Special holidays always seem to be mainly about food, have you noticed that as well? I probably can't comment on it too much, seeing that I am little rounder here and there than I should be, so I obviously don't dislike food, but it just struck me that during the holidays we are mostly stuffing our faces with food - and not only that, but at this time of year most of those food items are much fattier and sweeter than would be good for us.

One case in point is something we make in my country during what we call "Oud en Nieuw" ("Old and New", literally, which basically means 31 December and 1 January put together).

"Oliebollen" are a traditional Dutch food. "Oliebol" literally means "oil ball" - it's made by scooping a certain amount of dough with two spoons and dropping this into a deep fryer filled with hot oil. This way we create something that's more or less a spheroid. These oliebollen, which are also sometimes called Dutch donuts, and are supposedly the forerunners of the famous present-day donuts with a hole in the middle, are an almost mandatory food to eat at the end of the year and on New Year's Day. In many families it's a tradition to have them just before the New Year, and if you made enough of them to have some left over for the next day, people gather around the television to watch the New Year's Concert and finish the last oliebollen.

But when I put sweet dough in oil and later sprinkle powdered sugar on it, there is a moment when I think: "What the heck am I doing???" And when I then take one to eat, I quickly pass on the bowl to other family members, hoping that they'll make the decision for me that I really don't need more than just one, even if they only do so by simply finishing the other oliebollen before I can take any more...