One of the best days was when we took a day trip to the town of Beersel, a 20 or 30 minute train ride from Brussels; before the heat dome had really moved in. We visited a fantastic lambic brewery there, visited a castle, had lunch at a place where they didn’t speak any English (the only time that really happened), and enjoyed the countryside. I think these are the typical Belgian cows called “blue-and-white”.
Because everyone looks better blurry and happy.
Cantillon Brewery in Brussels – the last lambic brewery in Brussels. Lambic is wild-fermented beer. From what I can recall trying here in the states, I thought I would have to hold my nose and appreciate this beer for its historic value only. I recalled lambics being beyond sour, funky, tasting like something gone bad.
Not so, in the land of true lambics! These beers were delicious. They were not truly sour… they hit the tongue feeling like they are going to be sour, but they finish just super-dry and complex. There are straight lambics and those called “krieke” which are brewed with sour cherry. These do not taste like the cough-syrup cherry sours you might encounter stateside. They taste like true sour cherries off the tree. I am not exaggerating when I say these beers are worth the trip. They cannot be brewed anywhere else – depending as they do on wild fermented yeast from the local air.
It’s hard to choose photos to highlight. Here’s just a random pretty building with pretty stained glass. Lots and lots of beautiful architecture.
Shrimp croquettes, ubiquitous, made with tiny gray shrimp from the North Sea, on our first full day in Brussels trying to recover from travel and jet lag. Is this the meal that gave me the tummy bug? We’ll never know…
“All these matters absorbed his mind, drawing the world inside, into the large, chaotic space that each of us carries within like an invisible piece of luggage that we drag after us all our lives, without knowing why. Our true self.”
Already flicking out the first dye job of the year…
When other lilacs are past their prime, Wyman is just hitting his stride!
by Olga Tokarczuk
What did I just read? The subtitle is “A Health Resort Horror Story”. There is some horror here and there (particularly at the end) but it’s a slow build. I don’t think I fully understand what happened.
I picked this up because I loved DRIVE YOUR PLOW so much, but perhaps I loved that one mainly for the protagonist. I was sympathetic with the protagonist here as well, which kept me slogging through, even when it felt too much like THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, which was also about a sanitarium of the same era, with similar grotesque descriptions of the clientele. MAGIC MOUNTAIN I abandoned – it was too unpleasant, slow, and thick. This one at least is a pretty quick read.
The spring garden is a victorious plethora of lettuce, radishes, and carrots!
Been cleaning my office a little at a time. That armrest that’s been worn away – the keyboard where the letters on the keys have been literally worn off, the texture of my fingers having become ingrained onto the plastic. Day by day this will feel less raw & visceral.
(I did not use that same chair for 29 years of telecommuting, but it may have been that very same keyboard this whole time… and it was this office.)
Tytania 