Belgian Independence Day, July 21st

Yesterday, I was invited @ the Ambassador's Residency to celebrate our Independence day.
As it is accustomed - apparently - a lot of foreign diplomats and Servicemen were invited.

So, I had a hard time finding fellow countrymen to talk to...
Nevertheless, I had a good time, since the catering was perfect, and included some of our national treasures : "Fries & Beer" :-)















The setting of this celebration was the Ambassador's residency...a real architectural beauty.

The Ambassador gave a nice speech, thanking the USA for their efforts - 65 years ago - during the Battle of the Bulge, and for their relentless ongoing support. The speech was followed by both the national anthems.


One of the "more famous" guests was Greet De Keyser (a famous (in Belgium) News-Anchor that covers all U.S.-related news for the VRT (A Belgium based TV-network); Next to her (on the picture), you can find the Ambassador's Chef (Jan) who is a genious in the kitchen !!
I had the pleasure of talking to her quite a bit, and especially about the american way of life that - by the way - she loves.


Unfortunately, I couldn't stay too long, because the next day was a working day...

A night out in DC

A little thing in English this time.....to comfort our American friends. Last Friday we finally made it happen and the people we met in Mexico last year (some of them) got together to have dinner and drinks in DC.

Again food and drinks...Philippe and I are never going to get started on a serious diet, but it was great fun. We went to a Brazilian Steakhouse in downtown DC and it was an all you can eat formula...my God so many good steaks and pork chops and chicken wings and....



After dinner we tried to decide where to go for drinks...none of us really knew where to go and we ended up in Chinatown. One bar looked really great, but their draft beers were out of order and after one "light" beer from the bottle, we went our way to another location....
Well I can honestly say, that if you are from Belgium it was a little dissappointing in the quality of bars...but what the heck the company was great...

We hope to do this again real soon...the hell with dieting ;-))