Our "new" apartment dates from 1936 and still contains a lot of original, character-filled elements, including lovely arched doors, herringbone floors, and wide double-hung windows. Not everything was to our taste, however, and one particularly "interesting" area was the kitchen, a c1980s re-do. This is the before shot:
It's hard to say what was worst: the tiny stove, with two electric and two gas burners and no hood; the space-hogging melamine table; or the horrid yellow cabinet pulls. This photo might be too small for you to really see the details, but take my word for it -- it took some good squinting to see the potential. We pitched some ideas to our landlords, including the idea of a new, larger gas stove with a light and hood, and removing the stupid table. Happily for us, they agreed! Then, once we moved in, we set about changing the cabinet pulls, adding lighting, and customizing a basic butcher-block island to our own specs. Et voila, the results:
Much better, huh? There's a ton of storage in the kitchen-proper, plus there's a big pantry area not pictured in this photo. And, now the space flows better, there is good lighting, and more work space. We are really happy with it, and, with only two very small projects left to finish in there, I think we can safely call it "done". Another area we can put a check-mark by is a little corner of the dining room that we are both especially pleased with:
Of course, the hallway still has bare bulbs, none of the art is on the walls, and Little Miss's room is a wreck. Sigh. Baby steps, as it were. Luckily, amidst all this work there's been some social time too or else I think we would have both gone crazy. One particularly fun event was a few weeks ago when our friend Patty organized a large group of us to attend Culinaria -- the gourmet food and wine extravaganza that you might remember from last year. This year we went in the evening and included the hubbies, or at least those who were in town. Needless to say, it was fabulous.
It's also the time of year where my book club gets together to choose the books for the fall season. I love love love my book group here, which is comprised of ladies ranging from 28 to 85(!) years old, from all backgrounds. The club is affiliated with the American Women's Club of Brussels, but we also have members from New Zealand, Lebanon, and Japan.
As it happens, there are three of us in the group who are preggo. Hence, the obligatory belly shot.
Troy has a new project at work -- a big, long one that will require him to work in Germany 3 days a week, every-other-week, for the foreseeable future (except August, of course, when the baby arrives). This week he was supposed to be there through Wednesday, however this afternoon he texted me the happy news that he was coming home tonight. (Thank you Icelandic ash cloud for changing people's travel schedules in my favor!). Anyways I was walking by Kis Mad, the most beautiful épicerie in town, when Troy's message came in this afternoon. So I decided to pop in and see what delicacies I might pick up for a nice dinner. Though I could have bought out the whole store, I prudently limited myself to some beautiful fruit.
"Ananas Mini", aka a tiny, sweet pineapple. Isn't he cute? To this I added apricots, bananas, tiny wild strawberries, and passion fruit, finished off with a splash of orange juice, a bit of honey, and a dash of ground ginger.
In addition to the fruit, we also had apricot-and-soy-glazed tuna and a from-scratch Caesar salad.
We sat down to eat at nearly 9pm in the blazing sun...
...and were treated to yet another lovely sunset for dessert.
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