Ardennes

At least these postings about food are separated by a little serious information on the EU! Last weekend we rented a car and drove to the Ardennes in southwestern Belgian, a french speaking area. Reading road signs in Dutch is extremely difficult, so it was at least a little better in Wallonia. Although there are still lots of inexplicable signs relying on symbols and we're still not sure if you yield when the arrow points towards or away from you.

We stayed in the "smallest city in Europe", Durbuy, which has about 300 residents and 300 tourists. Our hotel was right in town, Le Sanglier des Ardennes and we had signed up for the gastronomique package. The rooms are very nice with antiques and a comfortable bed and the typically European bath with a big tub and handheld shower. But really, this trip was mostly about food. After dressing for dinner we had drinks in the parlor and an amusee bouche (apologies to the French on the spelling! This is a little tasting of something that the chef prepares) of little glasses of gazpacho, little squares of foie gras and leek in a gelatin, and curried pate a choux puffs. Dinner was 3 courses including excellent rack of lamb and asparagus. After dessert we retired to the parlor again for coffee, and another amusee bouche arrived of a miniature creme brulee, a small glass of what seemed like concentrated sangria and some fresh fruit.

We attempted to walk this off on Saturday morning after croissants and coffee. It was still grey and wet outside, but not raining. We hiked through some beautiful woods with large beech and other trees. The ground was covered in ferns and other plants, but not much in flower. The path led up into a pasture (see photo of fencepost) and continued uphill through the pasture until it reached a road again. We walked back downhill through another little town and back through the woods. Durbuy is along the River Oerthe, a fairly shallow but fast running river with all the rain. A large chateau sits in the middle of town (looks like a castle to me, see photo) and is privately owned. It didn't look like anyone was home when we were there.

Saturday night was the big 5 course dinner featuring baby lobster as an appetizer (maybe something more like a large crayfish?) veal in morel sauce, a cheese course, and different wines to accompany each course. At least we split the wines!

Before breakfast on Sunday we hiked uphill to a tower near town and back to work up an appetite for Sunday brunch! The brunch is a buffet covered with several kinds of smoked fish, hams, meats, seafood, breads, cheeses, and desserts. Fortunately with a buffet you can take little pieces of a lot of different things. Favorites were a smoked trout with peppercorns and the local ham. And a very good apple tart.

To work that off we rented a 2 person kayak and did a pleasant 10 km ride down the river (see photo of Jake in kayak). This is not as long as it sounds between the current in the river and the fact that it was kilometers, not miles!