Summer holidays

What says summer in europe more than a salade niçoise with a glass of rosé wine on the back terrace? It's certainly been a period of nice weather, sunny but with adequate rain for the garden plants, hot but not excessively so, with periods of cooler weather. This was my first time to do this salad with tuna steaks instead of salmon fillets, and it turned out rather well I think. Duncan took care of the green beans, Malcolm the boiled eggs and lettuce washing, and Maggie the potatoes and capers, while I seared the tuna, and opened the anchovies. Yum.

My friend Darren arrived from Canada on Tuesday, and we've been busy showing him around. We did the usual tour of the Grand'Place, the Museum of Fine Art, an exhibit on Baroque statuary, moules frites in a cafe, that sort of thing. Then yesterday we did a little road trip to Liège and had lunch with our friends Jean-Remy and Michel, visited the Christallerie Val St Lambert in Seraing, and had some time at the playground/cafe in Tongres before heading for a more extended visit with the Cloes extended family. We had time for a short but fun visit with Nathalie and Tschi-tschi and their family, and a conversation with our friend Jean before dinner of BBQ salmon with Michel and his girlfriend Akiko at the loft. We all had a great time.

Today has been a bit slower paced, and we have pretty much stuck around home, partly because of the busy day yesterday, but also because it is cooler and has rained several times. Maggie has bought some fabric and is sewing a cute summery skirt to take with her to Croatia, and I went out to get new backpacks for the boys, in part for school but also so that they have something convenient for the vacation trip. Tonight Darren will get a chance to enjoy rabbit in kriek beer with dried cherries, and then this weekend we are hoping to visit our friends Bryan and Kiana in Wavre prior to everyone leaving for vacations...

Bon weekend!