Dinant, Belgium

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The Citadel, Collegiate Church of Notre Dame, and statue of Charles de Gaulle

I visited Dinant with my parents back in 2014, but Koen had never been. We had a bit of sunshine, so I convinced Koen to take the trek down south. Dinant is most famously known as being the home of Adolphe Sax, who invented the saxophone, and the Battle of Dinant in 1914, where Lieutenant Charles de Gaulle was wounded. The landmarks are the Citadel of Dinant and the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame. Important to Koen and me is of course the regional cuisine – the couques de Dinant, Europe’s hardest cookie, the flamiche, a type of quiche, and Leffe beer which comes from the Leffe Abbey. A lot to see and take in!

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Ostend, Belgium

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Picture Perfect Ostend

Although still cold, the sun was shining – so why not take a trip to the Belgian coast? There are so many cities in Beligum I’d still like to visit and Ostend was at the top of my list.

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Lux Restaurant – Christmas Dinner

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Opening my gift at the table

Two years in a row now I’ve celebrated Christmas dinner at Lux Restaurant in ‘t Eilandje. Delicious food and a great atmosphere!

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Otomat (My Brother’s in Antwerp!)

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Grayson and me with the hand of Antwerp

My brother was in Europe traveling through a few countries for work and was able to plan in one day to visit me in Antwerp! We visited De Koninck Brewery and finished the evening at one of my favorite pizza places – Otomat. From their site:

Otomat is the first completely Belgian pizza concept. Typically Belgian is the “beer'” character, with more than 20 Belgian beers and the pizza dough is made with Duvel beer yeast – heavenly pizza with the Duvel inside.

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Hof Van Cleve

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Dinner at Hof Van Cleve!

Koen and I decided we really wanted to try eating at the best restaurants in Belgium, so of course Hof Van Cleve was at the top of our list – Number 50 Best Restaurant in the World 2017 and it has 3 Michelin stars.

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De Koninck Brewery with the Family

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Entrance to De Koninck

My parents are in town! I really love the De Koninck Brewery, so I thought this would be a fun family outing for both my parents and my in-laws to do together!

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Leuven

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Heading to downtown Leuven

A good friend of ours just moved to Leuven, so we came to visit to see the new place and explore! This was my first time in the city, but I knew I wanted to have dinner at Würst – the “haute” dog restaurant by Jeroen Meus. We tried a few varieties, but my favorite has to be the most classic – topped with pickles and sauerkraut. After dinner we went for homemade gelato at Decadenza Gelateria. A delicious evening!

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Girls’ Night Out

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Hannah and me

This past weekend Koen was away in Rotterdam for a boys’ weekend, so I invited Hannah to come to Antwerp for a girls’ weekend! We planned for a delicious Japanese dinner at Osaka (edit – Osaka has since closed its doors after 20 years), followed by drinks at Dogma. The next morning we had a delicious breakfast at Lints, coffee at Caffènation, and then a walk in the Botanical Gardens to see the cacti! A great weekend!

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Danny and Matt visit Antwerp!

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Koen, Matt and Danny in front of the Frites Atelier

After many years of saying they’ll come visit, Danny and Matt finally made it to Antwerp! I made it mission to share all things Belgian, so we at a lot of delicious frietjes, drank Belgian beer, and wandered around the beautiful city!

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Butcher’s Dining in Hove, Belgium

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Butcher’s Store and Dining

 

Butcher’s Store from De Laet & Van Haver in Hove is a meat lover’s paradise for over 25 years now. 7 years ago they opened Butcher’s Dining next door. We went with our friend Nanw and Mihai on a quest for the most delicious steak dinner. Luckily there are a lot of sharing options! We chose 4 starters to split, followed by an entrecote tasting. Well worth the drive to Hove for a delicious steak dinner!

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