Hallowe'en... a week late?

Tonight is the school's Hallowe'en party. Yes, I know it's November 7th!

The problem is that the vacances d'automne is always timed to end just before Toussaint, or All Saints' Day, so Hallowe'en - which falls on the preceeding day - is always in the middle of a week of the fall vacation; most people are away, so the school always has its party for the kids the first friday following. Hallowe'en is a pretty recent thing in Belgium, never celebrated until a few years ago, and it's still not anything close to what we have back in Canada.

The kids aren't pleased with this "lame" version of Hallowe'en, but I guess they make up for a smaller Hallowe'en by having a visit from Saint Nicholas on December 5th, and they receive some loot then in addition to any presents that may come at Christmas.


In any case, last night each boy designed and carved a pumpkin (ewww, those gooshy bits in the centre are GROSS) and we'll light them as lamps for dinner tonight.


The boys also tried on their costumes; Duncan wore his to school this morning, but the older grades don't go to school in costume during the day, so Malcolm will have to wait until this evening to Smurf out, when we go to the school for the fête at 6pm.


We're not staying for the dinner so it will be a fairly short visit, but that doesn't really matter, it's the fact that the boys get to dress up, do some activities and have some fun running around with their friends that's the exciting part.

"What?!?!?" you're saying, "you fool, it's the FREE CANDY that's exciting!" Who knows, I may even have some of that lying around for our two little trick or treaters, although with a single stop for them, the haul will be nothing like what we... uh, I mean they used to get on Endean Avenue.

Next week there's another holiday because of Tuesday's Remembrance Day, and we're trying to figure out how to get to the Vimy war memorial; it's about an hour and a half away by car. I'm not sure whether the boys are off on Monday too. Apparently it's still fairly popular to have "le pont" or "the bridge" (when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, many workplaces remain closed for the Monday or Friday too) but I'm sure I'll find out this evening.

Bon weekend!

The foodie post

Okay, there's been a lot of dining recently, so I thought I'd send along a few photos of food... several of you have accused me of false advertising, that this is just pretending to be an opera blog, and is a "foodie" one after all. Hey, opera singers have to eat, too!

Speaking of opera, I am feeling better, after the worst of that dreadful throat cold has passed, and have started calling and emailing houses to request auditions again. Tuesday was my first day to actually feel good enough to sing in a couple of weeks, and my rehearsing was encouraging; now I feel (and sound) well enough to present myself, with vocal confidence, on the phone. I have two auditions to reschedule, and others to follow up on... I'm also thinking hard about doing a recital/concert somewhere locally, perhaps in a salon type setting, perhaps in a local concert hall or church. So far I need some sort of musical project to keep me stimulated, and my part in the Mendelssohn St. Paul in May in Antwerp is fairly minor, and still a long ways off.


But back to the food. For a moment I'll concentrate on desserts: first there's the pumpkin pie that I made earlier, for Sunday's dinner, which was roast chicken, mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts... it proved to be a big hit all around, as you can see...


Then on Monday it was my birthday, and we followed dinner with a chocolate "bomb" cake, a mousse really.


It was a fairly quiet evening, as we were resting up for the next night, spent at "La Doux Wazoo", the neighborhood resto recommended by Jonathan and Kristin. We walked up the street and met them at the restaurant, which we had visited before, on Hugh and Sheila's anniversary/Maggie's birthday. They allow you (on Tuesdays only) to bring your own wine, and so we shared a bottle of the 2000 Bauchet frères champagne from our recent trip, and it went very well with my fresh oysters.

Next it was a bottle of South African chardonnay, which Maggie reserved some for her salmon in flaky pastry (see below), and Jonathan enjoyed it with his shrimp croquettes.


Kristin had a delicious belgian specialty, eel filets (no really, they're quite good)...


...and then the main course for Jonathan and I arrived, which was several small steaks of marcassin or wild boar in a deep and savoury sauce, with port-poached pears and a celery root/chestnut puree. Of course you need a good red with that, so we had a 2005 Chateau Neuf de Pape. After a meal like that we didn't need dessert beyond a little coffee for the others, and a small armagnac for me. What a great night!


Last night the culinary orgy continued; I had done some advance work the day before on a Walloon recipe for rabbit, lapin aux poires du verger (or rabbit with fresh pears) from a cookbook that I got last Christmas from Manu, a member of the extended Cloes family in Glons. Cutting up the rabbit was a bit difficult, but I managed it, and then I marinated it for 24 hours in the fridge in a half-litre of Jupiler beer, a little wine vinegar, onions, carrots, thyme, garlic, bayleaf, cloves, and some sirop de Liège. You also gently poach the pears the day before, peeling them, cutting them in half and then and simmering in water with cinammon, vanilla and sugar until transparent but still firm.


The next day I made the dish. You brown the pieces of rabbit and the onions in some butter, then return the marinade to the pot and simmer about an hour and a half. 30 minutes before serving you add 20 or so plums pickled in red wine vinegar (yummy!). You sieve out the pieces and thicken the sauce with some cornstarck or flour, and serve it on the side. You can toast up some hazelnuts (I ran out of time) and serve those as a garnish, but you do serve the pears with a dab of wild cranberry jam in the centre of each half. I also served a rocket salad and some fresh bread, but boiled potatoes with parsley would have worked just as well.

Ok, then, time for lunch.

le weekend chez les boys

We took our car back yesterday morning, and on the way back took the Metro to the Beaulieu station and walked home. It was raining a bit but we still made it home fine, albeit with a wrong turn that added ten minutes to our walk. In one of the parks along the route we saw ducks and geese and gulls, and this family of parent swans, with four young swans with plumage just starting to change.

After dinner last night Malcolm went immediately up to his room to read; currently it's Fablehaven, a fantasy story about two children who go to visit their grandparents at their country home for a week, only to discover a secret about the farm and the true profession of their grandparents.

Duncan stayed at the table to draw, he's really excited about that these days. There are pictures of superheroes and dragons and knights stacked on every table. He sings a lot to himself while drawing, which bugs Malcolm (hence the bedroom as prime reading location) but to me it's really funny. You've got to watch what you load the ipod up with; I almost snorted Duvel out of my nose last night when, while drawing, Duncan sang in a passable warm baritone, "... but I shot a man in Reno... just to watch him die..." He sure loves his Johnny Cash.


Today was quiet and quite nice weather, so we went to the park, played baseball and threw the football around, then came back for lunch. It's clouded over a bit, so I'm still considering whether we crack out the barbecook tonight (I found some nice Irish steaks that would be perfect) or roast chicken. The place across the street roasts chickens on a spit every Sunday for 6 or 7 Euros each, but I have a fresh chicken in the fridge right now. Given the fact that Maggie doesn't get back from Amsterdam until after 6pm, it's probably going to be easier to keep chicken from overcooking. The oven is already warmed up from... Pumpkin pie!


Yes, I'm pleased so far with how it's turned out, although the proof of the pudding (or the pie in this case) is in the eating, as they say. Pumpkin pie isn't easy to conjure up around here, and you'll never find it in a patisserie. I bought an edible pumpkin from Eve, the florist across the street, baked and mashed it, then ground up the fresh spices (nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, ginger) and used a little maple syrup along with the sugars for the sweetener, since molasses weren't available. I've got some whipped cream in the fridge, so we should be good to go.


As you can see it is a lazy Sunday, and Duncan has the right idea, and found a self-heating pillow to lie on while reading his Picsou Super Geant, which is a French publication of comics about Scrooge McDuck, Donald and the nephews (Disney stopped these in North America in the 1990s, but they are still going strong here). Kiki doesn't seem to mind the company, she was here alone all week and was quite glad to see us return.

Bon dimanche!