Whodunit Wednesday: Fred van der Weij

When we first moved to Belgium there were a few things we had to get used to. One of those was not only the food, but how food was prepared. We both love fries, so that was not really a problem. And since fries are the best in Belgium, it was definitely not a problem. But fries are meant to be deep-fat fried. And not only fries. Lots of other foods are fried. Hamburgers are not known in Belgium without a breading and being fi=ried (unless you get them from one of the well-known American fastfood chains). 

In order to do all of this, every house has/had a deep fat fryer. And all of the recycling parks have a place to reclaim your used frying oil. After all, a good diesel engined car (of which Belgium has plenty) can even run on “frietolie” - fry oil. So one of the first things we needed to purchase was a fryer. 

However, we do not eat that much fried food. That meant that the frying oil often sat for quite some time and needed refreshing before we made fries again. So when Fred van der Weij came out with his invention, we were pretty happy. It was also around this time that we were becoming much more health conscious, worried about the kilo’s (or pounds) we might be putting on. 

Fred van der Weij was a Dutch engineer, born around the same time as we, but in the Netherlands. He invented a small oven in 2006 and later sold it to Philips in 2010. The air fryer is not quite a convection oven, although both use heated air to cook. The air fryer does this quicker and in smaller amounts. 

These days almost every house has an air fryer - although many may also still have a deep fat fryer as well. Not many people will know the name Fred van der Weij (who passed away in 2022), but most will be thankful for his ingenious invention for cooking well known meals in a more healthy way. 

Family (travel plans)

Every three years we make a trip back to the US to visit supporting congregations and family in a two-month long journey around the country. This is our “Home Assignment”. Our plans for this Home Assignment 2026, which will cover May and June, are solidified and partially paid. 

We are looking forward to seeing as many of you as we can. If you are in the area of where we will be, please let us know before hand so that we might be able to get together. This will be quite the trip, as usual, so we will not have a lot of wiggle room, but we always want to meet with as many as we can. 

In short, our schedule looks like this: Leave Belgium on April 28, arriving in Texas.Texas (churches) from April 28 - May 4

FLY May 5 to Indianapolis

    Indiana (family and church) from May 5-12

FLY May 13 to Los Angeles

    California (church and family) from May 13-24

FLY May 25 to Minneapolis

    Minnesota (church) from May 25 - June 1

DRIVE LOOP:

DRIVE June 2 to Sioux City, IA

DRIVE June 3 to Spearfish, SD

DRIVE June 5 to Billings, MT

    Montana (family) from June 5-8

DRIVE June 9 to Colorado Springs

    Colorado Springs (family) from June 9-11

DRIVE June 12 to Denver

    Denver (church and family) from June 12-14

DRIVE June 15 to Omaha, NE

    Omaha area (family) from June 15-17

DRIVE June 18 to Muscatine, IA

    Muscatine (church) from June 18-22

DRIVE June 23 to Minneapolis

FLY June 24 to New York City

New York City (family) from June 25-29

FLY June 30 to Brussels, arriving on July 1

(You can see this all visually on the map above)

It is always a challenge to fit the puzzle pieces of family and church together, making sure that we leave Sundays for meeting with church members and connecting in that meaningful way. We also want to meet all of our family members, including our granddaughter in Indiana. 

This is not possible without the help of so many people. Some people will be lending us their car for the time we are in their area. Others will be putting us up and feeding us in their home, sharing their families with us during our stay. Many have given sacrificially so that we can make this trip. Thank you all so much! We look forward to seeing you. 

Where oh where Wednesday: Geleen

We work in Maastricht, the capital of Limburg, the southernmost province of the Netherlands. We also live in Limburg, the easternmost province of Belgium. Last week we drove through Limburg in Germany as well. But today I would like to tell a little bit about another city of Limburg in the Netherlands. 

Although Maastricht is the capital, the city of Geleen is also quite important. Most of the cities in this province were mining cities. When the mining dried up, other possibilities had to be sought. Just down the road from Maastricht (or “up” the road, heading North), Geleen is in the middle of the chemical industrial “city” of DSM and Chemelot. 

Ever since 1979 this chemical company has been making special fibers in Geleen. Dyneema is considered the world’s strongest fiber. It is 15 times stronger than steel but tight enough to float on water. It is based on polyethylene (technically a UHMWPE = ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene. Try saying that 6 times in a row!). Wikipedia tells me that this fiber weighs 0.97 grams per cubic centimeter. I am not quite sure what that is, but it is quite light. 

This fiber is used in competitive cycling, fishing line, repairing ligaments, protective gloves and bulletproof materials. It is used as a replacement for the steel cables which launch gliders, protects ice skaters (like recently during the Winter Olympics and the many Dutch skaters), anchoring Oil platforms in the sea (steel breaks, Dyneema doesn’t) and all sorts of uses in archery or climbing. 

We drive past the chemical towers regularly, but had never realized what kinds of things can be made so close to home. Geleen has in the meantime merged with the city of Sittard nearby to become Sittard-Geleen.