My Life, My Food, My Places

Winter, spring, summer or autumn: the place to be to sample the best dishes in Brussels is the Place Sainte Catherine. Situated in the heart of the city, not far from the historic Grand Place, this square is the epicenter of fish and seafood of the Belgian Capital. Along the square in front of the church and in the nearby streets you find numerous fish- and seafood restaurants, wholesalers of fish, oysters and lobsters and a few great fishmongers. One of those top-of-the-bill fishmongers is without any doubt “Mer du Nord” (the North Sea). The place to be for locals and tourists every day of the week except on Mondays. Opened many years ago as a ‘normal’ fishmonger, the Mer du Nord started to sell fish soup and scrimp croquettes at a window counter. Soon they offered a glass of wine with it and added other dishes like mussels in white wine sauce, raw mussels (eaten like oysters), ‘scampis a la plancha’, sandwiches with fresh home-made fish salad and oysters. It ...

My mom always told me that it was exceptionally cold for the time of the year that day in March when I was born 61 years ago. I was the first born in the family and the first grandchild. Both my parents were teachers, my mom teaching French language and my dad applied economics. Both in the same school were I would spend 14 years of my young life, from kindergarten over elementary till my high school graduation when I was 18. Detail, I got French class from my mom during 3 years and two years my dad was my economics and finance teacher. You can imagine how adventurous my high school days were (except for meeting my girlfriend when we were 16 and got married 7 years later). My grandmother, (the mother of my dad) was a World War 2 widow and lived with us taking care of the house and, most important, of the kitchen till the day she, suddenly, passed away in March 1969 only 61 years old. My grandma had a huge impact on the developing of my taste and on how to experience food. ...