Mise à Jour

After the longest silence in the history of our blog, we're back!!! To what can we attribute this unusually long period of blog blackout, you ask? You might call it 'Life to the full'.

Since my last post:

My sister visited for a week!

At the annual Belgian Beer Fest on the Grand Place


At Pierre Marcolini, the chic-est chocolatier in Belgium


At the Wednesday Châtelain Market

The last few days of Blythe's visit, Troy's brother passed through town too.


Todd, Troy, and Blythe at the Abbaye de la Cambre

Troy and I picnicked on the grounds of a chateau, visited a trappist brewery, and toured a castle at night.

Chateau La Hulpe


Awww...aren't we sweet? (tee hee)


At the Orval Brewery, in the distribution room


Orval is an active Cistercian monastery, thus giving the brewery its rare trappist designation


A blurry sunset shot of Simone, Stephanie, and Rick at the castle


The courtyard of Gaasbeek Castle by night

I sang in a cabaret show with my choir, celebrating the organization's 30th Anniversary.


(photo: M. Lamote)


Singing a little Patsy Cline with Akim and Alan on guitar and ukulele (photo: E. Hertel)

We spent a week in Spain -- first to Granada to see the Alhambra, then on to Sevilla for our friends' wedding!

Paloma and Marc, the blissful newlyweds, outside the Iglesia Buen Suceso


The party went all night at the Real Club Pineda de Sevilla


Simone and Paloma

I (along with my friends Ali and Jeanette) threw a baby shower for my friend Maisie...who just delivered her sweet little Isaac two days ago!!!!


At the shower in September


The Chaffin Family at the hospital yesterday!

Whew! In six weeks, we've had a little bit of everything—so much happiness, fun, and friendship, all of which undoubtedly deserves its own post. However, given my past clever (read: failed) attempts to outline how and what I will blog about in the future, I'm not making any predictions this time. Instead, we'll leave it with à la prochaine...

Howells in Flanders (& Netherlands!)

The concept of Belgium as a "country" is a bit contrived. Without getting into a long, complex history lesson that frankly I am not qualified to teach, suffice it to say that people in Belgium are far more likely to identify with their linguistic region than the country as a whole. Whereas Brussels (its own region and province, kind of like Washington D.C.) is geographically located in Flanders, it has been Francophone for several hundred years, and my parents had fun trying out some of their newly-acquired French vocabulary in its numerous cafés and shops. However, we left la langue française behind when we set out for the Northern part of the country, to Flanders—the Flemish (Dutch) speaking region of Belgium—and Limburg Province of The Netherlands!



The lovely town of Gent is the capital of the Province of Oost-Vlaanderen (East Flanders), and was once the largest city in Northern Europe! Now it is a charming town of canals and well-preserved buildings, not as heavily trafficked on the tourist routes as Brugge and Antwerp.



My parents are standing along the largest canal in Gent, near the former medieval port. The city's heyday was back during the 11th-13th centuries, though it was also in this city that, oddly, the Treaty of Ghent—the document that officially ended the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain— was signed. Interesting, no?



My parents and I actually ended up in Gent on accident, having originally set out on the train for Brugge only to discover that everybody else in Belgium had apparently decided to take the same train. So, we abandoned ship at Gent and, after lunch on a pretty canal, we instead spent the day visiting churches, strolling through the charming streets, and taking in the view from the belfry.



This is Brugge, Take 2. This time we set out by car on a spectacular HOT day (32˚C/90˚F), joined by our lovely chauffeur Troy.



Pausing for a moment for a photo op in the Blinde Ezelstraat (Blind Donkey Alley).





Truthfully, just about anywhere you stop in Brugge is picture-worthy. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the tiny medieval town is quintessentially 'Old World'—lovely, charming, and quaint with ancient buildings flanking twisty cobbled-streets and pretty canals threading the city center.



This is a side chapel in the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady). That statue of the 'Madonna and Child' is typical in theme, though anything-but-typical in execution. It was crafted by one Michelangelo Buonarroti, and is the only one of his sculptures to have left Italy during his lifetime. Living in Europe we have visited lots of churches and have see lots of statues. But there is something very, very different about Michelangelo's work. It literally seems alive. The last time we were in Brugge the church was closed, so we were thrilled to get to see the sculpture this time around. An aside, but Michelangelo is my second-favorite sculptor, behind Gian Lorenzo Bernini whose work is unparalleled in my book. His sculpture of the 'Abduction of Persephone' literally left me stunned. If you ever have the chance to see either a Bernini or a Michelangelo up close, do it!



As I mentioned, it was beautiful and HOT the day of our adventure in Brugge and thus that made for the perfect time to pay a late afternoon visit to Knokke, a chic town located on the Belgian coast. However, as you might guess from our expressions, even on a 90˚F day the North Sea is COLD.



To be honest, we did not quite 'get' Knokke. (Though to be fair, our point-of-reference for all things beach is usually Hawaii.) Still it was interesting to see, and one thing that definitely sets the Belgian coast apart were all these tiny beach "huts". Hundreds of these little structures line the sand and apparently the larger, cabin-esque ones are even passed down from family to family.



From the Western coast to the Eastern border, my parents saw the sweep of Flanders. This charming fellow is Ambiorix, a tribal leader of Gallia Belgica and the man who revolted against Julius Caesar in the year 54 BC (!) when the Romans were attempting to conquer the area that is now Eastern Belgium, Southeastern Netherlands, and Western Germany. His statue dominates the main square of Tongeren, the oldest town in Belgium and a Dutch-speaking enclave on the border of the seriously-Francophone province of Liège.



Each Sunday Tongeren hosts what is reputed to be one of the biggest and best antique markets in Northern Europe. We have been twice and have really enjoyed it both times.



After a fun morning of antiquing, we settled in for a nice long lunch at a café in the shadow of the basilica. Though we all found some neat things, my mom is showing off what was definitely THE find of the day: a English sterling silver bowl from 1769!



One of the funny things that happened during their visit was the little turns-of-phrase that my parents cooked up between the French and Dutch and British-English they encountered, such as my dad's use of "The Decision" when asking for the bill at a restaurant. (In French it is "l'addition", while in Dutch it is the more sinister-sounding "de rekening". Somehow the twain met in such a fashion as to create The Decision in my father's mind!) Another funny instance of this relates to this picture, namely of the warehouse in Tongeren where Troy often works. Or, in the words of my mother ,"the factory". Maybe it's the images of overall-wearing, lunch-box-toting steel workers of the American 19th century that are so closely linked with the word "factory" in my mind, but somehow the image of Troy going to work in his "factory" still cracks me up.



As we were driving into Tongeren, it somehow came up about the town's proximity to the border with The Netherlands and specifically the pretty town of Maastricht. Even though I had been to both cities before, somehow I had not previously connected just how close Tongeren (BE) and Maastricht (NL) actually are. Luckily, we made the connection this time and rounded off a lovely day with an afternoon in Maastricht. This photo is of the main square, something we neglected to capture on film during our first visit.



My parents adapted easily to the fortifier-style of traveling, this one being a very nice coffee break at a café along the main square in Maastricht.



Yes, we are in fact modeling 'Hear No Evil. See No Evil. Speak No Evil'. This photo was taken a day or two before my parents left and by then we were thoroughly over your typical 'line-up and smile' photograph. For some reason, this particular picture makes me giggle, so I include it as the farewell shot for this installment of 'Howells in Belgium'. Until next post, tot ziens...

Howells in Flanders Photo Album - Click Here

Howells in Brussels!

Back in December, when we were in Colorado for Christmas, I was talking with my father about his big birthday in 2009 (60!). My dad's not much on birthdays, but I suggested that it might take some of the sting out of it if he were to celebrate in Europe, say in Brussels with his daughter? And, so the seed was planted...

Despite having their house and newly re-landscaped yard hit by a freak nighttime tornado/hail storm a week before they were scheduled to leave, my parents were able to get things patched together and cleaned up enough to rally and make the trip. Given all that stress and drama, we thought they might want to just lay around and do nothing once they arrived. Au contraire, my friends. Once they had rested for a day or two, they were ready to Go Forth and See Belgium!

Because we did and saw so much I have divided the posts, like Belgium itself, into three regional chunks. This first one is of our days in Brussels. And, since pictures are worth thousands of words, be sure to check out the photo album (link's at the bottom of the post). Troy doesn't appear too much in this post because, alas, he did have to work some. But, never fear, he will reappear in later posts on the other regions.



Saturday at the Flagey Market. My mom went nuts over all the flowers and produce, and we all went nuts over The Waffle.



We wanted to show my parents "Our Brussels", those favorite things and places that we most enjoy about our neighborhood and our adopted city. This is at Les Etangs d'Ixelles or, more simply, The Ponds.



My parents got a kick out of riding the vast transit network of trams and buses and metros, oh my! Why would that be thrilling, you're asking? Well Denver, for all its beauty and charm, is very sprawled out and woefully lacking in intra-urban transit. So, to be able to sight-see car-free was in fact a treat! (Note to self: Start letter-writing campaign to Denver Mayor Hickenlooper requesting reinstatement of old streetcar network.)



King Leopold II commissioned the triumphal arch and surrounding Parc Cinquantenaire to commemorate Belgium's 50th Anniversary as an independent state. That anniversary was in 1880...and the arch was finally completed in 1905, just in time for the 75th Anniversary. How Belge.



My father, Troy, and Field Marshall Bernard Law "Monty" Montgomery. An important WWII general, the neighborhood that borders Parc Cinquantenaire is named after him.



We did not visit too many museums, but did enjoy our time at Autoworld. Housed in a building constructed in 1880 for the Exhibition Nationale, the museum is a fascinating collection of antique and rare cars.



Of the four of us, my dad is the only one who has been to Washington D.C. (can you believe it?!?) and so he really wanted to visit the EU Quartier to make a comparison. According to him, it's not much of a comparison. But, we still enjoyed taking pictures and strolling through the complex.



In Square de Meeûs, one of the pretty green spaces near the EU. By the way, are you noticing all the sunny pictures? My parents totally scored by visiting this summer and not last. Last year we had two weeks of summer, both of which were in May, while the remaining months were largely chilly, gray, and wet. This summer, by contrast, has largely been sunny, warm, and dry. Hallelujah!



When we were not touring around, chances are we were feasting! Belgium has quite the culinary richness about it, so there was ample opportunity for sampling waffles (our favorites are the gaufres de Liège avec chocolat), chocolates, frites, and of course beer! In this picture we are having an indoor picnic as, sadly, our terrace is not big enough to permit four people to dine al fresco. However, the lovely spread of local meats, cheeses, and veggies accompanied by a very nice bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape rosé brought back from our recent trip to Provence more than made up for having to sit inside.



My dad showing off his 60th Birthday tarte aux fraises. Full confession, I did not make this cake—I picked it up from the charming Les Caprices du Bailli pâtisserie down the street—but the lovely antique cake plate it is resting on is a new favorite of mine, found during our most recent visit to Brugge.





To celebrate the big 6-0 we did it up in high style at The Belga Queen. The grand dame of the Brussels restaurant scene, the Belga Queen is located in a former art nouveau bank and serves up a fierce steak à la béarnaise. And, with this being Belgium, even in fancy digs such as this your steak comes with a paper cone of perfectly crispy frites.



All in all, I think my parents enjoyed seeing the myriad of sites and sounds in the "Capital of Europe". And after all that urban action, it was time to get out of the city and start exploring the countryside...

Howells in Brussels Photo Album - Click Here

Fruits of Summer

Our August has been filled with something unusual for us: Houseguests! My parents made the trek to Belgium to visit us, and I believe we saw more of the country during their two-week visit than in the previous year-and-a-half of living here!!! We had a fantastic time and took about a million photos and I definitely plan to blog about it soon. The thing is, as with all of our major trips (think Hong Kong and Provence) there is always so much to show and tell that I usually get behind and overwhelmed and put it off and...you get the picture. But, I plan to start with their visit and then work my way backwards from there.

In the meantime, however, a brief post on what we've been up to in the week since my parents left. For Troy: work...the poor thing. For me: experimental cooking! (Hey, cooking is part of my "job" here and far be it from me to shirk my duties!) The fresh markets have been absolutely bursting with gorgeous late summer fruits and vegetables. Unable to resist, I loaded up on a visit last week (I get that gene from my mother!) and have been cooking up a storm ever since.



Aren't the heirloom tomatoes gorgeous? I used some of them in guacamole, kind of luxe I suppose, but it both tasted and looked fantastic! Those green chiles on the side were for a big batch of "Tacoritos" that I made for my friend Ali who recently had a baby. It was my first time roasting chiles at home, prompted mostly by an inability to find them at the grocery store, but it turned out to be really easy.



When I roasted the chiles, I also roasted some bell peppers (including a white one -- have you ever seen that?!?) which I used along with some more heirlooms to make these pizzas -- ciabatta topped with a lemon-and-herb spiked ricotta and feta mixture. Delicious!



This is my first attempt at making chutney. After looking at a bunch of recipes to get an idea of the formula, I ended up making up my own: Sweet & Tart Stone Fruit Chutney. (A rather fancy name considering it all started with the un-fancy question of: "I have a peach, an apricot, two nectarines, and an apple that are about 1 day from being too ripe, what can I do with them?) We found the lovely dish it's sitting in at our visit to the Tongeren antique market with my parents and the pretty shell-shaped spoon was a gift from my parents from that same visit!



I served the chutney over broiled salmon alongside caramelized carrots in a garlic cream sauce and a light arugula salad. So healthy and yet so, so delicious. Troy said it's like he gets to eat out every night. Good man.

One & Thirty, Pt 2: Gent Jazz & More

If this were a television show, we would begin with "scenes from our previous episode" that help explain last week's situation before, dramatically, we faded to black. But, since this is just a blog, we can pick up right where we left off: my birthday. After a lovely actual-day-of celebration, we had a day off before commencing Anniversaire, Partie Deux. This year, we kept it local and made the short drive up the road to Flanders to take in the last day of the Gent Jazz Festival.

An aside (and so early in the post!) but Belgium is basically divided into two linguistic communities—Flemish [Dutch] and French—so there are always two ways to spell everything (or three or four if you count English and German). When I started this post, Troy commented on my spelling of the town of Gent. Originally, I had it spelled as 'Ghent', which is how English-speakers write it, but ultimately changed it to 'Gent' (pronounced more like "Heh-nt" with that guttural "gh" sound at the beginning) as that is the Flemish spelling and we try to write things in their local form when possible. It probably seems odd to take all this space to explain the particular spelling of a place-name, but this type of thing is a fact of life in the political construct that is Belgium. So, in other words, welcome to our world.



Besides the language-tensions, another fact of life in Belgium is rain...lots of it. However, this photo is actually the only time I had to open my umbrella as we were graced with lovely weather for 99% of our time in Gent. I include it mostly because it is a shot of my favorite umbrella (and we have quite the collection). Cloche-shaped, it provides great rain- and wind-protection BUT since it is clear, you can still see all around you. Brilliant! And the pink is a bonus since all the umbrellas here seem to be black, otherwise known as boring.



People often describe Gent and its pretty canals as being like Brugge, but without all the tourists. We can attest to its medieval loveliness, but as our visit coincided with the Gentse Feesten (the annual two-week carnival-esque street party) we saw our fair share of tourists.



Being in Gent for the Feesten was a bonus, but our primary purpose was for jazz. A few months ago we learned that Jamie Cullum, one of our favorite musicians of any genre, was going to perform on the closing day of the Gent Jazz Festival. We found a great combo deal with a hotel in town and decided to make a weekend of it.



Inside the festival grounds, enjoying the late afternoon sun. In this shot I'm imbibing a glass of sparkling rosé which might sound sweet and girly, but most definitely is neither. It was chill, dry, and fabulous. (Fill in the blanks here with your own pithy puns and/or jazz metaphors.)



We chilled out back in the gourmet food tent area while some of the local acts were playing. They were great, but we were saving our energies to make a run for the stage for the last two sets. Showing his local beer props, Troy doubled the love by sporting his Cantillon shirt while tipping back a Duvel.



This is Melody Gardot and if you have the chance to see her live, DO IT. She is an amazing performer—honey-smooth vocalist with a dramatic-but-still-cool-as-ice stage presence and impeccable timing—and her personal story is really gripping. In 2005 she was badly injured when a car hit her while she was cycling. She turned to music as part of her therapy and voila—a jazz musician was born. Seeing her was an added bonus, but our real point in going to Gent was to see this guy (at the piano):



I first discovered Jamie Cullum five years ago while watching German MTV in my classmate's living room in Rome. I heard his song All at Sea and instantly fell in love with his music. His style is a quirky blend of jazz and pop, with classical and hip-hop influences. It's unique and witty and complex, and he put on one of the best live performances I have ever been to. If you get the opportunity to see him, pounce on it!



The day after the jazz fest, the sun was shining and the people were partying. The festival leant the town a lovely humming-buzzing air. Free music was happening all over town, buskers took over street corners, and all the museums were free. (Though who would want to be in a museum on a day such as this?)



We spent some lovely hours canal-side, enjoying a huge lunch and soaking up the atmosphere. And, in the perfect move to cap a wonderful birthday celebration, we discovered a bakery with cupcakes! All in all, adding a "1" to that thirty was not so bad after all.



Gent Photo Album - Click Here