The Food is Better. It Really Is.

Food is better here. I am not saying that great food is not available in the US. Of course it is. There are great restaurants and artisanal producers of extremely fine food products throughout the US. But as whole, the quality of the food here is better. In our home in the suburbs of Washington DC, we had to drive an hour to find anything approximating fresh fish. We had Hedgeapple farms (http://hedgeapplefarm.com/) close by with their wonderful grass fed beef. But you had pay for that level of quality. It could not be an every day thing. The local groceries stores were at best uninspiring and at worst had food that was obviously past its prime. It is different here. Even the small Carrefour expresses that are everywhere in the Brussels area have a small variety of high quality food. If you are willing to take some time however, you can find amazing quality produce, meat and fish at various local butcher shops, produce shops and bakeries. We are willing to sacrifice quality for convenience in the US in a way that is simply unacceptable here. This goes for the restaurants as well. In the town we live in, there are several small pubs and tea rooms with simple, but very high quality food. What we do not have is a Mc Donalds or any other fast food chain. Every restaurant is a sole proprietorship and it shows. And I am not even going to mention the fries. (It’s true, they are better. They are fried in animal fat, which is always a good thing.)

I do miss some things about US food already however. First and foremost, is good Mexican food. There are a few “Mexican” restaurants here. Chi Chi’s being notable for their footprint in Brussels. Short story, it is not Mexican. Not even close. I also miss good Bar B Que. Something I hope to correct as soon as the weather starts to warm up. I also miss bourbon. You can get Jack Daniels here, but that is about it. And as they will tell you, Jack is Tennessee whiskey and not bourbon.

I am sure that as the shine wears off, we will start to see the flaws and begin to have issues. But I have to say, the difference in the food is really striking when you live here. When traveling through an area as I have for the last 15 years, you eat in restaurants or food stands. You do not shop and your experience is not typical. Live in a place, shop in their stores and eat where the locals eat and your experience is different. In our case, it is better.

Mort Subite Framboise

Today did not wind up as we had originally planned. I have never really trusted weather forecasts, but in Belgium, there is even less of a reason to believe them. The original plan for today was for a day trip to either Namur or Antwerp for an afternoon of sightseeing. The forecasters were predicting a beautiful, crisp afternoon, so it seemed like a good plan. Of course, when we woke up, it was raining. Hard. So we opted for plan B. First order of business, was shopping for food. It is a three day weekend, this week. Monday is All Saints day. So shopping must be done. Everything except a few small package stores will be closed until Tuesday. Errands completed, we spent the afternoon building a wardrobe from IKEA. Here in Belgium, very few homes have built in closets. Ours, amazingly has them in our bedroom, but this does not compare to the walk in that we enjoyed in the US. So, for extra space we needed the wardrobe. Predictably, about an hour into building the wardrobe, the weather cleared and the beautiful afternoon arrived. Too late now though to stop, we pushed through with only a few expletives and tears. Wardrobe mostly completed, we broke around 4, to enjoy an afternoon stroll through the square. The square has been taken over by a small carnival with the typical assortment of games, rides and food venders you see at similar carnivals in the US. There are two main differences that I can see as compared to the US variety. Soft core airbrush work on the sides of some of the rides and escargot. Both make sense in the context of Europe. I do find it interesting though that there are only three food vendors and two of them would serve escargot. Not that I am complaining. I happen to like snails. I just think it is an interesting choice juxtaposed against the hamburgers and hot dogs also available. One thing that we could definitely learn from in the US is the placement of the carnival. By putting it in the middle of the square, it was possible for parents to get a table at the local public house, enjoy one or several adult beverages while their spawn spin on the merry go round.

Following our walk, I was a desiring a refreshing beverage myself. Not usually being a fan of fruity beers, I have not logged any time with the many fruit based options here in Belgium. I thought today would be a good time to expand my horizons a bit and was quite surprised with the outcome. I cracked open a Mort Subite Xtreme Framboise. Mort Subite means sudden death and it takes its name from the bar in Brussels called A la Mort Subite which was not far from our former apartment.. As I opened the bottle, I was hit with a strong scent of raspberry. I was prepared for the sourness that lambics are known for but was pleased with that firs sip. Very crisp, somewhat sour but actually quite refreshing. I can easily see sipping one of these on a hot afternoon. The sourness is definitely there, but it is really well balanced. The color is strikingly red and clear with a pinkish foam. Not the most butch beverage in the world, but I don’t care what you may think. Overall pretty tasty. I give it two and a half drunk monks.

St. Feuillien Triple

Herbal. That is the first thing that runs through my mind when I taste this Abbey beer. Hops are very pronounced but in a very floral way. There is also a spicy note that runs through. The beer itself is a nice amber color with a little murkiness and a creamy mouthfeel. The fact that their website has two recipes including sweetbreads and one with freshwater eel makes me like this beer even more.

World Beer Awards

Six Belgian beers win international award.

Six Belgian beers took home awards at the World Beer Awards, an annual international competition. More than 500 beers from 27 countries took part in the competition.
The winning Belgian beers were:

A. In the World’s Best Styles category:
Saint-Feuillien blonde (Saint-Feuillien brewery), World's Best Pale Ale-Abbey/Trappist;
Gouden Carolus Classic (Het Anker brewery), World's Best Dark Ale-Abbey/Trappist;
Rodenbach Grand Cru (Palm brewery), World’s Best Dark Ale - Flavoured.
B. In the Regional Best Styles category:
The jury also ranked the best beers per continent. In addition to the three winning beers above, the following also scored:
Houblon Chouffe (Achouffe brewery), Europe’s Best Pale Ale - Imperial IPA;
Urthel Saisonnière (De Leyerth brewery), Europe’s Best Seasonal Pale Ale;
Floris Kriek (Huyghe brewery), Europe's Best Fruit Wheat Beer.

Courtesy of the Belgian Embassy Website.

www.tastingbeers.com/awards/wba/2010/

Mc Chouffe

Mc Chouffe is a bruin from Brasserie La Chouffe. These guys definitely have a sense of humor. They had a tent at the Brussels Beer Festival and were selling gnome hats which were vying for the most popular headgear with the Delerium Tremens pink elephant hats. Mc Chouffe is a very malty bruin with some sweet raisin background. Very dark brown with a lacy foam. Overall a solid beer that will complement this evening's carnitas well.

Recycling

One of the first things you have to learn when you move to Belgium is how to empty the trash. This is not as straightforward as it sounds but very important if you are enjoying the locally crafted brews. When we lived in Maryland, we had the benefit of single stream recycling and twice weekly trash service. In Belgium, things are a little different. First, you have to figure out what bag scheme your commune uses. Yes, that is correct, the communities are called communes. In Brussels, garbage was white, plastic was blue and paper was yellow. Bottles had to be carried to the nearest green bin, of which there were very few, at least in our old neighborhood. (Fortunately for me, my wife always did it.) In our new commune, garbage is brown, Plastic is still blue but paper goes in boxes and you still have to carry your bottles to a glass-recycling bin. The bin is thankfully a nice short (10 minutes) walk from the house. (Again, my wife usually takes care of it here too.) The bags are sold at any of the local stores, but you do have to use the locally approved variety. The blue bags for plastic that worked in the Brussels Capital Region do not work in our current commune in Flanders. If you screw any of this up, your garbage will be left behind for you to correct. Lastly, you have to request a recycling schedule from your commune to figure out what days of the month are slated for which varietal of recycling. After all of this, the system actually works pretty well.

Leffe Trippel

You may ask yourself, Why would he start off the blog with a beer that you can buy in the US? But this is precisely the point. The Leffe Trippel was probably the first Belgian beer I had. Probably even before a Stella. Leffe beers are ubiquitous in the Brussels area. The Blonde is the beer that you are most likely to find on tap in the restaurants in and around the city.

The trippel is a creamy, lightly hopped 8.5% Abbaye. Is it great?... Well, no. It is good, but in the same way that a Toyota is good. It is serviceable. It wont offend anyone. And it gets you where you are going.

Against My Better Judgement

Succumbing to my narcissism, I have decided to start a blog. Primarily I intend to focus on the many wonderful beers that this country produces, but I will also try to comment on the food and some of the experiences that I am having as an American expat. I have no idea how often I will post or what I will share, but if you like Belgian beers or have nothing better to do, feel free to read on.