Souvenirs

I have a friend who purchases something every time she visits a new city. As a keepsake to remember her visit to that city. It's not always something actually made there, but something that reminds her of it.

Despite having these good intentions, I've done nothing like this. We've visited so many wonderful places, but I can't say I've purchased one souvenir/keepsake.

I also don't have many souvenirs/keepsakes from Belgium. We've got a great collection of beer glasses because it's imperative here that you drink all beer out of its rightful glass. I can't imagine we could bring these back to the States with us so they will probably remain here with their rightful beers.

It seems most everything "Belgian" is consumable. Like the beer. We've tried our fair share of beer in the last year or so - lots of German, enough American, plenty of English and Scottish, and overall, you will not find beer better than what is made in Belgium.

And then there's the food.

There are hundreds of Belgian chocolatiers - Neuhaus, Leonidas, Guylian, Galler, to name a few.

You're probably most familiar with Godiva chocolate which was founded in Belgium in 1926 by Josep Draps who opened his first boutique on the Grand Place in Brussels. It wasn't until 1972 that the first Godiva store opened in the U.S. in New York after Godiva was purchased by the Campbell Soup Company.

You may also know Cote d'Or. Although now owned by Kraft Foods, Cote d'Or is a maker of fine Belgian chocolate and was founded in 1883 by Charles Neuhaus.

Biscoff cookies. All Biscoff cookies are made using the original recipe created in 1932 and each and every one is baked in Lembeke, Belgium. You may remember when it became quite popular when discovered by an airline company in 1984. I loved these cookies way before I moved to Belgium. Thanks Delta.

I love purses and there's a maker of leather goods in Belgium called Delvaux. It was founded in Brussels in 1829 and is the oldest "fine leather luxury goods" company in the world. Their stuff is ridiculously expensive (in my opinion), but I'd be willing to spring for a little coin purse or something - just as a keepsake. The problem is, I don't like any of their designs so even if I wanted to blow, say over $3,000 on a purse, I just don't think this would be it.

This is a typical Delvaux handbag. Doesn't this look kind of "maw-maw"? I mean, I am a "maw-maw" and I can't see myself carrying this thing around.

Now, I know you've heard of a Dutch oven, but I bet you never thought about why it's called "Dutch". I haven't either. Turns out, in the 17th century, the Dutch system of making cast metal cooking pots was more advanced than the English system. Therefore, pots were imported to Britain. Apparently the story goes that Abraham Darby from England came to the Netherlands to observe their method, patented it, and began mass-producing them.

The term "Dutch" oven has lasted for over 300 years. I have to say there's probably not an American household without one. Did you know the Dutch oven is the official state cooking pot of Utah? It seems to be the only state with an official cooking pot as well. Since they aren't really "Dutch" anymore thanks to Mr. Darby, I assume I won't try to make this my keepsake either.

If you don't play pool, you probably won't know that 80% of all billiard balls come from a small village of Callenelle in Belgium.

It's not food, but I don't play pool.

So, this afternoon, there's a "Handmade in Belgium" event here in Hasselt. The first one last year was so successful, there's a second annual one this year. We didn't attend last year, but I plan to be there today. I'd like to find something special and this might just be the place.