Also, a BIG congratulations goes to my beautiful sister-in-law, Karissa, and her new husband, Jackson! Their wedding was yesterday and we really wish we could have been there! I can not wait to see all the pictures!!
For our three day weekend we decided to have a little vacation time in Bruges, Belgium. This small town is really a hidden gem; a place that is still mostly untouched through time and not covered with tourists. Bruges used to be a thriving city where all the wealthy people of the time (12th-15th century) would come to shop. Once the Zwin Channel dried up, the economy began to fail and the city pretty much vanished. Now we are left with the cute little city that is famous for amazing chocolate and cheese! And of course, wafels.
This picture shows how Matt and our friend, Rob Dobbins, spent most of the trip : looking at a map. It would have helped if the person that gave us the Bruges city map had told us that it was not north side up. Very confusing!!
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| Picturesque city! The weather was beautiful! |
The weather really did turn out great. The skies were a clear blue, sunny all day, highs reached the 80s; it was not at all the Europe I knew! You just have to remember that there is no air conditioning anywhere...which made sleeping at night a bit uncomfortable. We didn't get to take many pictures because our camera was on low battery and we could not plug it in the European outlets. We did end up with a bag full of Belgian chocolates, a dinner of cheese fondue, and dessert waffles served with ice cream and strawberries or chocolate syrup. After our experience there I am wondering if there are a lot of alcoholics in Bruges? Our cheese fondue tasted like it was one part cheese to one part sherry. The alcohol, of course, burned out after the cheese started boiling but the taste remained. We ended up dumping some of that out and adding the cheese that we had bought earlier. Also, we discovered that chocolate covered cherries are a little different. While the outside looks innocent, the inside contained what tasted to me like cherry flavored liquor of some sort. A small dried up cherry was found in the middle. At least I was able to pour the insides out and enjoy the rest of the chocolate! We visited ChocoStory, a chocolate museum, where we learned some chocolate tasting etiquette:
(taken from www.choco-story.be)
Chocolate tasting etiquette
- Tasting should occur in the morning when your sense of taste is at its sharpest
- Tasting amounts should be small to avoid over-indulgence and overpowering your taste buds
- When sampling, begin with white and milk chocolate before venturing into the intense flavours of dark chocolate
- Always clean your palate with water(at room temp.) or flavourless crackers between tastings
- Limit your tasting to six different pieces to ensure your palate continues to sense the subtle differences in the chocolate
- There are 5 different categories used to rate chocolate.
- Aroma
- The sense of smell makes up a large part of the sense of taste, thus indicating how chocolate will taste
- All chocolate has the basic “chocolaty” aroma, but other
common aromas or “notes” that can be found include earthy, spicy,
tobacco, licorice, grass, citrus, and even cheese !
- Look / Snap
- Good chocolates often have a redder appearance rather than black
- Grain should be fine, preferably without air bubbles
- Surface should be smooth with a silky sheen
- It should break with a clean, crisp snap, not too brittle or too soft.
- Taste
- The flavours will evolve, initial bursts, slow developers, and hidden notes
- It is best to first let the chocolate slowly melt on the tongue to release the initial flavours and slow developers, and then munch the chocolate to reveal the hidden notes
- Roll the chocolate around the tongue to reach the four zones. The top senses sweet, the sides sense salt and sour and the back senses bitter
- Flavours are commonly described in terms of earthy, citrus, dark tans, tobacco, toffee, caramel, milk, coffee, nutty …
the list can go on and on !
- Melt
- Chocolate melts at a temperature that is close to our body’s temperature… which is why it melts in our mouths !
- It should be smooth and velvety, never sticky, waxy, or sandy in the mouth
- Length
- A good chocolate is revealed in its length, the aftertaste that lingers on after the chocolate is eaten
- Poor quality chocolate quickly turns bitter and metallic in the mouth
- Good quality chocolate tastes good in the mouth a long time after eating.
So, now you can try to taste some chocolate the "correct" way!
Back in Bury we decided to visit Ickworth, a gorgeous house that was built in 1432 for the Hervey family.
This reminded me of the maze in Harry Potter's Triwizard Tournament!
In front of the rotunda
Having fun catching bubbles!
Our little picnic
Walking through the sheep yards
