Update 02/12 + Delicious Food of Gent
Dec. 2nd, 2022 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wickedaceDecember already, and the end of the year accelerating towards us! I don't think I will ever stop being surprised by the continuing passage of time.
It's been a couple of weeks since I wrote here: one week of holiday, and one week of a horrible cold picked up from a friend I travelled with. (I'm still shaking off the tail end of the latter, booo.) We went to Ghent(/Gent/Gand), in Belgium, and had a fantastic few days ambling around and eating delicious food.
The first night, we decided to run with a recommendation from the hotel concierge and check out Mémé Gusta. They only had a late table when we showed up, but we decided to wait (filling the time in De Alchemist, just down the road), and it was WELL worth it, even though we were starving by the time we got back. The concierge had particularly recommended the stoofvlees, because it's local, so we got the set menu (croquettes, stoofvlees, crème brulée) and OMG. I have never had such a perfectly melt-in-the-mouth stew. I might have to go back just for this (or at least work out whether I can cook something half as good at home).
We chose a horrible rainy day to look around Gravensteen, the castle, and I'd recommend against doing that, because it's mostly outdoors... but the audio tour was a lot of fun. It's scripted by a local comedian, so consider it more of an entertainment show than a detailed historical guide - and I didn't catch all of it, as I insisted on trying out my French listening skills instead of picking up an English one - but I enjoyed myself.
My friends liked the food at Tush, though fried chicken isn't really my thing, so this wasn't particularly a high point for me.
On the expensive end of the meals we ate, we splashed out one night at Publiek. We sprang for 6 courses (you can choose 5, 6 or 7), and they were all delicious (although, I'm sorry, Michelin Guide, but Mémé Gusta is still the winner of the week for me). Particular highlights for me were the oxtail and the cheese.
Our final day, we checked out STAM, the city museum (and we successfully negotiated the trams to get to/from it, too - thanks Citymapper & contactless payments). Ghent is a very old city! so there was a lot of history packed in here. I won't pretend I absorbed it all, but it was a nice way to get a feel for the story of the place.
Our final night, we rounded things off with a straightforward steak place, 't Koningshuis. Nothing surprising here, but sometimes it's nice to have exactly what you expect, done well.
Writing
For perhaps obvious reasons I haven't thought much on writing for the last fortnight, but before I went away I was having fun playing with the revelation that maybe I need the main character to be more of an asshole. Playing with this parallel version of the story I've had in my head has been a lot of fun, and is opening up some new routes through the idea. I still need to find a reason for the two main characters to keep interacting, but I'm trying out some side characters and chance encounters at the moment which I think will help me out there. Heading out to my writing spot as soon as I've posted this!
Drawing
It was the penultimate session of my drawing class on Monday! These last two sessions are a single sustained pose with a life model, which is super interesting. I'm not sure whether I plan to get a finished drawing out of the final session (might be nice to have something "to show"?), but regardless, I'm going to have a good time with it.
Film
Today I'm going to watch It's a Wonderful Life for the first time! I know a lot of people consider this a Christmas classic, but I only heard of it as an adult (and then refused to watch it for a while because so many people were telling me I had to see it... I get stuck on my own stubbornness sometimes, it must be really annoying to be around). This year I actually saw a couple of clips from it (thanks to the trailer at the repertory cinema), and realised I would probably actually enjoy it! So here we go - I'm going to join in with the sincere Christmas joy at last.
It's been a couple of weeks since I wrote here: one week of holiday, and one week of a horrible cold picked up from a friend I travelled with. (I'm still shaking off the tail end of the latter, booo.) We went to Ghent(/Gent/Gand), in Belgium, and had a fantastic few days ambling around and eating delicious food.
The first night, we decided to run with a recommendation from the hotel concierge and check out Mémé Gusta. They only had a late table when we showed up, but we decided to wait (filling the time in De Alchemist, just down the road), and it was WELL worth it, even though we were starving by the time we got back. The concierge had particularly recommended the stoofvlees, because it's local, so we got the set menu (croquettes, stoofvlees, crème brulée) and OMG. I have never had such a perfectly melt-in-the-mouth stew. I might have to go back just for this (or at least work out whether I can cook something half as good at home).
We chose a horrible rainy day to look around Gravensteen, the castle, and I'd recommend against doing that, because it's mostly outdoors... but the audio tour was a lot of fun. It's scripted by a local comedian, so consider it more of an entertainment show than a detailed historical guide - and I didn't catch all of it, as I insisted on trying out my French listening skills instead of picking up an English one - but I enjoyed myself.
My friends liked the food at Tush, though fried chicken isn't really my thing, so this wasn't particularly a high point for me.
On the expensive end of the meals we ate, we splashed out one night at Publiek. We sprang for 6 courses (you can choose 5, 6 or 7), and they were all delicious (although, I'm sorry, Michelin Guide, but Mémé Gusta is still the winner of the week for me). Particular highlights for me were the oxtail and the cheese.
Our final day, we checked out STAM, the city museum (and we successfully negotiated the trams to get to/from it, too - thanks Citymapper & contactless payments). Ghent is a very old city! so there was a lot of history packed in here. I won't pretend I absorbed it all, but it was a nice way to get a feel for the story of the place.
Our final night, we rounded things off with a straightforward steak place, 't Koningshuis. Nothing surprising here, but sometimes it's nice to have exactly what you expect, done well.
Writing
For perhaps obvious reasons I haven't thought much on writing for the last fortnight, but before I went away I was having fun playing with the revelation that maybe I need the main character to be more of an asshole. Playing with this parallel version of the story I've had in my head has been a lot of fun, and is opening up some new routes through the idea. I still need to find a reason for the two main characters to keep interacting, but I'm trying out some side characters and chance encounters at the moment which I think will help me out there. Heading out to my writing spot as soon as I've posted this!
Drawing
It was the penultimate session of my drawing class on Monday! These last two sessions are a single sustained pose with a life model, which is super interesting. I'm not sure whether I plan to get a finished drawing out of the final session (might be nice to have something "to show"?), but regardless, I'm going to have a good time with it.
Film
Today I'm going to watch It's a Wonderful Life for the first time! I know a lot of people consider this a Christmas classic, but I only heard of it as an adult (and then refused to watch it for a while because so many people were telling me I had to see it... I get stuck on my own stubbornness sometimes, it must be really annoying to be around). This year I actually saw a couple of clips from it (thanks to the trailer at the repertory cinema), and realised I would probably actually enjoy it! So here we go - I'm going to join in with the sincere Christmas joy at last.
