New kid on the blog

As anyone who has read this blog at least once knows, I have a friend identified as Mr. Whisk(e)y, and he has started his own blog about, what else, Whisk(e)y. I myself am not a huge fan but enjoy a good glass of Irish or the occasional top shelf Bourbon. I will be very interested to learn more and, hopefully, be a guest now and again. I like free drinks. Go Check it out. Here

Cheers

More Market Action, and Lang Van

The farmers market craze is really heating up in my fare city. Saturday was the grand opening of the Atherton Market in Southend. As the name would imply it is in the Atherton Mills, in the former trolley barn. The market was organized by moving the Tailgate Market from next to Common Market. They are currently open Saturdays and Tuesday evenings with plans to expand hours when demand dictates. We decided to ride our bikes over and see what the hubbub was about. It was buzzing with activity when we arrived. The space is fairly tight if it stays as busy as it was, but it was opening day, so we will see. We did a loop around and then went back around to do our shopping. I find this to be the best method at markets. This way you can prioritize and compare quality before you get caught up in the euphoria of fresh veggies. We did our part to spread the wealth picking up some peppers and peaches, pickles, potatoes, and tomatoes. I got a fresh root beer from Uncle Scott's a local producer in Mooresville. Then we got a round of Gorgonzola bread from Dukes and some sweet potato pasta from the Pasta Wench. As we were leaving a bluegrass band was just starting up. I tore into the bread as soon as we got home and discovered that it, with a thin layer of the Strawberry-Basil Jam The Mrs. made a couple of weeks ago, was my new favorite thing. And, on Sunday I made up a quick pan pasta sauce with the tomatoes, fresh garlic, herbs and some squash we had from last weeks CSA bag. Then threw in the ravioli and let it simmer. Thats good eatin'. Saturday afternoon was spent with friends watching the USA vs England world cup match. That evening was a friends birthday at the Charlotte institution known as Lang Van, a Vietnamese restaurant. I had never been but our friends are regulars, which was very handy, as the waitress would direct your order by making a face when something wasn't good that evening, or as we came to believe they did not have that evening. Either way, not being a great connoisseur of Vietnamese food I have no reference point. I got a beef and noodle dish that was quite good. I liked that it was very light with just a hint of a vinegar sauce. While the beef was a pounded cutlet cooked just right. The rest of the evening involved the "Sport" of UFC. I am not a fan, but what the hell. We were being manly and drinking beer. More often than not it's the company rather than the activity we enjoy.

Until next time,

Oh, the Bard

Last night was one that I look forward to every year. It was our night at Collaborative Arts Shakespeare on the green. It is a standing date we have had with the Whiskey's for three or four years now. This year the production is "Comedy of Errors" a tale of mistaken identities and identical twins. The idea is you get a picnic basket, blanket and friends; then drink heavily in public and enjoy the warm summer air and a few laughs. I believe we succeeded on all levels. We will start with the basket which was full to the brim with cheese and crackers, homemade pickled asparagus, a salad of spicy greens and a tomato-basil pie procured that morning from the newly opened Pickles Farmers market in NoDa. To drink we had a bottle of cava and one of pink prosecco; the green always calls for bubbles. We always plan to get there an hour early, this gives us time to get a good spot right up front as well as get most of our eating out of the way before the play starts. This year there was an opening act, The Charlotte Waites, a renaissance revival music group. As we watched them set up we realized we actually knew one of the members, an eccentric man named Don that we know through the gardening community. It was especially nice, for The Mrs. and I, to get to see a number of the instruments from the MIM in Brussels actually played. After a short intermission the play started and we quickly lost ourselves in iambic pentameter. This year was notable for two reasons, one, this was in my mind the best production they have done on the green, it was very well acted, and two, the new Duke Power building is complete and makes for an impressive and somewhat imposing addition to the skyline. It hovers over you and really gives the park a truly urban feel. Luckily, the weather held up as we have been having evening thunderstorms for the past two weeks. All that and it's free, but they do pass a hat and the suggested five dollars is the least anyone can do, but if money is tight, go enjoy it anyway, good attendance brings more sponsors so you're helping regardless. I highly recommend going out and enjoying an evening on the green. I also want to mention that we checked out The Icehouse on South Blvd Friday night. First impression was good, I'll do another visit and give a full review at another time.

Fookin' Bruges

We are finally home but the adventure continues.

Saturday was our day in Bruges, which to be honest, we really knew very little about except for the movie In Bruges. As well as the little bit in our travel guide. We hopped a train that took about an hour; which we stood for half of due to the overcrowding of the train. Once we got to Ghent we finally got a seat.

The city is beautiful. It was a medieval fishing village that is now a tourist destination. The main streets are all high end shopping and food but when you get off the beaten path a little you see why people started coming here in the first place. Our fist stop was lunch. We got a bit of a late start and needed some sustenance. We found a cute little cafe right next to Onze-

Lieve-Vrouwe-Kerk. I decided that I would finally try the famed Moulles of Belgium only to be told it was not Mussel season and the Danish ones the restaurant had tried were not up to snuff so they would not be serving them. I was glad to know I had sat down at the one place that had the food love to do this. So I thought about all of the plates of mussels we had passed since arriving in Belgium and felt my superiority twinge ever so slightly. Now armed with this knowledge I was expecting a pretty good meal. In place of the mussels I opted for the Lasagna with lamb ragu. My initial thoughts were confirmed. It was amazing. A tall stack of Pasta, cheese, roasted veggies and meat sauce. What's not to love. The Mrs. had the quiche Lorraine, which was also flawlessly executed. To drink I had one of the local brews from Brewery of the Half Moon, It was their triple, the Straffe Hendrik. It was the best beer of the trip. Carmel and Lightly hoppy with a tight carbonation. From there we moved next door to the church. It was unbelievable. You always hear about the churches in Europe but until you see one for yourself nothing can describe it. To add to the excitement, housed in the church, is one of the only Michaelangelo sculptures to leave Italy It is The Madonna and child. It was breath-taking to see. There was also, and not mentioned in anything we read, a Caravaggio painting. It was just hanging there and nobody seemed to notice. It was a little faded and the depth was mostly gone, but it was still quite beautiful. Bruges is home to another world class art museum, The Groeninge, but we decided we had had enough Northern renaissance art for one trip. After the church we meandered through the streets, finding our way to the Half Moon brewery. We thought about doing the tour but opted for a nice drink on the patio instead so we could take in more of the city. I had their Zot Dubbel, a brown malty beer with hints of wood and hops, yet a little dry. It was not quite as good as the triple but still a world class beer. After leaving we headed to the Shoemakers guild house. On the way we stopped by a local beer store to pick up some local libation to bring home and considered climbing to the top of the clock tower in the center of town that plays a significant roll in the movie, but thought better of it. The guild house has been set up as a museum to show daily life in Bruges during medieval times and highlight the industry of the time, lace. It was a cute little museum but i'm glad we only paid 2 euros each to get in. And then it was back on the street and now the Mrs. had a craving for hot chocolate and who am I to argue with that. So we found a cute little coffee house. She got her hot chocolate and I had a cappuccino, which was the first good cup of coffee I'd had since we left the house. Moving on we stumbled into a city square that held another fabulous church. The Basiliek van Heilig-Blood. The draw here is that they claim to have two drops of holy blood brought back during the crusades. I don't know about all that but the sanctuary is magnificent. I am not a religious man but I can certainly appreciate the awe inspiring nature of these buildings. I wish more people could, I'm looking at you again Italy, no photos means "No Photos" and you live in a country littered with great churches. And now it was time for some dinner. We notice that when we were by the brewery a few of the restaurants had signs for their "asparagus menus". Knowing it was white asparagus season we headed back that way in search of this local delicacy. We found another restaurant, who's name I cannot recall, that was not serving mussels and slid into a table. I wanted some kind of fish while I was there so I ordered the North Atlantic Cod over white asparagus with potatoes in beurre blanc sauce and The Mrs. went for the White asparagus in egg and butter sauce, the name of which was slightly misleading. It was chopped hardboiled egg and parsley mixed with butter as a binder, not my thing but that's cool. My dish was perfect. The cod was firm but not chewy and the asparagus was slightly melty the only draw back was that the garnish was tiny little sauted shrimp that looked like yard grubs, yuck. For dessert we had the puff pastry with cherry sauce and homemade ice cream, this too was perfect. After our meal we realized we were cutting it a little close for getting to the train station. We did not realize how close until we got to a bus stop and saw that it was time for the last run of buses to make their way around the city. But, we made it with a few minuets to spare and then we were back on our way to Brussels to pack and prepare for life off vacation.

Birthday (not-so) Blues

After our ferret issues I thought my birthday would be a bit of a downer but we got some good news as we set out for the day so I was feeling a little lighter on my feet and I was determined to have a nice day if at all possible. We set out in the morning for the Museum of musical instruments. Being a musician this was a very intriguing place for me. It is housed in a former Old English department store done in an almost over the top art nouveau style. What is housed inside was slightly overshadowed by the splendor of the building. It is not laid out as I would have liked. Meaning, really, in any particular order. I would have liked to see it done more in chronological order with some explanation of the anthropology of the instruments. Also, they had a half baked method of hearing the audio samples provided for most of the instruments. With all that said, it is a beautiful museum with an extensive collection of instruments from around the world that date up to the early 20th century. The true highlight for me was a video being shown in the piano room about the replication of the very first Steinway. then there was the replica. It was so fascinating especially as a woodworker. From there we moved on and decided to make it a full Art nouveau day by heading out to the Victor Horta house museum. It was a bit of a hike but it was a nice day and the museum was in a part of town we had not been to yet. The house was simply amazing every time you turned around there was something, some small detail, to marvel at. I also want to use this moment to say that I never want to hear another european complain about American tourists so long as they continue to let Italians out of Italy. They are by far the rudest group of people we ran into on our trip. While we were in the museum an Italian man was having a very heated work related phone conversation right there in the greenhouse. And that was just one of quite a few run ins we had with Italians. I just wanted to get that off my chest. On our way out to the Horta we stopped at a little cafe/restaurant and grabbed a quick bite. We started with a round of drinks, I had a Hoegaarden just so I could compare how it was here with what we get in the states. It was much crisper and didn't have the slight chalkiness I always get from it at home. The Mrs. was very excited to see Campari and soda. For food I had the chicken cordon blue. It was nicely fried with a good ratio of chicken to ham with a flow of melty cheese in the center. It was probably not the best I had ever had but very good. The Mrs. had the kaascroquette and had the epiphany when they showed up that they were cheese sticks. Good cheese sticks, but cheese sticks nonetheless. And then after the Horta we stopped off at the famed Mort Subite for a couple rounds of their lambic. I started with the White; it is a light gueze with a slight peachyness, very refreshing. The Mrs. was branching out and had the Faro which is straight gueze sweetened with sugar. It was very nice and surprisingly dry. To follow, I felt I had to try the Kriek. It was very balanced and did not have the syrupiness I usually associate with lambics. After finishing up there we went back to Vaudeville for dinner. I wanted a good meal for my birthday dinner and I was pretty sure they would not disappoint. Also, it was not teaming with tourists, a big plus. This time The Mrs. had the carbonnade and I had the skirt steak cooked rare with a Kriek lambic mushroom reduction. It totally hit the spot. to drink i had the house beer. I have no idea who the actual brewer was but it was a big malty Belgian; just what the doctor ordered. And for a night cap, and since we were celebrating, we headed back to Delirium for one last bite of the apple. Yes, it's a tourist trap, but who cares when there is that much beer to be had. The real problem is, for me, Belgian beer is so heavy I can only drink a couple at sitting and they do not believe in flights here. First round was the house Delirium Nocturnum, it was a light, sweet brown ale, lighter than I would have expected. The Mrs. continued here tour of Kriek with a Kasteel. It was very sweet and, to be honest, a little hard to drink. Honestly, I don't remember and have no notes for my second round. By this time I was tired and ready for bed. And having avoided the subject all day wanted to get back for a Dex update. Things were looking up so I slept well. Tomorrow Bruges.

This one is hard

We were told last night that my little bubba is very ill and may not make it 'till we get home. It has been a very hard day today and we tried to do our best to do some stuff but mostly we hung around the hotel room and reflected and recharged. We knew when we left that this was a possibility as he has been sick for quite a while, but I thought he would be fine for at least ten more days. I believe the stress of a new place and disruption in his routine has maybe taken its toll. I very much hope to see him one last time.

With all of that said we will soldier on and I will continue to report from the road. My birthday tomorrow may just be a little more somber than originally planned for.

So, yesterday we woke up and had our hotel breakfast that was about the same as the last hotel with the addition of pate. No Thanks. Then we headed to the Musee des Beaux Arts, home to a stunning amount of paintings from the 1300's on to current artists, with a whole museum dedicated to Magritte. It was a daunting task. We started with the Magritte museum because it was the smaller of the sections which meant we could get lunch between the two. What I knew of Magritte was his graphic arts work more in an art deco style. I did not realize he was one of the fathers of surrealism. It was a very fascinating look at the entirety of his life and work. His most famous works are "this is not a pipe" and a series comprised of men in bowler hats in different scenes. My favorite piece though was one called "The taste of tears" it was oddly moving and incredibly sad. When we finished we went to the cafe for a snack. The cafe here is overseen by a 3star Michelin chef but we each had a sandwich. They were tasty but they were just sandwiches. I had the curry chicken and The Mrs. opted for the ham and cheese. We did split, what was basically, shoefly pie. It was fantastic. Just the right amount of sweetness a a perfect texture. On the down side it is wrong for 65 year old woman to wear leather pants; I don't care if you are Italian. It's wrong. So on to more art. The highlight of the collection and the reason we were there were for The Mrs. a small collection of Hieronymous Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Younger. The Bosch paintings were amazing and weird as hell. For me it was the "Death of Marat" by Jacques Loise David showing the death of Jean Paul Marat. They also had a stunning collection of Peter Paul Rubens painting that were each 15 - 20 feet tall, it was very impressive to see them all together in one room. The modern art was less exciting but interesting none the less. 3 1/2 hours later we stumbled out into the sun and winced as we planned our next move. We decided on going back to the hotel to rest up for dinner. We did and then ventured out to a place we saw near the hotel called Beer Circus it was more like a beer carnival but they had a nice selection and I went for the Ichtegem "Old Brown" It is a barrel aged brown that has a light effervescent carbonation and a fantastic floral and citrus note. So far my favorite beer of the trip. For dinner I had traditional Belgian meatballs prepared with raisins and cinnamon then cooked with beer. It was good but not spectacular. The Mrs. had the carbonnade, which compared to the one I had the night before just didn't hold up but on it's own was fine. My second round I found myself unable to tear myself away from the Old Brown. This would also be a good point to say i will not be going to St. Sixtus as it is farther from the city than I had originally planned for and looks like it has become a bit of a tourist trap. I mention this because I was seated at dinner directly across from one of their shiny new six pack holders that both mocked me for my failure and comforted me in my decision. There is enough beer here to explore I will have to assert my beer dominance in another way. We then moved along, back to the Grand Palace area where we again "stummbled" upon a restaurant that The Mrs. had read about. This one was called Mokafe where we had a Belgian waffle that the Belgians could be proud of. Crisp and light and sweet and perfect. Topped of with some bananas and chocolate and we were in heaven. We went back to the hotel got the bad news and when we woke up the next morning we weighed our options. We decided we would not go to Bruges and instead aimlessly walk around the Grand Place area and see what we could see. We quickly found ourselves looking for a cookie shop for Speculoos which is a Belgian ginger snap. We found Dandoy a shop renowned for their Speculoos. They did not disappoint. From there we decided to check out the brewing museum. The Grand Place is an open courtyard the size of a football field that is ringed by a former palace, former church and the former houses for all of the trade guilds. I got my picture taken in front of the cabinetmakers and coopers guild. All are now restaurants and the like except the brewers who have been there since 1689. In the basement is a tiny little museum. For 6 euro you walk into the front room which is set up as a 17th -18th century brewery (cool) then you walk into the back room which is set up like a modern brewery and watch a propaganda film for the Belgian beer industry (less cool, but still interesting especially when they discuss lambics and gueuze.) Then you get your choice of a seasonal or a pils. They don't tell you who they are from since they represent all brewers. We each got a seasonal which was a brown. It was good but a little bitter on the finish. We ate lunch at one of the outdoor cafes that line the Grand Place. I had a nice mixed meat salad that was ham, chicken and beef all over a pile of greens with a really awesome mayo-vinaigrette The Mrs. had a croque monsieur and we shared some fries. My beer was a Tongerlo Blonde. It was kind of warm today so a light beer did me good. It had a nice bitterness but was definitely more of a mass-market beer. Then we started back to the hotel and decided to try some chocolate from Mary Chocolatier. We picked up a bark of milk chocolate and mixed nuts. The Mrs. prefers American chocolate and I prefer dark so we were both mildly disappointed. It was tasty but not really anything to write home about. Now we are resting, hoping for a better day tomorrow. I'm sure it sounds like fun but it's hard with a heavy heart.

Travel day

We woke up this morning and took our usual breakfast. Then we headed down to the Jordaan neighborhood. It is a cute little area with streets and canals that are quite a bit narrower than the rest of the city. It was a beautiful morning which made for a nice walk. We were hoping to do lunch at the Eagles Nest, the place recommended buy the guys at WF, but they were not open yet. So we found a nice little place around the corner and had a couple of drinks and I had a Gouda sandwich and The Mrs. had the Thai chicken soup. My beer was a Wieckse Witte, it had a nice crisp bit with a very light carbonation. Following that we finished packing and headed for the train. The Mrs. was concerned that our tickets consisted of nothing more than two 3-d barcodes I had stored on my phone but when the time came it worked like a champ. So we arrived in Brussels without incident. Unfortunately my first experience with the locals was trying to use the rest room which was guarded by a motley assortment of drunk homeless or semi-homeless men and women who needed 50c to let me in. They were less than friendly about it. SO we moved on and got to our hotel. The streets here are a jumble of cobblestone footpaths all crossing in an out of each other. There is no grid or wagon wheel or design plan of any sort. Luckily, The Mrs. seems to have spidey sense here so we found everything fairly well. Once checked in we turned our attention to dinner. I left the Mrs. in charge and she led us to Du Vaudeville. It was an upscale cafe inside the queens gallery. It was a magnificent place for a meal. I started with a Tripel Karmeliet which had a heavy silky mouth feel and big caramel-ly round taste. My meal was a beef Carbonnade cooked in DuPont Brown "Grand Cru". Think of the best beef stew you've ever had and then times that by a thousand. The Mrs. went for the Sausage and Stoemp. Stoemp is potatoes mashed with the fresh vegetable of the season. We were not sure what it was, maybe green beans. We moved on to take in this stunning city stumbling upon one tourist site after another. The Grand Palace, Mannekin Pis and the place is just so picturesque. Later The Mrs. unbeknown to me led us, through very tight streets full of tourists and restaurant hawkers to Delirium so I could have a drink. One drink, we will be back, so I had a Forestine Mysteria. It was appley and not the best thing we've had thus far. Also, it was incredibly heavy. The Mrs. tried to play along and let me order her a Floris Witte. She got half way in and I finished the rest. Then back to the hotel for some rest.