Cousins' Day 2010

When the third week in September rolls around, it's time for what we call, "Cousins' Day". All of us cousins get together for a day of eating, chatting and an activity.
The cousins are spread over the country, so the cousins are divided up into four groups and the responsibility of hosting rotates every year. This year The West-Friesland lot's turn.

There was alot of planning and logistical work to be done. An activity was thought up and then food and an eat-out place chosen. The timing for all these things had to be reckoned and a "Plan B" ready if it would rain really hard.

My little flat is too small to accommodate 13 people, so the beginning eats and welcome would be done at another cousin's place.
We gathered at 10:00 and set about moving furniture and getting the pie and coffee and tea ready.
They began trickling-in at about 11:00 and after all the cheek-kissing and greetings were done, they got a choice of either kwark pie or apple pie (made by a cousin).

While they chatted and munched, we all pitched-in and got the table ready for the guests to come and make their own lunch from what was laid out for them.

I provided a pasta salad and a Mexican bean salad made with many ingredients from the the garden.
First, the pasta salad:


The Mexican bean salad:


Looking down the table from the salad end:


...and then from the bread end:


The center of the buffet shows the cheeses, meats, Krentemik and jams:


After lunch, we drove into town and parked up on the Westerdijk. There was a choir thing near-by at the playhouse and unfortunately there weren't alot of parking spaces...enough, but not an over-abundance, if you know what I mean.

One of the activities that we would do was to take two shortish scooter(push-bike) tours of the old city center.
The truck couldn't make it to the parking lot where we had agreed to meet, so we all had to traipse off down the hill a bit where he was waiting. As we approached the guests could see the word "Fietsverhuur", which means "bicycle rental".


They all began to moan and made such unkind comments like, "Well, I could have stayed home and rode my own bike". hahaha.
However, when the back was let down, they could see that the rental things were not bikes at all, but scooters...and they gingerly moved in for a closer look.


The fellow had them all neatly secured against the back wall.


These scooters are much nicer than the one that I had as a child--these were fancy by comparison.

Some folks started right-away to try them out, while others stood and watched, seeing howe it would go. No one had ridden one one these for donkey's years.
Here is Carla, one of the first to try:


Sooner or later everyone had gotten their hands on a scooter and had made a few circles and figure of eights. So, after alot of laughing and a little scream or two they were ready to fledge.
I spoke to the driver and we agreed that someone would give him a call thirty minutes before we were ready to have them picked-up. All according to plan.
Then suddenly, like a flock of migrating geese in the morning--they were off!


The somewhat disorderly mob was led through the old centrum, along some sights-- here is one. It is the entrance to a home for old, widowed women dating from 1610, I believe.


As you can see the door is closed, so we couldn't get in to see the lovely courtyard. These places are called "hofjes", and there is a square inside with plants. The doors to all the dwellings open onto this squared garden area. It is quaint.

Further along, we went through old streets and alleys and came along this old, leaning house across the canal from us.
The photograph does not show howe much it really does lean.


You know, the theme of this "Cousins' Day" was "Going Back In Time"...sort of a nostalgic experience with scooters and this building, The Museum of the 20th Century. It is a museum that houses all the articles in everyday life that we all remember from our youth. Not only implements, but also a special exhibition showing old telly programs with all the old theme songs. Wahh--that takes me back...
Something else that takes me back is the building, itself:


This is an old pakhuis, or a storage building for cheese. I don't recall when it was originally built, but it was refurbished in the early 1900's.

Now, the reason that this particular building has such memories for me was that when I was a youngster, I worked here!
Yep, that's right...I worked downstairs and would receive the big trucks loaded with Edam balls of cheese. I would take them out of the back of the lorry and put them into a sort of rolling hamper and roll them to the small elevator and send it upstairs where more lads would take the balls out and place them on planks to cure.
The whole building was just full of planks of cheese.

The part that I liked was when the tourists came. They were always curious and asked alot of questions. Then before leaving they would inevitably ask to have a picture taken with me while they held some cheese. Hahaha. That was lots of fun.

Inside they have so much stuff--I can't begin to describe it all. Here is a reconstruction of a turn of the century store.


Another section featured early washing machines.


Old irons were displayed.


After spending quite a long time in the museum, we went downstairs and had a sit-down. You know how your legs feel after slentering in a museum. Tired.
We had some coupons which we could use to get some free coffee or tea.

Once rejuvenated, it was time to get our scooters again and go for a second little excursion. We took them along old buildings and along canals and through a park and finally heading to the harbour.


A different section of the harbour.


Finally ending up at the harbour tower. At the foot of this tower is my favourite fish guy's tiny eating place.
The arrangement was that he would provide all the fish and chips that the cousins could eat...with a drink and at the end of the meal, a coffee or tea.
I really got my money's worth here.


Well, we all had a good time and finally parted company until the following year, where the Beverwijk cousins would host the day.

 

Thanks so much, TONI--Yeah., there was a lot of noise when they were looking at the scooters in the beginning. In fact there was alot of noise the whole day!
The museum is interesting to see once and awhile. It was fun too to stand aside and just listento the cousins chat among themselves as they saw things that they recognized and then tell a short anecdote about it. That was the goal, afterall.

Thanks for the interest, FRANK-- I don't know a great deal about that little house, but it is quite old. It has been there so long and I pass it all the time and just don't think much about it. I will make some inquiries.
The fish 'n chips--yeah, that was what I was scooting towards the whole day! hahaha. I can't tell you how much I have eaten at the little fish place in the harbour over the years. I am not looking foreward to the day that he retires.

 

Certainly looks like a great day.... nothing better than family, food, frolicking and fun!

cheryl

 

Wow!!! Great day huh!! :-D , no cousin day here too!!

 

My favorite picture was the table of bread. Do you bake your own bread or have a favorite bakery? I made bread the other day. All summer it's in a bread machine because of the heat but dr asked for made in the oven bread again so I made a favorite white bread. Next will be whole grain or honey wheat. I love baking bread and usually share with a neighbor. Who can eat two or three loaves before it begings to go stale? Maybe when we were younger or had kids, but now I share. Thanks for the tour with your cousins! Dooley

 

Now, that looks like a very fun Cousins' Day. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall.

We've got Cousin Get-togethers every second year or so, and it's always fun but it's not as organized as your day. We just gather to eat, drink, go for walks and catch up on everybody's lives.

Never mind the bikes, the canals or the harbour, nor the fish'n'chips. Let me at that pasta salad and the bread! Dooley, we'll share them, yes?

 

I hope you won't mind, Sjoerd, for me to butt in on your thread, but I've got a photo of the courtyard behind the door of the home for old, widowed women. It's just a quick snap but it shows a bit of how the yard's organized:

 

What a fun post. I remember your Cousin's Day posting from last year too. You guys sure know how to throw a party, especially the lunch! Talk about a groaning board! I'm impressed that everyone jumped right on those scooters! I had to laugh thinking about my cousins facing scooters -- oh my. Very interesting, the part about you working at the cheese place too -- how old were you?

 

Enjoyed your posting and the scooter tour of the town & harbor. What fun that you have the cousins gathering every year. Too often when our parents pass on the cousins lose touch. The food looks delicious and you had a well planned day. How far is Beverwijk from you? On the map it looks fairly close to Amsterdam.

 

EILEEN--Cousins' Day is not a national day, it's one that we organized ourselves...but many families do it.
Thanks for liking the posting. It is always fun to share the goings on here.

It was alot of fun, CHERYL. My jacket still faintly smells of fried fish. Hmmmmm :?

It really was loads of fun, KK.

I do not bake my own bread, DOOLEY--The bakery is just a coupla minutes from here and since I have no oven, it is bought as was the bread on the table there. There is a large choice of types here.
You are welcome for the tour.

Actually DROPPY, I wish that the get-togethers were simpler, but after more than twenty years, a sort of "form" has developed, and so that's what we all try and stick to now.
Oh, that pasta salad wass delicious...absolutely delicious, as was the Mexican bean salad.
Of course I don't mind you adding piccies. It was nice to see yours. That inner court is difficult to get in a good perspective, but you did well.

Thanks DAZE-- Glad you liked the thread. A lot of work and organizing wnet into this lunch, and it was quite tasty.
Hahaha... leave it to you to catch that cheeze-working bit. hahaha. I was in my early twenties, I reckon it was. It was simple work, but a guy needs poocket change y'know. It was the kind of work that pas a pleasure to do. Just the thing for a frisky bloke.

Thank you, GAIL--I thought that you might like it, even thoughit wasn't Amsterdam. hahaha. It was fun planning the surprize aspect of the gathering.
I reckon that Beverwijk is perhaps thirty kilometers from here--not far and quick with a bus. A train trip would involve a change-over....or at least it used to. I haven't made the trip in a while. I used to go to the Oosterse Markt there occasionally. Go to the website and klik on the British union jack for english text.

http://www.debazaar.nl/index.html

 

what a super post sjoerd! i so enjoyed the pics of the old places, escpecially the water and boats, not to mention the last one, oh yum! i'm afraid i'm drooling too! you make me wish i were your cousin!

 

Thanks for your nice comments, Bunkie. Maybe we should get a blood transfusion--then you'd be a blood relative.