Mother Superior

Proving that the Vlaams are both honest and have a sense of humor, our local publican had Moeder Overste as his Maandbier (beer of the month). He said that it was not a Wow, but it was good. It earned beer of the month honors after he read about the recent scandal about a couple of nuns in the 50's who had inappropriate relations with some orphans. Well, I cant comment on the story, but I can verify that the beer is not a Wow, but it is pretty good. Moeder Overste is a tripel at about 8%. It is moderately hopped with a bit of sweetness. Darker than most tripels, there is a bit of a fruity note and a nice clean finish. Three Drunk Monks!

You want me to park where?

Just returned from a daytrip to Ghent, or Gent, or Gand depending upon what language you happen to be speaking. It really is no wonder people get lost in this country, every town has two or three names and even some of the roads have different names depending upon which direction you are driving.

Parking though, is the real challenge. With towns that were built five hundred years ago, the streets tend to be narrow. Ox cart narrow. Everywhere you go parking is a challenge. Even in parking garages, there is really no way to park and have passengers get out of both sides of the car. It's one or the other, not both. Today's trip to Ghent featured the usual fare. Drive to the town of interest, then search 20 minutes for parking that will accomodate a 5 series Beemer. We did OK though, particularly considering that there was a market going on. That usually sucks up parking within a ten block radius. Fortunately, we found a side street with just enough room to squeeze the Beemer in. I have to say I am really glad I got the back-up sensors and parking cameras. If they ever need an endorsement, I am their guy.

Ghent itself is a great little town. We will definitely be heading back when the weather is warmer. We still braved an outdoor cafe for lunch, taking advantage of the propane heater and blankets they provided. The highlight of the trip was Gravensteen castle. We will have to make that a stop for when friends with kids or a macabre sensibility come to visit. It seems like the whole place was used for some sort of torture. Dungeons, keeps, chambers, pretty much the whole place was the site of various atrocities. They had a bunch of original torture devices including a "chopper" used specificly for relieving people of their hands and feat. They also had a guillotine that was a reproduction, except for the blade, which was original. All in all a pretty upbeat kind of place.

The town itself however is really pretty. It is full of canals, shops and restaurants. We will certainly make it a regular weekend spot. Now if I could only remember where I put my car...

Delerium Tremens

Home from a week on business in Spain and London, so it is a good excuse to celebrate Friday with a Delerium tremens. This beer is one of the stable of beers from the Delerium cafe in Brussels brewed by Huyghe. As can be seen by the photo above of Mag-zilla and her Delerium Elephant, Brouwerij Huyghe is relentless in marketing. You can get their signature pink elephant in hats, shirts, stuffed animals and a bunch of other products. As would be expected by this, they have a strong presence in the US. I had this beer for the first time in Michigan about 6 years ago with my brother in law in the summertime and I think the warm weather would be the best time for this selection. As far as strong Blondes go, the Tremens is a pretty good example. A little bit of hop, some sweetness and a little bite from the 8.5% alcohol content. It is not an epic beer but a good exposure to Belgian beers for someone who may not have had them before. Three and a half Drunk Monks!

Routines

One of the fun things about moving to a new place, whether it is across town or across the Atlantic is the ability to change things up and develop new routines. For she who must be obeyed and I, this has involved Sunday Brunch. Where we lived in suburban Maryland, there were really no places where you could have a leisurely brunch. You always felt like you were being churned so they could free up the table. Our brunch spot is a little place near the Africa Museum called the Boothuis. It is right on the pond in Tervuren park, so it has a nice view and the food is really good. The best part is that we can sit, relax and enjoy the view without feeling like we have to hurry and move to the next thing.

Today it was a typically wet winter day, but we had a nice view of the ducks, roosters (and a few dogs in the restaurant). Our typical quiet, relaxing Sunday. After a brief, soggy walk it was time to pack up for my business trip.

I used to think that having most everything closed on Sundays would drive me nuts, but it is really the opposite. It is nice to have one no pressure day where you have no excuse to run errands or engage in excess commercial opportunities. Now it is off to Barcelona and London for business, but I think it is highly likely that next Sunday will find us back at the same place and probably eating the same thing.

No Need To Tart It Up

Just finished up a nice Friday dinner at one of our favorite little bistros. While we were eating dinner, she who must be obeyed and I were having a discussion about the difference between going to a local restaurant in Belgium and going to one in Maryland, where we used to live. There are the obvious things like better beer, dogs in the restaurant, no one speaking english, etc. But the one thing that really stands out is the fact that the food is not tarted up. There are no tall dishes, no compound butter, no instructions on how to eat the meal from the waiter. There are plenty of ingredients that we have never heard of, but that is only because they are in dutch. The interesting thing is that while you cant go to a restaurant in the US without having some kind of culinary gimic, here it is the complete opposite. The food is generally basic, well put together and absent of any tarting up.

It would be nice if restaurants in the US would realize that good quality and flavorful food, trumps fishnets and garish makeup.

Troublette

The Troublette is a beer that she who must be obeyed wanted me to pick because it had a "cute snail on the label". And it does.

The beer pours a VERY cloudy golden color. There is a pronounced yeasty aroma which carries through to your first sip. The overall flavor is spice and citrus with a bit of Belgian sourness. It is a nice beer. A thirst quencher. Good, but not great.

Oh, and there is the cute snail. Three Drunk Monks.

Almost too bummed out to post

I almost didn't post this evening. After avoiding all media so that I could come home from work and enjoy the Patriots/Jets game on Tivo, I find that it was not worth the wait. There is always next season, but it worse that they had to get bounced by the Jets.

The first beer of the evening is the Florival Blonde. This one was a surprise. Bought it at Delhaize only to find out after the fact that it is done specially for Delhaize by the Afflingem folks. It may have been the bottle, but I dont think so. This beer is simply not good. Bitter aftertaste and just a generally funky. I dont mind Afflingem. Not a favorite but certainly drinkable but not this one. Half a glass later, the rest of the bottle was down the drain. Not worth the effort, one drunk monk.

Which brings us to the Bersalis Tripel. We picked this beer up at Beer Temple while in Brussels over the weekend. I like tripels so this was a pleasant break from the Florival. It pours a cloudy straw color and has a really nice hoppy bite. A little sour edge with some citrus and spice. A little generic but certainly a keeper. Three Drunk Monks!

And now for something completely different

Since moving to Belgium, I have been sticking mostly to the widely available and flavorful standard beers of Belgium. Tonight as an aperitif, I cracked open a Girardin 1882 Gueuze. Gueuze is a form of Lambic beer that is not hopped and is blended from an older lambic and a younger to create the core beer, which is then aged in the bottle. As a lambic, it is fermented with atmospheric yeasts and bacteria. According to wikipedia, up to 86 different microorganisms have been identified in a single lambic beer. The result is an extremely crisp and sour beverage.

The Girardin 1882 Gueuze pours a very caramel color with notable head. The flavor is citrusy and fruity with the intense sourness of a gueuze. I enjoyed it with a bit of venison and fois gras terrine, which was a really good combination. The acidity of the beer cutting through the fats of the terrine. She who must be obeyed gave it a sip and said "YUCK!". So Gueuze is not everyone's cup of tea. However, I would not give it a yuck by any stretch. It may take a bit of education, or perhaps just stubborn persistence but I think beer lovers should definitely try it. Gueuze is history in a glass. Prior to cultured strains of yeast, most fermented beverages were fermented with wild yeasts, so it gives you a sense of how beer has evolved. It is also a nice change of pace. Three and a half Drunk Monks!!

Let's go for a little walk.

Innocent enough statement unless you know she who must be obeyed. Since moving to Belgium, while I have been tied to a desk, my darling bride has been endeavoring to become a power walker. Suffice to say, many kilometers and a couple of hours later, I was ready for lunch and hydrating beverage. Because it was a beautiful day, we stopped at a local restaurant where we could sit outside and enjoy the nice weather. On the menu, I saw a beer that I had not tried before, a Boerken.

The Boerken is a strong Brown Ale. It pours a cloudy mohogany color with a serious head. The tulip shaped Boerken glass does a nice job of collecting the head and putting it on display. Like most Bruins it has a sweet component, but it is much less sweet than many in the style. At 9.5%, you would expect a lot more alcoholic bite, but it does not have that. It is surprisingly smooth with some prune or dried fruit background. Overall a very nice beverage and nice reward for the morning of exercise. Four Drunk Monks!

There Will Be Noodles

During the holidays, we passed by a little restaurant on the Rue Paul Devaux in Brussels with a petite asian lady making hand pulled noodles. I said then and there that we had to come back. Today we did. If you have never seen this done, it is an amazing thing to watch. The noodlemaker swings, twists and shapes noodles by hand until the dough is pliable. They then start doubling the noodle over, pulling it each time. Each doubling, doubles the number of noodles and reduces the diameter enabling the noodlemaker to control the thickness. Noodles made this way have a very silky smoothness and great texture. If you want to watch noodles being made this way, see Alton Brown's video here:









When we got up this morning, the weather looked like it might hold, so I suggested to she who must be obeyed that we head into the city to try this little restaurant out. All I can say is that I am glad that we did. The restaurant is very small with an upstairs and downstairs. You walk in, right in front of the noodlemaker. We found a corner table for two upstairs. Last one available. I opened the menu to find a very limited selection. In my opinion, always a good sign. They make a small assortment of dumplings for appetizers, noodle in broth, fried noodles, and fried rice. That's it. And it is plenty. We started with a small assortment of dim sum which was gone before we could photograph it. I got the noodles in broth with chefs choice of accompaniements knowing that I would trash my shirt as a result, but not really caring. Chef's choice had me enjoying a combination of pork, duck, shrimp, tripe and little meatballs. She who must be obeyed got the fried noodles with enameled pork. Both were incredible. I jacked mine up with some of the sambal that was available on the table and was soon sweating happily.

I really love food like this. It is simple, filling and highly varied. We have absolutely found a new favorite place. So if you are in Brussels and are jonesing for some awesome noodles, Au Bon Bol on rue Paul Devaux. Four and a Half Drunk Monks!!!

Straight Lunch Passes Homey

Living in belgium is full of new and unique experiences. Belgians have an institutional desire to avoid taxes. One of these new experiences is a result of this desire, Lunch Passes. Many companies in Belgium provide their employees with compensation for the money that they spend on lunch in the company canteen. Mine is no exception. Lunch Passes. For every day that you check in before a certain time and check out after a certain time, you receive a lunch pass. The lunch passes are each worth a fixed amount of money, typically more than you spend on lunch. Once a month, you receive a little envelope with the passes. You can redeem the passes at all grocery stores and many restaurants. They also do a similar thing for people who use green transportation. The problem with the green passes is that they are only usable for green products, so you tend to see them on offer all the time on the Expat websites. It's like monopoly money but you get real stuff for it. Odd, but it is Belgium. You learn not to question and just enjoy.

Should we eat meat? Hell Yeah!

http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2011/01/03/q-contest-should-we-eat-meat-1/

A surprisingly rationale discussion courtesy of Canadian Public Radio.

It Rains in Belgium

Ok, probably not a news flash, but it does rain in Belgium. This is not the epic, soul crushing rain of Seattle, but it is solidly depressing. That said, it is better than the snow that we have had so far this winter. For a country that gets a lot of rain, one would think that the drivers would be better in wet weather. A bit of light rain seems to impact the Belgians in one of two ways, either they hit the brakes and slow to a crawl, or they take the opportunity to powerslide like Jeremy Clarkson on a bender. So by the time I was home from work, I was really in the mood for the last bottle that we purchased over the weekend. A Triple Moine.

The Triple Moine is not in fact a tripel. Not sure how the Bocq brewery justifies the name, but there you have it. It is in fact a strong Blonde, which Bocq claims to have hints of green apple balancing the hops. Not sure I taste the green apple. It does have a nice hoppy bite and strong yeasty flavor. The color is almost a caramel color with a bit of cloud to it. Overall it is pretty typical of the style. Not a standout but certainly not bad either. Three and a Half Drunk Monks.

Corsendonk Agnus Tripel

Wrapping up the Corsendonk weekend tasting is the Corsendonk Agnus tripel. This beer pours a cloudy pale golden color with a lacey short-lived head. There is a yeasty, citrusy nose and this carries through to the palate. This tripel has a creamy mouthfeel with a lot of character. There are those citrus notes with spice and many layers of flavor. Really a very interesting beer. 4 Drunk monks.

The Joys of Roast Chicken

I make a killer roasted chicken. This may sound boastful, but it is true. Of course I can't claim to have discovered anything special here. Anyone can make a killer roasted chicken, just follow Thomas Keller's recipe which you can find here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/kellers_roast_chicken/
I think Roasted chicken is one of the few perfect meals. When done properly, it is simple, hearty and a beautiful thing to look at. You can vary the herbs, the vegetables, the sauce, but in almost every form it is a real pleasure to eat. The one thing that you cannot skimp on however, is the chicken. I started roasting chickens in the US with your standard Purdue, steroid altered franken-bird. I then progressed to nice, small, free range chickens and I thought that they were pretty good. Then I moved to Europe. The chicken's here, like food in general, are better. I just finished roasting up a free-range french bird from about 70 miles away from my home and it was in a word, awesome. The bird was denser than the chickens in the US. Heavy for its size. It was obvious that the Bell and Evans "free range" birds that I had purchased in the US had not seen the kind of activity that this bird did. The meat had texture and real flavor, but was not tough. I seasoned it liberally with sea salt, put a little butter under the skin of the breast and filled the cavity with Taragon. For the vegetables, we had potato, whole shallot, mushrooms and carrots. All roasted with the bird with a little sea salt, pepper and dried thyme. We also had a nice side salad with a homemade vinagrette. To accompany, a nice French Sancerre. As I said, anyone can make a killer roasted chicken, so there is no excuse. I find a few things make a big difference:

1. Get the best chicken you can find. Prefereably free range and NEVER Purdue. (Purdue is Evil and you dont want that bad Karma in your food)
2.Do not buy a bird larger than 4 pounds. Small birds are best. I like between 3 and 4 pounds. (See note above. Franken-birds are the product of a malevolent force and should be avoided at all costs)
3. Season the bird liberally. This means salt &pepper. Do not skimp. Half will fall off anyway. Screw the cardiologists and health nazis. Nobody wants to live forever.
4. Truss the bird. It is not hard. Ruhlman can show you how: http://ruhlman.com/2010/07/how-to-truss-a-chicken.html
5. Dont tart it up. There is no point in guilding this lilly. Taragon, rosemary, sage, lemon, thyme, oregano are all acceptable herbs. There is no need for a 30 herb component blend from Whole Foods. Keep it simple.
6. Start the bird in a HOT oven 475 for the first 30 minutes. Then back it down to 375-400. (At this temp a 4 pound bird is done in 90 minutes and is juicy and deliciious)
Enjoy

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me

The old Presidents of the United States of America tune, Peaches was running through my head as I sampled this light lambic. Prior to moving to Belgium, I viewed fruit in beers as an abomination. And I still do, unless the fruit is the point as it is with the fruit based lambics of Belgium. These beers use copious amounts of juice in them and are deisgned to be light, low alcohol beverages with the characteristic sour lambic note. The latest sample is Lindeman's Pecheresse. The bottle is both capped and corked. (A bit like wearing a belt and suspenders but they probably have a reason.) When I released the cork an immediate odor of peaches hit me. This lambic pours a clear amber color with a minimal head. As I mentioned, there is a strong smell of peach which persists on the palate. The flavor is light, crisp and efervescent. The sourness is there, but not overly assertive. The finish is clean and almost gives the sense of a hard cider made with peaches. At 2.5% alcohol, this is almost not a beer at all. While I think this beverage is probably best as an aperatif, I could see it also pairing nicely with a pork roast or perhaps barbecued ribs (I may have to try that). For me this would not be an every day tippel, nor can I see myself having more than one in a session, but it is nice and I believe I will be purchasing this again in the future (probably to go with those ribs I mentioned). Three and a half drunk monks!

Bigger Bottles are Better

Its Abbey beer time this weekend. We picked up a couple of offerings from Corsendonk for review while at the grocery store. As we tend to do whenever possible, we purchased these in the 750ml bottle size. (Same as a standard wine bottle). I really think that for the bottle fermented beers of Belgium, the larger bottle is the way to go. The larger bottle beers seem a bit rounder and more developed than in the small bottles. This might be all in my head, but I don't think so. But judge for yourself. I would be interested in hearing what other people think.

The first up of the pair is the Pater Dubbel. The first thing to note is that the bottle was wrapped in a tissue paper wrapper. It's all marketing, but it does make it look festive. This beer pours a deep reddish brown. The head is minimal and disappears quickly. The nose is sweet with a bit of herbal note. I was expecting the beer to be sweeter but it is surprisingly mild. There is a malty, yeasty palate that is nicely balanced. There is a tendency for beers of this style to be overly alcoholic, but this is not the case with the Corsendonk Pater. At 7.5% it is balanced and paired well with the lamb and gnocchi we had for dinner this evening. 3.5 Drunk Monks.

Paris is Overrated

I love Paris. I have been there many times and have always enjoyed it, but after living full time in Brussels, it impresses me less than in the past. We took a quick trip this past week with my daughter, as she has never been to the city before. The Thalys train from Brussels was quick and efficient; the type of transportation that Amtrak could well learn from. We arrived at Paris Nord mid morning and were checked into our hotel well before lunchtime. Our hotel was just steps from the Champs Elyseé; the perfect location for an overnight trip. Overall the trip was a good one. We spent time shopping, sightseeing and eating. I think my daughter was impressed with how beautiful Paris is (even when it is 0 degrees). And it is a beautiful city. The architecture is amazing and there is something to see around every corner. It is unfortunate though that the state of hotel rooms in the city generally do not live up to the surrounding architecture. Hotel rooms are exceedingly expensive and in most cases I have found them to be lackluster. We booked two adjoining rooms at the Sofitel and the furniture was rundown and the carpeting was stained. At 300 Euro per room, I would expect better. Still it was only one night, so we made the best of it.

The Christmas Market was still in effect during our trip. I really like this aspect of European Christmas. There is something festive about the little shacks with small gifts and food. Paris’ Christmas market is huge as you might expect but also fairly redundant. If you see a third of it, you have seen it all. Wandering through the market as well as all over Paris there was a significant military presence. I would assume this is thanks to Bin Laden’s threats. Another thing you see everywhere you go are the multitudes of begging Roma. They are all over Brussels as well, but France made a big deal out of kicking them out of the country earlier in the fall. Guess they missed some.

The one thing that was probably the most significant disappointment was the food. The food was extremely expensive and like the hotels, pretty lackluster. I would say that this might be due to the places that we picked, but I don’t think so. Unless you are willing to pay for Michelin Star restaurants, it is hard to find really good food in Paris. Certainly you can get nice croissants, and acceptable meals, but you are going to pay a high price for it. In retrospect, I think it has to do with the fact that it is largely a tourist city. In Brussels, the food is almost universally high quality. I think this is the difference between feeding tourists and feeding your neighbors. Whatever it was, if you want good French food at reasonable prices, don’t go to Paris, come to Brussels.

After our trip, She who must be obeyed and I had a conversation about the fact that we are glad that we live in Brussels and not Paris. Brussels is not quite as photogenic, but it is much more intimate. People are friendly and the city is accessible. I still love Paris, but I am glad I don’t live there.