Rating:
 (4.7) (30 votes)
Liege, Belgium
January 15th, 2004
Pros
: fantastic food
Cons : none
In addition to catching up with friends, a little sightseeing and
a whooooole lotta chilling, the main thrust of my holiday to Belgium
over the New Year break was food – and lots of it!
After being greeted by a good, strong coffee (something severely
lacking in London!) and a Belgian waffle, my lovely hosts in the
small town of Liege were al intent on feeding me the specialities
of the region, which I had been missing for three long years. My
culinary tour included such delicacies as: moules frites (mussels
in white wine sauce served with steaming hot chips); boulet (big
meatballs in a caramelised onion-type thick gravy, served with,
naturally, hot chips); salad nicoise (or some version of it, we
called it ‘the big salad’); salmon lasagne (ok, not
so much a speciality of Belgium as a speciality of Celine’s!);
tartiflette (a dish made solely of potatoes, onions and lots of
melted cheese, and its better than it sounds!); olives wrapped in
anchovies (ok, this didn’t really appeal to me, but hey I’ll
try anything once); cheese; and chocolate - lots of it. It was all
washed down with lots of hot mulled wine, white wine, and the occasional
Belgian beer.
New Year’s Eve was the pinnacle of this gourmet frenzy, with
a 3 course dinner delivered from a local restaurant to Py’s
apartment. First course was seafood: prawns, sashimi, seafood terrine
and salad. Second course was meat: duck, pate, game meat, Moroccan
cous-cous, creamy sausage pasta and vegetables. Third course was
a massive chocolate cake! And all this was accompanied by a raspberry
cocktail (freshly crushed raspberries with champagne and vodka),
wine, beer and champers... I feel full just thinking about it all!
In between eating, it was wonderful to catch up with my Liegois
friends. It was so great to spend time with the darlings Celine,
Py and Marjorie! Celine, Py and I even managed to fit in a trip
to Bruges, a gorgeous little town that charmed the pants off us,
despite the (seemingly) sub-Arctic temperatures. After a walk through
the lovely streets of the old-fashioned town, we went to an ice
and snow sculpture exhibit. The theme was Greek mythology and there
was an indoor labrinyth constructed, dotted with all the gods and
characters that you would expect to find within…plus an ice
hotel and an ice bar where shots of vodka are served in ice-glasses.
It was the perfect start to 2004, especially when snow started falling
on New Year’s Day. It was a bit late for a white Christmas,
but appreciated nevertheless! Then I was whisked off to the airport
by Celine’s mum in her sexy, brand new Audi TT (with individually-controlled
heated leather seats – heaven!)… ahhhh, Belgium, that’s
the life! |
