Last weekend Job and I got to take a small vacation with his family. We ventured just over the border to Belgium to spend five days in a very large house with Job’s parents, his sister’s family, his brother and his brother’s friends.
It was really nice to spend some time with the family and be away from the city and just relax. We stayed in Gemmenich, right over the border of the Netherlands in a French area of Belgium.
During our week, we got some time to play with Moos, kick around a football, visit some American Military cemeteries and visit a cave. We also had some lovely meals with the family, took a walk in the woods, and of course, watched some football!
It was really nice and relaxing and a fun time…and I learned about Helaas Pindakaas which is my new favorite thing to teach my friends and family from the states!
And for those of you who want to know about helaas pindakaas, it is an expression which means something along the lines of oh well, that stinks for you… or that you’re out of luck… A good example is if you get to a store just as the store keeper is closing. He or she would say to you Helaas pindakaas.. Out of luck, not opening back up so you can get your thing. Job told me his theory of how this came to be an expression. He said that he thinks it comes from all of the kids who have packed lunches from their moms, and when they open their bag and just find a plain boring peanut butter sandwich, they would say Helaas…pindakaas!! (Which literally translates to unfortunately peanut butter). I think his theory sounds very plausible and I really enjoy the phrase. And Job’s mom even said helaas to us while in Belguim. We had bought this dessert called Vlaai which is kind of like a tart or pie from the Limburg region. As we were eating breakfast one day, the doorbell at the house rang and there were two boys. They had a few items in their hands and were going around the neighborhood trading their items with items from each house they stopped at. Job’s mom chose to trade them a delicious vlaai for some crackers and as she walked to the door with the vlaai, she sang out, “Helaas!” It made me really excited because just a day or two earlier I had learned the expression of “helaas pindakaas”. In Belgium, they also had a brand of peanut butter called helaes which we believed was a play on words and started the whole conversation about helaas pindakaas. I made sure to include a picture below!
The Traveling Spoons 
Thanks for sending blog and all the photos. We are sitting at your parent’s pool, while reading this on a lovely Saturday afternoon. Is Helaas Pindakaas like our peanutbutter? We love hearing from you. 🙂 Glad all of you had a relaxing, enjoyable vacation in Belgium.
Love, Camy & Poppy
Sent from my iPad.
I’ve updated the post. It explains a little more about helaas pindakaas.