Abbaye d'Orval

I recently came back from an amazing honeymoon and it inspired all sorts of ideas for travel blog entries. I figured I would start with one of the most beautiful sights on our trip. While planning our trip, there was no question that we would be visiting all 6 Trappist breweries in Belgium. The first one we visited (and my favorite) was the Orval Abbey, or the Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval.

 See what I mean? The photos don't even do it justice. This monastery was constructed between 1926 and 1948. After reading in our trusty guidebooks, we learned that we would not get to visit any of the actual breweries. Most monasteries don't even let you step inside, except to attend services. Orval was different, because the new monastery was built next to the ruins of the old one, and the ruins are open to the public.

       The old monastery was destroyed by fire in 1252. We easily spent hours here, looking at the ruins and touring the small brewery museum as well as another museum chock full of artifacts located in a cave.

 

It was amazing how much was still standing after all these years. This was the chapter room where the monks would hold daily meetings. After spending hours at the ruins and the gift shop, it was time to sample the beer. Down the street from the abbey was a hostellerie that served the lovely Orval beer. Words cannot express how beautiful the surrounding area is. I could not stop taking photos at everything around me. 

Breathtaking. 

What a way to finish the Orval tour. You get to sample the beer. I love that they served celery salt with the cheese. I never would have put that combination together, but it worked with the cheese and the beer. Heaven in my mouth. For those of you not in the know, Orval has a unique flavor. It has been described as having a complex aroma of leather, spices and other earthy components. We also realized the difference in the taste from having had the beer in the U.S. By the time we drink it at home, it is usually at least a year old. The beer we had here was around 6 months old. If you have ever had Orval, you might have noticed the label: a fish with a ring in its mouth. There is an interesting story behind this: A widowed woman named Mathilde was visiting the site when she lost her wedding ring in the spring. As she was kneeling and praying for the return of her ring, a trout jumped out of the spring with her ring in its mouth. She exclaimed, "Truly this place is a Val d'Or (Golden Valley)," which is where Orval got its name. She also supposedly funded the construction of the original monastery. Whether it's true or not, it still makes for a good story...and a great beer. 

Memorial Day grilling

  Memorial Day came and we decided to have some people over and fire up the grill.  We had plenty of good food to choose from.

    
  Since it was a special occasion, we decided to make brats the best way we know how. We don't make them this way very often because they are delicious and probably not so good for us. First, we take the brats and boil them in water and butter ( or beer and butter works, too!).  It doesn't matter what kind of brat you get, but we had jalapeno and cheddar along with chipotle chicken brats.

Boil them until they are nice and cooked. Then butterfly them and place them on the grill. 

On an unrelated note: my cilantro is coming in quite nicely.

 

Oh yeah, the brats are looking good. When you butterfly them like this, they are much easier to grill and they fit nicely into the bun. So, get your lovely butterflied brat and place it in the bun like so. 

  Also make sure that your lens cap is not in the picture. Sorry.  

Add some cream cheese to the brat. Remember to make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature or this will be quite difficult to do. Piping bags work great, but if you don't have one, a Ziploc bag with the corner cut off with work just as well.

Here are about three good sized onions that have been chopped and cooked in Coca Cola until they are caramelized. They smell amazing! 

Slap the onions on there and prepare to experience the best brat you have ever tasted! 

     And since I haven't featured enough dishes with cream cheese, here is my Buffalo Chicken dip. This stuff is so addicting that I try not to make it too often.

Buffalo Chicken dip

2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese

1 small bottle of Ranch dressing

2 (10 oz) cans of chunk chicken, drained

1 cup buffalo wing sauce

2 cups of shredded Cheddar

Preheat oven to 350. Mix cream cheese and ranch dressing until combined. In separate bowl, combine chicken and wing sauce until the chicken is coated. Mix everything together along with the cheese and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips and celery.

    

Romancing the Ordinary

   Let's just get this out there: I love books. I love the smell of books. I love how they look on a shelf or just sitting on a table. Nothing excites me more than getting ready to dive into a new book and camp out for a few days. I also love to talk about books.
        I bought a book a few years back and I have to admit I started it, but never finished. Now that I feel as if I'm starting over and embracing my new life, I have welcomed this book with open arms.

In the 1980's,  Sarah Ban Breathnach was dining out when a large ceiling panel fell and landed on her head. Although she never lost consciousness, she was left bedridden for months and her senses were severely affected.  Her eyesight became blurry, music made her dizzy, and she lost her sense of taste and smell.
She gradually gained back her senses, but not after struggling with what she had lost.

This book is divided out by month and is up to the reader how often to read each month's selections. The reader gets a whole year to read and take in everything the book has to offer. Ms. Breathnach encourages the reader to fall passionately in love with life. She offers up daily experiments and recipes for everything from gingerbread to bubble bath. This book has truly helped me to sit back and enjoy what the world has to offer. I love the quotes she includes for each passage. It gives me something to think on throughout the day. Here's a good one:   
                       "And did you get what
                       you wanted from this life, even so?
                       I did. 
                       And what did you want?
                       To call myself beloved, to feel myself
                        beloved on the earth." 

                                  Raymond Carver "Late Fragment"
           

Wilted Lettuce Salad

Words cannot express how much I love this salad. I crave this dish more than any dish I can think of. I have pleasant memories of my mom making a big bowl of this salad and my sisters and I eating it with our fingers. Yeah, it's that good. And forks get in the way.

     To start off, you need a decent-sized head of leaf lettuce. After thoroughly rinsing, tear into bite sized pieces into a large salad bowl.

Get a bunch of green onions, chop them and toss them into the bowl. Put the bowl into the refrigerator to chill. Next, you want to fry up some bacon. You can use anywhere from 6 pieces to the whole darn package. I prefer the latter because bacon is amazing. The reason it helps to use more bacon is because you need to reserve 1/4 cup of the grease for the salad dressing.  Once the bacon is finished, then crumble it and add it to the salad.

 In the skillet, along with the 1/4 cup reserved bacon grease, you add salt, sugar, cider vinegar and salt. Make sure you scrape off all the delightful bits of bacon that was left behind in the skillet. Bring this lovely mixture to a boil and stir it well. Then pour the boiling mixture over the lettuce and toss. Serve immediately!

  The best part of this salad is that you get to eat it while it's warm. This salad obviously doesn't keep well, so be sure to eat all of it. In one sitting. By yourself. 'Cause you're not going to want to share.

         Wilted Lettuce Salad

1 large head leaf lettuce

6 (or more!) slices bacon

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1/2 c. cider vinegar

1 1/4 c. water

3 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Rinse and drain lettuce thoroughly. Tear into pieces and put into large bowl with onions to chill. Fry bacon and reserve grease. Pour grease into measuring cup. Take skillet and pour reserve grease into it as well as vinegar, water, sugar and salt. Heat mixture to boiling and stir well. Take bacon and crumble over lettuce. Pour boiling mixture over lettuce and toss. Serve immediately!

 

"April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go." Christopher Morley

Spring has started and so has all the things that go with it. I recently bought a new (to me) camera and am enjoying myself by taking pictures of everything around me. It's kind of interesting how you start to see everything in a different eye. I am currently obsessed with photos of flowers and my cats. I'm new to this- forgive me.

 See? Flowers.

And a cat.

This is a tree, but you get it.

Yup. Another cat.

I tend to take photos of what's around me. So, I guess this is a good excuse to get out more. You know, not because sunshine and fresh air is good for you and all that. I just don't want people to think I'm a crazy cat lady.