Pepernoten

Today it’s 5 December – time for the Dutch ‘Sinterklaas’ celebrations, lots of presents, happy children and of course: PEPERNOTEN! But what to do if you don’t live in Holland and can’t just go to the supermarket for a bag or two (or twenty) of pepernoten? Here’s your answer:

You will need:

• 500 gram wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 150 gram sugar (preferably raw or brown sugar)
• 100 gram honey
• 6 tbsp milk
• 4 tbsp ‘speculaaskruiden’* (see below)
• 160 gram soft butter

Time for Big-Kid beds? - Part 1

Last Saturday, the day started with a loud thud, followed by the crying of one of our daughters. Or at least, my husband’s day started like that; I’m glad I didn’t hear it as I went for a run in the early morning and came home just a few minutes after it happened. When my husband rushed into our daughters’ room, he found one of them sitting on the floor between the two cribs. We knew this would happen at some point, it was only a matter of time until they would find out how to get out of their cribs. But we had hoped to have a little bit more time… Fortunately our daughter was all right and the fall didn’t leave any bumps or bruises – it seems our choice to put carpet on the floors was a good one.

Common questions to parents of twins – Part 2: the uncomfortable/way too personal questions

After my previous post on common ‘odd/silly/way too obvious’ questions to parents of twins, today I’ll write about the most frequently asked uncomfortable or very personal questions that parents of multiples come across in their daily life. Mostly, these are questions you would probably never ask a mom of one child or children of different ages, but somehow people think it’s ok to ask a mother of multiples. Future parents of twins: as you will undoubtedly hear these questions in the years to come, I would recommend you read through them and try to prepare in advance, so that you can possibly avoid some uncomfortable situations while visiting a public place with your twins.

Common questions to parents of twins – Part 1: the odd/silly/way too obvious questions

As a parent of twins, you will come across many complete strangers finding you suddenly very interesting and trying to initiate a conversation by asking all kinds of silly, odd, stupid, uncomfortable or very personal questions that they would probably never ask to a singleton mom or dad, but somehow think it’s ok to ask to a parent of multiples. Just add to this that most of these questions are asked at the most uncomfortable moments (imagine you’re trying to comfort two crying babies at the same time, or attempting to get two toddler twins in their car seats as fast as possible to be home on time for their afternoon nap or dinner), and you’ll have the perfect combination for getting really stressed, upset or even angry with these strangers who are wasting your time or asking things that are not of their business. In the beginning, I found the best way to move on quickly was to just smile or nod or give a quick evasive answer, or sometimes even ignoring people if possible (I know, that’s not very nice… but many questions aren’t, either). However, with time you’ll get used to questions and you can choose depending on each situation if it’s best to give the nod/smile/quick answer reaction and move on or give a real answer/explanation (most of the times you’ll notice that people weren’t really expecting that much information or they even don’t really care and just wanted to start a conversation). Or if you would rather have some fun you can even use a joke or silly answer that will certainly stop people from asking any further. 

Pumpkin bread with seeds

I usually have a pumpkin (or two) at home. In Costa Rica you can buy these the whole year and I think it's one of the most convenient vegetables on earth: while still in their skin you can easily store them for several weeks until you need them, you can make a delicious puree out of it in no time, it's very healthy and what's more, my daughters love it! Last weekend I decided to make something else out of it besides the usual portion of puree for our girls. So I took part of the puree and made a pumpkinbread, and with this I also found a good use for the seeds (due to lack of time and inspiration these used to disappear in the trash can, but that will really change from now on because they're delicious if you bake/roast them quickly with some olive oil, salt and pepper!) 


Here's the recipe and some pictures. This recipe is good for 1 large or 2 small breads - you can of course adjust the quantities depending on how many breads you would like to bake.

Running in early morning paradise

5:20 am, Friday morning. I open the front door of our house and step into this almost surreal but oh so wonderful world around me. It’s still quite dark but the first shy daylight has just made its presence. The many tones of green that can usually be seen around here during the day are now still one single tone of dark, very dark green, while the sky is slowly changing from black to dark grey to dark blue. Thousands of little lights are far below me, lights that will still be illuminating the dark streets and neighborhoods of the city for another 20 minutes or so before day really starts and they can be turned off.

Heredity of twin births and different twin types

“Do twins run in your family?” This has probably been one of the most asked questions – by friends as well as strangers – since the very moment we learned we were expecting twins. What follows is usually me giving a brief explanation of why it doesn’t really matter if there are twins in our families or not, as identical twins (like our girls) are never hereditary. People then usually stop asking, but most of the times I can see by the look on their face that either they didn’t quite understand or they just don’t (want to) believe it. So I’ll take a moment here to explain a bit more about the heredity of twins and the differences between identical and fraternal twins.

Why “GiraZonneFlower”?

Yes, why this blog name? And what does it mean, anyway? Let’s start with that, as it’s the easiest part. “Gira” comes from “girasol” (sunflower in Spanish), “Zonne” from “zonnebloem” (sunflower in Dutch) and “Flower”, well… could be any flower of course, but in this case, definitely refers to sunflower.  So one beautiful flower reflected in a mixture of the three important languages in my life. The three languages, also, that I will use to write this blog. You’ll probably ask: why writing in multiple languages, wouldn’t that be too much work? Maybe it will be, and only time will tell. In an ideal world, I would do this to be able to reach out to a much larger audience. Just imagine how many people in the world speak English as their first (or second) language. And Spanish. And… well, Dutch maybe not that many, but it’s still quite a few potential readers on that tiny piece of earth I still call home even though I haven’t lived there for almost ten years now. But even if the audience would remain small. Let’s say, my Mom, a couple of good friends and stop counting. Even then, chances are still high the blog would be read in at least two, possibly all three languages. So yes, certainly worth it to give it a try at least.

Welcome to my blog GiraZonneFlower!

This is my first of hopefully many posts to come and before taking a deep plunge into the world of blogging and starting to develop the many ideas whirling around in my head, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for stepping by and reading this – hopefully I’ll be able to convince you to join me on this new journey and keep visiting, reading and – why not – commenting my posts now and then. I’ll be more than happy to receive your comments, ideas for new posts or some of your own experiences you would like to share!

What can you expect to find on this blog in the time to come? If you’ve already visited my profile in the “About Me” section, you’ll know that my name is Anouk and I’m a busy but happy Mom of identical twin girls – two little but fast growing toddlers who have put my life upside down (in a good way) and have become the center of my existence. You will also have seen that some of my interests and favorite activities include running, cooking & baking, crafts and travelling. I hope to be able to share information, thoughts and experiences with you on these activities, as well as on the wonders and challenges of raising twins, twin pregnancy, raising bilingual children and other things I encounter in my daily life. Some posts will include information from various sources while other will be based mainly on my own experience.

So keep on the lookout for tips for (expecting) parents of twins, step-by-step picture recipes, ideas for creative projects, advice and inspiration for runners (and of course, for running moms!), information on places to visit, advantages and challenges of raising bilingual children, and more! Don’t want to miss any new posts from GiraZonneFlower? Make sure to submit your email address in the “Follow by Email” section on the right side of this page – you will then automatically receive an e-mail every time something new is published.

Hope to see you soon :)

Anouk / GiraZonneFlower

(P.S. Check out my next blog post for an explanation on the blog name!)