More about me

My 2012 restaurant wishlist

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This is my 2012 restaurant wish list (so far)

Unfortunately I didn’t finish my 2011 wishlist, but I sure hope to do so with my 2012 wishlist

I’m getting hungry just by looking at this list. It might seem like a small list, more chance of finishing it 🙂

Dinner parties at casa Spinelli

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I really like to have people coming over for dinner, but it is always so difficult deciding what I’ll be serving… You guys know what I’m talking about, right?

For me there are  few prerequisites deciding what I’ll be making:

  • everything has to be freshly made,
  •  cannot be tooooo time consuming  at the evening itself,
  • NO LIGHT products are to be used!! (diet on your own time)
  •  and most importantly it has to be something I like myself 🙂 :-).

Something  I also try to figure out if there are some things my guests  don’t like to eat (or are allergic to). Ofcourse what you’ll be serving also depends of how many guests you’ll be having… When I have a big group over like 6 or more people  I prefer serving dishes like stews, lasagna, crespelle, roasts, etc… that you just have  to push it in the oven or heat it up and serve it.

Something I do try, is not to serve the same thing every time, as that would be boring for me and my guest (if are the same people) Only when they specifically ask me to make something (which is usually my lasagna, as everybody seems to like it a lot

When it are smaller groups then I’ll try to make more sophisticated things like in fancy restaurants. Although it has to be tasty, not only beautiful….

BUT the most important thing in both cases is Time management, for example there are always things you can make days upfront, like chicken stock (if you might need it), when I’m making my lasagna I’ll make the bolognaise a few days upfront, etc…. Just try to spread it as much as possible in the 1,2 or 3 days  before the ‘big evening’

For me all the cooking shows and the Belgian Cooking Channel Njam (I could watch this channel whole day long) are a big help. Or just walking around at an open air market also gives a big inspiration (and sometimes asking the merchants, as they know the best way to prepare their products).

Last weekend for example as I appetizers I made mini vitello tonnato (the sauce is made in 2 minutes and the meat you just have to boil with few vegetables and some stock  for a while and let it set for a night), mini pizza (from my recipe, but dividing the quantities by 2 or 3), some vegetables with cocktail sauce, mini ‘worstenbrood’ (puff pastry filled with minced meat) for this I got the recipe from the last Njam magazine (2 different kinds of stuffing, 1) minced meat, apples, parsley 2) minced meat, mushrooms, mustard and a little bit of basil (not in original recipe)) which took about 5 minutes to make…. so the last minute work took me about 10-15 minutes (not including the oven time, but not that I’m standing next to it the whole time…)

For the main course I made ‘Saltimbocca alla romana’ which is just an escalope (from white meat, veal, porc, chicken,…) with a few leaves of sage and covered with parmaham (which will keep the meat nice and juicy) wich also give you the great base for a tasty white wine sauce to go with it. With that I serves some broad beans and ‘patate al forno’ (potatoes in the oven with rosemary, olive oil and some garlic). Which you can all make up front! Only the meat you might want to bake at the last moment

For the dessert I just made chocolat pie… for ideas on dessert, you really have to look on the princess misia website!!

But 1 advice, keep it simple, don’t be a hero and try to be like a 3 Michelin star chef.

The best thing about dinner parties (besides spending time with my friends) is being able to go pick the wine to match my dishes at ‘van Eccelpoel’ or as I call it ‘ali baba’s cave  of wines’.

Anyhow, have fun at your next dinner party 😉

FYI? Next week I’ll be posting some recipes….

 

A weekend at Vlissingen with Flexso

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This weekend has been a nice weekend actually. We went to Vlissingen, a little town in the South of The Netherlands  located  between the Scheldt river and the North Sea. Vlissingen is also known ( so it seems) for building  most of the ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy.

The reason we were here, was because my boss wanted to thank all his employees for the hard work and commitment. And what better way to do this they with food, drinks and a wonderful location close to the sea? For me it was just perfect, I really like being at the sea side… when you look at the sea it always looks so endless… aaaaah, just great. What I prefer at the Dutch seaside (in confront of the Belgian) is actually that there are less buildings and much more nature and you can walk across the dunes for miles and miles.

Don’t get me wrong, I really love the Belgian seaside, but  sometimes I really feel like walking a lot without seeing buildings 🙂 . The party was a the Panta Rei beachpavilion, I think in the summer time this place must be even better, as you are right at the beach …. And the pavilion has a huge terrace!

I’m only showing you outside pictures, as not all the party pictures are to be seen by the world 🙂 :-), but trust me, it was good AND they served BELGIAN beers (thank god, because if we would have had to continue the evening with Heineken 🙂 ) La Chouffe, Duvel, Maredsous, De Koninck …. And there was more than enough food and it wouldn’t be Holland if there wouldn’t have been some Croquettes 🙂

During our stay we stayed at the Vlissingen Westduin Golden Tulip hotel as sleeping in the dunes or driving back after the party back to Antwerp didn’t seem like a good idea :-). The hotel was located just in front of the dunes and was overall a nice hotel… or at least I slept really really well, but there might be other reasons for that.

Then last but not least, Vlissingen itself… It is a very nice not tooo big town with a long seaside walk, but surely worth visiting or you can also visit the little bit bigger town Middelburg, which is also very nice (FYI, every last sunday of the month, all the shops are open). Or Yerseke, one of the most famous Dutch fisherman’s harbors in The Netherlands, where should definitely stop to eat some fresh sole, blue mussels etc…  (according to a foodlover/colleague, restaurant Vistro is really THE place to go) Last time I was in Yerseke was when I was about 9 years old, so don’t remember the restaurant … I think this all is even better in Summertime. Although I was only here for 1 night, it felt like a whole vacation and I was totally relaxed when I arrived at home.

So only 1 more thing left to say. Thanks Raf  AND to all my colleagues for making it a wonderful night!

That’s all folks

My dad and I part 2

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So far, so good … the lunch at Sassella was just incredible (as always). We didn’t only come for food … (does that sound convincible?) We also came here to visit family, or better, to visit my grandmother aka ‘La nonna’ 🙂 . On the picture below, La nonna is at the left (with the white sweater), the lady in black is her best friend… They are both so tiny

After that we decided to visit my niece (Francesca) who has a hotel/restaurant at Bormio 2000 (and since Christmas also a pizza kiosk). FYI, the hotel is called Cedrone . I always like coming here, because the view you have from up here, is just wonderful.  Especially on a sunny day like this day …

I’m not really in to skiing, but this is one of the few times I really wanted to do some skiing… but my sickness decided otherwise.

I can really recommend it to everybody!! Go Bormio Go!

In case you might decide to come to Bormio, you should also visit the town of Bormio, which is a nice picturesque little town.

A must when you’re in town is to stop a the brewery/ distillery of Braulio, a local Amaro filled with herbs from the mountains. In case you’re not too keen on Amaro, they also have a beer brewery 🙂 (or you might wanna try one of their grappa’s when it is cold 😉

And unfortunately this was my last evening of good health L after this the rest of my holiday I was sick. And instead of gastronomical dishes, I ate white rice, light soups, etc… WHY ME??? But I have to thank my family for their good care (especially my dad)

Anyway, I really hope you guys get to explore Valtellina one day as you get the Italian flair, food and hospitality at its best!! In Summer and winter

My dad and I

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Ok, we’re back in business… Not that I’ve ever been out of business :-),but just a matter of speak

I’m sure all of you guys have read that I actually went on a trip to visit my family or my grandmother to  be more précised .What actually was supposed to be a wonderful trip and time with my dad and family

Turned out as a week inside my grandmother’s apartment.  Why because as of day 2 day I was sick and this up to today :-(. But let me focus on the 1 day I was still perfectly ok 🙂

So me and my dad decided to visit my grandmother who lives near Bormio a well-known for skiing and is located in the Valtellina valley in the north of Lombardy . This time it had been 4years since the last time I was here…. But every time I come here it is more beautiful and for the week we were there, the sun kept shining… it couldn’t be more perfect.  Getting here is usually the tricky part… as we didn’t want to drive the whole way from Belgium up to Bormio, we booked a flight to Verona (we paid 24 EUR per person, YES 24), were we rented a car to drive via Lago d’iseo towards to Val camonica  to than take the passo del tonale or Edolo/Aprica…. To make a long story short, this takes you through nature’s most beautiful sites, even after 28 years I’m still as stung by its beauty like the first time I saw it.

As we arrived in the evening we went to my aunt’s house to have dinner… She prepared my favorite dish (from the region), Pizzoccheri … They were really nice, but not just yet like the once from “La nonna”.

Up to day 2 and to a trip filled with food, food and family :-).

Now that I’m in Italy with my dad, the theme food is evening more present than when I’m alone 🙂

Our first lunch just had to be at my and my dad’s favorite hotel/ restaurant ‘Sassella da Jim’

Where they combine the best of the mountains with the right know how and a sauce of friendliness.  Coming here even just for a quick lunch is a must!!  We took the “Menu del giorno” that today was: veduri ai ferri (grilled vegetables), Crespelle al bitto e bresaolo, (I LOVE), bocconcini di manzo ai funghi and a dolce della casa (I took the apple pie, I soooooo love apple pie). You look at these pictures and tell me you wouldn’t want to taste this???

YUMMY. We drunk a Mazer from Nino Negri with this

To be continued….

The days my girlfriend was obligated to cook

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Merry Christmas too all!! Sorry  I haven’t posted anything, but it has been very busy the last few days …

Like for everybody, all the family visits, lots of eating,… and I’ve been studying  (Even when I was in school I didn’t study this much 🙂 ). But there was still something that I absolutely wanted to share with you guys. (I’m sure you wanted to  know)

I’m sure you have seen in my previous post that I’ve been injured  and also that the doctor ordered me not to cook for at least 2 weeks … So me being a very good patient, I left the cooking job for the past 2 weeks to my girlfriend 🙂 … I must really say that she has outdone herself (ok I might have been in the kitchen to boss her around).  She made Tikka Masala, sole  with leek puree and a Beurre blanc white beer sauce, etc… I really could get used to this 😉

And it didn’t stop there she even cooked most of the dishes for the Christmas dinner at our house. I just wanted to share this with everybody as I’m a very proud man!

I wish you guys all the best for 2012!! I hope I’ll be able to inspire you some more

My duvel discovery part 2

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I promise I won’t give another history lesson today, but I just needed to tell you  bit or their history… That Duvel wasn’t discovered or made over one night, but took almost 40years of research to finalize  the actual recipe as we know  it today.

Back to my tour 🙂 I must say that they give this tour in a very professional  way. I actually joined a group that also booked  a tour at the same time. This brings to yesterday’s picture

Before we started our tour, we all got a headset and a fluorescent vest. The vest was just for our safety as we were visiting a production area. At some point I fell like one of those guys who has to lead planes at the airport. The tour starts with to me the most important, with naming the 4 main ingredients of  Duvel/beer: Water, yeast, barley and  hop

What might surprise most of you, is that beer consists mostly out of water… so next time the police pulls you over, you just say you drank water :-).  In the case of Duvel, it is water that they get from 60 meters under the factory.

Did you know that the more hop there is in beer, the more bitter it tastes  And if I’m not mistaking, this also makes you pee more 🙂 :-). For me yeast is yeast, I didn’t know there were actually different kinds… In Duvel beer, they actually use a combination of 12 kinds of yeast 🙂 Scottish yeast that is (for more about history why they use Scottish yeast, check this website).

Every time I visit a production site I’m always amazed how incredible it all is and how high technological… Technique really stands for nothing these days. It is also nice to see that companies like Duvel Moortgat invest in their company, in new technology and research to be able to create the best possible product.

But the most impressive and amazing machine for me was the bottling machine

This machine will remove non Duvel bottles, remove the labels, check the bottle , fill the bottle and capsule, check the filled  bottles and put in boxes… and this machine can handle between 40 000 and 50 000 bottles per hour!!!! When at full capacity, I’m really amazed, as I know what this machine has to do, you also know, but how this machine is able to actually do it, always amazes me.

Just amazing. 1 thing during this tour actually got stuck in my mind. As I told, this machine is able to handle around 50 000 bottles, but this is not the case… as they prefer producing less and better… than producing a lot and a less quality product… Did you know that it takes about 90 days for a Duvel to be ready for selling?

After seeing all those bottles, we got to the best part of the evening/ tour

Yes, the tasting 🙂 I think the next picture speaks for itself.  For all of you who are wondering how long you can keep a Duvel beer… Normally you should drink it within 3 years, as than it is on its best. After the 3 years it would still be drinkable ofcourse, but it won’t be the same. Our guide had already drunk a Duvel from 21 years old. For him this wasn’t the best beer in the world, but that is a matter of taste, because for others, this might b heaven on earth.

And on top of that I got the company of the always super friendly Saskia :-)…What more does one need? Beer, good company and some cheese?

I have to admit that I really enjoyed this Duvel beer as it is not like any other beer! On top of that I learned a lot… but I think I’ll have to visit a few more breweries, just to get the real hang of bier loving …

But this was without any doubt a moment to remember! For anybody who would be interested to visit the brewery, you can look on the duvel website for the dates of guided tours.

My Duvel discovery

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As some of you might have read, last Friday I visited the Duvel Moorgat brewery.  I’m sure that even my foreign friends know Duvel beer, as this is probably one of the most well-known Belgian beers. For those who aren’t sure, see the picture below to refresh your memory

I’m going be honest with you guys,  I’m not much off a beer drinker … Don’t get me wrong, I’ll drink it when people serve it…but I don’t like it that much.  So that is actually the first reason why I wanted to visit the brewery, to actually get to know more about how beers are made, what the best way is to serve it, etc… Because as a Belgian you cannot not be a beer lover… And this brings me to my second reason, just to learn how to enjoy some good beer.

So which beer better to start with than with the pride of Belgium, Duvel!?  And on top of that it is an Antwerp beer 🙂 , as the brewery is located just a few kilometers outside of the city of Antwerp, next to the old highway towards Brussels

Everybody might know Duvel, but how good do you know it? Our tour actually started with a little hisotry lesson about the Duvel brewery or Moorgat brewery as it is actually called was already founded in 1871 by Jan-Léonard Moortgat. What actually surprised most, was that it was not until vetween1918-1923 that the Duvel beer found its life and got produced as Victory Ale….Which actually a pretty long time?

You might be wondering how and why they gave it the name Duvel (which means devil in dutch)? Well the story behind it is actually quite funny 🙂 The name ‘Duvel’ came after a beer tasting 🙂 with notable people, and at that time people were not used to drink strong beers, they were used to drink regular quite light beer… So you probably see where I’m going…. they all got drunk and one of the guests  Mr. Van de Wouwer ( a shoemaker) started shouting that this beer was a real devil…. And from that day on this beer goes under the name Devil or Duvel. OK, enough history 🙂

Just to get all the confusion out of this world. Duvel is a specialty or fermented beer and not a regular beer. First off all because Duvel has an alcohol percentage of 8,5% and a regular beer is only max 5%. Another difference is that it is not pasteurized.

Ok, this is all that I’m telling you today… please stay tuned if you want know more about  my visit to the brewery and the picture below 🙂 ok and if they got me to love beer…

To be continued…

A scar from my kitchen battle

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Today no food post! Safety in the kitchen is very important! That’s something that everybody knows…..But from time to time by  a lack of concentration  or non-sharp knifes (as you cut yourself easier with an unsharp knife…) accidents might happen.

Even  me, I’m not  perfect 🙂 as yesterday while cooking I cut through my nail and little bit of my finger 😦

In my case it was due to a lack of concentration as I was making 1001 things at a time and god knows what I was thinking about when it happened. (for who wants to know, I was making paprika soup, pork filet with Blackwell sauce, bolognaise sauce and wanted to start making dessert…..

My injury didn’t turn out to be a whole disaster, as in some cases something bad comes with something good… Which in my case is correct

By doctors prescription I’m not allowed to work in the kitchen for at least 2 weeks

Sooooooo for the next 2 weeks my lovely girlfriend will be cooking for me 🙂 🙂

And I’ll somehow get to boss her around (in the kitchen that is)… life can be so hard 😉 But I’m sure she’ll do fine … or some restaurant will be doing some good business 🙂 (just joking)

At this moment I’m actually looking forward to my visit to the Duvel Brewery tomorrow 🙂

I’m sure that will ease the pain

My very own cookbook

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You might remember that I mentioned Albelli  in my post  about Christmas presents?  I told you that you can create your own cookbook, Christmas cards, picture books, etc…via this website.  After I wrote this post, I actually got pretty tempted to make my own cookbook 🙂

You can see the final result here:

Looks nice! right? I have to admit that from time to time I can be very lazy (I know hard to believe) so making the ‘cookbook’  needed  to be easy and not too time consuming.  Albelli is a really handy website to create a picture book + they have lots of examples that you can use to get creative…

I don’t like download things on my computer, so I was pleased to see that you had both a downloadable tool and an online tool to make the book . I’m not sure if they both have the same amount of possibilities and functions to make the book , but the online version worked really great.

In just a few clicks you can create an in this case, cookbook. You can add extra text fields, add extra pictures in a page, give a different color to every page, or you prefer having an animated background, …. The list is endless (or almost).

As this was just a try out for me, I wanted to see if I added a picture of lower quality, what the result in the actually book would be … (The system even detects the pictures from lower quality).

After 3 days I already received my book… I was really curious to see the actual result …

The fact that most of the people that have seen the book want to buy it, says enough I think.

Even the lower quality pictures turned out to be really nice!!

So if you still feel like making your own Christmas present.. this is your chance!