Thanksgiving is such a great time to travel to Europe. There are no crowds and you already have 1-2 days off that week. Plus, you usually get a crazy Thanksgiving meal. I love Thanksgiving food, so I work all my favorite dishes from Thanksgiving into Xmas dinner requests of my mom! Today's installment begins Jamey's move to comic book artist. I don't know why I am portrayed with fangs, but Jamey assures me that indicates something sweet.


November 23, 2006
We went on the guided tour at Huisbrouwery de Halve Maan. Today the beer is made in modern equipment - the type you see on display at any microbrewery/restaurant. But the tour took us through the old rooms that were used for mashing, cooling, and fermentation. The cooling room was a giant wall-to-wall copper basing with open air windows to allow the breeze to pass through. The roof afforded a great photo spot. At the end of the tour, we all had a glass of the Bruge Zot, the same blonde beer Evan had last night with dinner. We learned that herbs and spices play an important role in the secret recipes for beets at this brewery. The only actually brew here three days every fortnight, and they weren't brewing this day. The table by the fireplace at the end of the tour made up for this small disappointment.
November 23, 2006
Between shopping, we stopped at Tongerlo for snacks and beer or hot chocolate - or in Evan's case, beer and hot chocolate. I ordered toast canibal (toast with raw meat) chopped beef mixed with horseradish on a slice of toasted white bread. It disappeared in a flash. In Belgium, each beer is served in a glass from its brewery. Evan's Kwak was one of the strangest of these we've seen so far. It looks like a beaker from high school chemistry lab. It must be painful to clean. If I ever open a bar in Belgium, we probably won't serve Kwak. Even though it's a fine beer.

November 23, 2006
I can tell Verdi is my kind of place, because there is a wealthy man with a top hat on the sign. We stopped in for another hot chocolate break, because the girls felt cheated by the last cup. I'm not sure why the expected hot chocolate from a bar to live up to that of the frou frou tea houses. But Verdi did not disappoint. It was the now familiar hot-chocolate-erector-set. But instead of assorted sugar cubes (which would have been ignored) there were two block of chocolate on stirrers per cup. I had the warm wine. We're the youngest people in the restaurant by thirty years.

November 23, 2006
We played cards at Verdi until time for dinner. It was Evan and Yvonne's first time to play Gin Rummy.
We didn't realize what day it was until we were through the main course. But Thanksgiving dinner included:
Scallop carpaggio
Raw oysters
North Sea fish stew
Beer tartar
Filet of Turbot
Pheasant
Steak with béarnaise sauce
Curry ice cream with pineapple
Crème brulee
Chestnut pancakes with poached apples
Happy Thanksgiving, Brasserie Belge!

Tomorrow, its off to Brussels.