This Christmas edition:
Message from the board, by Ammerins Moss-de Boer
Presenting Ilse Wassenaar: our new board member, by Ilse Wassenaar
As You Like It, by Marjan Brouwers
Christmas recipe, by Monique Swennenhuis
Review: Knives Out 3, by Marjan Brouwers
Your favourite Christmas destination, by Reinou Anker-Sollie
Book Bingo at Christmas, by Ammerins Moss-de Boer and Reinou Anker-Sollie
Save the dates
Books & Booze
Our Books & Booze sessions have become quite popular. Twelve of us got together to discuss Katabasis by R.F. Kuang on 19 December and we did a lovely Christmas book swap. If you like reading, cocktails and book discussions, be sure to attend next time!
- 13 February 2026: Pride & Prjejudice, by Jane Austen
- 10 April 2026: 11/22/63 by Stephen King
Annual get-together
- 21 March 2026: our annual get-together
Join us for a brisk city walk , followed by a hearty High Tea! Sign up here!
Message from the board
By Ammerins Moss-de Boer
Dear members,
Welcome to this special Xmas edition of the Anglophile! You all deserve a bit of fun and a few good reading suggestions for the holidays, or to add to your TBR list for next year. 2025 has definitely flown by, and while it has been a year of goodbyes – the English department was sad to see Hans Jansen go (but pst, he is still there, teaching, for a bit…) – there has also been a hello. In this Anglophile, we want to introduce you to our newest board member, Elise!
We had a Books & Booze last week; we ended the year with the hellish story of Alice Law and her journey to the underworld to save/retrieve her professor, whom she has accidentally killed. For those who were not able to join us this Friday, or who have not been able to finish the book (I don’t blame you, it is over 400 pages long): make sure you do! It is a truly magical and Escheresque story, as you would expect from R.F. Kuang.
If you are more romantically inclined, we have a great tip for you too. Hamnet has been turned into a movie and will be in cinemas around the country in January 2026. If you haven’t read the Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, you still have time to do so, so you compare the on- and off-screen versions. For those who prefer to watch something cosy and fun from the comforts of your own home, this Anglo contains a review of the latest instalment of Knives Out. It’s definitely on our Xmas watch list!
And before I leave you to enjoy the rest of this Anglophile, one last “save the date”. We have scheduled our annual get-together on the Spring Equinox (well, almost): 21 March 2026. Please join us on a city walk to smell the first buds of the year and enjoy the fresh green trees, building up an appetite for a high tea in town. If the weather is not playing ball, we will meet up for a museum tour. A form to sign up will come your way soon!
Make sure you print out your 2026 Book Bingo – who will be the first to fill up the 25 squares?
Have a lovely Christmas, a safe glide into the new year and we hope to see you soon at either a Books & Booze or other event in 2026!
Presenting Ilse Wassenaar: our new board member!
By Elise Wassenaar
Hi!
My name is Elise Wassenaar. I’m 31 years old and I recently moved to Hindeloopen, where I live with my two cats and two guinea pigs. I studied English Language and Culture from 2016 – 2019 and completed the WEM MA in 2021. I currently work as a translator for RWS, where I translate all kinds of content from English into Dutch, mostly for websites and user manuals.
I spend most of my free time reading books and watching TV shows, but I also enjoy travelling, cooking and baking, and spending time in nature.
As You Like It!
By Marjan Brouwers
Although the summer seems very far away at the moment, it is already time to order your tickets to a summer’s evening in Diever. This summer the Diever Shakespeare Theatre will treat you to one of the bard’s most popular comedy: As You Like It. Try-outs start in July. The play wil premiere on 7 August and tickets are available here. Be sure to order in time!
Christmas Millionaire Shortbread
by Monique Swennenhuis
Buttery shortbread, soft caramel and smooth chocolate… millionaire shortbread is a delicious British classic that everyone will love!
- yield: 12
- prep time: 25 MINUTES
- cook time: 50 MINUTES
- total time: 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES
Ingredients
Biscuit Base
- 125g (1/2 Cup) Unsalted Butter, Room Temp
- 50g (1/4 Cup) Golden Caster Sugar
- 175g (1 + 1/3 Cup) Plain Flour
- Pinch Salt
Caramel
- 200g (2/3 Cup) Condensed Milk
- 125g (1/2 Cup) Unsalted Butter
- 125g (2/3 Cup) Golden Caster Sugar
- 2 tablespoon Golden Syrup
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Pinch Salt
Topping
- 200g (7 oz) Good Quality Milk Chocolate
Equipment
- 18 x 28cm (7 x 11″) Baking Tray
- Electric Stand Mixer or Large Bowl With Electric Hand Whisk
- Fork
- Large Heavy Based Saucepan
- Sugar Thermometer (optional but very handy)
- Glass Bowl
- Wooden Spoon
Instructions
To make the biscuit base
- Grease and line the baking tin then preheat your oven to 180°C/Fan 170°C/356°F. Beat together the butter and sugar in a stand mixer (or large bowl with an electric hand whisk) until light and fluffy.
- Sift in the flour and add the salt. Mix until a dough forms.
- Press the dough evenly into the prepared tin then prick all over with a fork.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins until just golden on top. Cool completely.
To make the caramel
- Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan and set over a low/medium heat.
- Stir until everything has dissolved then bring to the boil. STIR OFTEN AND VIGOROUSLY. Once boiling, stir continuously so it doesn’t catch and burn on the bottom/in the edges of the pan.
- When it becomes thick and is a light caramel colour (or hits 107°C/225ºF on a thermometer), take off the heat and keep stirring for a minute or two.
- Pour the caramel over the biscuit base, spread evenly and leave to cool completely.
To make the chocolate topping
Pour the melted chocolate over the caramel and smooth out using the back of a wooden spoon. Allow to set at room temperature then cut into 12 slices.
Break the chocolate into a glass bowl. To melt on the hob, set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until melted. To melt in the microwave, heat in 10 second intervals stirring well each time until two thirds melted. Then stir well until completely melted.
Review
Enjoying Knives Out 3 thoroughly
by Marjan Brouwers
This Christmas, director Rian Johnson surprised us once more with the third instalment in the Knives Out franchise, once again featuring Daniel Craig as the ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ detective Benoit Blanc. This time, however, Craig is almost overshadowed by the brilliant Josh O’Connor, who plays the troubled young priest Jud Duplenticy.
Father Duplenticy is desperate to atone for his violent past. One of the first scenes reveals that he has not quite lost his aggressive tendencies when he decks a deacon and is banished to a tiny community in a secluded wooded area. This church is led by Father Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin), who exerts a terrible hold over a couple of miserable churchgoers.
Enter Benoit Blanc, determined to solve the impossible crime that soon follows. By this point, all the suspects have been introduced, along with a web of intricate storylines and possible solutions. This film has plenty of red herrings and references to current politics — compare the monsignor’s sermons to Trump’s speeches — as well as callbacks to Agatha Christie’s novels and several really funny scenes. It is also a brilliant whodunnit, giving you the opportunity to solve a dazzling puzzle along with Benoit Blanc.
Also pay attention to the use of light in this film. Once you notice this, you cannot unsee it. Watch the sunlight illuminating the austere church, the lack of light in the gloomy woods, and how Wicks draws attention to his sermons about hell and doom, wearing brightly coloured robes in contrast to Father Jud’s black attire. Pay attention to the flashlights in the background, unnoticed by Benoit and Jud but not by you as an attentive spectator.
I enjoyed this film so much that I watched the previous two films in the series again. In all three films, Daniel Craig portrays Benoit Blanc as a drawling Southerner with an uncanny ability to solve seemingly impossible crimes. He shows different aspects of his character in each film: grumpy and brilliant in the first one, and rather naïve and awkward in the second (a ruse, as it turns out). In this third film, however, it is harder to get to the bottom of his character, because the focus is much more on Father Jud than on Benoit himself. Glenn Close’s creepy performance as Martha gave me my first jump scare, by the way. Make sure you take in the compelling details! For example, why was the crucifix on the far wall removed? What is the significance of the ugly white mausoleum in the woods?
On a more personal note, Daniel Craig is best known as the most recent actor to play the very British James Bond, a role that is quite different from his portrayal of the American Benoit Blanc. According to the Dutch filmmaker Martin Koolhoven, most people prefer the James featuring in their first Bond film. For me, that would be the late, great Sir Roger Moore — The Spy Who Loved Me was my first Bond film. However, I also like Daniel Craig’s portrayal. He made Bond seem like a real person. What struck me when I watched the three Knives Out films back-to-back is that Daniel is able to transform himself into the character he plays. He becomes a completely different person; unlike Roger Moore, Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan, who always seem to peep at you through the eyes of the character they play. Not so with Daniel Craig: there is nothing Bond-like about Benoit Blanc, which I really like. So, after consuming a lot of food, take a piece of Monique’s scrumptious millionaire’s shortbread and get ready to thoroughly enjoy Wake Up Dead Man (Knives Out 3) on Netflix!
What’s your favourite Christmas holiday destination?
By Reinou Anker-Sollie
Let’s go to France, I said… The weather might be nice there, I said… I’m done with being sick (for the fourth time), I sniffed… Christmas might be fun in a different country, I thought… I haven’t celebrated Christmas abroad, ever.
Well, we packed our bags, drove approximately 15 hours and are now in the south of France where it is raining… raining… raining, and raining some more. Apparently, it’s hasn’t really been dry for more than a few days since the end of November. I should have done more research, meh.
But… we’re staying with my in-laws, which is really nice, their house is large enough for us to also have some alone-time, my mother-in-law is very happy to have people around who she can play board games with, and my father-in-law is also very happy his wife has people around who she can play games with. In addition, it’s nice to just not be home for a bit.
The river flowing through the village is larger and wilder that we have ever seen, some of the lower bridges are flooded every now and then. It is a magnificent sight. We’ll try to visit a nice Marché de Noell in Nímes, play (indoor) mini-golf (because that’s our son’s deepest wish), and for the rest we’ll eat, drink, be merry, and hope the rain will stop every now and then.
Now, this is my Christmas holiday (so far). I am very interested to hear about your favourite, or memorable Christmas holiday destinations. Once shared with us via angloredactie@gmail.com, we will post your responses below!
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Your contributions:
To be added
Book Bingo at Christmas
By Ammerins Moss-de Boer & Reinou Anker-Sollie
Click below to download the Bingo as PDF: