Taizé

Have you ever spent a week at a monastery in the middle of nowhere living with the Monks, doing absolutely nothing but eat, sleep, and pray?

I  have =]

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First Snow

It sure took its time getting here. It would have been nice to have a White Christmas. Still, better late than never. =]

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Mmmm, Yummy :)

I'm starting to really like the way these Belgians do Holidays. When they take vacation time, there is no messing around. They take that stuff seriously. None of this "three-day-weekend" nonsense, no sir! If they're gonna take a break, they are gonna take the entire week, gosh-dangit! Heck, while they're at it, why not take two? :)

But even better than that is the way they find any excuse to include FOOD as part of the celebration. Just imagine, and entire nation of people who share my love of guzzle and grub! (And I'm talking about GOOD food, so no, the U.S. does not fit into that category.) In fact, these people love food so much, they have dedicated two separate holidays to it. That's right, not one, but TWO holidays.

Lets start with Freaking-Awesome-Food-Related-Holiday-Number-One: La Galette du Roi. Literally translated that becomes "The Kings Cake". So here is the deal: you go out to the bakery and you buy a cake. But be careful! This isn't your average, every day cake! No, this is a very special cake with a very special surprise waiting inside.

The game is simple. Everyone gets a piece of the super special cake. Everyone eats their slice of the very special cake (very slowly and carefully, just in case the special surprise decides to break your tooth or. . I don't know, choke you or whatever.) The person who find the special little surprise in their piece is crowned Le Roi (the King) for the day.  Awesome, right? =] The idea behind the holiday actually celebrates the day when the three Kings found the stable with the newborn baby Jesus waiting inside, but now that most of Europe is non-religious, its pretty much just an excuse to eat cake.

All hail King Alexander and Queen Maman-D!

Now on to awesome-food-related-holiday-number-two: La Chandeleur. Or as I like to call it, "Stuff your face with crêpes day". There really isn't much more of an explanation that I can give. It is simply a super special day where it is socially acceptable to eat ridiculous amounts of crêpes until you are to the point of bursting. (Good news for people like me who would gladly do that anyway ;) 

The trick with this little holiday is about luck. Apparently if you manage to flip the very first crêpe using only your right hand, you will have good luck for the entire year. HOWEVER. . . there is a catch. You must roll up the magical-luck-bringing-crêpe and place it above your refrigerator. Then you leave it there until "La Chandeleur" of the next year. (I don't know if having a rodent problem is their idea of good luck, but it seems to me like that is the only thing that "magical crêpe" is going to bring sitting up there all year. But that's just me.) 

Honestly though, this country is so perfect for me its almost spooky. Or at least, it would be if I wasn't so busy loving every minute of it. I mean, a national holiday dedicated to eating crêpes all day? You may as well just name the Holiday after me. =] 

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