Antiquing/Junk Finding/Lunching in the Marolles Quarter

In Brussels, there are many markets that are open throughout the week. Recently, we had some family come into town. After seeing them off safely at the train station (they were heading to Paris for a few days), DH and I decided to make an excursion to one such market not too far from the station.
The market we chose was in the Marolles Quarter, which is in a dodgy part of town. After exiting the Metro, we had to amble our way through subsidized housing and trash-strewn roads. At the end of our journey, we arrived at the mecca of all things junk and antique. The market is situated on a barren plaza that is roughly 1 square kilometer. In other words, it is HUGE. I don't think that registration is necessary in order to be a merchant at the market. It seems as though who ever arrives first just throws down their blanket or bench and starts to sell.

When entering the market square, we were presented with row upon row of different items for sale. There were tons of old books and interesting but useless curiosities (i.e. boxes of antique thermometers). We even found the original bell from the Titanic (or so the seller told us)! We found some really nice antique furniture as well. My favorite part, however was finding a woman who sold nothing but old silk scarves. I am a scarf person, but I can rarely afford the beautiful silk scarves sold in Europe (they can be in excess of 300 Euros). The scarves she sold were 10 Euros each. Granted, a lot of the prints were out of date, but there were a couple gems in the pile as well.

After we had had our fill of old/weird items, we decided to eat lunch. We strolled through the streets behind the market place and were pleasantly surprised by the mix of old and young people walking around the neighborhood. The narrow cobble-stoned streets accommodated only pedestrians and restaurant terraces. As the weather was quite nice, we were hard pressed but did manage to find a seat at one of the many terraces.

Fresh Oysters and Champagne for Sale

Luckily for us, as we were sitting down, we found that there was a jazz quartet who had just arrived from Paris and were setting up to play. We were treated to some great music as we ate our sandwiches and imbibed in a couple of Belgian beers. All in all, it turned out to be a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Our Purchases

Lunching at La Fonteyne

Today two friends and I went to a really nice restaurant called La Fonteyne. On the bottom floor there is a store with prepared foods and on the top floor is the restaurant. I had never been there, but I am sure glad that I went! There are daily specials - of which I ordered a plate of couscous, ratatouille, and a Lebanese meatball. I thought that it was fairly priced, and since it was recently one of my friends' birthday, we ordered a bottle of Cava for only 18 Euros! You can not beat that price in a restaurant.

For dessert, I ordered a magnificent Pavlova. It was absolutely wonderful. The Pavlova came in a large bowl with cream at the bottom, fresh berries in the middle and the meringue crisps on top. I could not have asked for a better dessert. The best part, was that we were all given small, beautifully decorated cupcakes along with our desserts.

Cutest little cupcakes that came with dessert

Best Pavlova

Tonight, DH and I are going to my absolute least favorite store in the world - Carrefour. It is a Wal-Mart type store that sells mainly food but also has other household items for sale as well. There are two reasons why I hate Carrefour. The first reason is the nonsensical placement of food items. For example, if you are looking for olives, don't look where the pickled items are. Look in the potato chip and pretzel aisle. Or if you are looking for sugar, don't look in the baking aisle. Look by the milk. Consequently going there takes at least an hour. The other reason I hate it is the people that work there. The workers never seem to know what the store has in stock. Recently, I was looking for a clip-on book light. After explaining this to an associate, his reply was, "It doesn't exist". Really? book lights don't exist? Another time, we needed garbage bags (in the community we live in, we have to pay 40 euros for a roll of 20 garbage bags. This is so we don't have to pay an extra monthly cost for garbage pickup). We couldn't find the type we needed, so we asked an associate. He proceeded to tell us that we do not need to pay 40 euros for trash bags, we should just drop off our trash in a different community to get out of paying the money. Nice. That's Belgium for ya.
P.S. The corn soup from yesterday? Fantastic! the cognac really added a different taste element!

Dinner Tonight

When I was in Paris last week, I picked up a small French cookbook named "Tout Chaud!" (All Hot!) published by Marabout. The price was right, only 2.50 Euros. One thing I love about this cookbook is the relatively small list of ingredients for each recipe.
Tonight, my DH and I will be dining on volouté de maïs au poulet (velvety corn and chicken soup). This is the first recipe that I will be making from an all French cookbook, so wish me luck! It looks as though it will be quite good. The only thing I see a little out of the ordinary in the recipe is the 60 ml of cognac called for. I don`t think that I have had cognac in soup before. We shall see!
I was having coffee with a (Canadian) friend of mine today and we were discussing the different/kinda weird foods that are eaten in Quebec. One food that we discussed is called (or as my DH calls it) "Pain Cheez Whiz" For those not in the know, this is what pain Cheez Whiz is: Take a loaf of standard white bread (i.e. Wonder Bread). Instead of it being sliced vertically, slice it horizontally around 6 times. On the first "slice" spread ham salad (canned ham and mayo) on it. Place the second slice on top of the first and spread egg salad (hard-boiled eggs and mayo) on that slice. Keep alternating until all the slices are back in loaf form. Then, take a jar of Cheez Whiz and spread it around the entire loaf of bread. Finally dot it with green olives. I personally can't stand this concoction. My husband loves it though. I think that for sure, it is a Quebec thing. I have never seen anything like this in the states.
Well, I have to start the soup. Will post later to show you how it went!

The First Post!

So here it is. My first-ever blog. I think that this will be the perfect time for a description of who I am and of what I would like this blog to be.
I am in my early 30's and am originally from New York (not the city - upstate). From the age of 18, I have lived in the United States, Canada and Europe. I just got out of the U.S. Navy and am now living in Belgium with my Canadian husband. My French-Canadian husband. We have been married a little less than 2 years at this point.
I love to cook. I love to eat. Naturally that makes for a great combo - until I try to button my jeans of course. This blog will be about my adventures in cooking, marriage and the expatriate life. I hope that you enjoy reading about my life!