Photo Essay 3- Four Hours in Brussels
I have mixed feelings about being finished all my Paris posts. One one hand…finally! On the other I can move on to our favourite part of the trip; Bruges.
Sandwiched in between Paris and Bruges was our four hour stay in Brussels. We departed on a TGV train from Gare du Nord in Paris and three hours later we were there. It took a while to stow our luggage at Brussels midi, then we realized after it was stowed that all our maps and information for our time in Brussels was still safely stored with the luggage. There may or may not have been some sharp words exchanged. Just saying. We decided to take a taxi to the Gros Markt or main square just because it was the touristy thing to do. There are several hotel chains around the square and I walked into one and asked for a map. One obliged with one of the most ridiculous maps I have ever seen. Of course it was half ‘cartoon’ and half real with skewed distances and giant numbers all over. But it did show us general locations and directions and that was enough for us to get around for about four hours.
While we were wondering where we should go, we turned the corner and just had to stop for a photo op with this giant smurf
My friends, those of you who know me well will already know that I LOVE beer. To my readers who didn’t know about this little quirk of mine I will let you know that beer was what brought us to Belgium. Our first Belgian beer store:
After the Bier Tempel, we visited what is probably the oddest tourist attraction I’ve ever seen. The whole city is crazy for Mannequin Pis, a fountain featuring a young boy urinating. We were surprised to see him dressed in a soccer kit, complete with tiny ball but apparently he has a wardrobe of over 800 outfits which are housed in the city museum. Many of the chocolate shops have Mannequin Pis themed chocolates displayed in their shop fronts.
There is a local food chain that sells Belgian Frites called Manneken Frites. The sign freaked us conservative Canadians out a bit considering the Belgians eat their fries with mayonnaise.
We had lunch and our first Belgian beers in a pub near the statue (not at Manneken Frites). I think those were some of the best burgers I have ever had and that includes the one I make at home.
I had the Lindeman’s apple which was basically a very delicious beer-like apple juice and hubby had a Duvel Strong Pale Ale. Sigh.
After dinner, we walked the streets looking for more tourist action. Though the rain seemed to be holding off for the time being, we were getting very tired of seeing so much grey. Then we turned the corner and saw…a rainbow!
Kid number two is quite the artist and enjoys various forms of art, especially ‘graffiti art’. Here is a cool Tin Tin inspired scene on the side of a building near Brussels midi.
We found a really great Mediterranean bakery/confectionery and couldn’t resist buying some treats for the train ride to Bruges.
And of course no trip to Brussels would be complete without a visit to a chocolate shop. Here are the kids on the train to Bruges.
Photo Essay 2-Shops of Paris
While we did do our fair share of touristy things in Paris, we also tried to walk to our destinations as much as possible. This achieved two things: 1) It wore off the carb heavy breakfast of baguettes AND croissants and 2) It allowed us to see many things we would never have seen if we had relied on public transport. I’ll admit that some of the time (ok about 40%) we were a touch lost but if you are going to get lost in a city while traveling why not make it Paris?
Les Caramels
Les Macarons
La Grenouille au chocolat
Kid number two is crazy for anything salted caramel. She wanted to fill her suitcase with the whole lot and leave her clothes in Paris.
Les Morels
One day we headed in a different direction than we had previously and ended up in the heart of the Marais (4th arr.) It was an interesting place, full of colour and culture. This Jewish bakery/deli was so appealing we just had to stop in and get some items for a picnic.
That’s kid number one in the foreground looking hungry already at ten in the morning!
Challah!
I really liked the look of this buffalo flavoured vodka!
After walking through the Marais and collecting goodies all the way, we had a picnic in Place des Vosges. From there, we walked back towards the Seine to visit Notre Dame once more. Here are a couple of irresistable street shots I took along the way.
Apparently I developed ‘a thing’ for door handles while on our trip.
Not a very flattering picture of the family but we accidentally found this ‘Academie de Magie’
A New Food Adventure
I’ve been a member of Food Bloggers of Canada for a couple of months now. I found out about FBC by reading a fellow Calgarian’s blog sometime after FBC had their first annual Bloggers Conference. I think there are many benefits to being a member. One of which is easy access to lists of fellow Canadian bloggers, all of who give a unique perspective of their part of this great country through food. I enjoy reading blogs from my home province of Saskatchewan as well as those delicious blogs from over East, especially when they feature seafood! I think being a member definitely has increased traffic to my blog as well and speaking as a relatively new blogger I really appreciate the traffic! One member benefit that I wasn’t expecting was the opportunity to win prizes and to try out food products and equipment.
After we got back from France, I was fairly busy but I did pop in to the FBC website and now I am super glad that I did. A.Vogel of Canada was looking for Food Bloggers to do a 10 Day BioSnacky Sprouter Challenge. I’ve been thinking for a while now that growing my own sprouts would be a great way to incorporate some healthy and delicious elements to my family’s diet. I had seen a similar system in a Foodie Store in Belgium but was unable to purchase it because it was all glass and we all know how that would have ended up in my check in baggage! To see this opportunity on the FBC website was serendipitous and I sent in my information email right away. I didn’t get confirmation until about a week later when I was halfway to Saskatchewan for my brother’s wedding. Believe me, the whole car knew how excited I was about starting my first product test.
The BioSnacky Kits consist of a 3-tier sprouter with organic sprouting seeds. It’s pretty simple because all you really need to add is water. The sprouts are basically the next step up from seeds and they are super healthy for you because they contain numerous vitamins such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin K as well as lots of minerals like Phosphorous, Magnesium, Potassium, Manganese, and Calcium. As if these are not enough, sprouts also have dietary fiber, Folate, and Omega-3 fatty acids. Sprouting seeds, grains and legumes are found to have higher content of these nutrients. For instance, most beans increase in Vitamin A by eight times after being sprouted (info sourced from 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet).
The only sprouts I had growing up were alfalfa sprouts so I’m more interested in trying out the radish sprouts, broccoli sprouts (I hope they are better than broccoli) and especially the mung bean sprouts which are ‘bean sprouts’ as used in Asian cooking. I find it very difficult to find these fresh at the market so I’m really looking forward to growing my own.
The anticipation of waiting for my sprouter to arrive was almost too much to bear. I started to fear that I would get it the day before or even the day of the challenge and therefore be way behind in all the required posts and tweets. After not leaving the house for two days I finally had to get out and get some groceries and wouldn’t you know it? I came back to find a ‘missed delivery’ slip on my door. Good old Murphy and his laws…Anyway, I went later in the evening to pick it up from the postal outlet and took some pictures of the unboxing.
Summer Weekend Freshness-Father’s Day BBQ
Last weekend, after all the graduation festivities were over, we had a little ‘pre-Father’s Day’ celebration for my dad. He was tickled pink to get his prezzies a week early-or to have any at all for that matter. We all live far away (except for my little sister who stayed close to home) and he usually just gets a phone call. My father in law’s birthday is just before Father’s Day so he usually just gets a card or phone call that mark both occasions at once.
Since our kids are getting older, they don’t bring home gold painted macaroni sculptures or clay pencil holders or even cards from school anymore. In fact, they’ve kind of dropped the ball in recent years. So, I take on a great amount of the Father’s Day preparation in my house and I don’t mind. He’s not my father but he is the father of my children and he deserves to be honoured at least once a year. I promised that this year, he would be well fed and I think he would agree that I kept my promise.
We started out Father’s Day with Belgian Waffles for breakfast. I was successful at getting kid number two out of bed and her main task was to make the waffle batter. I’m pleased to say she did really well and now that I know she can make darn great waffles, they will be her job forevermore. While she was making the batter, I fried some bacon, macerated the strawberries, made orange juice, cappuccinos and french press coffee. I showed her how to make whipped cream and breakfast was ready. I made sure to fry some extra bacon so we could have BLT’s for lunch along with more of those great tomatoes from the previous post of Summer Weekend Freshness.
First and foremost the day was a day about honouring dads. For dinner, I really wanted to invite some friends of ours who have had a difficult couple of years following the passing of their daughter. I understood that coping with such a loss is extremely difficult but even more so on holidays. Though she’s no longer of this earth she is definitely still a part of her father’s heart and once he become a dad, his life has changed forever. I’m very pleased that they accepted the invitation as I thoroughly enjoyed sharing our meal with them.
Fresh produce from the Farmer’s Market included cipollini onions which I roasted whole in the oven. We also had a ‘dirty’ potato sour cream salad. I had no idea what our friend was talking about when he used that term to describe the salad, then he explained it was because I had left the skins on the tiny potatoes. I could never imagine peeling such tiny potatoes, it would take forever plus I really like them left on. For the salad I boiled the tiny potatoes for about 10 minutes and let them cool. I diced some bacon and garlic and fried them up. The I added some green onions and sliced snap peas to the bowl. I seasoned the salad with salt and pepper and added a couple of generous rounds of lemon juice. Just before serving I added about 3/4 cup of Greek sour cream and stirred it all together.
And finally, we made up some whiskey burgers. I’ve been keen to try this ‘recipe’ ever since I saw it on Pass the Sushi‘s Father’s Day recipe round up. When I say ‘recipe’ I mean idea because I had a quick glance over the ingredients but didn’t read the directions part. If I had, we would have had lovely stuffed burgers. I ended up just throwing all of the ingredients into the mince and just making burgers the way I usually do. They actually turned out quite well. Our adult kid handled the barbecuing part so dad didn’t have to lift a finger. I bought some whiskey flavoured cheddar to top those burgers off with. It was delicious!
Burger toppings also included sauteed mushrooms with Worcestershire sauce, mixed lettuce, more of those great tomatoes, my mom’s homemade dill pickles, various condiments and BACON! I don’t know if you noticed but we had bacon at every meal today. Today was truly a feast day for a king.
No Father’s Day is complete without the finale…DESSERT!! In this case I chose an old family favourite. One that my husband’s grandmother made for him as he was growing up and one that I make for my kids at least once during the summer. It’s Grandma Kyle’s Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake. I’ve made it several ways, adjusting the recipe according to what is in my pantry and to taste. I almost always make it with oreo crumbs though the original recipe calls for graham crumbs. Today, I was crossing my fingers that the cake was frozen enough to serve by the end of dinner. I ended up having to shell peanuts to put in with the oreo crumbs and also realizing that I had no cream cheese. I sent the boys to the store while I got to work on the crust portion. By the time I had the entire cake constructed it was 2pm. Our freezer is very efficient and so the cake was nice and firm by 8pm. Yay!
It was the perfect ending to a great Father’s Day even if it didn’t contain any bacon. Maybe next time?
Grandma Kyle’s Frozen Peanut Butter Dessert recipe
Summer Weekend Freshness-Tomato and Cucumber Salads
I know, I know I’m a week early BUT I’m so excited for it to be summer and soooo sick of rain and crappy cold weather that I will take the tiny bit of sunshine we had on Saturday and Sunday and proclaim it ‘Summer’. During the Fall/Winter months I tried to do a Sunday feature based on the Sunday Roast. I didn’t do too well but here is my attempt on a summer variation of that theme. Sorry friends Down Under, I know it’s winter there but perhaps a glimpse of sun from Canada will help you through your (short) dreary winter days.
I went to the Farmer’s Market as per usual on Friday and found some really great fresh produce. I tried to use as much of it up this weekend as I could, trying to focus on keeping it fresh and tasty. I found these gorgeous, ripe tomatoes that smelled so fresh that I simply sliced them, seasoned them, drizzled them with olive oil and balsamic glaze, then added some purple basil from my garden. I couldn’t resist adding some goat feta later on as well.
Then I made a cucumber salad with a cream dressing..
I don’t make the cucumber salad as often as I should. This is a dish that was taught to me by my Grandma, that same one who had me making gingersnaps oh so many years ago. When I look back on those days I realize that either she 1) trusted my palate or 2) just really needed help to feed a lot of people. Obviously she was a very busy woman in the kitchen but when she gave me free rein in the kitchen and trusted that I would deliver, it made me feel special and needed. The bowl of ‘cukes’ was always ready for me and all I had to do was create the dressing out of milk/cream, mayo, vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar. It had to have that perfect balance so that when you tasted it, it grabbed you just so slightly at the back and sides of your tongue. That’s when I knew it was ready.
I can’t give you the ratios of the ingredients because it’s all about the balance. The dressing I made above only used cream, sugar, salt, pepper, vinegar and fresh dill. Give it a try and play around a bit until you get that proper ‘mouthfeel’. Dress the cucumbers just before you eat or they will get watery.
I’m Not Giving Up on Cauliflower
Though I consider myself a relatively adventurous eater, there are some foods that I am not super crazy about and still some that I abhor. The foods that I absolutely can’t stomach usually have something to do with a really bad childhood food memory. Like the time my aunt cooked the sh*t out of beef liver and then tried to convince us it was steak. I might have been ten but I wasn’t stupid. Around the same age as the ‘liver incident’ we had a ‘lamb incident’. We had decided to travel up to Northern Saskatchewan to spend Christmas with my uncle in a mining camp at Rainbow Lake. With a pantry and walk in freezer full of all sorts of interesting things to cook with my crazy family decided to have a crack at doing a leg of lamb. Unfortunately they had absolutely no idea how it should be cooked (this was pre-google times) and so, they made sure it was ‘extremely’ well done. The flavour of that ‘lamb’ still haunts me to this day…I’m pretty sure it was much closer to what mutton would have tasted like, complete with mint sauce.
I didn’t have lamb again until a couple of years ago when we were invited out to our first BBQ in Australia. The BBQ was being thrown by a mixture of Kiwi’s and Aussies so I figured I would be safe. Well, I did have some of the lamb chops and they weren’t half bad. Still they had a bit of that flavour that I just can’t seem to get past. Several weeks later I tried again (I can be quite stubborn). I bought a lamb shoulder roast and stuffed about 12 garlic cloves into slits I cut in the sides and massaged it with olive oil, salt and pepper. I think that was a turning point for me because since then I’ve done several lamb dishes and some recent posts by fellow bloggers have got me to thinking that I should give a leg of lamb a try. Lamb is not as common in Alberta as beef and definitely not as popular here as it is in New Zealand or Australia. Much of our local lamb is supplied by Ewe-Nique Farms which operates just southwest of Champion, Alberta. I could take a drive out there and buy my lamb directly but there are also several places that sell Ewe-Nique products in Calgary. So, I guess all I have to do is go buy one….
Another ‘take it or leave it’ food for me is any cruciferous vegetable. Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Turnips, Rutabagas, Broccoli, and Cauliflower. Most of these do not taste great when boiled for extreme lengths of time, even with butter, salt and pepper. Blech. It took me a long time to enjoy cabbage (other than Sauerkraut) but I’ve found some recipes that make it palatable. I am extra careful because I don’t want to scar my children with bad food memories but admittedly, there’s a great possibility that I’ve already done that. Brussels Sprouts are best with bacon and I have NEVER found a turnip/rutabaga recipe that I would even try. Yup, they are on the ‘abhor and ignore’ list. I can’t even bring myself to tell you why. Shudder.
Broccoli and Cauliflower. Those are two flowery vegetables that I am on the fence about. Though I grew up eating them in their mushy form I have actually eaten them and enjoyed them. I have kids and I do want to keep on exposing them to lots of vegetables so they have been part of our regular rotation. Sure, I’ll steam them and have them with butter but I make sure I buy the freshest looking broccoli bunch with nice, tight dark green florets and also employ a very short cooking time so they are still a bit crunchy. My kids actually really like broccoli in stir fries because they soak up all the sauce. So maybe serving broccoli even though it’s not my favourite has been beneficial to my family after all.
Cauliflower is a different story. I get a bit crazy now and then a buy a whole head because it’s cheap. Then it takes up a lot of room in my crisper where it stays until it gets a bit spotty. Then I desperately look for a new recipe to mask it’s boring flavour. I’ve had some really great Aloo Gobi at Indian restaurants but I’ve never successfully recreated it on my own. Simmering it in milk and then adding butter and making it into a purée is a family favourite all around BUT it kind of defeats the healthful benefits that I am trying to give my family. Still, I won’t give up. I know there is a Cauliflower recipe out there that is delicious and healthy. There just has to be.
My newest Cauliflower experiment comes courtesy of Blondie & Pitbull who suggests this recipe is reminiscent of rice. If you’re on a low GI diet and can’t eat rice then maybe it does. To me, it’s just cauliflower chopped up into bits. It’s not rice at all. However, this has to be one of my favourite cauliflower dishes (other than purée and Aloo Gobi) so far. It really isn’t half bad. I didn’t follow the recipe as I just added everything in there at once and I probably had it in the oven a bit longer as well. I used spicy chili powder and also added some garlic.
I served the Cauliflower alongside some very simple grilled chicken thighs. All I did was rub the thighs with olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano. I grilled them and made a simple pouring sauce of olive oil, lemon juice, oregano. salt and pepper. Super easy and delicious.
We couldn’t be entirely healthful in our meal though, so I made up some duck fat roasted potatoes as well. It was a very nice Thursday night meal and hopefully no one left the table scarred for life.
Find the recipes here and here.
Note: If you have a subscription to this blog through Google Reader, please be aware it will shutdown on July 1st, 2013. I have enjoyed sharing my blogging experience with you and would love to continue. In order to continue receiving Dish ‘n’ the kitchen posts, please sign up for email notifications, or switch to another reader. I recommend Feedly or Bloglovin. They will automatically retrieve all your Google reader subscriptions.
Clapping My Hands With Glee- at Ladurée
Note: If you have a subscription to this blog through Google Reader, please be aware it will shutdown on July 1st, 2013. I have enjoyed sharing my blogging experience with you and would love to continue. In order to continue receiving Dish ‘n’ the kitchen posts, please sign up for email notifications, or switch to another reader. I recommend Feedly or Bloglovin. They will automatically retrieve all your Google reader subscriptions.
I did a lot of food research prior to our France trip. There were many places that I wanted to visit and restaurants that I wanted to book. In the end we only had four nights in Paris so I had to be pretty choosy. I managed to book and visit two of my preferred restaurants, Hugo and Chez Dumonet.
Besides restaurants, having some French Macarons was an opportunity I wasn’t going to pass up. I had searched the locations of Pierre Hermé online while still at home and I was a bit disappointed to see none were extremely close to our hotel or any place we would be visiting. I had read a bit about Ladurée but I was mainly focused on finding a Pierre Hermé location. Though we did get lost a couple of times our aimless wanderings had led us no where near a Pierre Hermé.
On our third day, I was getting desperate. This was the day we hopped on the Batobus for a small boat ride down the Seine so that we could walk the Champs Élysées, visit the Jardins de Trocadéro, and ultimately the Eiffel Tower. The Champs Élysées is definitely the place to go if you like shopping for materialistic crap from designers like Guerlain, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, and Benetton. My eyes were probably huge, taking it all in until my heart stopped. There, on the corner and to the left of us was Ladurée.
As we approached, I saw that the interior was jam packed with other like-minded Macaron fanatics. I knew it was going to be a long wait and hubby really detests queues. Fortunately, there was a SFR mobile store across the street so I sent him to straighten out our french SIM card situation while the kids and I waited in the queue. It was a win-win PLUS he would never have known how many Euros we spent except that the kids have big mouths!
Besides the pâtisserie area, there is an indoor café which looks like a fairy land. Half way through the queue (about 20 minutes) and I was situated in a spot where I could take a couple of photos.
Anyway enough of the shop! Let’s get down to the really interesting stuff and let’s face it; the real reason you clicked on the Ladurée post…food porn!
I think there were about 20 different flavours of macarons. But we didn’t just buy macarons, nope. We also bought several of these gorgeous pastries.
Later, we walked down Avenue George V past The Four Seasons with Le Cinq and The American Cathedral. When we arrived at the Pont de l ‘Alma bridge we couldn’t wait any longer so we found a bench along the Seine to have our extravagant picnic. When we are on holiday, sweets for lunch is an option.
Hubby and kid number two each had a St. Honoré, kid number one played it simple with a vanilla Éclair, and I had a Raspberry Tart. We did buy a beautiful wild strawberry tart and fought over it afterwards.
NOM NOM NOM
We managed to carry the box of assorted macarons all day and I was able to prevent the kids (and myself) from eating them until the next evening. Our friend Gerald and his partner Maria had invited us to their apartment for a Danish Smørrebrød. Not that macarons were entirely appropriate for such a feast but I happened to know Maria LOVES macarons. None of us were disappointed as we swapped flavours and described each one as we ate.
Bernice
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