Fooding (in the Ghetto)

Need to catch up on the eats!

Mostly what I've been eating is potatoes with creme fraiche and caviar.  Yup.  Roasted potatoes topped with some of the best stuff on earth.  It's been my mainstay for the past 3 days, but it's really too fancy to keep up for much longer.

It's so good it just feels wrong.

It's a variation of an appetizer I usually make for new year's eve--sliced fingerling potatoes with a dollop of creme fraiche and then topped with caviar.  But since it's just for me this year, there's no need for a fancy presentation.  So I get right to it, just spooning the cf and caviar over a bunch of potatoes.  YUMS.


Anyway, here are some other recent indulgences:

Wouldja look at the oozy goodness of the vacherin on the right?  Oh boy, was it good!  And the guy on the left's our main squeeze, tomme de savoie.  And there's a smidge of ostrich sausage left from the market in Antwerp.  

For xmas dins, we had a reindeer shepherd's pie and salad.  Kinda weird eating Rudolph on Christmas, but trust me, it was delicious.  Wickedly delicious!

Finished xmas off with a vegan chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a quite non-vegan whipped cream topping.

Cochino had a very merry Christmas, tucked under the covers from her ghetto-looking headquarters in St-Gilles...

I mean, really.

This place looks rough.  They don't pick up the trash in the snow, there's a new tag on the metal curtain that falls when the nightshop is closed, some db broke our front window (only through the outer layer of glass, but still) so we've got a board up until the insurance replaces it, and well... we wanted to live in a "real" Brussels neighborhood--this is it!

Rococoffee

Loving this corner bistro just off the St-Gilles hotel de ville.

Look What I Got!

A paper that says I'm here!  In Belgium!

Went to the commune/city hall yesterday to see Mr. Ferdaoui.  Had a 10:45 appointment with him, but he said he couldn't see us and deferred until today.  Went back today and submitted all of my papers.  It seems like everything is in order, but we'll see.  Everything he asked for, I had.  The relocation woman who went with me said it was the most complete file she'd ever seen.

Ticked and tied, ticked and tied.

So now I wait 2 weeks for my visa to come through.  Though I have a feeling it will not be that easy... or quick.

Stay tuned.

More weekend

I really wanted to have my picture taken by this, but I wimped out because there were people all around. But I love this tag.

Look at how cool Byron is sitting outside the Teddy L. patisserie on Chaussee de Waterloo.  Teddy has a few locations around town, so I was put off by its relatively chain-iness.  But really, the menu offered many choices, the sandwiches were good, and there was a nice patio out front.  Despite the blowhard Brit nearby going on about yoga the whole time, the meal was quite enjoyable.

Spotted in St-Gilles.

Spotted in St-Gilles 2.

This little feller was also in St-Gilles.

As is our new apartment building!  It's going to be grand!  (Found this site, which gives you the scoop on St-Gilles in a nutshell.)

This is the Prison of St-Gilles.  So magnificent!  It's interesting because it is still a working prison and it's smack in the middle of a really nice part of St-Gilles.  I mean, there are some really fancy houses right across the street, where I took this picture.  In fact, it's quite residential (and high-end) all around the prison.  It is not too far from our apartment, and there's a picturesque point where you're walking down our street and if you look to the right, you'll see the Prison of St-Gilles down the road and if you look to the left, you'll see the beautiful commune building of St-Gilles.  And the whole thing just feels so old world European.  *sigh*

Check out this hot dog in a bag!  It's even called "Frank!"

I've been taking photos of house numbers, especially the hand-painted ones.  But this sign was too good to pass up.  Pret a porter de luxe.  Yes, I will.

Catching up...

With this post, I will actually be caught up.  Or rather, you will be caught up!  But what I'm saying is, this shizz just happened!  As in the photos at the park were taken about an hour ago.  As Kool and the Gang would say:  Fresh.

I want to be Elliott Erwitt when I grow up.  Spotted this guy outside of this old-man betting "office" on Chaussee de Waterloo.  Love the trampy air he has about him.  The soda can just adds to it.

Went to paint some ceramics last night with Lynsey and Fran.  It was freeing and frustrating at the same time.  I was frustrated because look at that lousy grade-school version of Cochino I did!  But it was freeing because how often to you get to sit around and paint??  We had a great time.  And they made us dinner, as well.  It was a homemade pasta with a light tomato sauce and ham, with a salad on top.  YUM.

The ladies with their arts.

This is Park Tenbosch, my afternoon treat.  So, it's not the best capture of the park, but I feel funny going around taking photos there because everyone's up to something.  I can tell you that it's masterfully laid out so as to provide many private spaces and a general feeling of seclusion.  Again, you don't get that from this photo, but I swear it's true.  I've never experienced anything like it in a park of so little square footage before.

Oh, and there's a petanque court where the olds get some lively matches going.  I met an old man called Henri and two Jack Russells called Tommy (Hilfiger) and Paco (Rabanne) there the other day.  *Sigh*

Ten....... BOSCH!



And, if you haven't seen the photos of our new apartment yet, well dagnammit because they took the photos off the website because it's off the market!  We had the hardest time deciding between this place and another one in a more expat-y area (read:  fancyville).  We went for the one in St-Gilles, which has a more local (and sometimes very Portuguese) feeling.  The space is great, and the apartment's full of character and interesting details... and the best part is it has a grand bricked in "yard" in the back.  And it's all ours!  I can even take Cochino out there on the harness without anyone looking at me funny.  :)

Anyway, we are going this weekend to see it again, so I will take some snaps and post 'em.

Local flavor

Art in the bathroom at Chez Moeder Lambic.

Vive Belgique!  Window art in St-Gilles.

Beer in the vending machine at the gas station down the street from our apartment.  Can you believe it?  There was no wanton drunkenness or destruction at said gas station!  Beer is available everywhere here, but people seem to be able to handle it.  Imagine!

Saturday Surprises

What's that music in the distance?  Surprise!  It's a flea market/neighborhood festival!  You know you're always gonna stumble upon something good when you just follow the music...

One of the communes in St-Gilles was having a neighborhood festival, with bands and jugglers and food and beer (Of course!  Nothing is done without beer here!) and a flea market.  

We browsed for a while on foot, but clearly being strolled around is the way to go.

Then we hit up Chez Moeder Lambic, which is an incredible (and delightful) bar in St-Gilles.  It is known for its vast selection or beer.  They have a well-stocked cellar of dusty old beers, as well.  But it's really just a nice place to sit outside for a spell.  Such a nice place, in fact, that Byron didn't even make a face when I took his picture.

Then we wandered and wandered in St-Gilles, came upon the old prison of St-Gilles (which was rather foreboding), and just marveled at the art nouveau architecture.