Week 41

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This  time of year is mostly spent with preparations for Christmas. In Belgium the main ingredients are St Nicholas, Santa Claus, Christmas Tree, Food and Midnight mass all depending if you are from the Flemish or from the Wallon part of Belgium. Anyway the festivities have a lot in common with the rest of Europe.

Juletider

The food is usually a buffet style with seafood and stuffed turkey as the main part. The Christmas markets are still ongoing (The Bourse, Marché aux Poissons and Place St. Catherines) and here you will always find a chalet (they look like gingerbread houses) where they serve warm beverages. It goes well with some belgian waffles. By the way the Christmas Market at Place Flagey has been replaced by a Christmas Circus!

Although some celebrate St Nicholas with presents the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are the main event in Belgium.

Christmas Log

A traditional dessert is a chocolate Christmas log, made of sponge roll, a rich creamy cake. It is called ‘Kerststronk’ or ‘La buche de Noel’. Chocolate butter cream is used to cover the outside of the dessert and it is prepared in a way to resemble a bark-covered log. The background is the ancient fire festivals around the winter solstice. Another common bake is the cougnou/cougnolle a traditional  sweetened bread (shaped like infant Jesus).  Christmas cakes are also popular presents this time of year.

Stuffed Turkey

Of course beer goes very well with the turkey. Try a dark or amber type of belgian beer to the meal. There might be some conflicts in taste with the trimmings but that is usually ok after a while. I will try some beers and let you know after Christmas what I can recommend.

Bush de Noel

Another thing, why are there mostly blue lights in the Christmas trees and as decorations here in Brussels? Don’t really like blue and it is not very Christmas like.

There are several Christmas beers available, like this one from Dubuisson Brewery, Bush de Noel 12%.  The beer is a sweet, very strong Belgian Christmas ale. It has a dark amber color and a fruity, spice taste with some bitterness. You can  surprisingly not avoid a hint of alcohol (take it easy with this one). It is a nice beer to enjoy this time of year.

 

Coming weeks:

  • EU continued
  • In search for the best beer (an on-going quest for the perfect pint)
  • More seafood
  • Cheese
  • Parks
  • Culture, Comics
  • Markets
  • Politics

 

Facts of the week;

Drink; Bush de Noel 12%



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