Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Day

This Christmas was really fun since Bronwen was really into the whole Santa Claus thing. First thing Christmas morning she checked the plate of cookies we left for Santa by the fireplace and was so excited to see that they were gone and even more excited to see that he had left presents for her and Alex.

We strolled around the city center in the afternoon and were surprised to see so many people out and many cafes and restaurants open. We stopped in at De Graslei of course for a beer and a snack then headed home where we joined our landlords, Michele and Francoises, for an amazing Christmas dinner.

As beautiful as it is over here right now with the snow and all, we really missed being with friends and family for the holidays…maybe next year.












7 comments:

  1. so cute in the pink robe & alex waving at us..she's got my style with the messy hair and robe going on ;). i get my haircut from julie on thursday! i can't wait.

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  2. What beautiful memories you are making. Nana and Sue and I can't wait to visit in May 2011. We missed you too for Christmas, but enjoy skype so much seeing all of you in real time.

    We also ate our way through 4 days Thursday to Sunday, including rack of lamb, lasagna, and full turkey dinner, mixed berry, pumpkin, strawberry-rhubarb pies, and pumpkin bread with chocolate chips, pecans, and ground fresh cranberries in it. Sue also made sugar cookies with strawberry creamcheese and fresh fruits on top. Altogether about 5 lbs of yummy days of Christmas. Back to exercise class and extra walking soon (not to mention duc tape on the mouth for a couple weeks).
    So glad the bathrobes fit. They are so soft!
    Enjoy the snow for me!! Nana says you can keep all of it! I will fly to NY for 10 days with Barbara in Feb.
    Belgium is breath-taking. Keep the pics coming!!!

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  3. From Pam and Becky:
    Rack of Lamb recipe we tried: {for 7 bone rack}
    1/2 c Italian bread crumbs, 2 T minced garlic, 1/2 tsp chopped fresh or dried rosemary, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/2 T olive oil, 1/2 tsp ea honey & dijon mustard, all mixed together. Coat lamb and place in 350degree oven for 15-20 min depending on how done you want it.

    Looking at other recipes, we may next try Chef Ramsey's technique to salt/pepper then brown all sides in hot olive oil in frying pan, brush with dijon mustard, coat with his crumb recipe (fresh parsley, thyme, rosemary and some grated parmeson cheese in the crumbs in blender with salt & pepper & a drizzle of olive oil: comes out pretty green) Roast another 3-4 min to crisp the crust and leave it rare in hot oven (400-450degrees). He used same pan right into oven.
    His was a video without specific amounts of ingredients or oven temp. Looked yummy though.
    Hey - no garlic in his!! May need to add it to crumbs & lamb. Can't do lamb without garlic.
    Gee, guess we'll just have to keep trying until we perfect it!

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  4. Hey guys. I found your blog while searching for blogs by expats in Gent. And looking at your pictures I realized that I saw you at the Town Hall when I went to pick up my residence card (probably first week of December). I thought that was kind of cool. Anyway, enjoy your time here; maybe I'll bump into you sometime.

    Brent

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  5. How funny! That was definately us, we're still in the process of getting our residence card. If you're looking for other expats there is a group on facebook that gets together every once and a while(the last event was at Winter Dream). We have yet to actually meet up them, but we're hoping too at the next event. Maybe we'll see you there. Hope your loving Gent too!

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  6. Well, I hope you guys have better luck with the residence card than I did; in total it took a little over two months (and that was after expediting the last part).
    I have met a few people from the expat group, but did not go to the last event. I'll be sure to go to the next one and look out for you guys, as meeting some fellow Americans would be nice.

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  7. How do I ever get ahold of you guys...it's been months! You're killing me. --Bridgett

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