Raclette Party – on Valentine’s Day | 14th Feb 2009

Raclette Party – on Valentine’s Day 14th Feb 2009

I think, we (Meera & Myself) are blessed with luck for food this month. The week before we were wishing that it WOULD be great if someone treats us every weekend. And this week the saga continued.
Yannick De Backer” my colleague invited a few us for dinner the following Saturday on the 14th Feb 2009. And you are absolutely right, I NEVER said NO ;-)

The venue was pre-decided by the host and was at his beautiful little apartment. He wanted a view about the variety of drink & food that everyone would prefer the previous day. I was open to any food & any fruit juice as I don’t drink alcohol and was ready to taste authentic Belgian Food. It was decided to be “Raclette” cheese meal for the dinner for 5.

“Raclette” – A typical mountainous dish ate widely in Alps/mountainous region. The dish is a native of Switzerland, Wallonia and France and normally accompanied with wine or hot beverages like tea or coffee during the breakfast.
I think that’s more than enough for an introduction to the main course meal. Well let me kindle your taste buds a little with a bit of garnishing about the rest on the items and the way it was served.

We arrived at his apartment at around 19:00 accompanied by Michelle Sandford and Damien Geeraets who generously picked us on the way to Yannick’s crib.

The usual start of with the drink where I was still stuck to the Grape Juice and Meera to Orange and rest of the folks toasted with Champagne. Michelle just spotted of the curiosity in my eyes about champagne and you know what, I took a sip from her glass when she offered and indeed it tasted good and not bad at all.
ah ! ahem :-)

We moved on with the main course, it was served in an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, to heat slices of raclette cheese in. We had 2 varieties of cheese on the table and indeed the Goat cheese was excellent which I liked better than the Cow cheese and I still feel the taste lingering in my mind. The melted cheese on hot boiled potatoes & bread with freshly ground pepper and salt to taste. Served along with pickled Onion & Gherkin and a mixed platter of Ham Salami. How could I miss the mention the rich salad with raisins, corn, cucumber & green veggies? Awesome ! is the only word I can think of right now.

I have heard Michelle say, she usually spends the entire Sunday afternoon having lunch with her beloved Damien and his parents which takes about 3 – 4 hrs and a nap after that. Well! I would ask the same question to myself like you are asking yourself now. How on earth can people sit and eat for 4 hrs ! OMG. Well, Today I understood it ALL, How you enjoy your entire meal and relish each and every morsel of food you eat.

During the meal, I enjoyed the way Michelle tried to keep us entertained with the puzzles for Meera & Myself to guess the difference between French & Dutch when Damien & Yannick spoke and of course there were a lot of other topics which we discussed on the table.By now Michelle was already sleepy and she demanded a cup of coffee.And guess what? it was already 21:45 and we still had our last course of the meal to complete.

Finally the third course was ready and yummy as usual with bold & bright strawberry and the dusky husky vanilla based chocolate with a tint of coffee cakes. The list is not over, Ice Cream sorry sorry , ICE CREAM’S he just offered 4 flavours Mango , Vanilla , Strawberry and Chocolate.

Guess , what was the time was by now ? Half past ten. The duration was just 3.5 hrs for the entire dinner. Just praying the melted cheese slices that I ate should go away invisible instead of adding some extra pounds.;-/

Ok with this I will stop cause I can hear what you are thinking and can smell your stomach burn ;-).

More Info :-
http://www.food-worldwide.com/article/40/Raclette.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette

Do MEN cook well? A Spicy treat!

Do MEN cook well? A Spicy treat!

Hmm! I know it’s a dicey topic to write nevertheless as I am going to talk “FOR” the topic, I think it’s OK”!!!

Two week’s before these men were strangers from India to me , But this week , They turned to be 4 of my buddy’s in my friend’s list. Usually I have heard women inviting friends home for lunch/dinner. For a change and astonishment this morning I had been invited for lunch to their home. Well, what did you expect?

You’re right! I happily and gracefully and readily agreed to be there at 13:00 for lunch.

Meanwhile Meera and I completed some cleaning at our homes and get set for the party next door at the 6th floor.

Both of us were greeted by the Prince’ in his name and heart – Yuvaraj.
Then we met the crew who was indeed busy at work. Well! Don’t you agree, May be the picture below will serve as an evidence.

Within a few minutes all set and done with arrangements complete.
On the table was a blend of all south Indian menu which was inclusive of Chicken curry & Rice on the main dish, with some Chicken Kebab for the Non-Vegetarian’s.
Tomato curry & Rice on the Main dish with some spicy pickle for the Vegetarian’s.
Oops ! How could I forget the second course. Rasam on the menu is something both of us relished and did remind me of my Mom & Home :-( . All credits to Yuvi for the Rasam. To conclude with creamy yogurt.

We feasted for the rest of the hour and of course Meera trying to deligently listen to Rajesh on the preparation of the main courses. And you know me was in line for my 3rd helping. LoL

Alas ! Nothing like a good FOOD!
The food was awesome and I genuinely thank the gentlemen for the invite.

On the way back to our homes , Meera & Me wished that we get treated every weekend like this by someone. ;-)

Never want to push you to boredom while you are reading this hence forth I conclude accepting the fact that “Men Do COOK Extremely well” from what my perception was.

THANKS FOLKS!!!

A typical LOOOONNNGG Day :-/

A typical LOOOONNNGG Day:-/

You anxiously wait for the weekend for what?
For a break after 5 tiring days of work would be a simple direct answer to the above question.

Apparently this weekend was even more tiring with a lot of my pending work to complete ASAP. After an extended sleep on a Saturday morning which I did not want to break , however eventually had too ! As my dear FRIEND woke me up at 11:30 AM calling my mobile. I am still wondering if I should thank him or curse him. If you ask me , if he did good to me by waking me up?
Well, I would say a YES and a NO!!!

Anyways, let me cut that out now.

Had a quick breakfast since I had to rush for achieving my target of buying a monthly BUS pass for conveyance. Buying it before a new month started benefited me by saving around 50% of the overall costs spent for the whole month. So now you know why I had to rush. Once I reached the destination, I had to see what I did not want to see. Huh, a long queue. Got a token for myself and one for my colleague who accompanied me. 159 & 657 were the numbers.
Excuse me, Do I have an option to jump the queue ? I know, I know, I’m asking for a little too much. ;-)
Finally, my turn came after a short wait for about 2hrs and 30mins. The process was a little decent and did not take much time for me at the counter, may be 5-7 mins. Trust me its worth the wait.

Then , Quickly went and grabbed a burger to put out my hunger.

The time was already 18:30, huh ! And I still had to complete quiet a few activities for the day.
Then my next venture was to locate the Indian Store in Brussels. Yes, Being an Indian how could I afford to miss the garam masala flavour in my Curry, Kootu, Poriyal .,etc. A couple of my other Indian neighbors joined us and off we set to “Port De Namur” as guided by another Indian Stranger whom I met in a store the week before.

Finally after about 35 Min bus ride we reached the location and I cannot explain the sense of relief once we saw the shop with almost all groceries that we get back at home. Managed to buy whatever was required quickly in about 20mins and set back to home.

It was about 19:55 in the evening, we were waiting for the bus to come as scheduled for 20:05.
Like all stories with a twist or suspense or tough situation before the happy ending my story of the day also had a happy ending with a tiny drag before the end.

It was 20:15 and no sign of the bus. A passer by walked up to us and managed to convey the message in his broken English with a mix of French “Buses don’t come here today since the road is blocked this way” and he was not sure of the bus route from here or rather the way to the bus stop. Huh!, That was indeed the last thing I wanted to hear.
At last all F-O-U-R of us walking in 4 directions to find the right stop, while we did so, we saw the bus arriving from one of the directions, and guess what all of US ran to the stop like we used to do back at HOME always.

I thank the driver who made a stop for a minute more than the usual for us to get boarded in. Finally reached home at 21:00 and had to carry the rest of my planned work as backlog to the next day. :-(