Notes: Sugarbread in the Tulip House

There were things I loved and things I hated about writing Sugarbread in the Tulip House. First off, I found that the doughnut culture of Holland was rampant. There are several sites devoted to the Netherlands way of making pastries, doughnuts, and sugarbreads. Netherlanders have a particular fondness for all things sugar, whether its taffy, doughnuts, strussel, or even sugared breads that they eat on savory sandwiches, like pastrami, pepperoni, or even plain pork.

Kind of odd, since the Hollandaise farm is nearly non-existent. The land is very fertile, but its also underwater so much that farming is impossible, except for a crop like rice, which demands a hotter climate.

So, I got to write about that.

I also got to explore a truly dutch game called "Sjoelbak", a tabletop variation of shuffleboard. That was interesting and fun.

On the sour side, however, was that I didn't want to dwell on Windmills and dikes - for two major reasons. First off, the WIndmill is a pervasive stereotype of Dutch culture. I really wanted to go another direction. Secondly, the word "dike" has such a negative connotation that I wanted to avoid that almost entirely. Children 9-10 years old are are the sophomoric giggle stage - where every mention of sexuality, overt or otherwise, is met with nervous laughter.

I did get to mention the beginings of Santa Claus/Sinterklaas, and even delved a little bit into "Black Pieter", the black elf that worked as Santa Claus' sidekick. I had to deal with the origins of the Dutch Slave Traders and what "Black Pieter" really was in a historical context. I artfully avoided that as best I could, without disgracing the racial implications it holds even today.