Checking out birds

Once in a while I go to the countryside with a real birdwatcher and I get pointed out loads of different birds. I also get told about their sounds. And afterwards I forget 90% of this lesson.
No pics of birds though, because out there it's not as easy to photograph them as when they're sitting on the crane outside my window.

We went to a nature reserve in Harchies.

But actually, when you watch birds, you see the landscape like this:

All the species are duly noted

This was only the beginning of the list, because in total we saw 55 different species, of which the most spectacular were: grote zaagbek (Mergus merganser), grote zilverreiger (Egretta alba) en cetti's zanger (Cettia cetti).

Nature lovers don't always pick up their garbage

Apart from birds we also saw lovey dovey donkeys


There's lots of water


which all of a sudden looked very strange

a natural fenomenon, caused by a tiny plant, eendenkroos (Lemna)

We had lunch and couleur locale at Au Moulin, a restaurant in Ville-Pommeroeul, which we had great difficulty in reaching because of overzealous guards of a cyclists' race.

In the afternoon we walked in the woods of la forêt domaniale de Beloeil and stretched out on the leaves for a little break.


Another nice Sunday!

Fish in Antwerp

Yesterday I went to Antwerp to try the fish restaurant Dôme sur mer.
We had a nice dinner in white and blue surroundings, with goldfish swimming around us - although some of them stopped swimming after a while.

Waiting for amuse-gueules

which then arrived


A handy support was fitted to our table

and filled with seafood

whilst another plate with grilled langoustines appeared.

It made for a pleasant evening. Thanks L!

Seaside

This weekend I went to visit relatives at the seaside.

I was treated to a great dinner - everything home made, even the olive bread




Someone's socks didn't match.

And the weather was just gorgeous.

Birthday dinner

I had a very enjoyable evening at an old friend's birthday dinner: great company, delicious food and pleasant surroundings at Domestica in Gent.





Thanks N! It was great to be there.

Sunny morning

One of the first mornings with warm sunrays this year in Brussels

One of those Sundays

You start with old books

- the monks made jokes, once in a while, while copying the manuscripts.


Then you have lunch, with a quickly whipped-up soup - pumpkin and parsnip, with a little onion and leek, according to my basic soup recipe - and bubbles, provided by our generous host,

and for dessert: castagnaccio, photographed in a Zen setting.

After a meal like this, we were ready for more culture and went for a walk to discover interbellum architecture in Dilbeek.

And after that, we were ready for a drink

at a favourite spot, where Italian was spoken - appropriately, as Italian travel plans were made, while sipping our negroni's -

and a Chinese meal at Xu Ji, 5 rue des Poissonniers in Brussels, where we got authentic Chinese food (as far as we are able to judge) and terrific wonton soup.


If you ever try this place, here's a tip: go for the 'petits plats' (small dishes) on the menu, hidden a few pages behind the average and more touristy stuff.

Castagnaccio

Well, I was offered some of the home-made chestnut flour from Tuscany, so I baked my own castagnaccio. I followed the recipe which my mother had used. She told me to use some more water than mentioned.
I love this dish, the flavour is delicious, and the smell is intoxicating when you're preparing it. It's very easy and quick to prepare. The only difficulty is obtaining the chestnut flour, which really determines the quality of the dish.


Serves 6

250 ml water
6 tbsp olive oil
100 g dried raisins, soaked in hot water
200 g chestnut flour
50 g pine nuts
50 g walnuts, peeled and chopped in big pieces
pinch of salt
pinch of rosemary

Put the chestnut flour in a big bowl, add salt and 2 tbsp olive oil.
Add water gradually while stirring with a fork, until you have obtained a smooth dough (as for a cake).
Drain the soaked raisins and add them to the dough.
Put some baking paper in a baking tin and grease it with 1-2 tbsp olive oil.
Spread the dough over the paper in a layer of max. 1 cm high.
Sprinkle pine nuts, walnuts and rosemary over this and 2 tbsp olive oil.
Bake for 30 min on 200°C, until cracks appear and the nuts are golden brown.
Pour off the excessive oil.

Although this dish doesn't contain any sugar, eggs and hardly any fat, it's pretty rich and you can serve it in small portions.
Go easy on the rosemary, so as not to spoil the dish with too strong a flavour.
Afterwards I found another recipe in Lorenza de Medici's 'ITALY The Beautiful Cookbook', which uses a lot more water, leaves out the walnuts and mixes most of the pine nuts through the dough. It also advocates eating the castagnaccio while it's still warm. Might try that next year, if I can get hold of another dose of that heavenly chestnut flour.

Italian dinner

Last week I was invited for an Italian dinner.

A real spaghetti carbonara (with eggs and pancetta and no cream) was prepared in a virtually authentic 1930's kitchen.



Afterwards I was spoiled with bread from Paul, a new bakery in town,

a salad

and Italian cheese and coldmeats.

This plant has a great view.