Waffles, Part Deux

Back to Brussels for Christmas this year. Man, I love this place! First of all, we had amazing hosts and a gorgeous place to stay. Aside from that, Belgium may be a small country, but they're huge on tasty things. 

We arrived on Christmas Day and in an effort to keep jet lag from getting the best of us, we headed out in Brussels in search of the perfect Christmas waffle. (That should be a tradition, no?) Well, we ended up at the same stand we encountered six years ago. Though they had a little different set-up, the waffles were still lovely works of culinary art and tasted absolutely scrumptious. 

Choices, choices!

What have we learned since our last encounter with these delicacies?

1. Stay away from powdered sugar! Upon first bite, your tendency is to be so excited that you inhale in anticipation, thus resulting in a coughing fit during which you end up blowing powdered sugar all over yourself and your companion(s).
2. Avoid going for "the works." There's only so much space on a waffle. Sure, who doesn't love bananas AND strawberries AND chocolate AND whipped cream? There is physically no way to get that all in your mouth at one time. Order a couple different waffles and share.
3. Waffles are best enjoyed in close proximity to Manneken Pis. (Yes, the peeing boy statue.) Who knows why the combination works, but it seems to be the thing to do. When in Rome, er, Brussels!

Live and learn. Then eat more waffles!

Vintage Cookbooks

We spent the morning searching through yard sales, tag sales and a used book shop. Of course, we had to do lunch- fish 'n chips at the Merrie Olde Crafte Faire & British Festival. Awesome food aside, we came upon some vintage cookbooks that, if for no other purpose, shall provide some entertaining reading.

For a whopping $1 (US), we scarfed up 6 from the 1960s Better Homes and Gardens collection:

• So-Good Meals "100 tasty ways to please your family! How to eat at home and like it!" (!)
• Snacks and Refreshments "100 superb snacks- dips, nibbles, sandwiches, desserts, teatime tidbits"
• Meals with a Foreign Flair "100 recipes from 18 countries! Main dishes, desserts, breads, salads- prize souvenirs from around the world!"
• Meals in Minutes "Shortcut cooking, 180 recipes that BEAT THE CLOCK! Mealtime, on time, will be no problem!"
• Cooking with CHEESE
• And the piece de resistance... Jiffy Cooking!

 Once we were home, I realized there was a cookbook Don has had since before I even met him. The elusive Cookies and Candies:

We can't wait to see what memories will come back to us and possibly new food memories that await! I'll keep you posted...

Crazy Train, Italian style!

Wood-fired pizza at Cosimo's the other night inspired another memorable pizza moment... the Crazy Train in Italy.

While staying at our truly awesome villa outside of Florence, we'd have to pass through the little town of Compiobbi everyday. Along the way was a little dive called the Crazy Train pizzeria right next to the train tracks. We'd all joke about how we HAD to eat there, though one of us was not keen on the idea. "We didn't travel all this way to eat at some dive pizzeria." Remember those fateful words...

Finally, majority ruled and we descended upon the Crazy Train. Individual pizzas abounded and we each ordered our own. Wanting to try different things, we all swapped slices and enjoyed a piece of everyone else's pie. Fantastic! Every bite of every pizza was amazing. Even better was the fact that 7 of us each ordered a pizza, drinks and several of us ordered desserts and the bill came to well under $100!!

Later that week, seeking inspiration for our last dinner together, someone had the idea to get food to bring back to the villa rather than shopping and cooking. Why not revisit the Crazy Train? That we did. And no, we did not travel all that way to eat at some dive pizzeria. We traveled all that way to eat there twice! :)

Not the Crazy Train, but the view from our villa fabuloso!

Forgive my hiatus!

Sorry for the lapse in posting. With school starting a few weeks ago, things have been a little busy and my 28 students kind of took precedence temporarily.

I still have many memories to share, so it won't be long until posts come more regularly!

Thanks for hanging in there.

Belgian Waffles

Every time we go shopping, we are reminded of these delectable treats. The following picture adorns one of our credit cards*: 

How many different ways can you top your waffle?

What's not to love? And to make things even tastier, there are two types of Belgian waffles ("gaufres" in French): the Brussels waffle and the Liege waffle. The Brussels waffle is typically a lighter textured waffles with deep pockets to fill with various toppings, whereas the Liege waffle tends to be on the richer, denser and sweeter side. It's almost as if it has a subtle caramelized sugar coating. There are many other nuances to Belgian waffles, but those are the very basic distinguishing characteristics. I'll take either one right now. While we do have quite an awesome waffle maker, it's not quite the same. Only a true Belgian waffle is enjoyed on the streets of Brussels while jockeying for the best shot of the wee little Manneken Pis statue (pun intended), shopping for chocolate and Smurfs, and seeking out where you'll stop for a fine Belgian brew. Enjoy a gaufre while strolling through a Bruges flea market where you'll find a 5-Euro souvenir toaster. It could happen...

A few words of warning: While it is tempting to pile the toppings on your waffle, use caution and a little bit of common sense. Powdered sugar is very tempting, but as soon as something catches your eye you'll want to take a breath as you try to exclaim to your companions, thus bringing on a major coughing fit. Chocolate will also lure you in, but beware! It just might be molten chocolate lava that makes eating your waffle with any kind of tact seemingly impossible. Strawberries are good, but they're too darn healthy. If you must have them, slather them with a heaping pile of whipped cream!

*Yes, this is our photo, taken when we went to Belgium in 2005. Thanks to Capital One, we were able to customize our card! (What's in YOUR wallet?)

Summer fruit!

Take a moment to vote for your favorite summer fruit in the poll to the right =====>

(You can vote for more than one!)

Please leave a comment about which one(s) bring back fond summer memories for you!

Raspberries remind me of growing up. We had bushes in our backyard, both red and black. I was more partial to the black caps. Nothing was better than walking outside every morning, picking a handful and enjoying them instantly on my cereal! I still take great pleasure in finding ripe berries and eating them right then and there.

Deep-fried pickles!

I know what you're thinking... heart attack on a plate with a side of ranch dressing. Absolutely! We first encountered these a couple of years ago when we went out to dinner with our friends who were visiting us in Bar Harbor. Looking for someplace with decent food at reasonable prices, we stumbled upon the Thirsty Whale. Not much to look at, but we took a table and perused the menu. Deep-fried pickles? Hmmm... intriguing. According to Rich, you should find the one thing on the menu that scares you the most and try it. Done. 

How can you not love 'em?

These were no measly little slices either, they were whole spears that were battered (with something decidedly spicy in there), deep-fried until golden and served up with some cooling ranch in which to dip these evil spears of death. Well, there's something to be said about taking a chance. These were goooooooood!

So good, in fact, we returned to the Thirsty Whale the other day just to relive their glory. Sure enough, just as good. Though we could have just gotten away with just those for dinner since the rest of the meal was so big. But I digress...

The moral of the story: Find the one thing on the menu that scares you the most and try it! You just might be pleasantly surprised.