We came, we saw, we drank beer…

Veni, vidi, vici.  We came, we saw, we conquered.

This is the apt aphorism for last Spring’s impromptu beer run to Sint-Sixtus monastery in Westvleteren—home of the world’s rarest (and tastiest) beer, the Trappist ale Westvleteren 12.

It was amusing, it was epic, it was hilarious and burp-inducing. This is what usually happens when a small band of beer lovin’ grad students (hi, Kookie and Janet!) and a willing Japanese postdoc, all from Germany, who decided to rent a car and cross two country borders (Luxembourg and Belgium), pick up another grad student from Leuven (me!) and drive all the way to a faraway pocket of polderland in West Flanders.

We saw cows along the way.

Since it’s a Trappist abbey, no visitors were allowed inside the premises, except at the beer house (located outside the abbey walls) and the visitors’ center/café “In de Vrede” (Dutch, “in peace”, referring to being “in the shadows of a monastery”).

Instead of narrating everything, I’ll just post photos, with some captions.

The abbey in the map!

Inside "In de Vrede" cafe / visitors' center

Simple monks’ fare in the cafe

 

The abbey gate

The abbey facade

Beer drive-thru!

Lining up to claim the case of beer

 

The Westvleteren 12 was the beer produced that day. We were lucky!

The beautiful beers! Left, Westvleteren 8 (a sprightlier sister to Westie 12), and the Westvleteren blond (nicely bitter)

But one thing worth noting (aside from their beers, which you can get at the café in degustation boxes) is the café’s signature item—coupe “In de Vrede”, which is a scoop of Westvleteren 12 ice cream (yes, beer ice cream!) with chopped nuts, a tiny merangue and whipped cream, served in a beer goblet with the insignia of the abbey.  Now, before you get weirded out by the idea of beer ice cream, let me assure you—it actually works!  As I’ve reviewed this beer before, the Westvleteren 12 is a heavy-bodied beer, rich with the flavor of roasted nuts and toasted caramel, possibly a hint of vanilla.  The sweet and nutty notes meld well with milk and cream, thus making the idea “beer-flavored ice cream” a real thing.

I scream for beer ice cream!

The only tedious thing about the beer run is that it’s a 2 hour drive. Long, in Belgian standards. But for a degustation box of the rarest beers in the world, and a goblet of that ice cream…the trip’s worth it!

Goodies!

 

Santé! The PhDJ Girls conquered Westvleteren!

(Photos courtesy of Janet and myself.)

 

Travel PhooD: Guinness in the Water

It was Easter weekend, and I was off on a jet plane (after a security mishap at Frankfurt International) to Dublin, Ireland, where I was to meet my good friend Lolli for a weekend of Irish revelry (and, for me, a whole weekend of English).

Ireland has a huge pub culture; Dublin’s Temple Bar (not actually a bar, but a district) sees thousands of people a night wandering in and out of the various bars on the street.  Often, the bars are packed to the gills, and the party spills out onto the street.  It’s also a great place to grab a bite to eat, and you can wash it all down with a pint of homegrown Guinness.  Guinness was first brewed in Dublin in 1759, when Arthur Guinness opened up the St. James’s Gate Brewery.  Guinness has gone on to become the world’s best-selling stout and is the most popular alcoholic drink in Ireland.  Fun fact: Student’s t-test was invented by William Sealy Gosset, a statistician who worked for Guinness in quality control and product improvement.

Guinness flowing on the Guinness estate...

But it’s not just about the Guinness.  Irish food is hearty and filling, much like German food.  The cuisine is heavily potato-based, which would explain why the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-52 caused a 25% decrease of Ireland’s population, either through death or emigration.  There’s also lots of beef and lamb, given the rolling hills and plentiful green grass available for grazing.  So what happens when you combine Guinness, potato, and beef (+ carrots + onions + garlic + parsley)?

Yum.  I had this for dinner at Quay’s Restaurant in Temple Bar.  Very filling, so I honestly didn’t need the mash on the side, but it was a nice thought.  Lolli had sausages and coddle (onions, rashers, and, of course, potatoes), which was also delicious, but looked decidedly phallic.

Sausage and coddle...

The appetisers were probably the most “interesting” part of the meal – I ordered a goat cheese and blood pudding salad, while Lolli had a boxty (potato pancake-like).  In all respects, the salad was delicious, the goat cheese warm and creamy, but I just couldn’t stomach the blood pudding, regardless of how crunchy and salty it was.  Mental blockage fail.

Complete with black, crunchy blood pudding medallions

A boxty, much better

The next day saw us on our way out west to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher.  On the way there, our tour stopped for lunch in Doolin at Gus O’Connor’s Pub.  Quick meal, didn’t expect anything special, since there were about fifty of us crowded in there.  Pay first, food brought out later is the rule here, but, considering how many of us invaded their space in about the span of 1 minute, the service is lightning fast.

Lolli had a jacket potato with vegetable ratatouille and I had a tartlet made of St. Tola goat cheese and whiskey onion marmalade…hot damn, this was good.  Wasn’t expecting it, really, but the onions underneath that soft, warm baked cheese were incredibly caramelly and delicious.  I’m drooling just thinking about it.

All warm goat's cheese and caramelized onions...

And the weekend was over, just like that.  I bought a four-pack of Guinness to take home; have since used a can to make Guinness beef stew in my slow cooker (recipe up soon)!

Parting shot

Next trip: Belgium…

 

How I won a beer-tasting contest…and encountering Westvleteren

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Please note that I’m using the famous line of the Confiteor in its original language since (a) it’s the most sacred of weeks in Christendom, and (b) I can’t believe that the folks closest to me here in Leuven (and the rest of the EU) has dubbed me the beer-queen.  Such dubious honor was given to me by my labmates when I won the beer-tasting contest a month ago.

Wait, a virtual teetotaller winning a beer-tasting competition?  I kid you not, I identified 8 out of EIGHT beers.  Here’s the proof:

There was the easy-breezy kriek (gueuze beer flavored with sour cherries), then the blond-type and amber ales like Stella Artois (very light, almost watery mouthfeel), Duvel (made me think of bitter lemons and hops), Delirium Tremens (there was something vaguely medicinal in its aroma) and Leffe blond (heavier mouthfeel, heavily hopped), and La Chouffe (almost like Duvel with its citrus notes, but has a heavier body)…then the two dark Trappist beers, Chimay Blauw (rich body, with a bitter, toasted grain flavor) and Rochefort 8 (also rich in mouthfeel, but with a sweeter, nuttier tone).

I wasn’t expecting to win the contest, but I swore to myself that I should be able to identify the Chimay from the Rochefort 8, since the latter is my favorite dark Trappist beer.  Yes, I prefer donker Trappisten bier than lager-type ales.

And speaking of Trappist beers: a few nights ago, I was lucky enough to have tasted the one of the rarest Trappist beers in the world—a brown, no. 12 beer from Westvleteren monastery.  It’s so hard to find in shops since the monks limit their production and sell only one case PER PERSON visiting their holdings.  This one was sold in De Bier Tempel in Brussels for 10 EUR.

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I know—you’re wondering if all the hype about this beer is worth it.  I say—IT IS!  Taste-wise, it’s almost like a Rochefort, but with a heavier texture, and a deeper, nutty taste mixed with burnt caramel, toasted grain and hops and creamy foam—it has “presence”.

And I had to open this with a Chimay bottle opener.  Well, they’re both Trappists.

I guess I’ve earned my badge as a beer expert, having specialized in one of the major food groups necessary for the health and sanity of grad students in Belgium–beer, waffles and chocolates.  And beer is “liquid bread”.

 

Oktoberfest Fare

Inside the Schützenzelt

Where: München, Germany

When: Annually, 16 days before and including the first Sunday of October

Prices

• 1 Maß beer = 8.80€
• 1/2 Bradhendl = 7.80€
• 1 Kaiserschmarrn = 12.10€

Oktoberfest brings together three of the most important aspects (at least in the eyes of foreigners) of Germany: beer, dirndls and lederhosen, and wurst (and other grilled and roasted forms of meat).  The Wiesn is one of the biggest festivals in the world, and starts 16 days before the first Sunday of October.

There are all sorts of types of food – mostly carnivorous – to try: Schweinebraten or Scheinehaxe (roast pork or roast pork knuckle), a variety of würstl (I like Käsekrainer, a cheese-stuffed sausage stuffed in a bun), Kasspatzn (Käsespatzle, see Kookie’s post here), Reiberdatschi (shredded potato pancakes), and Weißwurst (white veal sausage usually only eaten before noon for breakfast, also see here).

They roast whole oxen here...and then put up the name of the ox that they just roasted.

I think Joanna’s favourite was Leberkäs (corned beef and pork), while mine was definitely the Brathendl (roasted chicken).  These come in half-chicken portion right off the spit, and are still crispy-skinned on the outside, fatty and juicy on the inside, and really, REALLY hot.  The only real way to eat them is to just pull it apart with your hands – the stalls provide moist towelettes to clean your hands off after it’s all gone.

More than 700 million liters of beer are drunken each year at Oktoberfest.  For the occasion, the Munich breweries that participate in the festival – Paulaner, Löwenbräu, Hofbräu München, Hacker-Pschorr, and local favourite Augustiner – brew a special type of beer called Märzen.  This beer has a slightly higher alcohol content than most beers, a property that helped the beer keep for longer in the old days when there was no refrigeration and people weren’t allowed to brew beer in the summer (because of the risk of fire).

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit!

And of course, there isn’t only meat and beer served at the Wiesn.  For those that have a sweet tooth, there are also plenty of choices available.  Crepes, chocolate or sugar-coated fruit kebabs, gingerbread hearts (more for decoration than eating), and roasted candied nuts can be found every few feet.  Our friends also recommended that we try the Kaiserschmarrn at the Schützenzelt (literally, the Shooters Tent, one of Löwenbräu’s tents), which they said was the best Kaiserschmarrn at the festival.  An Austrian dessert, Kaiserschmarrn is fried pancake bits, usually served with some kind of sauce.  Ours came in a hot pan with caramelised raisins and toasted almond slivers and a dish of pflaumen sauce (plum sauce) in the middle.  Excellent when it’s just hot out of the oven and it’s just starting to get a little cold outside.

So, after an excellent Oktoberfest this year…who wants to come next year?

 

Travel PhooD: Thomas Haas

City: Vancouver, Canada
Location: 998 Harbourside Drive, North Vancouver; 2539 West Broadway Avenue, Vancouver
Eaten: Small hot chocolate and double-baked almond croissant
Damage: $11.08CAD

There used to be a bakery called sen5es that made gorgeous cakes in the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Vancouver.  Their head pastry chef, Thomas Haas, also did dessert consulting for the restaurant attached to the hotel, Diva at the Met (so, unsurprisingly, their desserts are also delicious!).  The Met started renovations a few years back and, as such, I didn’t ever get a chance to try any of their cakes.  However, I soon discovered (thanks to the internet) that Chef Haas also owned a bakery and chocolate shop out in North Vancouver – why not go straight to the source?

The trek out to North Vancouver was a rather long one, a good two hours one-way, so I always set aside an entire half day to go (it’s not somewhere you go on a whim unless you have a lot of free time).  I’d have to walk about 30 minutes from the nearest bus stop to the pastry shop, which was located at the end of a quiet industrial street – not exactly the place you’d expect to find a world-class chocolatier and pâtissier.

Thomas Haas is a fourth-generation pastry chef, whose great-grandfather opened the Café Konditorei Haas in Aichhalden bei Schramberg in the Schwarzwald (eng.: Black Forest) in Germany in 1918.  He is one of the top pastry chefs in Canada and has won a number of awards, and every time I go back to his shop, I’m so excited to try his chocolates.  So when I heard from my former professor at UBC that a second location in Kerrisdale had been opened, I absolutely had to go visit.

Though I really love Haas chocolates (my favourite is the vanilla with smoked Hawaiian sea salt chocolate caramel, but do try them all), the star of his pastry case has to be the double-baked almond croissant.  Out of all the croissants I’ve eaten anywhere in the world (and I’ve eaten a lot more than I care to remember), this has to be the best one.  Yes, the BEST one.  Better than Paul, better than Ladurée – I’ve never had a croissant like it before.  The outside is incredibly golden and flaky, smothered in thinly-sliced toasted almonds and a light dusting of powdered sugar; inside is a soft, sweet almond filling.  You can tell they don’t skimp on the butter with every delicious, crispy bite.

The hot chocolate was rich and silky dark chocolate with a thick layer of foam and a cocoa powder heard dusted on top.  An excellent accompaniment to any of the desserts, but together with the croissant, it was a little too much for one person.  I still felt really full four hours later.  A better idea would be to go with friend, get two hot chocolates, and split a croissant.  You’ll also feel slightly less guilty if you decide to try a second dessert. =)

The Kerrisdale location is a little more spacious and has more seating, but I still think the chocolate selection is better at the original North Vancouver location.  If you’re lucky, you might even seen Chef Haas himself!

 

Belgian Beer Review 01: Belle-Vue Kriek

I admit it—when it comes to drinking, I’m a lightweight, if not a teetotaler. Yes, I can tolerate a glass or two of wine, a single serving of beer, or a completely diluted glass of vodka screwdriver (as long as I’m the one making it). But when Kookie assigned me (via Skype, no less) this long-haul task of reviewing Belgian beers, the first thing that popped in my head was “you want a non-alcoholic drinker review beers?! Seriously?!”.

So, what has a girl who doesn’t really drink, nor even enjoy drinking beer, got to do? Start with something equally lightweight as her, in this case a serving of Belle-Vue Kriek in her current-favorite Italian taverne Friday night.

Kriek means “cherry”
Yes, you’ve read the heading right, Belle-Vue Kriek is a popular brand of cherry beer. Hm, cherries and beer…how did that happen? Simply put, the beer brew gets an additional ingredient in the form of sour cherries (which may or may not be pitted) or cherry syrup before undergoing refermentation to convert the additional sugars into alcohol. So what remains is the berry taste without the sugary sweetness, which effectively masks the bitter hop aroma and sour taste of lambic beer.

Verdict
I had my Kriek with my spaghetti mare e monti. The beer arrived first on the table, frosty cold and in a large goblet with the beer’s logo. And it’s a pretty brew, visually:

Taking the initial sip, I was impressed. It was sweet, but not cloying, with a subtle malt background and cherry notes blending nicely in the aroma and taste. And the bitter tang of hops was muted instead of masked. And no alcohol aftertaste. Overall, a light drink fitted for the cream-based pasta. And if I wasn’t aware that this had an alcohol content, I would have mistaken it for a soda, except for the really subtle flavors that no cola can have.

I conclude that, for lightweight drinkers like me (who cannot tolerate the bitterness of our local brands of beer), starting with only one serving of Belle-Vue Kriek is recommended.

 

Coffee Stencils

An afternoon in the city is not complete without stopping by Butlers.  Every so often I would set myself back a few Euros with something I don’t need but I’ve convinced myself as useful.

So when I saw this set of coffee stencils, I knew I had to have it.

I think when the boyfriend’s parents saw how much I pathetically liked these, they decided to get it for me.

Isn’t my cappuccino prettier now?

Now my mini coffee bar is complete.

It’s not a fancy machine like this one.

De Longhi Prima Donna (Photo Credit : DD Coffee)

But someday, I’ll get there.

I’m off to YouTube for some DIY cappuccino art.

 

Cappuccino with Cream?

I just got off the plane at Hahn airport after a bumpy Ryanair flight. Still feeling woozy, I went to an airport cafe to grab a cup of coffee to help me compose my disoriented self.

I asked for a cappuccino and what I received got me scratching my head.

I received a cappuccino alright. It was a decent cup, nothing to harp about. But what I don’t understand is why I got cream on the side. What purpose does that serve for a cappuccino? Any guesses?

P.S. I apologize for the bad quality of the photo. To be discreet, I took the picture using my 2 1/2 year old Motorola Razr instead of my Canon camera.

 

My latte macchiato factor

Those who know me are familiar with my enthusiasm (read: dependence/addiction) for coffee. In college, I found it enjoyable hanging out in a coffee shop, books in tow, ready to review for an exam, with a cup of caffeine goodness within reach. Those were the days when I still had my allowance and I had no utilities to pay. Nowadays, in order to reduce my latte factor, I prepare my coffee beverages at home.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

• espresso or double strength coffee
• milk
• milk frother (Milchaufschäumer in German)
• tall glass

Let the espresso or double strength coffee brew while preparing the milk foam.

Pour desired amount of milk into a glass.

Use electric milk frother to produce foam of desired height.

Pour coffee into the foam. Move the pot/moka around while pouring so that the “mark” does not look like a deep hole in your foam.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Bang for buck milk frother
This electric milk frother was given to me as a gift, but I was told that it cost less than 5 € (UPDATE: It actually cost 1 €). I was pleasantly surprised at how well it performed. Not only did I get more than double the volume, but the foam remained stiff even after I poured my espresso in.

Not bad for something that is über cheap.

Less espresso is more
What I failed to do when I took the instruction photos was to have that gradient from the milk to the coffee. Ideally, a latte macchiato should start off really white at the bottom, gradually turn into a shade of tan via a cream-colored transition, then topped off by the foam. I prepared too much espresso and dumped everything into the glass.

I have read online that only 1/2 a serving of espresso should be poured onto the milk so that the proper effect will be observed. I say it depends on how big your glass is!

OUTLOOK
There are other methods of preparing a latte macchiato. Owning a proper espresso machine with a steam nozzle could make things easier but that would render this entry moot. Besides, I tried once in the office to prepare foam using our fancy espresso machine. I was only successful in adding hot water into my milk.

An alternative to the electric milk frother would be the stainless steel milk frother (what a vocabulary huh?). One has to pump the screen inside in order to incorporate air into the milk. I own one as well but I find it too much of a bother to use the mechanical milk frother in the morning. It takes longer to achieve the same amount of foam as I would get from using the electric milk frother.

Do you like latte macchiato? How do you normally prepare yours?