Rockin the Kasbah

A morning of chocolate shopping in Bruges and we were off to Brussels. Brussels, like any large European city mixes history and modernism sometimes not very successfully. Still, there is so much to see and do.

November 24, 2006
Back and forth across the streets, we ricocheted in and out of chocolate shops. I'm carrying Stacy's purchases and it feels like about two pounds. We stopped at "The Tea Shop" for the daily hot chocolate break. But they are out of hot chocolate. That's a good thing, because the seasonal Christmas tea is fabulous. Yvonne and I had the black tea version. Stacy had green. Evan passed on the caffeinated drinks and complained of sleepiness.

The Museum of Musical Instruments was interesting. With your ticket purchase, you receive a pair of infrared headphones that activate with sample music when you stand in front of certain exhibits. It's a cool idea, but it was a bit flaky. The sound was staticy. Sometimes you got music in one ear, but static in the other. Sometimes you got the music for a neighboring exhibit. The result was museum-goers articulating their heads arhythmically to try to catch the tune. You would think the sound system at the music museum would have received more design input from audiophiles. The exhibits were great though. The collections of pianos, harpsichords, and violins were my favorites. In those collections, the museum did a good job of showing the heritage of the instrument.

November 24, 2006
Kasbah Restaurant was empty when we entered, but is filling quickly now. We're lucky we got here early (around 7). Brussels is a bit livelier on November Friday evenings than Brugge.
We asked the waiter to order for us. It looked like way too much food when it arrived, but it's gone now.
The highlight was a lamb shank cooked in a clay pot. We also had shrimp skewers, lamb skewers, beef, grilled chicken, grilled sausages, and vegetables cooked in broth and served over cous cous. The Moroccan food was a nice break from Belgian seafood - especially for Stacy who requires cultural culinary temporarily diversity more than most. And she's also sick of crackers.
We're all stuffed from dinner.

So Stacy ordered a pastry for dessert.

November 24, 2006
After dinner, we walked to "The Music Village." They have Jazz on Fridays and Saturdays. Tonight is the Judy Niemack Band. The drummer didn't show, so they substituted a pianist. To me, the pianist and the bass player are stealing the show. Judy uses a digital vocal sampler to create harmonies during some songs. She'll sing a few back-up phrases, play two or three at a time, mute them, then return the volume without a hitch. I thought that was an impressive testament to the group/s ability to keep time without a drummer.
Judy sneers like Elvis at times.
Other than one guest pianist, the band is from New York.

According to the calendar, Django Reinhardt's grandson, David, and David's cousin played here in October. I'll have to let Bill know they're on the scene.

Tomorrow, a pathetic proposal and a not so pathetic ring.