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Dutch Treat


Why do they call it a Dutch treat when a couple share the cost of a meal?  I've often wondered, but never knew.  The only Dutch treat I'm aware of is from my childhood.  I grew up in Scarborough which back in the mid 50s, long before amalgamation, was on the outskirts of Toronto.   I lived on a street of strawberry boxes, a term used to describe the size of the houses.  Two doors down lived my best friend, Jeff.  Jeff and I spent a lot of time together, mostly at his place.  Jeff's mom was Dutch and very hot.  And she had some charming Dutch expressions when she got angry with us.  Now, since I don't speak or understand Dutch I can only repeat what I thought I heard.  One expression sounded like "hot for dick a ma" and the other I could have sworn she said "peein' in the sink".  But I digress.

Since I spent a lot of time at Jeff's it only made sense that I often ate there.  And here comes the Dutch treat.  Jeff's mom introduced me to a number of great Dutch delicacies.  For breakfast she made this wonderful concoction made up of cocoa powder, icing sugar and sugar.  The idea was to spread it on hot, buttered toast.  Mmmm, like a chocolate bar on toast.

But that was nothing.  For lunch we had hagelslag sandwiches.  Silly me, back then I heard "ha hoe slaw".  Anyway, hagelslag is known in English as chocolate hail.  You sprinkle this stuff on buttered bread (the butter holds the chocolate particles in place) top off with another piece of buttered bread and eat.

And on those special occasions we had sandwiches made with Vruchten Hagel, Dutch for fruit hail.   Fruit hail is small bits of coloured sugar, with flavour added to make them look like little candies.  It was a little crunchier than the chocolate hail.

See, I'm not making this stuff up!

Imagine, chocolate, sugar and more sugar.  Boy was my dentist happy.  My parents not so much because my dentist discovered I had seventeen cavities.  I think he's the guy that first uttered the phrase "drill, baby, drill'.

Needless to say that brought to a quick conclusion my Dutch treat!

Comments

Donnie said…
Apparently, Jeff's mom wasn't hot enough to distract you from all of that sugar she was feeding you guys. Sheesh. I would have left the Hazelslug or whatever that stuff is called, I would have left that alone and gone for the mom. Now that would have been a Dutch treat!
00dozo said…
Dutch chocolate is the best. Your post made me crave Nutella on toast, but since I don't have any, I'll have to settle for cinnamon toast.
nonamedufus said…
Don: You're a naughty, naughty boy.
nonamedufus said…
00dozo:It was delicious. I must have eaten it almost every day for about 5 years when I was a kid.
Chris said…
Isn't Heineken Dutch?
RA said…
Mooi, said Jeff's mom. And so did very probably your dentist too. :D
nonamedufus said…
Chris: Yeah I think so, but back then I was too young to drink. So what are you saying, no cavities?
nonamedufus said…
RA: Jeff's mom was the Dutch one so I don't know what mooi means.
00dozo said…
Off Topic: I LOVE the new blog template - I would copy it since it's sort of represents our business, but then it would look like I was stalking you. I don't stalk, I merely follow. I am a sheep.
nonamedufus said…
00dozo: Stalk away. I found by clicking on the "design" button on the new post page. There's several new templates there!
00dozo said…
Yes, I saw that new "Design" thing - it caught me off guard, but I'll try it. I'm a bit unsure of the blogtechie stuff. Ah, what the hell...In for a penny ...;-) Thanks, eh.
nonamedufus said…
00dozo: It's as easy as pie. Choose the template you want (Blogger shows you what your blog will look like as you wander through the choices, then click on the save button. And voila!
Leeuna said…
I like your version of "Dutch treat" best. It sounds delicious.
Nicky said…
Chocolate and sugar for breakfast?! I think I love Jeff's mom too!
nonamedufus said…
Leeuna: It was delicious, and apart from the cavities it helped packed on the pounds!
nonamedufus said…
Nicky: nom, nom, nom!
RA said…
Eh? Are you telling me you spent all those years with Jeff and his Dutch mom and never learned the word "mooi"? Man, she must have been hot...

p.s. mooi means beautiful, OK, good, great... you get the picture.
nonamedufus said…
RA: Ahhh, okay. Well, I guess you could say Jeff's mom was mooi.
A hot Dutch mom with candy? There's got to be more to this story, NoName. In fact, I think I saw this story on late-night Cinemax a few weeks ago.
River said…
I remember chocolate hail sandwiches. My parents were German, and we had them for after school snacks. (The sandwiches, not the parents...)
I still treat myself to an occasional choclate hail sandwich.
nonamedufus said…
Mike: Oh, yeah? How did they handle the part of me moving away when I was 10? Was it tearful?
nonamedufus said…
River: I haven't had a chocolate hail sandwich since my teems, I think. I have fewer cavities now.

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