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Right now I can smell a farm.  I have no idea where in this area they would be spreading manure (lovely, fresh cow manure--not the stuff that's been sitting all winter) in this area--it's a bit urban--but it sure does smell like home.

Koek & Zopie

I lied before--I still have one last Elfstedentocht post.  There was one other "De Jager" comic related to the Elfstedentocht which was particularly interesting because it relates to general Dutch regional differences and general Dutch winter activities.

This comic says:

"Everyone in the country is out on the ice."

The flags are the regional flags (the one for Friesland and the other for Amsterdam).  

The signs say two things which sound almost exactly the same but which mean different things.

Koek & Zopie is a traditional Dutch winter skating snack.  I mentioned the "koek" previously.  

Zopie is a hot, spiced, alcoholic drink--kind of like wassail, I think.   

Coke & Zuipie, I believe, means "rum and coke".

I think that the point of this cartoon is that everyone is doing the same thing, almost.

Everyone wants to be involved in the ice skating fun.  

Amsterdam almost has it right but not quite because they are just a little too urban, 

a little too south, a little too "party" to really understand real Dutch ice culture.

Koek & zopie have apparently been a pretty traditional part of Dutch ice skating for a couple of centuries at least.  Dutch Wikipedia has an article on this combination which includes two 19th century landscapes which feature koek & zopie stands.  They are slightly more sophisticated than the picture in the above cartoon but you can see the resemblance.

A painting by Andreas Schelfhout, a Dutch painter.  You can see other pictures painted by him here.

A painting by Charles Leickert, a Belgian painter.  You can see other pictures painted by him here.

If you want to recreate this Dutch treat, you need an apple tart (those individual apple pies that you can buy in wax paper wrappers in gas stations are just the ticket) and some zopie.  Luckily for all of you, Dutch Wikipedia also includes an authentic recipe for this drink:

Bring 1 liter of beer, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, and 2 slices of lemon to a boil.  Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.  Stir in 2/3 cup brown sugar and 2 eggs, mixing well.  Add 1/2 cup of rum.  Drink smaakelijk!

De-lish, eh?  

Elfstedentocht redux.

Just as a final note on the Elfstedentocht before we're done.  (Unless, of course, we get some cold again.)  As I was looking through the Dutch news site nu.nl, I found some funny cartoons from a strip called "De Jager", many of the recent examples of which refer to the Elfstedentocht.  Because that is all anyone was thinking about for a month or so.  If you want to see other, non-Elfstedentocht related cartoons, the archive is located here.

This cartoon says: 

"Concern that business are getting too strong a grip on the Elfstedentocht."  

Unox is a food company that produces, among other things, wursts which are processed meat logs which look a lot like Polish sausages, hence the finish line which looks like a Polish sausage.  They don't taste like that though.  They taste kind of like weirdly flavored spam.  It is a very distinctive and unusual taste.

This one says

"In places, the ice is too thin for the Elfstedentocht to be run."

Kwik, Kwek, & Kwak are the Dutch version of Huey, Dewey, and Louie (Donald Duck's nephews).  I assume that this version is to avoid copyright issues.  I have no idea why they are relevant to this cartoon.

This one is labeled "Thaw."

And the one guy says to the other: 

"An Elfstedentocht swim . . . have they thought about doing that?"