Shopping and Belgian Pub

At 5pm yesterday, Danielle and I went to the supermarket in Maubeuge. I discovered that it was in a mall that was huge! The supermarket within that was the biggest I have ever seen - much bigger than any mega mitre 10 building I've been in. By the time we'd finished looking at the shops ( and adding to my collection of children's and baby's clothes!), we got to the supermarket at about 7.15pm. It was teeming with people at  that hour on a Saturday night- families with babies as well. It was fascinating looking at all that was available on the shelves though. It's one of my favourite things to do in a foreign country. I had said I was cooking for lunch today so I was trying to find my ingredients for that as well. I often cook when I'm away but end up adapting my usual recipes because I can't find my NZ ingredients. Tinned soup obviously isn't a french thing because I've never found it here or in New Caledonia, so today my recipe has in it pureed peas and asparagus instead of chicken or mushroom soup! The range in tomato size was amazing. they can sure grow them big over here!

 

Oh to be able to have this range of cheeses in NZ!

 



 

 





After returning home we sat and had aperatifs for an hour ( rose wine with grapefruit juice - very nice! ) and then went over to Belgium for dinner in a little pub. We went to the village of Quievrain, about 15 minutes away. Half of the village is in France and the other in Belgium. In situations like this, there is a mayor for the french side and one for the Belgium side! Danielle told me to spot the difference between the two countries once we crossed the frontier. The frontier was just a concrete post in an island in the middle of the road, and as Danielle said, France is sad and sombre but Belgium is bright, happy and extrovert! This was so obvious! In the french part there were just street lamps on, nobody in sight and all very quiet. As soon as the Belgium sector came into view I could see the difference. Once over that frontier there were lots of neon lights flashing advertising various establishments, people were out and about on the street and the pubs were full. We had booked a table at the one we went to but still had to wait 20mins before we were seated. Bernard said it was easy to tell Belgian women - they are large with red faces from drinking too much Belgian beer. I could easily spot them!What a bustling, thriving establishment it was! We waited ages for dinner but I loved every minute watching the clientale come and go and listening to the conversations. This pub attracted a huge range of people of all ages. The meals were simple, influenced by local produce and value for money. I passed on the horse again though - I just can't bring myself to eat it. After hearing how frogs' legs are prepared the other day, I'm not sure I'll hurry into that dish again either!
We were home by 11pm and into bed for an early start. We were to be up on the road at 6.30am for our rondez-vous with roaring deer!