Fooding

B put on a vest and took me to Switch to celebrate the big news on Monday.  The food was good, and the atmosphere is super-cute.  The desserts were our favorites.  B got the apple tart and I got the dame blanche.

Look at that cutie tart!  Of course with caramel and ice cream!  Yums!

Here she is, la dame blanche!  This is a traditional Belgian/French dessert comprising vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and whipped chantilly cream.  To be straight, it's a fancy hot fudge sundae.  (Don't try ordering it at your local Dairy Queen, though.)  At Switch they served it as a dip-at-will treat.  So delicious.  That's the cream on the right, but I've already mucked it up with a bunch of hot fudge in this photo.  Oh well.

It has been so cold here.  I've been making lots of soups (which is really tricky without an immersion blender or a robot... no "cream of" or "bisque" anything until then) and pasta.  Things that are warm and hearty.  Last night I made a simple pasta with speck (Oooohhhhh, delicious speck.  I promise to put you in everything I can from now on.  You are thicker than your brother bacon, and just that much more delicious.  And you fry up real nice.), roasted tomatoes, peas, basil and shredded manchego and parmesan.  It was one of the favorite things I've made in a long time.  Really simple, but really good.  Isn't that how it should be?

And today I made cookies.  Oatmeal chocolate-chip--Byro's favorite.  I know I've kvetched about baking here in Brussels before, but I just want to reiterate what a freaking labor of love making cookies is.  Look at the size of the cookie sheets!  This is all that fits in my little baby oven, people!  And only one at a time!  So it's an ALL-AFTERNOON process, no joke.  With six cookies per sheet and approximately 20 minutes for each tiny sheet (because the baby oven is also slooow), you're looking at hours.  Want some cookies?  Better clear your schedule.  This activity is straight up for weekends or those without jobs.  The good news is, they turned out great.  Once I start work, though, I think that cookies will only be for very special occasions.  How odd that is;  it goes against all the humble cookie stands for!