hondje, a wee nap is a dutje.
𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐝 – I just love the word for complicated, every time I use it, it just simply sounds much better in Dutch than it does in English!
𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐬 – Anyone who knows me well, will know that my favourite Dutch word of all time is this one. It simply means hopeless! And for many years it was a perfect description of my Dutch itself!! 😆😂
Do you have any favourite foreign language words?