food : Archives - BLAH BLOB LOG: laundry waits; life does not

Raw pork: It’s what’s for breakfast

A common breakfast in Germany—mett brotchen. Raw pork on a roll.

I know what you’re thinking. But the odds of getting trichinosis are actually very, very, very low. To where saying “I’m not going to eat that because it’s going to make me sick” is like never eating a carrot because someone got salmonella from one once.

From the Centers for Disease Control:

Infection was once very common and usually caused by ingestion of undercooked pork. However, infection is now relatively rare. During 1997-2001, an average of 12 cases per year were reported.

It doesn’t taste bad, but I can’t get past the texture. According to Matt, the only real problem with mett is this.

Belgium: De Heeren van Liedekercke

We decided at the last minute (Thurs nite) to eat at and try to stay at De Heeren van Liedekercke the Sunday after Zythos. It’s a small family-owned restaurant not far west of Brussels. They specialize in incorporating beer into their dishes, and they have a crazy beer list. A few, produced just for them, are some of the most sought after beers (well, by Americans anyway).

Those are:
J & J Blauw & Roze: Two oude gueuzes blended by 3 Fonteinen in 2003 to commemorate the owners’ (Jesse and Joost) wedding.
Crianza Helena: An oude gueuze created by Cantillon in 2008 for the birth of their daughter Helena, whom we met Monday afternoon.

Before I stopped using beer advocate [because I dislike the arrogant R-tards that run it (no injection of personal opinion here, and I'm being quite generous; it's a fact—Google it)], I had read that De Heeren rents rooms. So I e-mailed about 10 p.m. Thurs nite. Wasn’t sure I’d get a response that late. We got what they call “simple rooms” for 50€ a night, including breakfast. “Simple rooms” that were not simple at all. We were quite impressed.

When we arrived, we had dessert and beers at the restaurant. Kids had ice cream; I had a sampler with tiramisu, chocolate mousse and speculoos ice cream. All excellent. I had a bottle of 3 Fonteinen Hommage—all to myself. It’s not notable that I drank an entire 750 ml bottle (no feat there). It’s worth mentioning because it’s one of those elusive Belgian lambics (this bottle was from Feb 14, 2007), one on the list of beers I’d love to try, but would never, ever consider given the amount of money or beer it would take to obtain one in trade. It was 17.50€ at De Heeren, and I didn’t have to share. Awesome. Matt hated it. He had a Crianza Helena.

For dinner we had the Orval filet (Matt), fish with goat cheese ravioli (me) and spaghetti (kids). With a 1998 Rodenbach Alexander and a Hanssens Cassis lambic. Good stuff. Next time I will skip dinner and opt for dessert plus some of the more interesting appetizers and cheeses.

Breakfast was typical European: fruit, yogurt, bread, jelly, cheese, Nutella and coffee. Simple but good, and it was waiting for us when we awoke. Before we left Monday morning, we purchased two bottles of Helena and one each of Blau and Roze to take home. We’ll let those age and go to De Heren when we feel the urge to drink them. We’ll certainly be back.

Our rooms at De Heeren

Sanddornwein

So I bought this sanddornwein at Norma (grocery store). Sanddorn = sea-buckthorn (a.k.a. sand thorn). Sea-buckthorn is a thorny shrub that grows across Central Europe and Asia. The plant has small yellow-orange berries (think holly berry size) that are rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, amino acids and other good stuff. Sanddorn juice is popular in Germany and Scandinavian countries.

The wine is not bad. Tastes like sweet German Riesling with a little citrus and herbal-ness to it. Hard to describe. The sanddorn balances out sweetness of the wine, which alone would be too sickeningly sweet for my taste.

But here’s the real interesting part: When the berries are pressed, the juice separates into three layers. Top layer is thick orange cream. Middle layer is full of saturated and polyunsaturated fats. And the bottom layer is sediment and juice. The first two layers are used by the cosmetics industry, processed into skin cream and moisturizers. And the leftover third layer is turned into juice, syrup, liqueur and sanddornwein.

So, essentially, I’m drinking a byproduct of the cosmetics industry. yum