Gift suggestion for Dutch Friend

BasenjiDiva

My husband's deceased father's second wife was Dutch. When she died earlier this year, she named DH and her Dutch niece as executors of her will. The news came as a surprise to both. DH and the niece and her husband all met for the first time when they all flew to NJ from their homes in Holland and Georgia. As they tried to sort out all the belongings and affairs of the aunt/step-mother in only one week, the 3 of them became good friends in a "misery loves company" sort of way. It would take FAR too long to go into the scope of the mess. I will say this: Tell your executors that they are your executors and tell them where they can find a list of your banks, sources of income, creditors, etc!!! Also tell them what you want done with YOU. But I digress…..so:

Since then the niece and her husband have sent us a couple of nice packages with all sorts of Dutch candies and baked goods. We would like to put together one for them but they haven't been real helpful in giving us any indications of what they might like. We know that the husband is not really keen on sweets. Larry did give them some Savannah benne wafer cookies while they were over here sorting out things. They like those and we'll send them some more. Being here in Georgia, pralines and sugared and spicey pecans are always an idea....but pralines are definitely sweet! So...any ideas on what we might send? I originally thought maybe I could send some Paula Deen items but she has never heard of Paula Deen and I don't know that they would enjoy the Southern style cooking.

Thoughts and suggestions?

Pat

agilebasenji

bourbon cake springs to mind.

okay, hmmmm, savannah is a neat place to shop. i'd do a savannah/america theme. perhaps, since savannah was a headquarters to shipping cotton, maybe textiles (if you can find some made in the US still), the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a Paula Deen cookbook, a nice pictorial book on savannah/costal georgia. i know in charleston at the old slave market they used to sell wonderful handmade basket. Local wines are always interesting (but costly to ship). definately do a little scrap book of pictures you took in and around savannah.

Duke

BasenjiDiva - your ideas are wonderful! If the niece's husband doesn't like the sweets - he doesn't have to eat them. It is the gift that counts and the foods grown in Georgia are wonderful! My DH has relatives in Holland - when they come to visit - they bring all kinds of candy - some yummy and some, not so good. But it's the chance to be able to try foods that we can't get here that's fun.

MacPack

It's pecan season, so a couple of pounds of good Georgia pecans (plain) would be nice. Roasted and salted pecans are a wonderful treat as well, though sugared are my favorites.

Tayda_Lenny

This might sound weird, but whenever I go visit my friends in England, Germany and the Czech Republic, they always ask that I bring some peanut butter with me. Apparently they can not get peanut butter over there, or the peanut butter they get is not as good as here. Not sure if it's the same in Holland, but I just thought I'd throw that out there…

Janneke

@Tayda_Lenny:

This might sound weird, but whenever I go visit my friends in England, Germany and the Czech Republic, they always ask that I bring some peanut butter with me. Apparently they can not get peanut butter over there, or the peanut butter they get is not as good as here. Not sure if it's the same in Holland, but I just thought I'd throw that out there…

We have great peanut butter :p ;)

Tayda_Lenny

lol! ok! And better mayonaise for fries too from what I hear! :D

Janneke

@Tayda_Lenny:

lol! ok! And better mayonaise for fries too from what I hear! :D

Yes, definitly!! :D :D

Edit: We also have Sinterklaas.. haha.. Sorry.. it's 5 december and then we celebrate his birthday.. ;)

;)

If someone is interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

BasenjiDiva

We celebrated St. Nicholas Day with our children and now our little grandsons. They each received a little toy and some chocolate coins (sent by our Dutch friend) in their shoes.

I had forgotten about the habit of eating french fries and mayonnaise. I was never able to make myself try that. So I think I'll skip sending the mayonnaise! However, our Dutch friends finally gave us some hints. They like the McCormick herbs and spices to put on their food - especially the ones with no salt, like lemon pepper and garlic. And they love the benne wafer cookies. They found the thought of spiced pecans to be interesting. So I think I will go that route. Maybe I'll put in some vidalia onion relish or something like that. I thought I'd try and keep the gift package regional. I love the Dutch stroopwafels (spelling?) and they kindly sent me some of those. To those of you who haven't ever tasted them: they are made of 2 little thin waffle-like cookies with a buttery syrup between the cookies. They are just the right size to set on top of your coffee cup to let the heat from the coffee warm up the cookie and soften the filling. Or you can just stick it in the microwave for a very few seconds (VERY FEW) and then eat them with your coffee. If you microwave it for too long, you lose your lips and tongue!!! They are, in my opinion, wonderful!! You can find them over here in Dutch specialty stores - some of which are online. We have seen them in the Dutch store in Helen, GA, and DH's step-mother used to order Dutch food from Michigan.

I think you can guess what I'm having right now! It is a nice saturday morning treat!

Pat

Janneke

@BasenjiDiva:

I think you can guess what I'm having right now! It is a nice saturday morning treat!

Pat

They are very tasty indeed! :D

(http://daelmans-stroopwafel.blogspot.com/)

You are right to send local products, it's always nice to get something different then you can get in your own country!

Duke

The waffle cookies are so good! DH's relatives bring those every visit. I love vidalia onions - good idea. Besides Georgia pecans - what about the Georgia peach? A jar of peach jam/jelly or preserved peaches would be a fun. Mmmm - I'm getting hungry on this thread.

Kebasmom

Those are sooooo tasty. I get them at Trader Joe's.

Jylly18

My husband loves those as well…we also go to Trader Joe's but they are tiny, and only come in a small bag...does anyone know of an economical place online to get them? I'd love to get him a big bag or something for Christmas if they can be found :)

ibi_n_sane

typicall dutch is also DROP :)
and yes our peanut butter ( calvé ) and mayonaise is the best of the whole world!!
we have a lot of foreign friends and when they come over or we go over to them, we always have to bring dutch stuff with us, peanut butter, kruidkoek, haagse hopjes, droge worst, stroopwafels, drop, cheese etc etc :)

by the way, Janneke, Sinterklaas didnt had his birthday on 5 december, but he died 6th december, so actually we celebrate his death day ;) which is normal for the church to remember holy people this way, it starts the day before they died, so therefor 5 december.

Janneke

@ibi_n_sane:

typicall dutch is also DROP :)
and yes our peanut butter ( calvé ) and mayonaise is the best of the whole world!!
we have a lot of foreign friends and when they come over or we go over to them, we always have to bring dutch stuff with us, peanut butter, kruidkoek, haagse hopjes, droge worst, stroopwafels, drop, cheese etc etc :)

by the way, Janneke, Sinterklaas didnt had his birthday on 5 december, but he died 6th december, so actually we celebrate his death day ;) which is normal for the church to remember holy people this way, it starts the day before they died, so therefor 5 december.

:D I know 'he' died December 6.. but it's better to celebrate a birthday.. ;)