Category Archives: Food & Drink

Matongé and Quimbombó con Carne de Puerco y Bolitas de Plátano

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Mantongé Mural

Matongé Mural

This summer I’ve been taking classes in Brussels, so I took the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. I had already been to Brussels a few times, but always to the Historic Center and other touristy places. I had heard about Matongé from a colleague and was curious to check it out! Luckily a classmate, Samy, was free after class to show me around – and thought it was funny I wanted to go and take photos. I especially wanted to get plantains, okra, and habanero peppers, because they’re difficult to find in Antwerp.  Fresh produce was available in abundance with little markets located throughout Matongé! I bought some Congolese food to-go to try the next day.

With my plantains, okra, and peppers I made Quimbombó con Carne de Puerco y Bolitas de Plátano – okra stew with pork and plantain dumplings. It’s a Cuban dish with a heavy African influence. It’s a bit like gumbo. If you say “King Gumbo” really quickly you get the idea. Everything turned out really well except for my plantain dumplings. They didn’t stay in their form. If I make this again, I will just fry them rather than mashing them and making balls.

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Wonton Soup

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Wonton Soup

Wonton Soup

Mmm…wonton soup – I don’t know why I never thought to make it before! This dish was a success and I will definitely make it again. I made two changes to the recipe: 1) the supermarket in Chinatown sells wonton soup base, so I didn’t make my own and 2) I couldn’t find yellow chives, so I used scallions. I thought it was really interesting how the dish is prepared. You need two pots – one for the soup broth and the other with boiling water. When you’re almost ready to eat, you carefully place the wontons into the boiling water. Once they float to the top they’re ready, placed into each individual bowl, and topped with broth.

I wound up making a lot of wontons, so the next day Koen fried them in a wok and we dipped them in sriracha and sweet chili sauce – yum!

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Bánh Mì with Lemongrass Pork

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Bánh Mì with Lemongrass Pork

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.

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Coconut Quinoa Spinach Salad and Bacon, Avocado, & Tomato Club Sandwiches

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Coconut Quinoa Spinach Salad

Coconut Quinoa Spinach Salad

I love a good salad  and Sprouted Kitchen’s Coconut Quinoa + Spinach Salad is delicious! So many flavors – raw spinach, quinoa cooked in coconut milk, shallots cooked in coconut oil, pistachios, pomegranate, and a lemon-thyme dressing. Fresh and perfect for the hot weather we’re having right now in Belgium! Although there aren’t too many ingredients it still takes time to make. First, I had to open all of the pistachio shells. Second, I never realized how hard it is to get all of the arils (the red drops holding the seeds) loose from the fruit. Normally I press the pomegranate for its juice and I wasn’t even sure you could eat the whole aril but luckily I have access to the internet and found out via Live Strong that not only are they edible but nutritious.

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Düsseldorf, Germany Day Two

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Frank Gehry's Neuer Zollhof

Frank Gehry’s Neuer Zollhof

 

For our second day in Düsseldorf, we went for a cruise along the Rhine River. If you do an image search of Düsseldorf, Germany you can’t help but find photos of Frank Gehry’s Neuer Zollhof, comprised of three buildings that curve and lean made of white plaster, stainless steel, and brick, and the Rheinturm, Düsseldorf’s landmark and the world’s largest digital clock. I didn’t want to leave the city without seeing both! Luckily they’re located along the Rhine River and we were able see them on our cruise. After our hour boat ride, we went to one last brewery, Im Füchschen, for altbier and schnitzel. A perfect, relaxing way to end our weekend trip!

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Düsseldorf, Germany Day One

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Koen and me in Düsseldorf

Koen and me in Düsseldorf

Normally while my parents are visiting, we explore Belgium and the Netherlands but this time we ventured into Germany to Düsseldorf! We stayed one night and spent the two days exploring the Altstadt (Old City), Köningsallee, and Japanese Quarter and enjoying a Rhine River cruise. Düsseldorf is famous for its altbier “a hoppy beer which translates as old [style] beer, a reference to the pre-lager brewing method of using a warm top-fermenting yeast like British pale ales”. There are 5 microbreweries located in the Altstadt which also serve traditional German cuisine – so that was our first stop – to Zum Schlüssel. After a huge lunch, Koen and I visited the Kunstsammlung K20 for a  really great exhibition called Kandinsky, Malevich, Mondrian: The Infinite White Abyss which explores the use of blank canvas in the artists’ work. My parents explored a few churches before visiting the museum across from ours, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf for the Smart New World exhibition which wasn’t quite what my parents’ expected… A bit too contemporary for them! Afterwards we stopped for another altbier at the microbrewery Uerige. Then we walked to the Japanese Quarter for dinner.

It just so happens that when we arrived Düsseldorf was celebrating Japan Day, so there were a lot of visitors dressed up throughout the city – I think we saw at least 10 pikachus! Why a Japanese Quarter and Japan Day? Düsseldorf has the largest Japanese population in Europe. It was sooo busy and it wasn’t until we arrived in the Japanese Quarter that we realized there was a holiday taking place. We had already walked 30 minutes and were in the mood for sushi – all of the places were packed!! In the end we were able to eat while a huge line waited to be let in. A great first day!

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Dinant, Belgium May 2014

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View of Dinant from the other side of the Meuse River

View of Dinant from the Meuse River

My parents have already seen a lot of the Netherlands and the Flemish part of Belgium, so this trip we ventured toward the south into Wallonia. Dinant, Belgium is located at the beginning of the Ardennes on the Meuse River. I searched for city trips within Wallonia and after seeing a photo of the beautiful cathedral, citadel, and river, I wanted to find out more information. Dinant is most famously known as being the home of Adolphe Sax, who invented the saxophone and would be 200 years old this year, and regional cuisine such as the couques de Dinant, Europe’s hardest cookie, and the flamiche, a type of quiche served with a glass of Burgundy, as well as Leffe beer. So we decided to check it out!

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Sofie’s Birthday Party

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The birthday girl, me, and Barbara

The birthday girl, me, and Barbara

My parents happened to be in town for Sofie’s birthday. Also in the Netherlands was Koen’s cousin Andrea and her boyfriend Ethan from Canada – so my parents didn’t have to worry about people speaking English. I always love getting together for family birthdays because it gives me the chance to catch up and see everyone! We celebrated at Sofie’s apartment in Breda and enjoyed delicious cakes and frietjes!

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My Parents Visit Antwerp

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Enjoying fresh fries in Antwerp with my parents!

Enjoying fresh fries in Antwerp with my parents!

My parents made their annual visit this May! We had an eventful start – I fractured my elbow when I fell off my bike on the way to pick them up in Brussels. But who better to have around than your parents? The first week I had to wear a cast to let my bone begin healing, and for the remaining 5 weeks I have to wear a compression sock – otherwise I won’t have any range of motion. So we were in and out of the hospital and doctor’s office a lot! For the rest of the trip we took it easy, taking walks around the city, eating fries, and enjoying Belgian beers.

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Cannelloni al Forno – Casalinga Style

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Cannelloni al Forno

Cannelloni al Forno – Casalinga Style

Sometimes when I’m looking for inspiration for dinner, I first have a look to see what I have at home. When I searched my kitchen I found cannelloni tubes. I have tried different recipes, but Mario Batali’s Cannelloni al Forno (Casalinga Style) is my favorite. Casalinga is Italian for “housewife”, so you know that this is a comfort food recipe. The only change I make is not adding the bechamel sauce on top. I don’t love dishes that are too creamy or too cheesy (which is weird because I love cheese), so I just grate parmesan on top of the tomato sauce before baking. This recipe was again a success and made enough dinner for 2 evenings!

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