Our Central Park

Yesterday I took an afternoon walk in our own Central Park and it did me much good!   Le Bois de la Cambre or Ter Kameren bos is right in the middle of the city, so all you need to do is take an hour or so and go walking around.  And when it has snowed, it's even better, because life seems slower and sounds are muted. I just sooo love the quietness of the snow. The peacefulness of nature!

6 Reasons to visit the Amalfi Coast in Italy

It's getting colder again here, so I thought about our summer trip on the Amalfi Coast to warm me up.... Plenty of reasons to go there, but here is my list!

1#  OBVIOUSLY THE FOOD : fresh fish & seafood, Setaro pasta, good local wines, gelato, aperitivo, big green olives, Campania is the Mozzarella di Buffala region, limoncello, crema con café (delicious very sweet iced coffee).... MMM!

Pasta with green peppers and fresh anchovy at PER BACCO. Best pasta dish I ever had. Vito Puglia, the owner of the restaurant is also one of the first pioneers and founders of the Slow Food movement.   We had good meals every day, but this place has it all, great location in the middle of nowhere, quiet, simple, lots of wines, delicious food, cosiness, music..... "simplicity is the essence". Slow Food is all about going back to basics, back to essence, with respect for local produce and the environment. This little gem is situated further down south in Pisciotta, in the not very touristy Cilento region on the Salerno coast.

2#  MAGNIFICAMENTE   = sea + sun + nature + Italian vibe

View from Praiano

View on Capri from Massa Lubresne

 Further south in Palinuro 

 Positano from the sea

Positano beach

3#  NAPOLI  vibrant rough city full of history and home town of the pizza

 Il Vesuvio watches over Napoli

Bagno Elena : Napoli beach

4#  HISTORY  Put on your walking shoes and explore the footpaths of our ancestors in ancient Pompeii and climb the Vesuvius.  Although I'm not particularly a fan of history, I must say it was pretty impressive.  The good way to get into it, is to start with Naples National Archaeological Museum that gives you a better insight for your Pompeii visit, then climb the Vesuvius, since it's because of his eruption that the ancient city is so well preserved and then walk on the cobbled streets of Pompeii.  

To Be Continued ...

Fresh North Sea air at Zwin

The Good Life became The Choosy Life, because it corresponds me even better I thought... So hello again and Happy 2013! A good way to start (or end the year) is by breathing in some good fresh North Sea air. Check out our visit to "Le Zwin".

Part I : At the end of November we did a tour of the Zwin, a famous nature reserve and bird's nesting paradise at the Belgian seaside. Don't forget to wear your gumboots!

That's Cadzand in the Netherlands accros the water.

There's a little zoo with birds attached to the Zwin. Here's a fantastic HooHoo owl, amazing how he turns his head 180° ...  A bit sad to see that beautiful creature in a cage, but then again otherwise we wouldn't be able to see him so close in real life ...

Part II : We ended the year with a long walk along the coast next to the Zwin. It's also a great place to bicycle. You can even walk to Cadzand when it's low tide. Unfortunaltely, it wasn't the case when we were there... You better check ahead if you wanna cross to the Netherlands. 

 Cadzand is in the back...

Of course a stop at "Le Rubens" could't be omitted after a good walk. It's a traditional place where you would go with your family and friends.  I love their pimms with canada dry, the yummy croquettes crevettes and the light and crispy waffles with cream mmm... 2012 was a very good year, let's hope 2013 will be as good :-)

ByeBye Italy

What do you do when you're just back from holiday and you still would like to be there... although home is a good place too. But we missed the sea, the food, the Italians, the beautiful nature, the sun ripened tomatoes... When getting back from our lovely summer trip in Italy, we just started cooking even more Italian dishes as usual,  to make the coming home smooth and yummy. Here are a few ideas to feel a little Italy in your house.

Refreshing summer salad with fennel, red onions, cucumber, orange and a red wine vinegar dressing.

A fusilli pasta dish with green beens, zucchini, peas and lemony salsa verde mmm!

We even found some wine from the visited region :-) (South Italy, Paestum, Cilento)

Royal bream with oven baked potatoes and fresh spinach simply drizzled with olive oil and lemon, simplicity can be sooo good!

Talking of simplicity, Mozzarella di Bufala from the Campania region (bought in Delhaize) and a fresh tomato, just with a little fleur de sel on top and a dash of locally produced olive oil we took back from our trip.

This is one of the best things, delicious pasta from Napoli, difficult to find but look for it... We are lucky, 2 shops sell it in Brussels (kismad & gaudron).

I think Italian food is my absolute favorite! Besides Belgian and Swedish cuisine and other tasty world cuisine, of course ;-)