December 16, 2016
Executive Pastry Chef at The Peninsula hotel in Hong Kong, Dutchman Frank Haasnoot makes Christmas pastries that are a pleasure to watch and I’m sure a pleasure to eat as well.
As the French mentioned in the video, you’ll love how he makes the Christmas tree at the end of this video. If you want more pastry magic, follow Haasnoot on the food channel, better known as instagram.
(Link: huffingtonpost.fr)
Tags: chocolate, Christmas, Frank Haasnoot, pastry
July 9, 2016
There’s this weird tradition at camp sites where I’m from in Québec called ‘Le Noël des campeurs’ (‘Campers’ Christmas’), which is basically celebrating Christmas in July at the camp site, where some of us spent our entire summers because that was the family vacation. I especially remember Santa Claus on the back of a pick-up driving slowly through the camp site throwing candies at us kids, not unlike the Pieten do at Sinterklaas.
The Netherlands doesn’t do Christmas at the camping, but shopping mall Rijkerswoerd in Arnhem has been forced to listen to Christmas music for three weeks now, which is horribly annoying to customers and shopkeepers alike. Thanks to the incompetence of a manager in solving the problem and a florist seeking media attention to get it fixed, the entire system was replaced and there’s normal hits coming out of the music system as of today.
After three weeks of chanting ‘we’re looking into it’, the manager in question had announced that the problem had been solved on Thursday, but on Friday, Jingle Bells and Last Christmas were back in full swing. On Friday afternoon, cables were yanked out of the system to be repaired to make sure Driving Home for Christmas hit a brick wall of silence before the florist got too creative.
Mood Media, the company who supplies the tunes, has apologised for the music terror and placated the shopkeepers with actual Christmas-themed gifts, which went over well.
(Link: www.gelderlander.nl)
December 25, 2015
The 24oranges tree is the same every year, but decorated slightly differently. I found it years ago abandoned on Queen’s Day (now King’s Day) in a big blue IKEA tote bag and it does the job just fine. This year it has candy canes I bought in the UK (not a Dutch thing) and some baubles made by friends.
Today’s menu is wild mushroom stew Bourgignon, which means red wine is involved, and home made almond shortbread cookies. Oh, and the fantastic French cheese that someone brought from France and left me to eat upon returning to France for the holidays, you know who you are.
Branko will again have a Top 10 list of this year’s favourite stories before the end of the year. Thanks for the comments, the likes and following us on Twitter. We’ll try and be more present on instagram (if only we could toggle between accounts!) in 2016 and we’ll keep uploading great Dutch pics on Flickr.
Happy Holidays, and for anyone who is working, have a good day and take care!
UPDATE: we took a few days.
Tags: Christmas, Christmas tree, holidays
December 24, 2014
24oranges is going to take a breather for a few days to enjoy the bizarre spring weather we’re having, try out some new Christmas food recipes and visit friends and family.
Branko will have a Top 10 list of this year’s favourite stories before the end of the year and we should have some more pictures up on Flickr as well.
Happy Holidays!
December 6, 2012
Dutch postal company PostNL surveyed 18 European countries and it’s the Dutch that apparently send the most Christmas cards, at an average of 40 a household. The Brits, Danes, Fins and French also send a lot of Christmas wishes through the mail, at an average of 17 to 30 cards, while Southern Europeans send the least amount of cards.
Almost all European countries have special Christmas stamps at a reduced rate. In the Netherlands they’re called ‘decemberzegels’ (‘December stamps’, more generic) and ‘kerstzegels’ (‘Christmas stamps’).
Interestingly, Germany actually has Christmas stamps that are more expensive, costing 55 euro cent with 25 euro cent extra going to a good cause.
The photo above are Environmentally incorrect Santa Claus cards I scored at the cheap Asian import store down the street two years ago. However, while researching this piece, these blonde Caucasian German angels jumped out at me.
(Link: www.telegraaf.nl)
Tags: angels, Christmas, Germany, Netherlands, postage stamps, Santa
November 25, 2012
Last year the store owners association Rotterdam Centrum came up with remarkable Christmas decorations, namely LED-lit plastic jerry cans.
An actual design agency called M.E.S.T. (the name means ‘manure’) came up with the idea, and of course they also came up with a back story. The use of jerry cans apparently highlighted the fact that Rotterdam is a port in which brawn is typically rated above brain and it also stressed environmental commitment. Perhaps unsurprisingly the brawny citizens of Rotterdam ignored the intellectualizations and thought the decorations were naff.
This year the store owners association of the Jan Evertsenstraat in Amsterdam took a long, hard look at the Christmas decoration dilemma and decided to take the same disastrous direction.
Amsterdammers were not amused. Unlike their brothers and sisters from the city on the Rotte they used stronger terms to display their displeasure: “This is an outrage, it is horrible,” one man told AT5. Another said that the decorations had to be done on the cheap, “and it shows.”
The district paid for the decorations with tax money so it is not surprising that they crow about the results, although even their copywriters had a little trouble coming up with language that didn’t sound sarcastic: “And this really is unique, you cannot even call them real Christmas lights.”
Our very own Orangemaster had a chat with the owner of trendy Bar Baarsch on the Jan Evertsenstraat and asked him what he thought of the lights. “I think they’re great”, he said. He liked the fact that they were festive but not Christmassy. I told him that it reminded me of a Mexican fiesta like atmosphere, with more of a summer feel to it. He also liked the idea that people didn’t like it because the publicity is great, too.
Tags: Amsterdam, Christmas, Christmas decorations, Christmas lights, Rotterdam, seasonal decorations
December 25, 2011
Feliz Navidad, that sounds almost but not quite like M’n Fiets is Gejat (2007, My Bike was Stolen).
My bike was stolen (3x)
That sucks
My bike was stolen (3x)
That sucks
I don’t want to walk home
I have no money to buy a new one
By now my bike is at the bottom of the canal (gracht)
De Sjonnies (The Johnnies, named after Amsterdam singer Johnny Jordaan) were a Nijmegen based band from the 1990s and 2000s who had a smallish hit in 1995 with Dans Je de Hele Nacht met Mij? (Will You Dance All Night With Me?). As I was a student in Nijmegen in those days, I heard that song rather a lot.
Let me conclude by wishing you a mijn fiets is gejat from the bottom of my gracht.
Video: Youtube/Thijs de Nijs. Link: David Hembrow.
Tags: Christmas, Christmas music, David Hembrow, De Sjonnies, holidays, Nijmegen, theft
December 24, 2011
This year at 24oranges our idea of Christmas involves food, drinks, and a LAN party. Oh, and music.
Here’s some Christmas music you may or may not know from international blog Christmas a gogo. I write for this blog and it has the best, weirdest, coolest, funkiest Christmas music around.
Ring in the holidays with The Souldiers from Amsterdam singing You’ve Got Balls
Tags: Christmas, The Souldiers
December 14, 2011
Avoid the Shopping Crowds is a very simple web app to avoid the madding crowds during holiday shopping in Amsterdam. However, it only takes into account the main shopping areas: downtown, the ‘9 straatjes’ area, South, and the Arena shopping mall.
Downtown is always kind of busy, as it is also full of tourists all year round, while the ‘9 straatjes’ is full of locals trying to avoid downtown. South is quite spread out, but has its busy moments, and the Arena shopping mall, somewhat out of town, should be avoided at all costs when there’s a football match going on.
“Most people don’t have the luxury to go shopping when nobody else does,” app builders THEY (that’s their name) claim.
I disagree: there are enough part-time working women (75% of all working Dutch women!), stay-at-home parents (mostly moms), unemployed, students with free periods, pensioners, tourists and self-employed to make me stress out during the day as well, never mind anyone in these categories coming from outside the city. In fact, it often feels like nobody works and everybody has busloads of disposable income.
Here’s what the Haarlemmerdijk (slightly out of downtown) looked like in 2008 during Christmas. The clincher is the traffic trying to get by the delivery trucks and all blocking the road. And it is a great shopping street.
(Link: www.amsterdamadblog.com)
December 24, 2010
Here it is again, the tree I found in the trash a few years ago that adorns the office. The 24oranges crew has enough food and drinks to fill a bunker, and so pics will surely follow.
There are rumours that the Elfstedentocht (‘Eleven Cities Tour’), the outdoor Frisian skating marathon will possibly be on this year, the last one of which took place in 1997. Not only will we write about if it happens, but we plan on attending and taking pictures.
Read more about the Elfstedentocht on 24oranges:
Elfstedentocht stronger brand than Olympic Games
Tags: Christmas, Christmas tree, Elfstedentocht
