Beer and bread in the university town

You readers know that very rarely I practice car-photography and yesterday morning, when I was driving into the city of Leuven (Louvain) next to the canal noticing a Jupiler truck in front of the Stella Artois facilities, I just had to shoot! 

"The history of Stella Artois is closely connected with the history of Leuven. The foundation of the university of Leuven in 1425, the digging of the canal Leuven-Rupel in the 18th century, two industrial revolutions and two world wars; all were events that played a fundamental part in the development of this beer town and... of the brewery Artois".
It also was the first cold morning and the Diestsestraat was empty, no clients in the bakeries yet.  This statue represents Dorre de Bakker, "a young, dynamic pre-war baker going to fetch the bread dough from his customers to put it in the oven. The statue shows that the bakers’ craft is a fine trade with a long tradition. It was made by Roland Rens at the request of the Association of Bakers and Pastry Cooks and the Friends of Baking and unveiled in 1979". 
http://www.mcon-mannheim.de/ipokrates/download/architectuurensculpturen_tcm20-26725.pdfhttp://www.leuven.be/en/tourism/visit-leuven/breweries/inbev-en-stella-artois/

Too hot...

It is simply too hot to do anything, especially for us folks living in Belgium who are not used to temperatures of 35°C or more!  We are probably experiencing the hottest day of the year today, and it certainly does not feel very comfortable to sit in front of the computer and blog.... Did you know that Grimbergen, which is the name of a town in Belgium, has the fist abbey beer museum in the world - and more importantly it has a room for tasting the beer.  Lots of other interesting things to visit in Grimbergen...an abbey and basilica... Wish all of you wherever you are could taste this deliciously refreshing Grimbergen! 
http://www.grimbergen.be/Beer-Museum.html

Brusselicious (part 3 -end)

This plaque at the bottom of the sculpture pole shows the title "Melting Pot" and says that 19 faces of people represent the cultural life of Brussels: "Facial expressions of pleasure engender a sense of shared indulgence".

Enjoying mussels is one of the things to do when visiting Belgium.  Many restaurants in Brussels, especially those located around the Grand Place, have them on the menu. 
I agree that Belgium can not claim sole propriety to mussels and fact is that the origin of the served mussels often is to be found in France or the Netherlands. Nevertheless,  Belgians consider moules frites, or mussels with fries as a national dish which is of course the reason why I show them to conclude my little series on Brussselicious.
http://culinarytravel.about.com//od/internationaltravel/tp/BelgianFoodieGuide.htm
http://www.foodwise.be/2012/05/mussels-with-belgian-fries-for-food.html

Belgian beer in Los Angeles

                                    photo: courtesy of Marla

Jenna and her friend Collin photographed by Marla, Jenna's mom, at Wurstküche, "an exotic sausage grill in Downtown Los Angeles Arts District & Venice Beach", serving a large selection of Belgian draft and bottled beers, as well as Belgian fries.

When I saw this picture on Marla's facebook, I just knew the big glasses had to be filled with Belgian beer. 

http://www.wurstkuche.com/

Belgian beer

Jim and Bob travel to Belgium on a semi regular basis in connection with the beer business. A certain number of years ago, when Jim was a student in Brussels he discovered the delights of Belgian beer. Impressed by the quality and variety of what he found here, after returning to his hometown Austin, Texas, he started a business importing Duvel into Texas. Jim returned last Sunday with his business partner Bob. It was great fun meeting them on the first day of their business journey for pitta and... what else... Duvel and Kwak.

Authentic Beverages CO Inc

3500 Gonzales Street

Austin, TX 78702-4017 
ral@artisanalimports.com

Men in the bar on a Sunday afternoon in summer

When I passed by this café, I hopped in and out with my camera, my goal being not to frigthen these men in a row, who seemed quite happy with their beer in the tranquility of the place which, I am guessing, must be a very familiar spot to them. I therefore used no flash and the bar was rather dark. But still I got these guys and, even if the result is rather blurry,  the atmosphere is there and the phenomenon is rather Belgian. Also, I can't help but wonder when scenes like this will be a thing of the past.

Kwak, Leffe, Duvel and the others

There are so many Belgian beers and not being a connoisseur, I would not have an idea where to start.

To me the glasses that the different beers are served in are at least as interesting as the beer itself.  My favorite glass is the Kwak glass. When ordering a Kwak, the glass comes on a wooden stand because the glass, with its round button, would not stand by itself. 

"According to the Kwak website: “In Napoleon’s time, Pauwel Kwak was a brewer and the owner of the De Hoorn inn (near Brussels). Mail coaches stopped there every day, but at that time coachmen were not allowed to leave their coach and horses,” “As a result, the inventive innkeeper had a special Kwak glass blown that could be hung on the coach. In this way, the coachman had his Kwak beer safely at hand.”
 http://www.bestbelgianspecialbeers.be

http://bestbelgianbeers.wordpress.com/2007/12/20/kwak-a-belgian-beer-in-a-unique-glass/

Wiels, outside

For some reason, I refer again to the Finnish au-pairs. On April 29 I wrote about Anna and her friend from Finland who stayed in Belgium 10 years ago as au-pairs and returned recently for a touristic visit. Readers asked what they thought and whether things had changed or rather remained more or less the same. Anna answered : 

"I must say that the best parts of our trip were the art exhibitions, especially the newly(?) opened Wiels centre (http://www.wiels.org/site2/home.php). I recommend it to everyone! The whole building itself is very interesting too. I just love seeing the love for artistic experiments all around Brussels. I didn't notice that in 2000, so maybe things have really changed!"

Wiels used to be the home to an old brewery, Wielemans-Ceuppens.

Brewer Léon Wielemans asked a friend, architect Adrien Blomme, to design and build the buildings of his brewery in Forest. The buildings date from 1931. 

A center of contemporay arts opened in the brewery's building a few years ago.

The remnants of the old times are still to be seen in surrounding buildings. 

http://www.beercapital.be/otherstuffDetail_EN.aspx?id=1017

Tomorrow: posting about the inside of this magnificent example of industrial Brussels Art Deco. 

Pith helmet

A pith helmet worn with sunglasses is not exactly what one would expect on a rainy day in February in a covered shopping gallery in Brussels! Yet, he seemed the right man in the right place. No one even thought it was out of context.