Meat and Beer Fest at Park Spoor Noord
Hot Saturday in July? What better than to head to Park Spoor Noord at the Cargo Zomerbar for the Meat & Beer Fest? We invited Chris and Hannah to come to Antwerp and we enjoyed a nice summer evening with plenty of – you guessed it – meat and beer!
Dry aged beef to welcome us
To celebrate Father’s Day, Koen and I invited Dook and Els to come to Antwerp to visit our newest butcher Millevaches, aka Thousand Cows. We’re all steak enthusiasts and were excited to check out their offering.
Island of Jura
Day Five in Scotland began very early with the morning ferry at 6:30 am! We had a beautiful view of the sun rising over the island of Jura.
Koen and me excited for dinner!
Before we leave for Copenhagen, Koen and I celebrated my birthday Little Butcher’s Summer Grill with his parents, aunt, and uncle. Such a great present from my in-laws! LBSG is a pop-up restaurant at Park Spoor Noord. Where better to house a grill restaurant than outside at a park surrounded by green grass, trees, and playgrounds?
Yannick Van Aeken was the guest cook at LBSG for two nights only! Luckily we found out early enough to book our table. Van Aeken is a former Noma sous-chef. Yes that Noma in Copenhagen, the best restaurant in the world. So perfect preparation for our trip! To accompany the food, Paul Morel was the guest mixologist for one night only. He is the former head-bartender of The Jane in Antwerp. It was difficult to chose which cocktail to take, and we wound up just sampling a little from everything.
The menu was divided into 4 categories: Snacks, Veggies, Carnivore, and Sweets. We all ordered the “Treat Me Nice”, which is chef’s choice combination from the categories. Yum! Koen and I also received compliments from Van Aeken because we were the only people in the entire place eating with our hands! He said at Noma they always like to see people getting a little messy haha.
Easter Cake!
I love celebrating Easter – the colors, the food, and of course family! We gathered together in Roosendaal to do some grilling and spend time catching up.
Sitting on the porch with my dad
After a busy 9 days in New York City, Koen and I went down to Georgia for a week to visit with family. There’s really no place like home. We enjoyed a relaxing week eating well and enjoying time with family – including meeting my nephew Edward for the first time! I’m so thankful Koen and I were able to see everyone! We had a big low country boil to celebrate Grayson and I being home at the same time. It mostly turned into a baby holding party 🙂
Bánh Mì with Lemongrass Pork
Bánh Mì is Vietnamese for baguette. Almost all Vietnamese sandwiches are served on bánh mì with mayonnaise and other toppings, thanks to the French influence during the Indochine period. This was my first attempt at making a Vietnamese sandwich. I marinated the pork overnight with lemongrass, shallots, garlic, and many other spices and served it with pickled carrots and daikon (radish), cucumber, cilantro, chili peppers, and mayonnaise. Yum! I found this recipe on Rasa Malaysia, where I find most of my Asian recipes.
Sunday breakfast – Dim Sum at Jing Fong in Chinatown
On Sunday, I had dim sum for the first time! To take advantage of Christina being off from work, we started the day with Dim Sum, followed by a visit to The Frick Collection, where on Sundays from 11 – 1PM you can pay what you wish to visit, and then a beautiful ferry ride from Battery Park to Staten Island (which passes Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and also happens to be free). When we arrived back in Battery Park, we went to Nathan’s for hotdogs and corndogs. Christina had to go back to work, but Koen and I enjoyed the view of the Statue of Liberty and the nice weather. My birthday was the following day, so we stopped by Di Palo for delicious Italian treats and wine. And of course, a birthday dinner isn’t complete without dessert, and we went for a walk to the Little Cupcake Bakeshop in Nolita for cupcakes.
Sinterklaas in the Netherlands is celebrated the 5th of December (and the 6th in Belgium) but because my sister-in-law Nikki was in Pakistan, we celebrated a bit later. There are a few differences between the Dutch Sinterklaas and the American Santa Clause. Although the Sint brings gifts to the “braaf” or good children, he is much more strict than my dear Santa. If you are bad, not only do you receive a “roe”, or a cane to be whipped with, but also you will be taken from your parents and home in Sinterklaas’ bag and brought back to Spain, where the Sint lives!
Also, Sinterklaas does not have elves to help him with the days up to Christmas, instead he has Zwarte Pieten, black companions that arrive with him on his steamboat from Spain to help distribute treats. Although originally black to represent the Moorish people who once occupied the Netherlands, they are now black because they are covered in soot from the chimneys! But as an American here, I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing so many people in black face with huge red lips, afros, and golden hoop earrings!
Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet
The 21st of July is the Nationale Feestdag van België. The south of the Netherlands proclaimed independence to form the Kingdom of Belgium (the official name) on the 25th of August 1830. This was the start of the Belgian Revolution, which ended on the 14th of July 1831. Leopold I became the first king of Belgium the 21st of July 1831, and every year on this day everyone celebrates in Belgium.
But because the 21st was on a Saturday this year, I went to the Netherlands to spend the weekend (it’s rare that I have 2 days off in a row!). Koen and I had a relaxing time in Roosendaal, enjoying good wine (from Grand Vin, of course), food, and weather.
Friday the 20th
2011 Minuty Rosé, AOC Côtes de Provence
An American in Antwerp 