Hi All, and welcome to my blog!

My name is Abby, I’m from America, and for the past seven years, I’ve been living in the Netherlands. A few years ago, I became officially half Dutch. How did I end up here? Well, about 8 years ago, I was doing some volunteer work in Canada. While I was there, I ran into a very charming Dutchman who looks remarkably like a European Kevin Bacon 😉 About a year and a half later, we were married, and on our way to the Netherlands. And we’re still here (and still married)!

At the moment, I’m finishing up a bachelor study in Food Innovation. As part of my graduation project, I’m starting this blog…and hopefully a book.

Here’s the story:

In the process of immigrating and setting up my life here in NL, I began to see the importance of my own traditions and cultural identity and finding a way of integrating them into my life here. Baking, I realized, was one of the most important traditions for me to keep up. It was my escape, so I wouldn’t completely go crazy in the process of learning Dutch, and studying for Dutch exams to get a residence permit, that would allow me to work, study, and stay living here, all the while trying to understand the culture and my new Dutch family…all of that! …not to mention the terrible Dutch weather.

I used to bake with my mom as a little girl. Watching my mom make frosting in her Mixmaster was something magical…it was so glossy and fluffy. Of course getting to lick the beaters at the end was also not too bad! I baked my first cake when I was about 7. I felt so grown up.
Baking for me has always been special. It can turn a regular day into something extravagant…and it doesn’t take much. Just a few ingredients, and knowing how to combine them, and you’ve got a cake, or cookies or a lemon meringue.
I have traveled quite a bit, and lived in many different places. While living in NL, I’ve realized that baking has become my version of home. No matter where I am, if I can bake, and there are nice people to bake for, I’m home.

When I first moved to NL, the baking culture was almost non-existent…except for the occasional appletaart or roomboterkoek, nobody really baked much. Even having an oven in your home was a bit of an exception. Our first appartment had a mircrowave combi-thingy. I lasted about two weeks with that thing. I wanted to chuck it out the window. Soon enough we found a old second hand oven from the 70s and were able to get it hooked up. Thank goodness.

It was also one huge hunt for ingredients, and writing down where I could find what. You could only get baking soda at little Asian markets. Since then, the whole foodie thing has basically exploded here, and baking has become kind of a hype. In the last couple years, I’ve been seeing more and more American recipes come along that have been kinda….Dutchified.  Meaning, they’re not very good recipes, and aren’t remotely authentic. This bothers me…and I just really want to make it right. I want to share the experiences I’ve had growing up in the form of a bakebook, translated for the Dutch culture, using ingredients that are (relatively) easy to find.This idea to write a baking book has been rattling around in my head for a long time. So…now it’s time!

I started this blog because I want to document and share this process. The creative process, and finally taking on a project I’ve wanted to do for a long time, is really exciting, but also really scary. I feel like, if I have a place to write down my thoughts and progress, it’ll help! We’ll see how it ends up!

Liefs + groetjes uit Nederland,

Abby