Canablog

From www.zingergersmans.com:

Doughnuts are an American tradition that dates back to the arrival of the Dutch. It seems that the original idea of the American doughnut may actually be tied to a New Year's Eve tradition in the Netherlands. The "oliebol" (the name means, literally, "oil ball") is a yeasted batter with raisins that's fried in hot oil and could be light and fluffy or denser with powdered sugar. One Dutchman I talked to said with a broad smile, "We eat piles of them for New Year's Eve in Holland." The American name? Of course no one really knows but it could well be that early recipes suggested that the cook make up little "nuts" of dough to fry.

We wanted to buy some premade Oliebollen mix that we use in The Netherlands. But the Holland Shop had sold out, so we are now using a recipe to make it from scratch.

Not much else happened, a major storm caused a bit of trouble (250.000 households lost their power). Stanley park had some major damage, look at the pictures in this thread on a hiking site i follow to get a feel for the damage.

Next weekend I'm (Bas) planning my first real backcountry trip. Objective is Needle Peak. I'll be going with somebody I haven't actually met yet. But we both follow Club Tread, the hiking site linked above. We are both at the same stage, did some climbing courses and now want to make the step the more "real" climbing. Needle Peak is hardly a mountaineering destiunation, but you have to start somewhere :-)

After three months of staying at home, Ge-an will have to start working again on the 2nd of Jan.. That will be a big change, we have to get into an efficient routing to get both kids and ourselves to daycare/work.

Ge-an might add something a bit later....Well let's do it right now. My addition would be about the boys :-). They are both doing great. Jamie is growing and growing, as a baby should. He has nice "michelin" legs. And he is starting to make his first ure ure sounds. He is a very happy baby, we get lots of big smiles from him.

Robin is the being the real toddlere he is. He can make you laugh one moment and get under your skin the next. A good thing for him is just to get outside and run or play in the snow or mud, bike or ride his scooter (and no that not a scooter but a "step" in Dutch) whatever is available.

For now: Best Wishes for the new Year