The Spring 2006 Issue a.0. contains the following articles:

INTERVIEW

From the Point of View of… Hanane Chreki
“Developing a business is not all I want to do. I want this to be a community enterprise; I want to contribute to society in the Netherlands and Morocco. We will be buying our products from the women cooperatives in Morocco so that we can support and stimulate them financially. But I also want to improve the image of Moroccan women in the Netherlands; show that also they are entrepreneurial, can study and want to participate in society. Once our business is successful enough, we will develop our own cooperative, helping the women learn to read and write, encouraging them to study, and to find better jobs.”
For more information on Hanane's business, visit www.loudaya.com.

LEGAL AFFAIRS

Residence Permit For Self-Employed Persons
You have perhaps heard of the fact that no matter what country you are from, you can request the IND (Immigration and Naturalization Services) for a residence permit for self-employed persons.
Is it really that simple? If so, why doesn’t everyone just come to the Netherlands and, skipping the whole residence permit / work permit hassle, head straight to the IND to do just that? The answer is, of course, because it isn’t quite that simple; there are a number of conditions that must be met, if you wish to obtain this type of residence permit. These are discussed briefly in this article.
www.ind.nl
 

TAX

Self-Employment; Tax and Social Security Consequences
If you wish to start your own business in the Netherlands, there are a number of issues that you should be aware of. What type of taxes do you owe? What is a VAR-statement? By which social security legislation are you covered? Before starting your business in the Netherlands it is important to realize what the consequences of these activities are for taxation and social security.
In this article, a few of these issues are discussed.
www.loyensloeff.com
Sandra Degens, e-mail: sandra.degens@loyensloeff.com

BUSINESS

Guanxi: Knowing the Ropes
Judging from recent business magazine articles, China is ‘hot’ for multinational corporations. By pouring billions of investments in the most dynamic economy of the moment, western companies seek to safeguard their share of the most promising consumer market. There’s a very good chance that your company is actively expanding its interests in China at this very moment. But few western companies are profitable, and China is known for its cut-throat competition and eccentric business environment. In such an environment, what’s the key to success? Many believe the precondition for successful business deals with the Chinese is something called guanxi. Successful companies are said to have it. Unsuccessful companies are advised to develop it. What is guanxi; do you need it and how can you achieve it? This article will offer practical tips about guanxi for expats dealing with Chinese businessmen, either in or outside China.
Marleen Dieleman
 

COOKING

Good Ol’ Suriname Home Cookin’
This time, I have written down a few Suriname recipes. They have been published in the Limited Edition that I put together recently for the Bookids Foundation: an edible cookbook called Doekoe voor Boekids. The proceeds of this booklet will go to a project in Suriname to support a program aimed at stimulating children to read; books in Suriname can cost up to 20 euros, while the average salary is 450 euros. All the more reason to contribute to this project.

Recipe No. 1: Gulong Gulong
When I close my eyes, I see ‘mama’ cooking up a storm. She’s melting 6 tablespoons of sugar and a little bit of water in a little pan. Probably, say, 50gr of sugar and 10ml of water. Then she adds 110gr of grated coconut. She leaves the pan on the fire and stirs it until it becomes a thick mass. Then she takes the pan off the fire and lets it cool. In a large mixing bowl, she pours 20ml of coconut milk and a few drops of red food coloring, a pinch of salt and a few drops of essence of cola. Then she stirs 2 eggs through the coconut milk, which has become pink. While stirring, her soft tummy keeps hitting the counter, as if adding extra force. I don’t know how to describe how she does this, but anyway… while stirring, she adds a little bit of sifted flour at a time, creating a slightly lumpy dough. I would say, approximately 150gr of flour. And while she is talking – “Son, I have all this stuff in the cupboard, but you’re going to have to go to the Suriname toko, but that shouldn’t be too much trouble, should it? My grandma…” – she melts a little bit of butter in a non-stick pan. Then she pours a dollop of dough in the pan, using a small ladle, jerking the pan in a circular motion to spread the dough into a thin pink pancake. After two minutes, with both hands, she turns over the pancake, and after two more minutes, she removes it from the pan and puts it on the counter. On this, she spreads here home-made cooled coconut paste in a line in the middle (a full tablespoon’s worth). Then she rolls up the pancake, presents it to me and says; “Eat up, son, and enjoy”. Which I do.

Recipe No. 2: Furu Farid
The chef pours some oil in a large frying pan and when it has heated up some, adds 2 peeled and halved potatoes per person, ½ a bouillon cube, a coffee cup of water and 2 teaspoons of massala curry to taste. Growling appreciatively, he licks his fingers to taste the mixture. He covers the pan with its lid and places chicken breasts (1 per person) on the cutting board. With love, he rubs in a mixture of minced garlic, massala curry and a teeny bit of minced Madame Jeanette pepper. Then he grabs another frying pan, pours in some more oil and fries the chicken breasts golden brown on a medium-high fire. To this he then adds a coffee cup of water and a pinch of salt. With a resounding ‘bang’ he slams a way-too-big lid on the frying pan. Then he peeks in on the potatoes and adds a little bit of water, while turning them over. ‘Bang’, the lid is back on the pan. Out comes another frying pan, in which a dash of olive oil is allowed to heat up. With panache, a quarter chopped onion and half a clove of minced garlic per person is added to the oil. The pan is shaken three times, after which 150gr of yard-long beans (kousenband) per person is added. The beans are cooled off with another coffee cup of water, after which he adds a bouillon cube. All the other pans are double-checked and a boiled and peeled egg per person is added to the pan with potatoes.

Recipe No. 3: Saoto-Soup for 8
This recipe requires 12 chatty assistants, of the girl variety. One of the 12 assistants can chop the very large soup chicken into large pieces. Numbers 10 and 9 heat a little bit of oil in a large frying pan, and fry 4 cloves of minced garlic and a chopped onion until they are golden brown. Number 11 adds the chicken to the onion and garlic. Numbers 6 and 5 add, to taste, a bouillon cube, half a teaspoon of yellow root (curcuma), a few leaves of cilantro (coriander), a teaspoon of laos and aji-no-moto (taste enhancer). Numbers 8 and 7, in the meantime, chop up two lemon root (sereh) stalks and a celery stalk. Number 4 adds the lemon root, the celery and 2 liters of water to the soup. The soup is allowed to simmer on a low fire for about 6 hours. At regular intervals, the grease that rises to the top of the pan is scooped off by number 3. In the meantime, the 12 assistants talk a blue streak, their hands constantly in motion. For instance, there are eggs to be cooked and peeled. Meat is picked off the bones of the chicken which, by now, is cooked. The bones are put back in the soup. Little tufts of fine noodles (zilvermie) are fried. It looks sensational. The noodles well and turn white. A bag of chips and dried onions is opened. Bean sprouts (taugé) are placed in boiling water for, at the longest, one minute. A sauce is made of sweet soy sauce (ketjap manis), very finely chopped Madame Jeanette peppers and a tablespoon of chopped onion. The soup is strained. The trimmings are placed on little plates and the soup is poured into big bowls. The sweet little assistants love what they see. Only numbers 1 and 2 have not done anything yet. They have floated around, contributing to the general atmosphere.
Pierre Wind

 

© Copyright The XPat Journal

Top