Gent Christmas Market

The Christmas market square in Gent at night.

I finally made it to Belgium after being stuck in Heathrow for 4 hours. Our plane had a water tank leak, and after sitting in the plane for an hour they finally decided to move us to another plane – which took ages to prep. But it’s amazing to be here, and yesterday we went into Gent to see the Christmas market and to introduce me to some traditional Flemish treats. We had hot wine, poffertjes (mini pancakes covered in icing sugar), and kumpir (a baked potato removed from the oven, the insides mashed and then topped with a variety of things). Today we are off to visit family and I’m sure there will be more opportunities to make me into a “proper” Flemish girl.

Holiday tips

Tigger knows that drinking lots of water (located in the dog’s dish) is key to avoiding a hangover.

Countdown to Christmas

My dad and I have a tradition of always going to the mall on Christmas eve to get lunch, sit, and observe the chaos. Sometimes we find we need to partake in the chaos as well, but we accept that. Because we are pretty busy tomorrow (he’s playing Santa, and I’m packing for Belgium) we decided to go today. My dad commented, there are less anxious looking old men, and more youth. I guess that’s the difference between December 23rd and 24th! We did have our fair share of waiting, though, as I needed to upgrade my phone (which has been freezing and shutting off on a regular basis) and spent a good couple of hours figuring out the best way to upgrade when I wasn’t eligible to and wasn’t under warranty. End result: success and a new Blackberry Torch!

25 hours till Christmas, and 56 hours till I’m in Belgium!

Indian Christmas Dinner

Our Christmas spread, amazing Indian cuisine with some Western stuff thrown in for picky eaters.

I went and volunteered today at the Muslim Welfare Center in town, where they were hosting an early Christmas lunch for the residents, Rotary, and guests. It was a huge buffet of delicious Indian food – a lot of which I had never tried before. I have a cookbook with loads of Indian recipes gathering dust in my cupboard, and I think this has definitely convinced me to try some new things once I get back home after Christmas! It was a lot of fun, although I felt a bit useless since I didn’t know how to cook anything. I feel like I’m a decent cook until I see people actually making real food.