Mr. Octopus

Rather than a nice dinner out, our Valentine's Day tradition is to stay in.  And more than just cooking up a nice, easy meal for two, we set out to try something new and unusual.  This always involves an intensive day of planning, trekking around wherever we are living at the moment, to find the right ingredients - which more often than not are alive.  In the past, we have challenged our culinary acumen by boiling live lobsters, shucking oysters and cooking some killer homemade pasta.  This year, we chose an octopus.

We found him on ice at a local fishmonger, who did all the dirty work for us cutting out the ink sack as well as other unsightly bits.  At first, we were squeamish about touching the slippery sea creature but memories of our last meal of 'pulpo' in Santiago de Compostella, Spain, kept us hungry.  The octopus served at O Dezaseis was smothered in smoked paprika with the tentacles grilled until crispy.  It is as far from rubbery, bland calamari as can be.

After fifteen minutes on the bbq, our octopus was perfectly cooked and accompanied with a salad and champagne.  I sadly can't say the same thing about the chocolate covered strawberries I made.   Octopus isn't exactly something you would pack up and bring to work the next day. I can only imagine the looks I would get after throwing it in the office microwave, but it was comical and tasty for a once-off evening. Any recommendations for next year?

Faster than a plane? A train.

As I soon as I settled on the title of this post about our inaugural journey aboard the Eurostar train the following CNN newsflash caught my eye - '18 killed when trains collide in Belgium'. Yikes! The Eurostar rail that connects the UK to mainland Europe via the chunnel is not without criticism - it's unreliable, expensive and breaks down often.  This year in particular it has received more than its fair share of blows.  From today's crash to the complete catastrophe at Christmas when the busiest routes were cancelled, stranding holiday-goers. So I was somewhat apprehensive about the idea of a recent last-minute train ride from London to Brussels.

Things didn't start out well. I forgot my passport. Luckily, when you miss a train there are usually several others waiting to depart. So post-panic, I found the Eurostar service to be smooth and efficient. The way traveling ought to be with no worries about weighing your bag to make sure it is under 20 kilos or fussing about the amount of pint-size liquids that can be crammed into a Ziploc.  Better yet, rather than spending an hour on the Tube or praying in the back of a taxi that traffic will subside, I remained cool, calm and collected.  No annoying queues or first-time travelers trying to navigate security. London's St. Pancras station is also possibly the nicest train station I have been in, rivaling the sleek interiors and clean vibe found in the Reykjavik airport.  I arrived 30 minutes before my train and got on without a hitch, enough said.

Let me caveat the following trip to Brussels by saying we have been to Brussels.  We found amazing places to eat and with his Belgium beer obsession, Lou is like a dowsing rod (a.k.a water witching) to the best watering holes in town.  So we basically did the same trip  all over again plus a few wonderful local places that Tanya, our college friend and favourite expat, introduced to our repertoire.

Starting with Antoine, which is quite possibly the best frites shop in Brussels. Double-dipped like a chocolate cone, the takeaway fries are crispy, golden and gorgeous, accompanied by fixings from curry mustard to housemade ketchup.  The local pubs even let you bring your "little" cone of frites inside, happy to help you wash it down with a pint of beer.  

Grande Place is truly one of the most beautiful squares in all of Europe (see first photo). We could sit at a cafe all day and just enjoy the view.  But we are doers and couldn't bare to while away an afternoon without taking in a new sight or two.  So we jumped on a local train to Bruges.   A return ticket was less than 20EUR and the trains run every hour, perfect for a quick getaway. We spent the day walking around the cities canals and side streets, perusing an amazing local market and enjoyed the solitude (and warmth) of the small stone chapel underneath the Basilica of the Holy Blood. After seeing the movie Bruges, we had aimed to climb the 336 steps to the top of the belfry tower, but we were inpatient to see as much of the city as possible.  For those visiting Bruges, definitely visit the tour first thing in the morning or expect to wait at least and hour in line.  We visited in January so I can only imagine the wait in the summer.

After a very average lunch of very average mussels off the main square, we set out to find the oldest pub in Bruges, the Vlissinghe tavern, dating from 1515.  It was charming and the perfect place to while away a chilly Saturday afternoon.  It also received top marks for having a shelf behind the bar filled with decks of cards, which we originally mistook for cartons of old cigarettes.  

We left Bruges at about 5:30 and arrived back to Brussels around 7pm in time for a few Belgians at Delirium Cafe.  This is quite possibly the holy mecca of beer drinking.  With over 2,000 bottles and 12 on tap, most of which you have never heard of, Delirium is chaotic and fun, even if a bit touristy.  It is also below ground so it is easy to while away a whole afternoon here without noticing.   

Post-delirium (which is appropriately titled) we walked across the city to Au Vieux Bruxelles, one of our favourite restaurants in Europe.  Our dinner marked the second time in all of our travels that we have ate at the same restaurant twice (the first being Badia Coltibuono in Tuscany) - it is that good.

We spent Sunday visiting my favourite chocolatier Pierre Marcolini, picking up boxes of gifts (which I conveniently left in a London taxi) and sampling a range of flavourful oddities from saffron and dark chocolate to cardamam and chilli.  Luckily, I found the lone importer in the UK and hope to have replacement Valentine's out soon!

From there, we explored a busy antiques market and grabbed a bite at the original Pain de Quotidian and then headed to the train station - with 30 minutes to spare.

Deventer, Holland

Work has been extremely busy lately and sending me to places like Holland, Burton-on-trent, Manchester and Ireland. While it is hard to be away from home, it allows me to take the narrow window of opportunity to explore if I get a chance to stay somewhere interesting. I have to really maximize my time being that I have recently finished work at 9:30 or so, then have to fit a meal in before bed, so naturally not much time for exploring.

Work brought me to Deventer last week and as one of my colleagues mothers so kindly made dinner for the audit team, I was able to check out the old town of Deventer when I finished working last Thursday.  I asked the guy at the desk where the best place to get a unique beer was and without hesitation he pointed me to De Heks, situated on the main old square in the old town. The building dates back several hundred years and the bartenders were very friendly to chat, as I was solo on this icy and wet evening. 

Soon after the owner, Eddie, came to the bar and we started talking beer and he was really excited to have me taste (i.e. sample, not full beers!) several of the 25 odd taps they have of mostly hard-to-get belgians, all which were great!

After a couple beers, Eddie took me to his prized beer cellar, full of hundreds of bottles of belgians, dutch and a couple US beers even. It was great of him to show me the coveted beer cellar and I definitely felt like a kid in a candy store.  One of the bartenders boyfriends is involved in brewing beer and she kindly let me try one of this beers that they occasionally sell at the bar. Her boyfriend came to the bar soon after so we talked about our brewing experiences. Everyone at the bar were really friendly, which left me with a great impression of Deventer. 

It ended up being a great night and I am glad to have experienced the De Heks hospitality...this is a must see in a Dutch town set well off the beaten track. 

The Daily Commute

You often really dread the same boring commute day-in and day-out, trudging through traffic and occasionally engaging in road rage, while listening to KFAN or MPR.

For me the commute is a tale of two halves, much like the Vikings football games. The first half is a little manic, where I stuff myself into the tube on the Central Line, changing at Bond Street to the Jubilee and ending my tube journey at Westminster.

As long as I am in the tube by 8am, its no problem. But soon thereafter it begins to resemble the running of the bulls...

Alas, when I make it to Westminster and pop out of the tube to a lovely walk across Westminster bridge with Big Ben and Parliment over my right shoulder and the London Eye along the wandering Themes  in the foreground on my left.

This commute can always be frustrating in the morning, stiving to get to work early with stress carried on your shoulders. However, its always appropriate to take a step back on the bridge, do a 360 and realize these are amazing times we live in, thankful to be a part of it all!

Oxford, UK

Sorry about the delay, but I finally have a little (very little) downtime to do a post or two. This is from our Oxford trip in December.  The weekend after Strasbourg and before returning home to the Minny, Joelskie and I took the opportunity to experience the Christmas cheer in Oxford. It wasn't too Christmassie there, but it didn't matter, as the night was reserved for a historic pub-crawl and the following day for meandering around the old city.

We took the Oxford Tube to Oxford, which picks up right in front of our place among other spots along the North side of Hyde Park heading into the city. The tube is really cheap and easy, making Oxford a great day trip from London. We arrived at about 8pm and went over to what we think was the first Oxford christmas market. It sure makes you appreciate the ones that have had 400 years of practice at the art. There were about 30 stalls that had nice goods, but it lacked the Christmas spirit that the other Christmas markets in Europe we've seen. It is in a good setting (at the enterance to Oxford Castle) so I think once it develops a bit, it'll be a great place to enjoy.

After getting an x-mas sausage into us, it was onto a pub crawl, which many would say can be wrapped into a history lesson as these pubs, through their ageless walls and warping ceilings have seen many generations of students, teachers, tourists and locals come and go. The link above highlights lots of Oxford bars.

The first place we went was the Bear Inn, dating back to 1242, making it one of the oldest in Oxford (the world too?). It is just two little rooms, one with a fireplace, and the age on the building shows by the slanted ceiling and floors, which have settled into their foundations nicely! The beer on tap is Fuller's and the fire is really cozy! I wouldn't be hesitant to say this is one of the top 10 best pubs I have been to. Mind your head!! I nicked this off google images, so thanks to he who provided!

After this pub, we went to the White Horse, one of the older pubs in town with slightly-less-shiftier foundations than found at The Bear. We started talking to a group of students at the bar who were in the midst of the 12 Pubs of Oxford crawl, led by none other than an Irish girl from County Cork.  We decided it was in our best interest to try and meet them at some of the other spots (without being intrusive), so it was onto the Turf Tavern.

This is another great pub of Oxford, dating back to the 13th century, who also contests to be the oldest pub in Oxford. Erin and I had gone here in 2005 when visiting, but it definitely deserves a repeat performance (once a week:). As you can see, the ceilings weren't made for modern humans! The pub is also set right outside the old city walls, whose ruins remain there today (albeit integrated into the nearby buildings). One of the students mentioned that it used to be popular for bare-knuckles boxing and cock fights, since they weren't allowed in the city. The beer on tap is much better than the other spots we went and had the greatest variety in the city.

Those were the two best pubs in my opinion, we went to four others that night, including the Turl, the King's Arms, the Wheatsheaf, and Grapes. They were all really nice pubs and unique in their own way. The Turl was the most old feeling, the King's Arms more of an Inn type pub, and the Wheatsheaf a long and narrow pub down a longer and narrower close that had good beer on tap.

After ending the night with a kabob, we walked around the next day, touring Oxford Castle and Christ Church College. Both tours, while expensive, are worth it. King's College is especially cool, the great hall used in the filming of Harry Potter and the King's College Chapel full of history, including a beautiful stain glass depiction of the assassination of Thomas Becket, who was famously murdered by King Henry's followers in 1170 at Canterbury Cathedral.

It is always fun just to wander down the narrow streets and taking in the history of Oxford. As you can hopefully tell, it was a quick, easy and successful night away in Oxford!