The Triumph of Neptune

This is the sign of an old umbrella shop that sits at the end of our little street in Brussels.  A very cool sign that I tried countless times to photograph to no avail:

image | tim borco (way better frame)

When the sign was rolled up into the top of the window, this appeared:

The front of one of the most creative restaurants I've ever enjoyed in Brussels.  Neptune.  Featuring one menu at €36, or roughly $50, that changes weekly.

Simple. Clever. Artistic.  Mostly Organic. Mostly Local.  Six tables. And the heart of the chef poured into every dish.




And if one had endless hours, time could last forever here.

48 rue Lesbroussart 1050 Ixelles - Bruxelles / Brussels

and more about this culinary wonder, check out Cooking for Four Hands and LEFOODING.COM (and enlist google translate, if necessary).

Going Dutch (at the Beach)

  We've had unusually warm and sunny weather this trip.  Brussels is positively summer-like.  And so with that, we headed out to the beach last weekend.  Took the train up to Knokke-Heist, a small, resort-y stretch of beach, close to the Netherlands.

It was also like stepping back into time.  Very 70's, very blonde, very Charlie's Angels or Starsky and Hutch.  Loads of shorty-shorts, retro swimwear, and polyester or nylon.  Not unlike this.  I tried so hard to grab a couple of photos of these adorable little speedo-ed kids but it was hard.  Also, bordered on the very creepy.

We prepared for cold, dreary seaside weather.  It wasn't.

And the sea was warm.  We all went in, even rode some waves.  Dutch style.

Un Mois en Europe

Aaaaand we're off.  Heading back to Brussels with trips to London, Paris, Frankfurt, and maybe Zurich, ending with a sweet week in Florence. Four years ago we spent nearly two months in Brussels.  Last year, it was just a week.  I think a month will do us just fine.

I'll try to keep blogging....mostly with those random finds, discoveries, and oddities I come across.  The kids are older now, so I'm expecting it'll be a little easier - but then, that's probably a mistake.

A bientôt.

Mer du Nord - Brussels

I'll take an open air seafood stand, with a glass of white wine while standing shoulder to shoulder with some other fish head any day - just as long as you don't try to talk to me.  Because all I can really do is slurp, sip, nod, and smile.  And maybe mumble 'très bien'. 


Mer du Nord - de Nordzee
45, Rue Sainte Catherine, Brussels 1000, Belgium

(all images from Mer du Nord capturing some of that authentically Belgian ruggedness )

"The Mer du Nord is not exactly a cafe, but a stop-off here should be obligatory for everyone visiting Brussels. The Mer du Nord is actually a fishmongers, but over the last few years it has set up a pavement bar which serves glasses of crisp chilled white wine and champagne, delicious bowls of fish soup, shucked oysters and a tapas-like selection of scallops, tuna, swordfish and plump prawns cooked fresh à la plancha right in front of you" - Nordzee-La Mer du Nord

Les Maisons en Europe

Brussels

Amsterdam

London

Berlin

Switzerland

Florence

Paris

We are heading back for month of July this summer. Kids aren't so thrilled, but what do they know.  They know exactly nothing, that's what they know.  Actually, they know that the yogurt tastes way better in Belgium.  And they know that it's rainy and cold in July.  Aaaaaand they know that if you don't watch your step, you'll probably step in dog poo.  But maybe with more travel, we can be sure to show them clean sidewalks (London), yucky yogurt (Italy), and sparkling weather (Paris).

Euro Leather Icon

Founded in 1829 in Brussels, Delvaux is the oldest fine leather luxury goods company in the world.  And what I've found on ebay and elsewhere, it's often the handbag that Mrs. Manchester Whittingham Foxworthy III might daintily carry to the charity luncheon.

I've never been a fan of the design - I get the impeccable construction, the leather, the craftsmanship....but I dunno, I'm not crazy about the shininess or the logo of the bags prior to the one below....mostly just sour grapes, I suppose.  Or just too conservative for me.  As if I had five thousand bones to spend on a shiny handbag, anyway.

But Delvaux has this iconic status.  Maybe not so much in the US, but it certainly has quite a following in Europe. And with good reason....

image | lyst

From W Magazine:
Delvaux’s Le Pin satchel, which was big in the Eighties with über chic Euros (check out Princess Stéphanie of Monaco sporting a red one in her 1986 music video “Comme Un Ouragan”), had rather humble beginnings as a horse feed bag. Solange Schwennicke, the owner and former CEO of the nearly 200-year-old Belgian leather goods brand, was vacationing in Tunisia when she saw the canvas pouches, strapped around the animals’ necks and bearing tiny perforations so that the dust within the oats could pass through. Inspired by them, she introduced a leather variation in 1972, and this spring the family-owned house is reissuing it in supple calfskin (complete with punched holes at the bottom of the bag) and in a range of neutral shades. “When it is authentic, a creation is eternal,” says Schwennicke (available exclusively at Barneys New York; $1,690).

Former feedbag meets beautiful leather.  Not a bad combo.