Join in the fun at the American Book Center’s 40th birthday party on June 9th!
On June 9th 2012, ABC is marking a major milestone – the big 4-0! We’re throwing a birthday party in front of our store on the Spui in Amsterdam, complete with music, balloons, refreshments and plenty of fun for booklovers young and old.
The best part of any birthday celebration is the cake, so we’re putting it in the spotlight. Whether you’re a master baker or simply a lover of sweets, you’re warmly invited to be a part of the festivities.
ABC’s Birthday Cake Competition
Do you think you can bake the perfect birthday cake? Then enter your masterpiece in ABC’s Birthday Cake Competition. Your creation might be one of the 15 finalists to be judged by a professional jury:
World-renowned pastry chef Cees Holtkamp recently won the prestigious Gourmand World Cook Book Award in Paris. Visit Holtkamp’s website for more info on the Holtkamp family’s patisserie.
Lieke Sniekers, a recent graduate of American Studies, has enjoyed reading English and American literature from an early age. Her love of baking, however, even predates her fondness for language. She baked her first cake around age six, followed by her first yeast loaf. As editor of ELLE Eten magazine, she now feels honored to judge the great ABC bake-off competition.
With a passion for cooking from early childhood Philippe Jacobsz knows good food. He has been a cook for more than 12 years, working for different restaurants in Amsterdam, and is now running his own catering company Mangiabene specializing in Mediterranean cuisine.
So roll up your sleeves and bake the ultimate ABC birthday cake! Interested? Please fill in the Birthday Cake Competition Entry Form and send it to us by 6pm on Sunday June 3rd.
The cakes will be judged based on a number of qualities, including taste, creativity and presentation.
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes for the most beautiful and delicious cakes will win €100, €50 and €25 in ABC gift certificates. If you are one of the 15 finalists you will also receive a special ABC Birthday goodie bag. Everyone competing will be automatically entered into a special prize draw to win some fabulous baking books.
Cakes for a good cause at the ABC Charity Bake Sale
You can also take part in our bake sale for charity. Donate a cake, some muffins, cookies or other baked goods and we’ll sell them at our party on the Spui in Amsterdam. All proceeds will go to De Open Deur. (You can read more about De Open Deur and why we are supporting them at the bottom of this post.) Everyone who contributes to the bake sale will get a chance to win fabulous baking books.
Please let us know what you’re bringing via our: ABC Charity Bake Sale Entry Form
Agenda Amsterdam
11:00 Charity Bake Sale opens on the Spui
12:15 Winners of Birthday Cake Competition announced
12:30 All competition cakes sliced and sold to the public
13:00 Music and activities to delight and amaze you
15:00 Party ends
We’re looking forward to a fun-filled day on the square. We hope you can join us for a slice of cake!
ABC The Hague
If you can’t join us for the big celebration in Amsterdam do drop by our store in the Hague for balloons, cupcakes and drinks for all our The Hague customers on June 9. We’ll be playing music from 1972 all day and you are invited to sing and play along!
Save the date for ABC’s All-Staff Reunion
If you’ve ever worked at ABC, this is for you: a big part of our four decades of success is thanks to YOU – everyone who contributed their enthusiasm, ideas, sense of humor, or just plain blood, sweat and tears over the years at the American Book Center.
As part of our celebrations for the big 4-0, we’re organizing a get together for all ABC employees, past and present. Please mark your agenda for Friday June 8th, because we can’t wait to see you there! More details will follow in the coming weeks to those who register at reunion40@abc.nl.
Please help us spread the word to other ex-colleagues you may know.
RSVP: Already know you want to attend the ABC alumni drinks? Please send an email to reunion40@abc.nlby June 1 and we’ll put you on the guest list.
We hope to see you at one of our ABC Birthday Parties!
If you are interested to know how The American Book Center started in 1972 and how we developed and changed over the last 40 years check out our “About Us Page”
De Open Deur: House of Compassion
Were you to peer through the little windows of the children’s section at ABC Amsterdam, you would see our close ‘back neighbor’: The American Book Center’s premises are linked with the oldest existing wooden house in The Netherlands, Het Houten Huys. This building, dating from the 1520’s, is home to De Open Deur (The Open Door), an ecclesiastical center which provides support to many people from more than sixty countries.
De Open Deur started about 25 years ago, offering counseling to people with HIV. It was an ecumenical setting for people looking for spiritual help, whatever their religious background, and supplied much needed pastoral care to the gay and lesbian community.
In the 1990’s, refugees found their way to the Open Door’s pastors (both catholic and protestant) and social worker. Over the years it has developed into a House of Compassion, giving long-term counselling to more than 500 clients. Many former asylum seekers who are traumatized by violence in their countries of origin (primarily Angola, Congo, Eritrea, Sierra Leone and Somalia) and victims of human trafficking find get practical support in the form of food and shelter, and emotional support when the center’s staff give them a safe place to talk and be listened to. They also provide their clients with free library cards, opening even more doors to learning, comfort and escape through books.
The excellent work of De Open Deur is not subsidized by the government. It relies on donations from charitable organizations and individuals. As many of our ABC staff and customers were also once new to this country, we’re excited to be able to dedicate the proceeds of our Bake Sale to help them continue to provide their much-needed services.
Tags: ABC History, ABC's 40th Anniversary, About Us, bake sale, baking, birthday, charity, cooking