My Life, My Food, My Places

No, I don’t miss living in Belgium. The Philippines are ‘at home’ for me since more than 6 years already. But, sometimes, I miss some foods, dishes whom only are as they have to be in Belgium. What dishes am I talking about? To start with, I noticed that I had no less than three dishes based on witloof (chicory or Belgian endives), that fantastic and versatile vegetable. Before really the pride of Belgium nowadays imitated by the Dutch and the French in hydro culture, less labor-intensive, cheaper but surely not the same thing! My absolute favorite dish with chicory is Witloofrolletjes uit de oven , the gratin of chicory with good Belgian cooked ham (not that plastic stuff of the supermarket) with a rich béchamel sauce topped with Gruyere cheese and cooked in the oven till the cheese is melted and golden brown. A few years ago this dish was elected by the Flemish part of Belgium as the ultimate comfort f...

Sunday was our lazy day. No rush to prepare for school or work and no stressful rush to the metro station (underground) to go to the office. After a slow breakfast, hot chocolate with ‘pain au chocolat’ (chocolate pastry) bread for the kids, coffee and bread or a few croissants for us we prepared to go out for our Sunday mission: The Market. All over Paris there are nearly daily markets as, by law, every district  has to organize two markets a week. There are not only street markets but Paris has also numerous covered markets such as The Enfants Rouges Market. Created in 1615 its Paris oldest food market.  But still today Parisians and foodie-tourists like the Enfants Rouges to buy the fresh produce at the stalls full of color and fragrance. Even in wintertime it is like hanging around on a Provence market is July. Sundays is our market day to get our provision for the week in vegetables, seafood, poultry, charcuteries and cheese of course. And in Les ...

Bread is a serious issue for the Parisians! We learned very fast after moving in our apartment in St Cloud, that bread wasn’t just bread. The first days we bought bread everywhere we passed a bakeshop on our way home from the Metro station. I think it was the third day after we moved in that I met my neighbor, in casu the very friendly elderly woman whom lived on the ground floor, greeted me ‘bonjour’ when I came in with my bread. And after some small talk about where we were from -ah! Des Belges- she asked me ‘the’ question: where do you buy your bread? And that moment I learned that bread is a serious matter for a Parisian! She explained me that you have to pick your Boulangerie (bakeshop) and stick to it. The neighborhood Boulangerie is more than just a place to get your bread, it’s a local institution with their own protocols and like the local Brasserie (café/coffee shop/restaurant) the place to go as ever...

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 ...

I love all the dishes the French prepare, ok nearly all. In this post I want to share with you my five absolute favorite dishes.  Dishes I ate so many times in restaurants in Paris and during my vacations in the South of France but I also prepared at home and enjoyed with friends and family. 1. Plateau de Fruits de Mer (Seafood Platter) A  plateau de fruits de mer  is a  seafood  dish of raw and cooked  shellfish  served cold on a platter, usually on a bed of ice. On the plateau you have periwinkles,oysters, mussels, clams, prawns, sometimes a crab and langoustines. If you are in a festive mood you can always order a plateau de fruits de mer with lobster too. The dish is always served with lemon wedges and two or three cold dipping sauces such as a garlic mayonnaise, cocktail sauce and when there are oysters on the dish, sauce mignonette. In France this is a sauce traditionally served with raw oysters and made of wine vinigar, shallots and...

Paris and sandwiches.  A real love story for so many years and still going strong as every year the consumption of sandwiches is growing.  You can buy sandwiches of all kinds, with cheese, salami (Rosette the Lyon is really good), pate but the ABSOLUTE STAR of the sandwiches in France is the world famous ' JAMBON BEURRE', a sandwich of  fresh and crispy baguette with good butter from Normandy and high quality lean cooked ham.  My all time favorite. And obviously I am not alone! I did some research and I learned that in 2016 the French (and the expats and tourists too) consumed 2,350,000,000 sandwiches...yes far more than 2 billion! And 1,200,000,000 of them where 'Jambon Beurre'! If that is not the absolute star! Because the French are so attracted by their favorite lunch that even MacDonalds in his French restaurants is selling the Jambon Beurre, Says a lot about the popularity isn't it? But the French are also eating a lot of Big Macs an...