A Culinary Journey Through Belgium and Paris

This weekend, I'm planning on making my first Daring Bakers challenge. Since I can't post that here for another couple weeks, I'm going to post some of the interesting foods and desserts I had/saw in Belgium and on a side trip to Paris over the past five weeks.



I've never seen so much fresh bread in my life. This store sold pretty much only fresh bread and had multiple locations in Brussels. A large loaf was only about $3 and sooo good.


Chocolate was more than plentiful in Belgium. These are some photos of a chocolate shop in Brugge, I believe.

I was amazed by the complexity of some of the chocolate designs, especially this rooster.

Chocolate Manneken Pis. The Manneken Pis is this little statue in Brussels of a little boy peeing that people there just love and tourists go look at it all the time. He's on tons of key chains, etc, and apparently, you can purchase a chocolate version of him.

Handmade pistachio truffle from Planet Chocolat...yum.

They made us a Clemson chocolate for our visit to Planet Chocolat! The whole thing is seriously all chocolate.

Fresh olives on the street.

Belgium is famous for its waffles. I can't say I was crazy about waffles before I went to Belgium, but now I definitely love them. Theirs are a lot sweeter and crisper than the traditional American recipe waffles. And the toppings are great as well.

Unfortunately, I can remember the name of this treat, but it was really good. It reminded me of an Italian cannoli, except the filling was a plain chocolate creme.

Mocha eclair. Both the filling and the frosting were mocha flavored...

Javanais...layers of vanilla cake and coffee flavored creme topped with chocolate marzipan frosting.

Taking a break from sweets, here are some traditional Belgian "frites," topped with the current "speciale" sauce: a mix of mayonnaise, a red sauce, and chopped onions.

Handmade pasta in Paris

For my first lunch in Paris, I ordered a crepe...they cook the egg right on top of the crepe.

Adding salmon and cheese....

Some of the best-looking pastries I've ever seen at a Parisian boulangerie. I had a pistachio macaroon and it was amazing.

Well, hope this entry was interesting. I definitely liked seeing all the different foods being served in Europe, especially different desserts. I wish I could make pastries like the ones I saw in Paris...