Sunday, April 09, 2006

A Taste of Brussels


I feel so lucky to have these markets on my doorstep. They have been a little less colourful over the winter months which is not suprising but these past few weeks have seen a reall change. I have to admit to being most taken with the flowers at the moment. They are just incredible, tulips and roses are in abundance and ridiculously cheap. I bought sixty tulips the other day for 11 euros.

The markets are in our local square three times a week and in another one twenty mins walk away once a week so there is no excuse to eat supermaket battery stuff. There are regular stalls and ones that are much smaller and are there less frequent.

This is one of the more cottagey stalls. It has really unusual dried meats. These smaller stall holders take such pride in their produce.


Another meaty one, not a stall but a shop on the sqaure.




This olive guy is a regular. he is very generous with his tastings and I come away totally olived out with no idea what I have just bought. He does the best pickled chillies that i can eat out of the bag on after the other.
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I wasnt happy with any of the fresh produce pics. I will do another round but I wanted to get these posted as it feels like I promised them ages ago.
Anyway the last mention is not a stall but a chocolate shop ( of course). Pierre Marcolini, Elaine may have mentioned Pierre as he is something else. He does desserts aswell as his infamous chocolates which are lined up in his window and are works of art. I thought these were cute and probably pretty easy to replicate.

3 Comments:

Blogger Elaine said...

Gorgeous pictures! Oh how I miss my metro trips to Stockkel. I love how your tulips are practically FREE! And the cured meats...at the moment, I'm really into the salami with fennel seeds in it. I swallow and forget to chew sometimes because I'm so anxious to throw the next slice into my mouth. And the Olive guy, does he also have a crush on you. Greg, watch out! I've been looking for my favorite olives, Anchovy stuffed olives. Soooo good. Encountered them for the first time at Xunta, this adorably little dirty tapas bar. Try it if you guys bump into some. Better than it sounds. And as for Pierre Marcolini, I really do miss having Pierre around. But I'll be using some of Pierre's Chocolat Noir for my chocolate macaroons.

09 April, 2006 17:46  
Blogger Jer said...

Oh my. I want to move there now. Why is it that European green markets are so much better than anything we have here. I am drooling looking at your photos. Have you been to Naschmarkt in Vienna? That might be the most incredible one I have ever been to. Oh you must have so much fun marketing and cooking Kate!

09 April, 2006 20:11  
Blogger Catherine said...

Wow--so jealous. Those tulips! And the meats! Yum. Austin has some great grocery stores but nothing like this as far as I know. I probably need to give the few farmers' markets more of a chance but now that I've seen these I think I'm ruined...

11 April, 2006 19:31  

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