Bonjour!

Back from lovely Leuven in Belgium, where our friends just got married. Love it there; the colours of the changing trees seem more pronounced and the sky was so blue. Life takes on a more relaxed pace there; everywhere you look, people are strolling, riding by on bikes or in groups at the outdoor cafes. They have beautiful architecture, the best chocolate, the glorious Waffle, not to mention the beers! What's not to love?

Aside from this, ordinary ingredients are treated with respect - the meat is tender and fat-less, vegetables are ripe and full of flavour, wine needs no additives. Seasonality seems to be the key.

I love domestic train journeys, getting to see into the life of a place from a different angle- even your town and surrounding area seems to take on a different, secret face. In foreign countries, once the nervousness of getting on the right train is over, you see the real country - that which is not tidied up for tourists. It is wonderful to see peoples' back gardens and somehow it's as though you have called to a friends house unannounced. Between Brussels and Lueven we saw many gardens split into 2, part flowers and lawn, part allotment. It was great to see. (Is it sad though that it made me miss our plot?)