Our Story
Our Dutch Roots
With all our relatives living in the Netherlands, we have been back and forth over the Atlantic many times.
The very first thing we always do after landing at Schiphol, is to go to the nearest Stroopwafel stand to get our first authentic stroopwafel hot off the iron. It is the quintessential Dutch experience, clinching in the feeling that yes, we have arrived!
From a Dream to Reality
In fact, our stroopwafel story begins in the beautiful historic city of Leiden in the Netherlands where Claire and her husband, Chris were living for 18 months. (for more on Leiden, see our blog entry on Leiden!) Hilary arrived to join Claire for a 5 week, 800km french camino pilgrimage from St Jean, France to Santiago, Spain.
Walking 800 km brings much clarity to one's life and what our next steps in life would be. Claire was especially grieving the end to their sojourn in Leiden. How could they bring a bit of the Netherlands back to the Ottawa Valley? And thus beginning ideas of Stroop & Wafel were born.