FROM THE EDITOR [APRIL 8th 2005]

Today is my mothers birthday. Her name is Aaltje and we named the stroopwafel business after her: Aaltje Bakery. Next Tuesday I am going home for two weeks, back to the farm in Friesland. My mother has no idea what Aaltje Bakery is all about and she never heard of Starbucks. But she is excited. And so is my brother as he thinks I finally can pay back the loans I got from him in the past. Ai....

But proudly I must say that we are doing well with our little cookies. We started this business only four months ago. The ex-BuGils cooks were out of a job after BuGils outsourced its kitchen to KOI restaurant and they needed a new job. Stroopwafels. A delicious Dutch caramel filled waffle. After one week of production we had our first customer: Starbucks. It couldn't get any better then that. Now less then four months later we are exporting our first shipment to Malaysia and next week to the Philippines! Aaltje goes international!

Back to the food and hotel exhibition in which we participate (until Saturday) I introduced the father and son of the cheese stand to the Blok M nightlife. Walking the stairs in D's Place a number of expats pulled my hand. 'Are they the cheese boys?', they wanted to know. Father and son were still wearing their suits, so it was an easy guess. They enjoyed the evening although their name cards didn't impress the girls much; an oil consultant is more interesting than a cheese sales man. Good people though.

Oh ya, if you come and visit us in the Holland Pavilion, watch out for that Polish guy opposite our stand. He is handing out Bison Vodka samples. He fills up your glass with so much that a) it takes you an hour to finish it and b) you will leave his stand half drunk! While you are trying to finish this enormous 'sample', he is talking so enthusiastically about this Bison Vodka that there is no escape. He would be insulted if you don't finish his drink. So there are at any moment at least ten people with a load of vodka in their hand struggling to finish it. And if you finally manage to continue, you arrive in the Hatten Wines stand. Trying the newest wines from Bali is refreshing but then, one or two stands further is one you should try. It is my favorite: drinks from Peru. They are called Pisco Sour. And I already find a way to bypass the vodka and wines stand, straight to the Peru ladies. What a fantastic drink! A kind of Margarita but smoother and tastier.

As a matter of fact, I am going there now. Again, I apologise for not adding pictures and for continuing the Glenmore story, but before I leave I will send out a few extra editions with more info on that. Also a new property newsletter will be published on Monday.
≡ Bartele