Dates are not just for Christma

摘要

IT WAS on Christmas Eve 1959 that my cousin persuaded me to sample advocaat for the first (and last) time. I cannot be so precise about my first taste of dates but it would have been during a Christmas holiday, since in those days that was the only time they were available. Our dates came in flat, rounded-rectangular boxes with a picture of a camel on the lid. Inside was a twig-like tool to help lever the sweet sticky fruits apart, but we never bothered.