Taste of Beligium #4: Horse Meat

One food I was looking forward to try was horse meat since we don't serve it here in the states. In Belgium, you can get horse meat as cold cut or as a steak. Stesi tried to slowly introduce us to it so brought smoked horse meat from the super market. It was thinly sliced and looks like salami but darker red color. They made some horse and raw minced meat sandwiches for us in the morning. The horse meat sandwich had a very unique and strong taste w/ a hint of smoky favor. The raw minced meat was really good with lots of meat favor and creamy texture. Both was interesting....

After trying the horse meat cold cuts we were ready to try the steak! Stesi says it taste as good as a regular steak but better. We'll see about that...They took us to "De Peerdestal", a cozy restaurant located in the middle of old Antwerp.

It was a bit pricey but food portions were good and the taste was great! The decor was a bit weird! we knew we were eating eating horse, they didn't have to put horse bodies all over the restaurant! We sat right under the horse head...
someone else was sitting under the horse butt...

I thought this was horse meat but ends up being salami, a complementary starter.

Sita got a shrimp croquette appetizer

We ordered fried foie gras with oysters. OMG so good!!!! I'm starting to develop a liking for foie gras after my dinner at WD50 (blog post coming soon...)

Sita and I order the duck with raspberry sauce. The sides include grilled vegetables and croquettes. The duck was so delicious! It was so juicy and tender. The sauce was a sweet with a bit of sour which goes really well with the meat. *drooling as I'm writing about it*

The boys ordered the horse steak! From a glance, it looks exactly like a regular steak...

Andy loved it! I thought it was good and very tender. *videos of our reaction coming soon* It didn't have the strong taste as the cold cut but you can def taste the difference between cow and horse meat.

After our wonderful meal, time for coffee. This place brings you a tray with chocolate malt balls and different types of sugar for your coffee:

Since we tried horse meat, why not try horse milk ice cream! DON'T DO IT... very funky! I took two bites and couldn't bring myself to eat more of it. The citrus sauce and fruits on the side could not cover the strong funky taste of horse milk. I'll stick with my cow milk desserts from now on...

Our first horse meat experience was awesome!! Thank you guys for taking us there =D

Us asking the water for tap water:
Waiter: we don't have any tap water here
Sita (to us): What do they wash dishes with? LOL
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De Peerdestal
http://www.depeerdestal.be/

Address: Wijngaardstraat 8, Antwerp

Phone: 323-231-9503

Taste of Belgium #2: Frituurs

Fri-what? ehh?? Frituurs is a traditional fast food shop that often serves fried and grilled dishes such as frites, meatballs, croquettes, fried chicken, brochette and many other foods. Basically, they deep fried everything! There are a large selection of sauces including ketchup, mayo, mustard, curry and many different others.

It's our first time eating at a frituurs. We went to Den Halt a near by shop from the Stesi. They often come here so we know it must be good stuff...

We walked in and there was a counter w/ tons of stuff you can deep fry. Most of the stuff is on a stick...

lots of sauce:

The guy working behind the counter was curious where we were from because I kept taking pictures. We found out we were the first Americans to visit them! We're so honored =D

Here's the menu on the wall:

Traditionally the frites were served in sheets of paper sometimes rolled up in an upside down cone.

mayo and ketchup (curry favor)

frites w/ curry

i can't really identify these but they were so good!!!

wow so much food!!! delicious!

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Den Halt
Bredestraat 1
2620 Hemiksem, Belgium
03 887 51 80

The Tong's Chinese New Year Feast!

新年快樂

Happy New Year!!

年夜飯 Chinese New Year Eve Dinner:
Chinese New Year Dinner

Happy New 2010! Last meal of 2009....

Sorry, no time to update but I will finish blogging and put the recipe out soon!! The ham was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD! One of the best ham I've ever made! Stay tuned.....

Summer Cocktail Party for Brother's Big 4-0

My wonderful sister in-law planned a lay back summer cocktail party for my brother's 40th birthday in their back yard. It wasn't anything big, just a simple gathering with close friends and relatives. The food and drinks were so good! And I was impressed by the little details and thought she put into the decorations and making this such a wonderful party!

Table of yummi finger foods (egg rolls, crab cakes, piggy in the blanket)and their sauces.
Other food they had but I didn't take pictures of: chicken skewers, korean style beef, korean fish cakes and some other stuff I forgot...)

delicious home made curry fish balls...
Name tags for all the food and sauces along with cute turtle chopstick holders

pretty flowers everywhere...

POG: juice with passion fruit, orange juice and guava
It was very refreshing and perfect for a summer time drink.
White sangriamore drinks...Beautiful bowl of fruit salad..

The guest "supply" table: fun activities for the kids, suntan lotion, bug spray/candle, and hydrocortisone.

mini tables and chairs set up in their yard

I got introduced to Martha's Country Bakery, OMG they make AWESOME cakes! I'm kinda glad they are so far away from me because I would seriously go there all the time, then I would gain like 100000 lbs! We had napoleon and tiramisu cake.

Happy Birthday Broo!!

Thank you, Rachael (ah so) for planning this wonderful summer cocktail party!
I love you guys!!!

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Bro's Home...

Martha's Country Bakery

41-06 Bell Ave

Bayside, NY

718-225-5200