* cababarant *

Sunday, July 25, 2004

Just back from Brugge (or Bruges as the English and French speaking worlds call it), that favorite Belgian destination. It's popular for good reason: it's such a well-preserved medieval city that it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is really pretty, and the hordes of tourists are really concentrated in a matter of a few blocks; go outside of the main Markt and Burg, and you literally have the winding little streets all to yourself. Of course the reason we went was not for the lovely town, but for bonbons and waffles! Okay, we went for those things, in addition to admiring the lovely town. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed in Belgian chocolates-- I think my favorite Dutch chocolatiers have much better bonbons than the ones I sampled.

So, Topic of the Day: Dutch chocolates: unfairly underrated? Try Westerbeek in Den Haag and Puccini Bomboni in Amsterdam, and let me know if you agree. :) Everyone who has visited us has flipped out over the off-the-hook bonbons at Westerbeek, which, good or bad, is right down the street from our house.

Food-obsession #2: What about those waffles? It's a shame we didn't get to go to Brussels (too busy, etc. you know how it goes), but a necessary fact for those who are shamelessly food-obsessed (like myself) is that there are two kinds of Belgian waffles (or wafels, or gaufres): Brusselse wafels, and Luikse wafels, which hail from Lieges. Luikse wafels are dense, and have crystallized sugar in the middle giving it a sweet crunch. Brusselse wafels are really, really light and not as sweet, but are often topped with something sweet, such as powdered sugar (Luikse wafels are topped with sweets as well). I prefer the Brusselse wafels not just because they are excellent and made to order (at least where I got them), but because I can eat like, three of them in one sitting. I am determined to recreate them back home in my little waffle iron.

Here are some pictures from our excursion:

The canal near Gouden-Handrei

Sof, Kyle and Mom at Rozenhoedkaai

Those famous Belgian chocolates

Sof with some light-as-air Brusselse wafels (which, if you're ever in Belgium, beat Luikse wafels hands-down!)

posted by sheryl | 10:27 PM |

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