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Published: January 28th 2009
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I kept hearing from Dani and her family that we should go visit their wonderful family friends that lived on a farm in a small town in Belgium. This last weekend we were finally able to coordinate that trip for quite possibly my favorite weekend in Europe thus far. Dani headed up on Thursday night after her classes and I followed on Friday evening. The train from Paris to Lille, a city in the north of Paris only took an hour on the TGV high-speed train. From Lille it was a thirty minute ride to Courtrais on a little commuter train and I was picked up by Dani, and Patrick, the man of the house.
It was stormy weather and perfect for what Dani and I considered our first “home-y” weekend all year. As Patrick drove us home, it became clear that this weekend would be filled with some fun lessons from him as well as political discussions melanged between French and English. Our first stop was the grocery store where Patrick warned us that how he grocery shops was an area that he resembled a female. Cuisine and family are very important to him, and we were in for an
Luca n' I
He helped me journal Epicurean treat the entire weekend. The first lesson he taught us in the grocery store as he asked if we were hungry, was that you never question a hungry female. Just to be on the safe side, he bought us some Belgian chocolate on our way out ☺
We arrived at the farm to a warm fireplace and chickens sleeping in trees, apparently those were the only ones to survived the fox attack and now they slept there every night. Their family is Patrick and his wife, Anouk, and there two boys Matisse who is five and Luca who just turned three. Anouk was so sweet to us and it was so fun to play with the boys who only spoke Flemish and understood a little bit of French.
Being at the farm I realized maybe more than any other time in Europe the process of preparing, discussing, and eating food. Patrick told us that you eat food three times, first with your eyes, then with your nose and then with your mouth. Friday night we had a smoked salmon and scrambled egg entreé (appetizer). We opened up a bottle of red wine and learned that good wine is better
after uncorking if you let it breathe in for two hours at room temperature. We tested it after two hours and it was much lighter and softer. Our next course was a chicken wok with more wine and chocolate for dessert. The next morning we woke up to the “breakfast spread of all breakfast spreads.” There was fresh squeezed orange juice, tea, coffee, fresh fruit and Patrick had gone to get fresh croissants on his bike. We had a relaxing morning playing with the kids and doing puzzles. Around noon Dani and I went into visit the nearby town Gent. We did a historic walk which took us over bridges, into two cathedrals with crypts, and to the castle. The town reminded me of Amsterdam. As it got dark we went and got a beer, Hoegaarten, my new favorite and stopped at a nearby bookstore to read “1000 Lies You Should Tell Your Children.” The kids were so excited to see us when we got back and Patrick began to tell us about the meal to beat all meals we were about to have. Note: It was 6:30 at this point and we would have our last course at midnight.
Dani and I were put on potato peeling duty for the home-made frites we would be making. Dani and I peeled while Luca and Matisse waited to plop them into the sink. Both the boys put on aprons and were so cute. We drank champagne and Patrick made a seafood salad with oysters, shrimp, octopus and greens. After lots of talking we found our way back to the kitchen to cook the mussels and frites. After to top it all off was a family recipe of chocolate mousse. I’m full just typing this.
Their house was so cozy and it felt so nice to be around a family and enjoy each other’s company. It was the perfect weekend, and I believe we have another visit scheduled sometime in March.
That weekend kicked off the start of a month of traveling. This week is my last week of classes and Dani and I leave tomorrow (Thursday) to go visit our best friends from school Anne and Erin who are studying in Granada, Spain. We will spend four nights with them and then head up to Madrid for one night. From Madrid, we will fly to London for 3 nights and
then catch a night bus up to Edinburgh, Scotland where we will meet up again with Anne and Erin for three nights in Scotland and a Ray Lamontagne concert at the end! I’ll fly back to Paris February 10th, unpack, do some laundry and then head out the 18th down to the south of France to Marseilles to see my other best friend Kari who is studying in Aix-en-Provence. I’ll spend some time with her and then the weekend of the 20-22 we are going to Carnival in Nice!
Classes will then begin again February 23rd. Bleh.
I feel incredibly lucky to be able to take these trips and it’s so nice to be able to share it with the people that I love. It’s going to feel so good to see good friends and travel together. I’m so excited and will try to keep you all posted on the way!
Love and more love,
Kaitlin
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Culinary Journeys
I completly agree with Mr. Patrick. I need to work on the Eyes. I can make a wonderful smelling and damn tasty meal I just need to bang out presentation. Seriously though, come back to America.