Discovering the unknown

July 17, 2013July 17, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

We all travel the whole world and have seen destinations that take 24hours to get there… but what we tend to forget is that our own country or maybe even the area where we live has so much to offer and so many things to discover. In my case I’m talking about Belgium, but I think it counts for everybody all over the world. Not that it is wrong to travel the world, but from time to time instead of planning a city trip or a weekend abroad just pick a closeby destination in your own country. So that’s what I did last weekend in company of a few gastronomical friends like William Wouters & Ingrid (pazzo), Andy de Brouwer (Les Eleveurs) and Aristide Spies (3^rd best sommelier of the world) to name a few. Together we discovered a green area just outside Brussels aka “Pajottenland” that until last weekend was a place I only knew by name.

The initial plan was to discover the gently rolling hills using scooters, but as most people didn’t feel like it the plan got changed and we started our day with a tour in a prairie schooner aka horse and carriage. I had the feeling I was somewhere in France… it might have been the weather and the fact I was speaking French with Aristide, but it did feel like France. Have look at the below pictures and I’m sure you’ll agree?

During our carriage ride I had to think of my mom, it was when we stopped at the windmill used in a Belgian Television series from when she was young “Captain Zeppos”.I’m sure if she would have been there she would have been very excited to see it :-). It was great to hear the mill keeper talk with so much passion about his windmill works and how it is build. I don’t know if you guys ever visited a wind mill, but I was very impressed of how they are designed knowing they are from over 600 years ago. We also had our portion of workout for the day as we had to help to turn the Mill in the good wind direction and it is heavier than one thinks! If you ever get the chance I would definitely visit an old wind mill.

Zeppos Mill (1)

Zeppos Mill (2)

From all that working out and being on the carriage our throats started to get dried out… Lucky for me I was visiting the “Pajottenland” with world renowned sommeliers and they took care of the beverage part 🙂

It all started with a nice aperitif right under the “Witse” tree. FYI “Witse” is another Belgian TV series (crime) I have to admit is started to feel like a tour at the Belgian version of Universal city 🙂

Anyhow the first drink to make our throats less dry was the2000 Poème Cuvée by Glinaros. It might surprise you, but this was/ is a Greek sparkling wine and I didn’t expect it to be this good. The taste had (to me) something dark chocolaty to it and it reminded me a bit of Delamotte champagne , but maybe saying this is like swearing in a church…

Witse tree (1)

We continued our aperitif or better wine tasting at “Het wijnatelier”. At ‘het wijnatelier’ they have a very interesting motto “wine is culture. One does not drink culture. Culture is something you experience. The same goes for wine.” is cultuur. Anyhow if you ever want to have a nice wine tasting I think “Het wijnatelier” is definitely a good location for it! Already for the fact that it is located in a very beautiful building which used to be the old butchery of the current owner’s parents or I even think grandparents. I was really in love with the interior!! On top of that you also get some very nice not always very well-known wines. As you might have guessed after knowing what we had as first taster, the theme of the wine tasting was Greek wines 🙂 that got accompanied with the appropriate appetizers.

Wijnatelier (3)

We almost tasted the whole gamma wines from the Glivanos (sorry website only in Greek)estate. (Besides the rosé). Overall nice wines that tasted very fresh and waaaay better than the Retsina I used to remember from years ago when I was in Greece. I was surprised of the good quality of the Greek wines. Although for me they missed something (not sure what though)… Maybe it is just the fact they weren’t Italian ;-). No no, just kidding. This tasting did open my eyes and my intrest in getting to know more Greek wines. Anyhow there is only one way to find out for you is tasting them at a wonderful place called “Het wijnatelier”. (It had a good vibe)

In my next blogpost I’ll tell you about THE most famous product from the Pajottenland!

To be continued….

The gastronomical Odyssey continuous

July 15, 2013November 29, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 3 Comments

It had been a while so I figured it was time again for another edition of my “Gastronomical Odyssey “that combines the things I love most friends and gastronomical food ( and drinks). This time it brought us (me and my usual partners in crime) to restaurant ‘De Schone van Boskoop’. I could really give a million reasons for choosing ‘De Schone van Boskoop’… Like it already being a fix value in the gastronomical world for 20 years or that is nostalgic to come here as I came here a few times with my parents when I was younger, but also because I really like chef and owner Wouter Keersmaekers who does his ‘job’ with so much passion that when you hear him talk about food it is like hearing a poem… and on top of that he’s just a great guy! Or because I said so in one of my previous blogposts ‘a pupil in the footsteps of his master’.

The motto Wouter Keersmaekers uses at ‘De Schone van Boskoop’ is one I cherish a lot ‘keep it simple’ which doesn’t necessarily have to mean boring… it just means only mixing a few ingredients and having respect for the products you use (and honestly those usually taste best!). A great example of this would be Wouter’s homemade veal sausage with truffle and springs Savoy cabbage mash he served at “Taste of Antwerp”. Simple and yet very refined and only using few ingredients.

One thing I already decided before I came to ‘De Schone van Boskoop’ and that was I would take beer pairing with our menu instead of the usual wine. The main reason because a while ago Wouter was telling me about his new beer cellar, which made me very curious to discover it. (the beer list they have is a very nice one).

I’m also very happy the weather gods were good to us and we could eat outside.

At gastronomical restaurants like ‘De Schone van Boskoop’ I rarely choose ‘à la carte’ dishes as prefer discovering new dishes and eat things I would never pick myself and the best way to do it is choosing one of the tasting menu’s. It is Wouter Keersmaekers himself who comes to each table to explain the menus and suggestions, the only problem about this is that you want to have the menu with all the extra suggestions on top of that making it maybe a 15 course menu 🙂 🙂 (sorry I just love food). Anyhow after a minute of discussion with my table guests we choose to take the ’terroir’ aka “from the field” menu.

Every dish we received that night was a really pleasure for the eye and the taste buds! Via my blog I can only offer you the pleasure for the eye, the taste you’ll have to go and try it yourself 🙂

The gastronomical spoiling started with some ‘amuses’: starting with a calf brain croquette (I know what you’re thinking, but it was better than it sounds…. this is btw a great example why I take a tasting menu as I doubt I would ever order it myself) and fresh herring with amongst other beetroot and horseradish. Continuing with Sea robin (aka snapper, altough for some reason I doubting if we didn’t have barbin instead) with a flan made from broad bean and marinated tomatoes (they were really good!). Our ‘amuses’ got served with a Hopus

Our actual menu started off with Italian veal tarter (a classical dish from Piemonte) topped with Australian truffles. Yes Australian! You honestly didn’t taste they were from Australia. Served with a ‘Chimay Triple‘

It got followed by smoked Scheldt lobster with the last asparagus from the season and a sauce made from milk and bacon. I this might have been one of my preferred dishes of the night. Served with a ‘La chouffe’

Our 3^rd dish of the evening was 3 types of lamb meat all prepared in a different way. First there was the ‘hamburger’ made with the cheek meat, secondly the neck which was slowly cooked and came with a kind of gravy and the third piece was the crispy belly. A dish that fitted perfectly with the Rochefort 8 they served with it

Another dish I will be remembering a while was the dessert ‘vacherin’ with red fruit. Served with ‘Oude Kriek’ which is cherry beer (pretty sour) made at a very small artisan brewery (Hanssens).

The second dessert was a “boskoop” compote with curry, a special combination but not wrong at all 🙂

The crown on the whole evening were the refreshments that came with the coffee… the mind was weak (very weak) I just love ‘canele de bordeaux’ and ‘petite madeleines’… I wouldn’t mind eating a few right now 😉

It got proven to me once again what separates a regular cook from a big chef and why after 20 years they are still and established value! (A big chef with a great team behind him)

Great job guys! Thanks Carlos, Gilles and Stijn for being my partners in crime once again!

Zia Livia’s homemade Gnocchi

July 8, 2013August 23, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

I’m sure you have already heard me talking about my beloved zia Livia from Trieste? In case you didn’t she basically is a person that has a very central place in my heart. Next month she’ll become 80, but she has more energy than all of us together (REALLY) and when you see her you’d think she’s around 60 instead of 80. Anyhow for me she is the absolute best cook in the world as she first of all always makes all my favorite dishes and secondly because she makes everything fresh from scratch and gets her ingredients from farmers close to where she lives (so basically the best you’ve ever eaten). Two weeks ago I was visiting her again and man did she spoil me again (food wise that is). Today I want to share with you one of her recipes or better her recipe for making Gnocchi di patate which she serves with a “sugo di carne”, but you guys can serve it with regular tomato sauce or bolognaise or whichever sauce you want. Originally the Umbrian “patata rossa” is used to make gnocchi, but if you don’t find them it is important to use very floury potatoes.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

1 kg potatoes (floury)
250g flour
1 egg
Salt
30 g farm butter

Getting started:

Leave the potatoes unpeeled and cook them like you would normally cook them to make mashed potatoes. You can see when there are almost ready when the ‘skin’ starts to rip.
Peel the potatoes

Puree the potatoes using a food mill

Add a pinch of salt and butter to the potatoes and start kneading, add the egg once the potatoes are a bit cooler (not ice cold of course) and slowly add the flour. Keep kneading until you have a firm dough ball.

Cut off a piece and make a kind of “sausage” out of it (see pic below)

Cut the “sausage” in small equal (keep doing this until dough is done)

My aunt now finish them but rolling them over the backside of a cheese grater, but you can also use a for or just leave them like they are (the difference would just be that the ‘incisions will be able to absorb a little bit more sauce)

Boil salted water and put the ‘gnocchi in the water (one by one) once the water starts boiling.

When the ‘gnocchi’ start floating it means they are ready for serving.

Drain them

Put them in a bowl and add the sauce of your choice. Zia Livia adds her heavenly “sugo di carne”

Buon appetito

A beauty called Budapest story continues

July 4, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Who says Budapest (or Hungary), says thermal baths… they are just inseparable. Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to try one of the many famous bath houses in Budapest, or better it was just too hot outside. With an outside temperature of 36°C at 11a.m. the last thing I think about is going into an even hotter bath :-). It is true that most of these bath houses also have a regular (cold) swimming pool, but it just wouldn’t be the same… but now I at least have already 1 excuse to go back to Budapest (another reason you’ll find out later in this post).

The most famous bath house for me was the Széchenyi thermal bath as it got used in lots of Hollywood productions I even think in one ‘The Simpsons’ episode (but not 100% sure)). You might also know it as they mostly use the image of the people playing chess while sitting in the water. The real reason it is famous is because it is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs, their temperature is between 74 °C and 77 °C. And every type of bath has a different medicinal effect.

A few other well-known therminal bath houses are Gellért (most expensive one) , Király and Rudas. There are obviously many more, but these are just the most famous ones. Lots of these bath houses are actually part of the heritage from the time the Turks ruled over Hungary…. but read all about the history on this wikipage. It must be said that the therminal bath are located in some very beautiful buildings!

All the visiting and walking obviously made me very hungry and believe it or not, but Budapest has a lot to offer on gastronomical level (something I really didn’t expect). A dish you just have to eat while you stay in Budapest (or Hungary) is Hungarian Goulash, I think there is no more typical dish (besides Foie gras and fish soup for some reason). I only had it once for dinner, I don’t know if it was the best Goulash (served with sour cream and a pickle) in town, but good enough for the first night in Budapest :-). I had it in a back street restaurant called M restaurant. No fancy place, just honest food and friendly service all one need on the first evening…. If you would go there I do recommend the Chocolate dessert with a bit of chili in it.

There are a few other restaurants we tried I want to share with you. The first one is restaurant Baldaszti (part of the Baldaszti group) which is located Andrássy útca, which apparently is one of the fanciest streets in Budapest (the fancy shops did make a bell ring 🙂 ). Anyhow we had a lovely lunch and It was actually here I discovered that Hungarian food is more than Goulash and they also make refined food combined with very friendly service. I took the asparagus variation, nettle, coconut espuma and an at 64° poached egg. My fiancée chose the marinated salmon with a fennel tabouleh salad. Some really great food and an ideal lunch! We both combined this with some lovely rosé wines (the sun makes me want to drink rosé) and I was again very happy to see so many Hungarian wines on the wine list!! In case you want to know we had the 2012 BÁRDOS ÉS FIA Rosé Cuvée and the 2012 SAUSKA Rosé. They were both good, but the Bárdos had that little something extra… Afterwards we also had a heavenly dessert aka sweet cottage cheese souffle with strawberries (those hungarians are masters in making dessert!)

Baldaszti (2)

Baldaszti salmon fennel salad

The second restaurant is one we did with my fiancée’s uncle and is located a few steps from the Széchenyi bath house. This restaurant was called “Robinson”. I liked it as is right at a little “pond” and on a hot day a little breeze always feels nice. On top of that they also served some nice food, more classical dishes, but this doesn’t make them less good of course :-). Even though it was hot me and my fiancée’s uncle went for the” borjú paprikás tojásos galuska” aka Veal stew with egg dumplings and a garden salad… and my fiancée just took a salad. And again we had some killer desserts. I finished with the carrot cake (which I love) and my fiancée with the New York cheese cake, raspberry sorbet.

In case you like top gastronomy a visit to restaurant Onyx, unfortunately I wasn’t able to try this restaurants (reason 2 to go back Budapest). But a very reliable source (Bram and Ingrid from pazzo) told me this is a restaurant worth trying. They have 1 Michelin star and the chef was finalist of the Bocuse d’or contest.

The last I want to share with you is Big fish. Big fish is as the name might already reveal a fish restaurant. On the wall they have a huge black board which is actually the menu or better the list of fish you can order, the list goes from salmon to sea bass… everything is prepared in the simplest way (on the grill) leaving you the real taste of the fish without any heavy sauces and all… I’ll be honest I when I saw fish and freshly made chips on the menu I was really craving for it (I know what a barbarian). My fiancée want for a lighter meal and took grilled salmon with a garden salad… A popular dish I saw on many tables were the Blue Mussels . The profiterol dessert also looked tempting, but my woman didn’t share 🙂

To make a long story short, Budapest is a city that has a lot to offer and I’m sure everybody will find something of its liking. I am very convinced I will be back in Budapest, not sure when, but I’ll be back (said in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator way 🙂 )

BTW in case you were wondering, I stayed at the Novotel Budapest Centrum, which was located really central to get everywhere and few steps from all public transport. (Behind corner the New York Café).

Oh sorry forgot to mention, for the food and market lovers, a walk in the Great Market Hall is nice 🙂

Now I’ll stop talking although there is much more to tell… but exploring it yourself will be nicer 😉

A beauty called Budapest

July 2, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

Just came home from a very nice holiday. My holiday was divided into 2 parts, the first and main part was to my beloved Zia Livia (that you might remember from some previous blog posts) and for some reason she always seems to think I never eat and feels the need to almost stuff me like a turkey :-)… So basically just the way I like it 😉

The second part of my holiday brought me (and my fiancée of course) to Budapest. This is the second time I travel to Eastern Europe and it is the second time I get enchanted! (Last year I had to go to Prague for work). I got first of all enchanted because the city is really beautiful, but secondly because I had a completely wrong image in my head from Eastern Europe…and I honestly think lots of people have this wrong image. In my head I pictured old buildings, everybody still driving a Trabant and I won’t even mention the eating habits I had in mind 🙂 I KNOW, so wrong!! Just like last year in Prague, this year in Budapest was an eye opener how modern this city is and how well it combines it with all the richness and breathtaking heritage from the past centuries and how they still keep improving!

If I would have to compare Budapest with other cities; I would compare it with a mix of Vienna and Paris… I even believe they even call it the Paris from the East. (I would choose Budapest over Paris without any doubt!)

This might also be the first time that I have no idea which words I can use to express the beauty of this city, but I’ll try my best to find them. I think the best way to start is with a picture that for me represents the greatness and beauty of Budapest (and for me one of the most impressive buildings in the world.

Believe me when you have that building right in front of you it is even more incredible. Budapest of course has lots more beautiful buildings like the Buda palace (Royal palace), Saint Stephen’s Basilica, Museum of Applied Arts or the bridges over the Danube.

The strangest thing I saw Budapest was King Stephen I’s right hand is housed in the reliquary in the Saint Stephen’s Basilica. The hand still it in very good shape, considering it is from the 10^th century, but it is kind of creepy (for some reason it makes me think of “THING” from the Addams family, sorry I know this might be inappropriate).

In case the hand might be too much for you, there is a great wine bar right next to the Basilica aka Divino (thanks again to Bram and Ingrid from Pazzo for the tip!!). This wine bar is both bar and shop where if wanted you can also have little bite. What I like about all the restaurants and bars I visited in Budapest is that 90% of the wine (or products in general) they serve is Hungarian!! Talking about pride for local products, I love it!! (If Belgians would only be as proud of their products). As it was very sunny our choice went to rosé, but I’m pretty sure everybody will find its choice at Divino’s

Like on many previous city trips my fiancée and me decided to take the “hop on, hop off” bus to get a general view of the city. For me this is really the best way to plan your next days in a city you haven’t visited before… I know it is hard to get over the fact that in this case you’ll look like the Über tourist, but what the hell nobody knows you there anyway!!! AND in the prices there is also a boattrip on the Danube included…

Of course like every big city, Budapest also has its “problems”, but I have the impression they have it under control and they didn’t really bother me too much (like the homeless people on the streets).

Thanks to my fiancée ‘s uncle (who lives in Budapest), we got to see something that I’m pretty sure if he wouldn’t have brought us we wouldn’t have visited. He took us up the János Hill to have a 360° view over the city and its surroundings from the highest point of Budapest (526m) on the Elizabeth kilátó (aka Belvedere Tower). It might take you a while to get there if you walk up there just like us, but it is worth it… first of all as you get to walk in a forest en secondly the view from up there is breathtaking and it is only than that you get to see how big and especially how green Budapest it (check pictures below). No worries, for those who don’t feel like walking up, there also motorized ways to get up there ;-).( public transport) I do recommend taking the chairlift back down.

To be continued with more stories about this great city and the njammy food I had….

Cookware for life!

June 13, 2013July 1, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

I am one lucky guy! You want to know why?? Not only was I fortunate to be surrounded by a group of lovely ladies like Ruth Sas (Niente di particolare), Kim Recour (Cookanista) and Caroline Dhont (Avocado van de duivel). On top of that I got to visit the Demeyere factory!! This is so special as they don’t have that many visit opportunities so this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

For my foreign readers the name Demeyere might not sound familiar, so let me give you a short (or at least I’ll try to keep it short) introduction. Demeyere is company making high quality cookware since 1908 and makes 98% of its products in Belgium or better in Antwerp (I bet now all know where I’m from 😉 ). Initially their factory was in the heart of Borgerhout/Deurne (just outside the Antwerp City center) where they until 1967 mostly made tableware as cookware and the kitchen in general didn’t have the central place back then as it has now. In 1980 they moved to their current location Herentals as they needed more space to be able to perfect their production process and expand the production itself (FYI, still in Antwerp Area). Today their Herentals factory is around 30 000m², so I don’t have to explain the progress they made over the years and they keep investing in the future of the company. Demeyere was also the second company in the world to start making cookware in stainless steel and a thermal base. (I didn’t know this before my visit). Currently the company is lead by Christophe Demeyere who is the 4th generation and took over the leading position from his father in 2008.

It is indeed true that buying a Demeyere pot is quite the investment… In my personal case when I moved out of my parents’ house I “borrowed” a few Demeyere pots/pans from my mom (I’m pretty sure she knows by now she won’t see them back any time soon (unless she comes to have dinner at my place)). I know it might sound like a sales talk (and no, I’m not getting a discount from them by saying this)but when you buy Demeyere you buy it for life!! Already for the fact that Demeyere gives a 30 year guaranty on every pot or pan you buy!! Yes 30, one has to be very sure of their product before giving that much guaranty… It still stays a big investment but it will last much longer than when buying ragular cookware. You could just do like me and ask for Demeyere cookware for Christmas :-). FYI, the Young series by Demeyere is the affordable option in case you are just moving out of your parents’ house.

I was already convinced, but the factory visit opened my eyes even more! Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take pictures during my visit (but I did get my hands on a few to get a small view behind the scenes), because it is quite impressive to see how a flat piece of steel gets transformed into a usable pot/pan. I am always so amazed by the machinary used to make something, I think it must be a great feeling inventing/building machines like that. When wanting to make a good product it all starts with using the good base materials. Demeyere uses stainless steel (in addition with cupper in some cases) as a base, which already differentiates them from the “regular” brands you’ll find around as they mostly use aluminum, which is cheaper, but less sustainable. Before a piece of cookware leaves the Demeyere factory they will ALL be “used “1 time… not really for cooking, but they heat the pot or pan to a temperature of 250°C and cool it down to see if there are irregularities in the cookware base (bottom) to make sure that whoever buys the pot/pan will be able to have the ultimate cooking experience in the best conditions.

One last thing I want to share with you (again something I didn’t know before) is how much thought and craftsmanship is put into the creation and design of every new pot/pan. Also how important the collaboration between the “architect” (like Stefan Schönig or John Pawson) and the engineers is to combine design and easy/good usability. To give an example a regular cookware maker would just form a pot and leave everything as it is, at Demeyere they will for example cut the edge of the pot in a particular way that if you are pouring a liquid fluid from your pot into something else the pot won’t be leaking afterwards (so no drops on the side of the pot)… just to give one example. or that there are no skrews from the handle visible in the pot itself as this could be unhygienic as “bacteria” could go under the skrews. My personal favorite set of pots and pans is the Apollo serie

I’m always so proud when a small Belgian (Antwerp) company grows out to a company exporting its “Made In Belgium” products all over the world!! (Also great to know Christophe Demeyere lives right around the corner of my street :-))

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying normal cookware doesn’t do the job, as at the end it is the cook that will make the difference. But when you use the better tools for some reason it always feels better … just like with a car a VW lupo drives fine, but a Audi A8 just drives better 🙂

Just try one and hope you’ll be as convinced as me….

Anyhow, good thing they had Roger Van Damme (Het Gebaar) there to sweeten our factory visit with some heavenly desserts!

Officially old, my 30th birthday

May 27, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / 1 Comment

I’m still writing this blogpost as a 29 year old, but I have to face it tomorrow I’ll officially old! Tomorrow (27/05, so today) I’ll be having my 30^th birthday (at 11:15pm to be precise). If it were for me I would have celebrated it in a modest way (with food obviously) and do nothing special… but my friends and especially my beautiful fiancée thought otherwise and they gave me a birthday to remember. I also didn’t know my friends were such good liars or better so good at keeping a secret 🙂 as I really didn’t know anything about it.

The first part of my threefold birthday celebration was with friends at the restaurant of a lovely hostess and friend of mine aka Comocomo which you might remember from one (or more) of my previous blogpost. I can say for a fact that my friends really love me as they spoiled me with gifts!! I’m not worthy to have such great friends 🙂 🙂 I can’t thank you enough. One person (besides my beautiful fiancée) I want to give a special thanks is the lovely Stephanie Straatman! She and my fiancée designed a brand new logo for my blog!!! A true beauty they designed, don’t you agree? Thanks again to ALL of you, you guys ROCK!!

For the second part of my birthday surprise my sweet woman took me to the restaurant from the chef that still up to today has made the best lamb meat I have ever eaten!! It is true I might have given a few hinds about where I wanted to go (yes woman of mine, two can play that game 😉 <3). The restaurant I’m talking about is Giovani Ooster’s “Vous Lé Vous” located in the gastronomical heart of Europe (blogpost) aka Hasselt. I wanted to come here as the few dishes I had tried from Giovani in the past just made me want to have the whole Giovani Oosters Gastronomical experience!

To summarize my whole “Vous Lé Vous” experience… Giovani Oosters is the type of chef I like and that for fits perfectly into the list of my favorite chefs like Ingrid Neven (Pazzo) or Wouter Keersmaekers (Schone van Boskoop) to name a few. Why? Simple you can really see the passion and sparkle in their eyes when they are talking about food or when they are preparing the food and they try to share that passion with everybody (a bit like me) . I just love it! Passion is the best motivation in life!! What I also like about them is their respect and pride of local products which try to use as much as possible. You mostly notice this in the little things like in Giovani’s case the homemade herb butter or the fact that he has his own vegetable and herb garden at the restaurant for example….. This is to me what separates the cooks from the chefs! Take what I said above companied with the perfect team with that same passion you can see on their faces and you have the best gastronomical experience one can have! (with a smile)

Let me start talking about the food, as that is what is all about (besides spending time with my woman) 🙂

We started our evening with a variety of “amuses bouche” a feast for both the eyes as the taste buds. Rice croquettes, cucumber bonbon, salmon and asparagus role … just to name a few…. I had a classical “Gin tonic” with it, but they had replaced the gin with a local grain jenever.

It might see unbelievable, but it got even better. Let me present to you the menu “Vous Lé Vous” served us:

Mackerel Escabeche with green celery, black olive crackers and crumble and something called green star accompanied with a 2011 (white) Spanish Arindo Verdejo from Bodegas Shaya

Fried green asperge with a wild garlic mayonnaise, an Alken goat cheese crème and frog legs accompanied with a 2012 South African (white) Chenin Blanc/viognier from Bellingham vineyard

Langoustine with a asparagus carpaccio and mango and citrus flavors accompanied by a 2011 French (white) La Gascogne aka Gros Manseng – Sauvignon Sec wine by Brumont

Veal sirloin with chateau potatoes with lemon verbena, grilled asparagus and mini mushrooms accompanied by an 2011 (red) Italian Avignonesi from Cantaloro vineyard

Cod fish with chateau potatoes with lemon verbena, grilled asparagus and mini mushrooms accompanied with a 2010 Argentinian (white) Septima (chardonnay/torrontes)

Desserts: Chocolate and coconut explosion, a rhubarb, hibiscus and Wellen strawberry dessert, a yogurt, pictache, pineapple dessert accompanied by a Spanish Moscatell Priorat from Rotllan Torra vineyard.

With the coffee also came some njammy delights! Even a chocolate “praline” with mustard

Wasn’t I right that it was a treat for the eyes? If you also want to agree with me on the taste part I can only suggest for you to go to Vous Lé Vous and try it… or to “Limburg proeft” where Giovani will also be present (amongst other great chefs/restaurants). Also a very good selection of wines Harald (sommelier) paired for us!

We stayed overnight at Vous lé vous’ chocolate room… this way we didn’t have to worry about drinking too much.

I don’t mind celebrating my birthday, but I don’t like the spotlight being on me (you know what I mean?) So I never tell when I’m having my birthday dinner… but I didn’t organize it… ok ok I’ll stop b…shitting, it is nice to get the extra attention…

Thanks again to Giovani, Harald (sommelier) and the rest of the “Vous lé Vous” team and to my beautiful fiancée for looking and being as great as always!

My birthday wouldn’t be my birthday without also having my family and especially my mom with me to celebrate it (yes, I’m a mama’s boy, so what?!)…. so the third and last part (unless I still have something coming?) was at my brother’s place for some lovely cake which was the perfect ending of a perfect weekend and now I’m all ready for a new decade!

Cheers!

The perfect excuse for foodlovers aka Restaurant Day

May 17, 2013May 17, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Not that I need to many excuses to go to a restaurant, but now we finally have a very valid one! Tomorrow is the 9^th Global Restaurant day!! 1550 one-day restaurants and cafés in about 30 countries participate to this. The original meaning of Restaurant day is it being a carnival in favor of food and culture, encouraging ordinary people to open unique kiosks, bars, restaurants and cafés for one day only. So Restaurant Day is not only about the food, but also about the social happening around it! My meaning would be just go to a restaurant 🙂

Participating countries on May 18^thedition are: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey, the UK, Ukraine, the USA… So if you country is on this list, you can consider yourself lucky 🙂

For more info on the upcoming (tomorrow) Restaurant Day can be found on website or on their facebook page

Just to make sure I won’t miss it I’ll already start tonight!! 🙂 🙂

Music was my first love… Or was it food?

May 7, 2013May 7, 2013 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Not all of you guys might know it, but I have a bit of a music history. Around the age of 11 I started playing drums and has always been a big passion of mine. Over the years I got quit good at it (but I don’t like to brag) and I was fortunate enough to meet some of the best musicians I might even say legends that have played with the biggest names. Through the years some of these people turned into very good friends. Initially they saw me as a drummer/musician, but as more time past (and I started to enjoy food more) they saw me more as a synonym for good food (on top of the drummer/musician). It is true I could be the synonym for worse things 🙂 . It actually works in two ways whenever they are on tour and they stop in Belgium I take care of them and make sure they’ll be tasting the best Belgium has to offer, whenever I’m visiting the country or better city they live in they do the same for me. Nowadays I don’t play too much drums anymore as at a certain moment choices had to be made (but that is what life is all about I guess). What I do still enjoy is combining my passion for food and the company of some great musician friends. A top combo if you ask me.

Last week was one of these occasion I had some friends of mine from the US passing Belgium on their World Tour. The only “disadvantage”is that they were staying right in the city center of Brussels, I needed to find something not too far from their hotel (they are already enough on the road as it is)… preferably in walking distance. If it would have been in Antwerp there would have been a million places I’d know to take them, Brussels on the other hand is more difficult. Especially near the “Grote Markt” as taking them to a “tourist trap” is the last thing I want to do. Lucky me that I had Andy De Brouwer (who you might know from restaurant Les Eleveurs) to save the day. To make a long story short, we went to restaurant “La roue d’or”. La Roue d’or is a typical Belgian Brasserie serving classical Belgian dishes in the way they are supposed to be served and the way our grandparents would do it (so basically by not using light products, or my way of thinking).

Funny enough from all the types of cuisines I propose to all my friends visiting Belgium, they are always craving to eat mussels, Flemish beer stews, etc…, drink beer and have some freshly made waffles as dessert (or crème brulée). If that’s what they want, than that’s what I’ll get for them, as making people happy and making them feel home is definitely the thing I like to do most! I’m sure you can’t wait to hear what I ate, well I had the meatball stew with beer and Sirop de Liège sauce and onions ( I so love meatballs) accompanied with some great Belgian beer of course!! It must be said they were very good and tasty food! The most popular dish at the table were the Mussels with a white wine sauce… all plates were empty and I only saw smiling faces, you do the math!

If you ever have foreign friends visiting, you know where to take them now (when in the center of Brussels)!

The next day I went to see the band play in a sold out venue (aka Sportpaleis) and it might have been one of the best shows I’ve seen from them (even better than the other ones I saw). One thing is sure a band stands and falls depending of the musicians playing in it… you can have the best singer, but when the band sucks (or vice versa) it won’t be doing any good to the total picture 🙂 Alecia can consider herself very lucky she has some of the best that are around! Keep spreading the love…

I’m actually curious to know if you guys found out which band I’m talking about, maybe the below picture might help 🙂 (I did give a few tips in the text)

Thanks guys, you rock and see you in LA!

Tasting with the pro’s

April 25, 2013October 14, 2014 / dolcevitaspinelli / Leave a comment

Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to join Belgian sommelier guild for a tasting of Colombo wines (no, not from the TV show). If you say wine, you also say food… that’s why the tasting took place at Le grill aux herbes that gets a 17/20 in the Gault Millau Guide (very high score). When it comes to wines, I’ll have to be honest that I know more about Italian wines than about French wines… but now thanks to my blog step by step I’m getting more familiar with all the great wines France has to offer, like on last year’s trip to the Loire valley. Although I also learn a lot by reading blogs from friends of mine like JDR or wine chick Miss Vicky Wine (who has a cool new website) and of course also thanks to my good friend William Wouters (Pazzo) and the Belgian Sommelier Guild. Don’t get me wrong, not that I didn’t know anything at all 🙂 🙂 I did, but Italian wines were just more present in my life.

Anyhow, back to our wine tasting. I didn’t know Colombo wines, but it was my friend William who said I really had to taste these wines as they are very good and something I shouldn’t miss… So I followed his advice 🙂

Colombo wines are the life work of Jean Luc Colombo and his wife Anne who started in 1984 making wine at their vineyard in Cornas better known as Côtes du Rhone region. Since 2010 their charming daughter Laure joined them in making the wine and I can say for a fact that she putting her own stamp on the Colombo wines. So the future of Colombo wines is guaranteed!

An important grape for their wines is the Syrah aka Shiraz grape. The Syrah grape gives you a full-bodied and powerful wine. Just think of flavors like dark chocolate, black pepper, Arabica espresso. So if you are not a fan of this grape or full-bodied wines I’m not sure you’ll like these. I had no problems with it as Syrah happens to be (next to Nebbiolo, Corvina and Merlot to name a few) one of my favorite grapes. As I mentioned in the beginning of my post I was here with some people of the Belgian Sommelier Guild which actually make the tasting more interesting as you can learn a lot from the pro’s. I also ran into an old classmate who I haven’t seen in at least 10 years….

We tasted the whole Colombo gamma and I was surprised about the variety Colombo has. The only way was up, we started with their white “table” wine (maybe this is an understatement) and only went crescendo from that point to end with the top of the bill their “les ruchets”. I could start defining the taste from each and every wine, but there were just too many we tried and not being a wine blogger I’m not sure if I could put it in as good writing as my friend wine bloggers could do it… what I do know is what I like and what I don’t like and I definitely liked every single wine I tasted from Colombo What I can suggest you to do is check the Colombo website and see the technical specs, buy some Colombo and see if the tastes match and try to recognize them:-)At least that’s how I would do it (every excuse to buy wine is good enough). BTW if you want to have more info on where to buy Colombo wines, please check with Mampaey wines and spirits. This tasting has also learned me that from time to time have an expensive taste, eventhough I loved all wines, it must be said that the last two we tasted the les ruchets 2009 and 2010 were everything I look for in wine.

It might surprise you that I didn’t start talking about the food yet, but this time I just wanted to share something about the wines. But I’ll let the pictures from our food speak for itself. I could indeed suggest that if you are ever around Brussels, you might want to stop at Le grill aux herbes for lunch or dinner. You won’t regret it! My compliments to Chef Evan Triantopoulos.