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At last, they got married! Last Saturday I attended the long-awaited wedding of two of my best friends: Yves and Sofie. The intimate church ceremony was held in the 13-15th century church of Our Lady, with its cosy, almost dollhouse-like 17th century interior, set in the tiny little polder (reclaimed land) village of Meetkerke, West Flanders (B).
We’ve all been friends since university (1994-1998), when we studied archaeology together. Yves and Sofie -or [i:f] and [fi:] as we fanatically phonetically call them- were a fab couple form the very start. So, to many this marriage may seem as just the icing on their already very yummy cake. But it sure made them shine as never before!
Thanks, Sofie and Yves, for a lovely day. We really had a great time: meeting old friends, sharing memories, indulging in great food and drinks, dancing till we dropped and most of all… seeing the both of you enjoying every second of it. Godspeed in all your future endeavours!
VROAAARRR!!!
Archaeology has inspired some poets to go lyric on lithic (or any other period for that matter). Nobel Prize laureate Seamus Heaney (The Tollund Man, Viking Dublin…) is without doubt my personal favorite.
Here’s my attempt at writing some poetry on archaeology. I wrote this one poem (RV 98) about ten years ago, just after graduating university. Originally written in Dutch, I recently translated it. The poem focuses on an archaeological excavation (my first as a full-time paid archaeologist) on the premises of my former boarding school, situated in the village of Rotselaar, Belgium. We struck upon the ruins of the late medieval Cistercian abbey Vrouwenpark and its graveyard with the remains of some 200 nuns. I worked there for about six months in 1998 and 1999.
I had stayed at this Catholic boarding school for six years (12-18 years old), finishing secondary school. Although I met some really great teachers there and the atmosphere sometimes resembled that of Dead Poets Society (Touchstone Pictures, 1989), I generally felt misunderstood, very restricted, patronized and not being able to express myself. While excavating I saw something of a parallel between the life and death of these nuns and the feeling of constraint that I had experienced while staying at this boarding school. Fortunately I got away, but they never did.
Onverstoord graven naar maagden In het jaren verboden park. Undisturbed digging for virgins In the before forbidden park. Vastgeworteld in de oksels Van hun kerk, hun kerker, hun cel. Vastgeroest in de rosse grond Verloren zij hun vlees, hun vel. Deeply rooted in the armpits Of their chapel, their gaol, their cell. Rusted down in their ruddy turf They all lost both their flesh and fur. Vastgegroeide diamanten In hun knokige idee-fixe. Vastbesloten weer te keren Met in hun hand de crucifix. Diamonds lay encrusted Within their knuckly fixed idea. Firmly bent on coming back Clutching at their crucifix. Dieper dringt de zware spade In het verjaarde bottenpark. Deeper digs the heavy spade Through the former bone yard park. Wie had toen ooit kunnen denken Dat we jaren eenzelfde lot Deelden met hen die daar liggen Gevild, ontvleesd tot op het bot. Who would have ever thought Of us sharing the same fate With those who rest in peace All skinned and thoroughly boned. Na zes of zeshonderd jaren Bevrijd uit het bevroren park. After six or six hundred years Freed from the frozen park.
Presenting my mum and dad’s specialty! They own a butcher’s shop and produce a wide range of traditional meat products, one of them being the famous blood sausage. It’s known all over the world, especially in Europe: in France they call it boudin noir, in Germany it’s Blutwurst, in the U.K. and Ireland you can have black pudding for breakfast… Its origins lie in traditional slaughter, utilizing every single part of the animal and certainly not wasting its very nutritious (lots of proteins, minerals and vitamins) but perishable blood.
What’s really astonishing is the vast variety of recipes for making blood sausage. It seems every country, every little region has its own traditional recipe. The basic recipe for blood sausage uses only blood, seasoning and a filler. Most often pig’s blood is used. Bread, barley, rice, oatmeal, buckwheat or even sweet potato can serve as a filler. In Western Europe the seasoning is rather limited, but in both Southern and Eastern Europe some very typical spices are used, e.g. in Hungary I once tasted a delicious little sausage made with blood, rice and lots of sweet paprika powder. Sometimes even ingredients like raisins, onions or pine nuts are added.
My dad’s recipe is fairly simple. The recipe was passed on by his grandparents, so it really has been in the family for quite some time now. It contains fresh pig’s blood, cooked pork and rind, stale bread and some spices. The cooked meat is minced and then mixed with the other ingredients into a dough. The natural sausage casings (outer lining of the pigs intestines) are stuffed with this dough and finally the sausages are slowly cooked at low heat.
In Belgium and France, the traditional way of eating blood sausages is gently browned in butter and served with applesauce. Instead of using applesauce, my mum serves them with baked apples. She cores the apples and cuts them in half, bakes them in a pan with some lard and finally adds a few tablespoons of brown sugar and a cup of coffee, creating a sweet caramel sauce. It’s the balance between the mineral flavour of the sausage (because of the blood’s high iron content) and the sweet and sour taste of the apples that makes this dish so great.
Although by many regarded as a rather dull and old fashion product, the blood sausage is making its comeback in Belgian cuisine, e.g. I ate it once in a Michelin star restaurant where it accompanied a fillet of rabbit and a well seasoned pumpkin mash. Heavenly! The sweet and sour of the pumpkin worked perfectly with the sausage and the blood sausage in its turn gave the rabbit a little taste of the wild. A part of our culinary heritage restored! Bon appétit to you all!
1st Edition, May 2008
N – Neuhaus: Inventor of the Praline (1912), the famous Belgian chocolate delight with its creamy filling and thin chocolate coating. I must confess, I’m a bit of a chocoholic myself.
O – Olympic Games, 2008 Beijing: To boycott or not to boycott, that’s the question. While our politicians are still making up their minds, our athletes are busy doing their warm-ups.
P – Pastry, on Sunday: In Belgium most bakeries are open on Sunday morning, selling fresh pastries, sweet pies and crispy rolls. Hmm… very tempting! And the bakery is right next door.
Q – Quote: Ilya Prigogine (1917-2003), Belgian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize Chemistry 1977: “The future is uncertain… but this uncertainty is the very heart of human creativity”.
R – Rock Werchter: Music festival, held every year in the little village of Werchter (Belgium), received in 2008 the ILMC Arthur Award for Best Festival for the fourth time in five years.
S – Surrealism: Painter René Magritte is Belgium’s best know surrealist (Ceci n’est pas une pipe), but I’m convinced that all Belgians by nature carry a chunk of surrealism within themselves.
T – Tintin: Comic book hero Tintin (a young Belgian reporter who’s adventures started in 1929) and his creator Hergé are known all over the world. Their albums are translated in over 50 languages.
U – UFO Sightings: On several occasions in 1989 and 1990 all across Belgium people reported having seen a UFO. The sightings where confirmed by radar stations and chased after by F-16s.
V – Vineyards: As a result of global warming, Belgian wine making is now a growing business. The Hageland and the Hesbaye region are producing mostly white wines, some even with AOC label.
W – War: Many battles were fought on Belgian soil: Napoleon’s Waterloo in 1815, the Ypres Salient during WW I (In Flanders Fields…), the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive) during WW II… probably making Belgium Europe’s number one battlefield.
X – Xenophobia: The success of the extreme right-wing anti-immigrant Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party resulted in the widespread idea that Belgians are inhospitable and xenophobic.
Y – Youth delinquency: We’ve seen an increase in juvenile delinquency, from throwing rocks to even stabbing a student for his MP3 player. Why the f*ck are all these kids so f*cked up?
Z – Zaventem: Village where Brussels Airport is situated, which in the past few years was proclaimed several times as Best Airport in Europe. My number one gateway to the rest of the world.
1st Edition, May 2008
A – Africa: King Leopold II and the Belgian Government colonised the Congo until 1960. That’s why many Belgians still feel somehow connected to Central Africa, e.g. through a relative who worked there as a missionary or an entrepreneur.
B – Beer: It’s not the amount being consumed but the large variety of beers (1000+) that makes Belgium a top beer country. My personal favourite: Orval, brewed in a Trappist monastery.
C - Caterpillar: In summer the poisonous hairs of the Oak Processionary Caterpillar are causing a new and growing public health problem. Should have something to do with climate change.
D – Damien, Father: Was voted De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian) in 2005. Since the Vatican in 2008 attributed two miracles to him, he’s just one step away from canonization.
E – Expo 58, 50th Anniversary: The first major world’s fair after WW II was held in Brussels (Belgium) in 1958 and ushered in a new and promising era of progress, wealth and comfort.
F – Fashion: Since the 1980s, Belgium plays a distinctive roll in the international world of fashion, with designers as Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Raf Simons and Véronique Branquinho.
G – Government: Due to major disagreements between the Dutch- and the French-speaking parties after the latest general election (June 10, 2007), Belgium was left without a Federal Government. The situation continued for months, until December 23 (2007) when an interim Government was formed. A new Federal Government came into office on March 20, 2008.
H – Health care: While struggling to meet the future demands of an ageing society, Belgium still has one of the best health care systems in the world. To me, there’s no better place to fall ill.
I – Iguanodon: Skeletons of this dinosaur genus are on display at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Discovered in 1878 in a coal mine near the village of Bernissart, Belgium.
J – Jazz Middelheim: This open air jazz festival is set in a beautiful park near the Antwerp city centre. Lots of (inter)national artists, a lush green backdrop and a super relaxed atmosphere!
K – Kermis: Originally the feast of the patron saint of the local church, now a travelling funfair with a merry-go-round, air rifle shooting, fishing rubber ducks and lost of French Belgian fries.
L – Lighting, Street: No country has as much street lighting per sq km as Belgium. Astronauts are reporting a bright Belgium shaped spot when they look at earth through their spacecraft window.
M – Mechelen: Situated between Brussels and Antwerp. The city where I currently work and one of Belgium’s best kept secrets. The historic city centre with its St. Rumbold Cathedral, 16th century city palaces and lots of cosy corners is certainly worth a visit.
This postcard dates from the 1920′s. It shows the little village of Holsbeek, Belgium. Marked with a red circle is the house I currently call my home. Amazing how much history got packed together in this one picture. In the middle you see the church of St. Maurus. The church was destroyed on December 28, 1944 (during World War II) by a German V1 flying bomb, but was soon after rebuilt. The five cent stamp shows a picture of King Albert I (1875-1934) who died in a climbing accident in Marche-les-Dames, Belgium (Ardennes region). The hilly terrain you see appearing in the distance, as well as the hill the photographer was standing on when he took this picture, are in fact the remains of a series of sandbanks left here by a prehistoric sea arond five million years ago. In between lies the Winge valley, known for its Early Mesolithic sites dating from about 9500 BP. The house you see in front, the one with the little dormer, used to be a corn mill. The mill also produced electricity for street lighting. The house I’m living in used to be a pigsty… and honestly, from time to time it still looks like one.
