Food, glorious food . . . and drink

Some of the food here is pretty interesting and sometimes it can be quite expensive, but we're enjoying trying new things. Thanks to Ross for some of these pics!

The first picture is a loaf of bread we bought at a bakery in Zolder. It's a community about 20 minutes away where we go for our Flemish lessons. The town is divided into Belgians and Turks. Apparently years ago when there were coal mines, the town became somewhat divided by race and has remained so to this day. There's no animosity between the races, just for the record. The area where this bakery is has mostly Turkish people. The bread was really good and cost less than $2. We also got some baklava which was really sweet and gooey.

There is a really good sandwich called a doner kabop that is made with this bread. It's sort of like a gyro. I understand it's Turkish and it is definitely popular around here. The bread will separate like pita bread and then they stuff it with all kinds of good stuff. A loaf like the one above is usually cut into 4 pieces to make 4 doner kabops. Yummy. Wish I had a picture of that because we ate one last weekend. Yummy.

When I took these bananas to the checkout, the cashier said something in Flemish and I said "do you speak English?". She just smiled, waved her hand, got up, went a few aisles down, and came back with this sticker on my bananas. I surmised that I was supposed to have weighed them and printed that sticker in the produce department. I also surmised that she thought it was easier to do it for me than to try to explain what I should have done! I will try to do better next time. Anyway, I was shocked that they were 1 Euro 6 cent. That's equivalent to $1.56 for 2 bananas!

More bread. Sliced bread like Holsum or Sunbeam just isn't available here. Anywhere. All bread is fresh-baked and sold in it's whole form. There are slicers at every store so you can choose the thickness of your slice or just cut it as you like at home. This picture is of an automatic bread dispenser. In case you missed open hours of your favorite bakery, you can just get a loaf of bread right out of the dispenser (called a broodautomaat)! This one is right on the street about a block from our apartment.

Mosselen. AKA mussels. You know those shellfish that are similar to oysters? They are incredibly popular here when in season. Definitely as popular as crawfish are in the States. These people love these things and every restaurant advertises that they have them. I don't particularly care for them, but Jim seems to enjoy them. This picture is a package of mosselen at the grocery store. I wish I'd taken a photo of the times Jim has ordered these at restaurants. They're served in a black pot sort of like a Dutch oven (ha ha "Dutch" oven).

Yeah, I thought the same thing at first. These are hot dogs and they are actually pretty good once you get over the fact that they come in a jar with water. This is the only way you can buy them!

This is my new favorite drink. It's a carbonated drink with an orange flavor. It's low in calories and very refreshing. This bottle is only ,93 Euro. It's delicious and cheap!

Koffie. It is really an event around here. I have been fascinated by this since our very first visit and I have not been disappointed yet. The coffee is delicious and made very special with all the extras. It's always brought on a tray with doile and napkin and in a cup with saucer. Each cup is made separately like at Starbucks. Not only the cappucino, but regular coffee is too. They always bring whipped cream, little individually wrapped sugar cubes, little creamers, tiny silver spoons and always a cookie or little muffin. Always some little sweet snack. Of course it costs about 3 Euro, but this is one of my favorite things to do. Go out for coffee. The first picture is of regular coffee and Hasselt coffee. Hasselt coffee is made with jenever - a liqueur made with juniper berries. It's made right here in Hasselt. It's pretty strong by itself, but really good in coffee. Sort of like Irish coffee.

I really like this last picture. It is us having dinner at the Century the night before Ross went home. That bright light in the background is not a train. It's the sun setting (I mean the camera flash :). As I mentioned, sometimes the food is expensive, but we all enjoyed the experience and I look forward to all of us doing it again very soon!