St. Paddy's Day [abroad]

Sunday marked our first St. Patrick's Day abroad. Initially, C and I forgot about the holiday; contrary to what happens in the States, only the Irish celebrate here, so we weren't subject to shamrocks and Guinness ads plastered all over the place. Things started popping up on Facebook the night before, though, so I found myself longing for my college St. Paddy's celebrations (6am car bomb at McCarthy's anyone? Taking finals drunk buzzed, anyone?) Luckily, we have an Irish friend in town and she invited us to strap on our green gear and head over to the Irish in Europe's St. Patrick's Day Parade.

The parade took place in beautiful Parc du Cinquantenaire. Not far from the European Union (usually referred to as "the commission"), Cinquantenaire perfectly blends park, monument, and formality. A large fountain sits in the foreground of three beautiful arches, topped by amazing sculpture hovering over cobble stone streets; walking trails and lawns filled with happy puppies are just a walk through the archways away. I loved this place before the parade even started! After admiring our surroundings, C and I grabbed a gaufre chaude (warm waffle) and lined up behind hundreds of clover-clad citizens & a few bag pipers. We walked around the park, but stopped midway for a bagpipe performance on the steps of a building commissioned by King Leopold. The pipers played "Amazing Grace" and I cried like any good Celtic lassie would! The parade ended with beer, Irish food, and kids running around like little leprechauns. We really enjoyed ourselves. And we saw a rainbow on the way home! Lucky us...

 

 

Ciao!

B+C

Snow Day!

Although I've experienced snow many times, I've never experienced a snow day; you know, the type that disrupts school, transportation, power supply, daily life in general. My dad's family in Massachusetts --bunch of Mass holes!-- has to deal with this often. They also wear shorts and celebrate "warm weather" when the thermometer reaches 65. I'm turning into them.

Earlier this week, we received a decent dumping of snow. C and I noticed a few flurries during our evening routine, but neither of us thought we'd wake up to a blanket of white. Sure enough, morning came and we were greeted by frost on the windows and snow on the ground. We were both heading to the office at the same time, so we ate breakfast together and discussed driving versus "tramming"; taking the tram is a bit more convenient, but neither of us wanted to hoof it to the office from the tram stop, nor did we want to wait for our evening tram in the inclement weather. We grabbed our coats and headed out the door, only to find 7+ trams jammed up on the tracks immediately in front of our house. Good thing we opted for the car! And as we drove up the street, adults & children alike were bailing out of the trams in large groups. No one was getting to school or work, clearly.

Tram Jam

 

Looking down our street

 

We made it to the office with little trouble, put in a few hours, and decided to head home earlier than usual to avoid another heavy snowfall (it snowed quite a bit while we worked). I had to play a little first, though!

C shuffling to the car

All this weather really got me thinking about the products that have kept us cozy. I had major packing anxiety before I left California, but I managed to find some great boots and cold-weather-wear to see us through the season. Seriously, these items have been amazing; if you're moving to or vacationing in a cold climate, look into this stuff!



I bought The North Face Snow Chute Boot for C-- he loves them!

Me Too "Dancer" all weather boot via Nordstrom

Thermasilk by Terramar

My mom convinced me to bring the thermals at the last minute. I planned on sticking with my wool tights, but we all know we have to pull our tights up to our armpits in order to avoid looking like human sausages. Thermasilks are much more comfortable and flattering when wearing layers; I can even wear them under skinny jeans. We'll likely be layered up through the weekend, as we are expecting more snow tonight, so think of us as you're soaking up the sun!

Ciao!

B + C

The American Food Store

One of C's assistants (I'm not one of them, despite what he likes to think) has been so helpful to us. Her name is Adeline and she coordinated nearly every bit of our move, including having work done at our house, cable & internet installation, ordering a new fridge....the list goes on. She even dropped everything one Saturday morning to bail our car out of a tow yard. She never complains, but she did have one request when I asked how we could repay her: She wants an American dinner. If you're like me, you have Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me flashbacks when someone says "American food". Golden arches and thunder thighs kind of define our nation! I literally couldn't think of one quintessentially American food item to make. Pretty sad if you think about it. C and I sat in the car sort of stunned at Adeline's request, but we put our heads together and came up with two options: Thanksgiving dinner or good ol' fashion BBQ. But turkey + micro-oven= no. Luckily, C is chock full of Texan blood and he makes some mean ribs. BBQ here we come.

I started scouring the local grocery stores and I couldn't find decent BBQ sauce/seasoning/meat to save my life. The ribs look like they came off an anorexic pig and the only sauce even remotely similar to what we're used to is kind of brownish and made by Heinz. Not happening. I recalled having similar issues when I lived in London, so I took to the web in search of an American store. Brussels is the defacto capital of the European Union, as well as the home of NATO, so there's a fairly large expat population here. I thought for sure some Yankees opened up a store to feed crunchy peanut butter and salsa addictions, but I had no luck.

Enter: The American Food Store. Located just 30 minutes north in a city called Antwerp, The American Food Store was recommended by a colleague of ours. I convinced C to take me shopping one weekend for the BBQ goods we needed and he obliged. We blew into that tiny store, elbows out, like it was Costco on Sunday. I was floored by the aisles and aisles of crap-- sugared, salted, dipped in chocolate and filled with frosting crap. The Pop Tart shelf was unreal; C said he didn't know such flavors existed! Ever heard of a grape Pop Tart? The Jello shelf was equally as crazy. The place was a shrine to Nabisco, Mars, General Mills. I was both amused and saddened by the visual of our nation's reputation. Even still, I grabbed some crunchy peanut butter while C grabbed some BBQ sauce and some Memphis spice rub. The Mexican food area was decent, housing tortillas, enchilada sauce, hot sauce, salsas, beans, green chilies, etc. I snagged a few items for some tortilla soup and met C at the register (a little back story: there's a Mexican shelf at our neighborhood market stocked with a ton of Old El Paso products; I like watching the locals grab the fajita kits thinking they're getting the real deal. Also, the salsa tastes like ketchup). In the end, we managed to get out of there for about 70 Euro ($100). Behold our spoils:

The margarita mix and rim salt were last minute additions a la C. I've got a nasty Nordstrom habit, so I can't judge the impulse buys.

'Murica

 

I know, 70 Euro is ludicrous when you're only buying sauces and snacks! We got a little caught up, but now we know what The American Food Store carries vs. what our local grocer carries; and while it may not align with our usually healthy meal plan, it's nice to know a little slice of the USA isn't so far away.

Ciao!

B + C

If you can't take the heat...

...then get out of my awesome kitchen!

Just kidding, don't leave. Stay and admire my favorite space in any home. I love cooking, baking, and creating, so I'm super happy my kitchen here in Belgium doesn't disappoint. We have a large fridge (much larger than the one I had whilst living in London in 2006), cool stainless steel counters, a great range, and lots of storage. And a Nutella cookbook. And le creuset coffee mugs (swoon). One thing we don't really have is an awesome oven. Have a gander at this bad boy:

Yeah. That's a microwave/oven combo. Honestly, it functions totally fine; it's just the size that gets me. It's literally no bigger than the average microwave, so putting a sheet of cookies or a large roasting pan in that thing is impossible. C gave me the kitchen low down before I left California by saying, "The oven is fine; you just can't bake a bunch of stuff in it." First, thank you for that rousing description, C. Second, do you know who you're talking to? I once made it a goal to try at least three new Pinterest recipes each week. I need me an oven. But alas, this is what we have and I've made it work thus far. I guess I'll have to roast a massive turkey when we move back to Cali. You're invited.

Here are a couple of meals that hit our table this week:

1.  Homemade roasted marinara from my friend's blog, Recipes for a Quarterlife. She's hilarious and healthy, a great combination. I suck at photography while she is very good at it, so be sure to check out her pics after you look at this amazing shot of my ingredients pre-oven:

I added balsamic vinegar because I add it to everything.

2.  Easy, healthy chilli from another blog I follow, Plum n Peach. Super flavorful and simple to make. C and I loved it!

Could be made meatless if necessary!

These recipes were easy to execute, both in terms of ingredients and my micro-oven. I'm anxious to get into my full cooking groove once I really get the lay of the grocery land. I can find the majority of ingredients here with no trouble at all, but some things are harder to find than others. Everything else is being sent over in a box via my mother. She rules. I'll dip into my grocery conundrums and our trip to the American Grocery Store next week! Bon week-end!

Ciao!

B + C

 

Cooling down in Copenhagen

C had some meetings in Denmark last week, so I went ahead and met him in Copenhagen on Friday. Generous of me, no? I checked the weather prior to packing and noticed the temperature read the same as Brussels, roughly 35 degrees Fahrenheit. What I didn't take into account was the fact that Copenhagen is a coastal shipping mecca; what appeared to be an almost tropical landscape as my plane landed (I'm jaded after enduring a real winter) turned out to be nothing more than freezing, gusty wind near an ocean. But hey, there was sunshine and salt water. This California girl was happy.

C and I met up in the airport and headed to our hotel, the Best Western Mercur. I'm not yet a hotel snob, so I typically just look for a budget hotel with good reviews and free breakfast; this hotel fit the bill perfectly: Clean, well located, "American" breakfast (read: more than just bread & cheese) included, and well priced. Copenhagen is not a cheap city, so this was a good find. The friendly gentleman at the front desk handed us a city map and off we went. First stop: Lunch at a cute little place that served nachos. I don't remember the name of the place and it wasn't all that spectacular, but they served nachos and these two Mexican food-deprived Californians smiled. Next: Shopping along the Stroget, Copenhagen's famous pedestrian shopping street. We strolled the 1 mile stretch of cobble stone sort of aimlessly; it's my favorite thing to do, just walk until we end up somewhere else. The great majority of  Copenhagen's churches, palaces, and towers surround this area, so we managed to see a few of them along the way.

Saturday we were up and running, ready to head to Nyhavn. Nyhavn is an adorable little spot speckled with colorful facades and sail boats. It was also home to Hans Christian Andersen, author of The Little Mermaid and The Princess and The Pea, among many other brilliant stories. I'm told the façade of his original home, 9 Nyhavn, hasn't changed since its erection in 1681. We walked down past H.C. Andersen's home and looked out over the ocean before realizing our ears were freezing off and we totally underestimated this "coastal breeze". It was cold enough to warrant a quick stop at H&M for extra scarves to wrap around our faces. I may have dragged C into a bar to have an Irish coffee, too, but that's neither here nor there. On the way back to Nyhavn (yes, it's so cool that we wanted to go back an hour later), C spotted the black furry hats of the Amalienborg guards marching one street over. We joined the little crowd following behind them for an impromptu march through the streets of Copenhagen. It. Was. Awesome. I've only seen the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery and Buckingham Palace, both of which require a fair amount of distance (if not a huge fence) between the onlookers and the guards; being so close to the action this time was great. The march ended at Amalienborg Palace, home to the Danish royal family, and the changing of the guard ensued. C hoisted me up onto a light pole so I could capture photos atop the crowd (see below).

A boat tour awaited us in the afternoon, post hot dog (Danes love hot dogs) and cinnamon roll at Lagkagehuset (Trip Advisor never steers me wrong). I try to stay away from sightseeing tours, but they do come in handy when trying to see a large city in a short amount of time. Plus, it was cold and the boat had indoor seating. The tour took us up and down several canals and past all of the buildings we walked around the night before; one building, the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, is the oldest stock exchange in the world. And another, right in Nyhavn, sold tickets for the infamous voyage of the Titanic. We stayed in Nyhavn (have I mentioned I love Nyhavn?) for dinner at Gasten & Galionen. Amazeballs. If you're ever in Copenhagen, you must must must go there; you'll nosh on lobster, oysters, mussels, steak....I died and went to heaven. Paired with perfect company, it was a great way to end the day.

We didn't have much time to sight see before heading to the airport on Sunday, but I was hell bent on seeing the statue of The Little Mermaid. While the statue pays tribute to H.C. Andersen's story, I know the Disney version best. I used to dance furiously to "Under The Sea" in my parents' living room, in my underwear. I always ended the dance with a back walkover. I know all the words to "A Part of Your World" and "Kiss The Girl". I also cry when I see the Ariel portion of World of Color at Disneyland. Too much? Sorry I'm not sorry. OK, so C was a good sport and he took me up just beyond Nyhavn to see the statue. I had a little bit of a full circle moment as I stood looking at her, feeling all of the nostalgia I mentioned before; I wasn't a pantless little girl dancing to a Disney soundtrack that long ago, and now I'm an adult living in Europe with my Prince Eric C. Time flies when you're having fun...



Stroget

Nyhavn

Changing of the Guard and Amalienborg Palace

C at Rosenborg Castle

The Little Mermaid



Ciao!

B + C

Amsterdam

After a hectic few days in Paris and another busy weekend of nesting in Brussels, C and I decided we needed a relatively low key adventure. Having access to a car when living in a central location like Belgium makes weekend road trips very easy, but C and I still find it rather surreal that we can just jump in the car and head to the Netherlands; even having a conversation like, "Hey, want to drive to [insert country] next week?" is just nuts to us, but we are taking full advantage.

Anyway, we opted for a quiet weekend in Amsterdam. I know, "quiet weekend" in a city known for hookers and drugs doesn't really make sense, but driving a mere two hours and avoiding planes & trains already sounded more quiet than usual. So, armed with my usual Rick Steve's book (Europe Through THE BACK DOOR...c'mon, you want to laugh), we were on our way. The drive was gorgeous: Windmills (real Dutch ones), farms, and farm animals butted right up against the highway. C kept his eyes on the road while I described our surroundings. Speed limits change with little notice here, and waiting with those speed limit signs are usually speed cameras; C has fallen victim to said set-up twice already. We've also had our car towed. Go us.

We arrived in Amsterdam with no trouble at all and immediately headed for the Anne Frank House. I became an admirer of Anne the instant I read her diary in junior high. Her zest for life and writing came through so clearly, even amongst such devastating details of hiding during the Holocaust. For those unfamiliar with her story, I highly recommend spending a few bucks to purchase her book; and, when you have the chance, get to Amsterdam and pay homage to her at the Anne Frank House. The wallpaper is original, the staircases are steep like ladders, the actual 1942 bookcase that acted as the secret door into their hiding place still stands. I touched the bookcase. I walked through the bookcase. I stood in Anne's room. I couldn't believe where I was and what had happened there; it was so incredibly moving. We could've left Amsterdam after that and I would've been satisfied. Instead, after purchasing Anne's diary and an awesome coffee table book at the exit-through-the-giftshop, we walked along the inner canal and back to our car. A little white parking ticket stuck partially to our damp windshield and waved partially in the breeze as we arrived. Go us.

Off to our hotel we went. We stayed at the Hotel V , which is well situated along the inner canal and a short walk to virtually anything you'd want to see in the city. A legitimate breakfast was included, as was free wifi, and they serve free coffee & tea (with a cookie...loves it) all day long next to an awesome fireplace/big pipe in the ceiling shooting fire. You should stay there. Sights seen after Anne Frank included Skinny Bridge, crowded shopping streets, Rembrandt Square, fabulous Van Gogh originals, the Floating Flower Market, Museumplein, and the Heineken Experience (way better than I thought it would be). Only once did we smell mary jane, which surprised me a little. I thought pot-smoking hippies would be rubbing their dreadlocks on me all weekend, but I'm delighted to say I was wrong. The food was good, the people were friendly, and I really enjoyed the beauty of the canals lined with sweet little homes and flower boxes. Honestly, I could live there. Maybe next year...

Ciao!

B + C