In 1958 there was a world fair in Brussels. You could catch a glimpse of how at that moment in the world Sat Many countries established themselves there. A little to notice, was built specially for the World Exhibition in Brussels, the Atomium. It was a very special structure and really only meant for the exhibition. But nearly half a century later, the Atomium still. A little dilapidated, but the nine spheres were restored in 2003 to 2005. It took up 27.5 million euros. Shiny balls had become dull. Blinken Now they do, they also now include all lights on the outside. The Atomium is now already 51 years.

lot's of love Bedran x

The fries

Hello everyone!

Let’s talk about food, something that I think everybody likes (when it’s not food you find awful :p). I’m going to tell you about one of my favorite kind of meals/snack: The (French) fries. It’s typical Belgian food.

History of the fries

It all began around the year 1680. The people of “Namen”, “Ardennen” and “Dinant” had the habit to fish in the Maas, which is a river that goes through the Netherlands, Belgium and France. The smallest fish were cooked in oil. When it was freezing or too dangerous to go fishing they would cut potatoes in shapes of small fish and cook those in oil instead.

The name “French fries” may make you think it’s food from France. The reason for that name could have two possibilities. In English you have the verb “to French” which means “Cutting”. The Americans translated it to “French fries” because the people of the region spoke French.

Around 1900 Fries were known in whole Belgium and it was time to let Netherland know about them too. In 1905 was the first time that there were fries in Netherland, on the faire of Bergen at Zoom. The success of the fries traveled with the faire through whole the land and so it made it became well known there too. While in North-Netherland and Utrecht they call them “Vlaamse friet” (Friet is Dutch for Fries) in the rest of Netherland do they give it, to us Belgians odd, name “Patat” (Basically you could translate it as “Potatoes”).

Frituren

In Belgium you got many ‘Frituren’. It’s a place where you can go to eat fries and hamburgers or other kind of meat and fish. It’s not a restaurant, however. You could compare it with a McDonalds, though it is healthier, smaller, and each “Frituur” works for its own, unlike McDonalds, which is a company.

How are they made?

It is rather easy to make them. For four persons you’ll need around 2kg potatoes. You first cut them in long pieces. You can choose if you want them thick or thin. Belgian fries are 1 to 6 cm long and 1 cm thick. Once they are cut you put them in fryer, with oil that’s on 150 °C. Then you bake the fries for the first time. It takes about 7 to 8 minutes, when they make a “shshshshshs” sound it means you’ve got to pull them out right away. You can do this a long time before baking them for the second time, because when they’re cooled off they’ll be crispier. Baking the first time is crucial for a good result. Then you do a second time, this you do just before you serve them, on 190 °C for a minute. After this you can serve the fries, together with the rest you’ve made for dinner!

Tips for when baking:

1. Never put too many fries in the fryer. It’s better to do small bits at a time.

2. Especially for the second baking, stay with the fries, or else they might end up uneatable.

3. When you’ve cut the potatoes you can keep them in water, that way they won’t get bad before you start baking them.

Manneken Pis

Manneken Pis is a statue in the center of Brussels and represents a boy that pees. The 58 cm big guy on a pedestal is placed at the corner of the oven and Eikstraat Street, not far from the Big Market. It is a bronze statue that Jerome Duquesnoy, in 1619 commissioned by the city government, has made. It is a decoration of a public fountain which looks like a urinating little boy. According to a legend a little boy had been urinating against the door of a witch who lived at the spot where the fountain is now. The witch was so angry that she tuned the little boy into a statue.For special occasions he pees beer or wine instead of water.
His extensive wardrobe of more than 700 costumes is known worldwide. His first dress was on May 1, 1698 given by the governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria, on the occasion of the celebrations of one of the guilds of Brussels. Still, every opportunity was taken to give the Manneken a new costume. The clothing of the Manneken is carefully kept in the museum of the city on the Grand Place. His jacket length is 25 cm, 26 cm length of his pants. His wardrobe has among others an Elvis Presley-costume, football uniforms, a Mickey Mouse outfit, and many others.

Hadise - singer in Belgium

Belgian Chocolates

Everyone knows what chocolate is. It’s tasty, good and especially addictive.
Do you know Belgian chocolates ? Belguim is famous for it around the World.
Below, you see pictures of our famous Belgian chocolates.
In Belgium we have many factories that produce chocolate.
For example : Côte d’or, Callebaut, Zero, Leonidas, Chocolade Jacques, …
Making chocolate, takes a long time. Because the the cocoa beans have a very long way to go.
They come from warm countries. Then we have to do this things:
drying, burning, grinding, pressing and prepare.
Then we can enjoy a delicious piece of chocolate.
Hmmmm !
And you ? Do you also like chocolate ?

Herman Van Rompuy

Herman van Rompuy was born on 31 October 1947 in Etterbeek, he’s married, has 4 children and he’s a grandfather. He’s a Belgian Flemish politician and member of the Christian democratic party. He was our prime minister from December 2008 until December 2009. On 19 November 2009, Van Rompuy was chosen to be the first full-time President of the European Council. Herman van Rompuy is known in Belgium for making his own Haiku’s (some sort of poem).

Elise Crombez

Elise Crombez was born on July 24, 1982, she was born in Moeskroen and became a Belgian supermodel. Crombez grew up in Koksijde, West Flanders,this is also the region where we live.
In 1999 she was discovered by the contest Miss Mannequin in Roeselare, in which she took part with a friend. She took more than ten times the cover of Vogue, both English and Italian.
She became the face of brands such as Prada, Jil Sander, Helmut Lang and Ralph Lauren.
In 2003 she was the face of H &m.
Furthermore, she walked shows for Giorgio Armani, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Calvin Klein and Dior (designer: John Galliano).
In 2002 she was in the top five most popular models.
Lot's of love
Kristina

Typisch Belgisch: Bier

Lots of love, Lynn