The Real Syrup from Liege

As I was saying earlier I was looking for Christmas presents…

There is a place full of little treasures that I ended up ordering from…
The Belgian Shop at www.belgianshop.com
You will be greeted by the typical beer. I’m not a beer drinker. Not a drinker at all in fact. Not very Belgian you will say… That’s ok… goes with changing some traditions for newer ones that fit more with my beliefs.
Anyway, don’t let the beer deter you from entering. There are treasures there.
Chocolates, cheeses, waffles, and all sorts of things The only thing I cringed at was the $20 shipping fee but they offered the largest selection of the widest variety of Belgian chocolates. Another site for chocolates is www.chocosphere.com but they don’t offer as many choices and they are more expensive per item so I suppose it evens out in the end, unless you only by a couple of things…

Still there were NO chachas at either site… Oh well…

But I found the "Big Nuts"
and the scrumptious "Zeros"

that Meurisse only makes during the Winter…

I can’t wait… Those melt in your mouth twice… incredible… Must try to understand…
But what am I saying… I can’t eat any of it… It’s all for the kids… well… maybe I’ll sneak a piece… Can’t hurt – I hope…

One thing they also carry that I want to share a few words about today is Meurens’ delicious Sirop de Liège.

They give “A little history”, which I will copy here. http://shop.belgianshop.com/acatalog/Sirop_de_Liege.html

Like most industies, syrup factory has its origins in traditional craft.

History teaches us that as early as the 17th century, many farmers from the Herve region had a copper boiler and a press which they used to make syrup, thus enhancing the value of the apples and pears from their orchards. That syrup was then sold at the same time as the other farm products.

The first signs of the industrialization of syrup-making started to show around 1880-1890, when steam-cooking was first tried out and hydraulic presses began to appear. These two major innovations allowed for the syrup-making of larger quantities of fruit, and this is how the first syrup-making firms were born.
Audacy and ambition

The "beautiful story" of Sirop de Liège dates back to the beginning of our century, in 1902! Clément Meurens, the first of that ilk, left his father's farm to become, as he firmly hoped, "a real professional of syrup spread".

For him, it was out of the question to make fruit spread just for his friends and neighbors.
Looking ahead, he dreamed of distributing his syrup on a big scale, without skimping on the means. To achieve his aim, he decided to install his firm in Aubel, next to the railway and the station. It immediately became apparent that with the railway he could stock up easily and directly with raw materials, and efficiently distribute his finished product. Clément Meurens was one of those ambitious men who dared to take risks and think big. He also launched himself successfully into the making of POMONA®, an apple and sugar beet syrup, together with POIRET®, a delicious apple and pear syrup, with no added sugar (these products are almost a hundred years old...).

In 1922, the son of Meurens, Clément II, joined the factory. He shared his father's attraction to business and sought to improve again the taste of the fruit spreads, trying out new mixtures and blends...

In 1937, he devised the famous recipe for the "Sirop de Poires du pays de Liège". But the war rapidly intervened, bringing with it problems of supply.

So, it was only in 1947 that he registered the trade name, nicely personalized as the "Vrai" SIROP DE LIÈGE! At that time, Clément II was also looking for an "image" to represent his brand new product. As dynamic and enterprising as ever, he did not hesitate to call on a draughtsman from Brussels who was very popular at the time, and who, in the spring of 1947, sketched the wonderful blossoming pear trees of the Aubel region that we can still see today on the packaging of "VRAI SIROP DE LIÈGE "®.

Here is their home site: http://www.sirop-de-liege.com/

Available in 4 different flavors now...

NOTHING like it in this world! MUST try!

The Guillemins Train Station – Part 2

One of my nephews came to visit my sister for a month and he thoughtfully remembered to bring some Chachas for his American cousins.
There never are enough to go around and I always go looking for more… in vain…
Yet in my cyber wanderings I explored the newspapers hoping to find something like a store ad. Instead I came across this very interesting video that explains more about why they are making the changes to the Guillemins Train station: it’s in the way of the tracks between Germany and Brussels.
A video shows the workers getting ready to demolish the rest of the building. They anticipate it will take a month to tear down the building and remove the rubble so they can move on with the work.
It is an era coming to an end… really… but this video helps me get a better idea what all has been removed. It looks like the whole neighborhood has been removed.
Wow…
This dates back to August 30, 2007.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0SlySPS518
or
http://www.sudpresse.be/import/guillemins/

End of the Year Traditions...

November in Belgium fills the stores with toys, like here, because in Belgium people celebrate St Nicolas day on December 6th… So parents start taking the kids to the stores early to meet St Nicolas to tell him what they wish for him to bring them on that day.
Unlike the American Santa who is jolly old man who lives in the North Pole…
St Nicolas is a Catholic bishop who really lived years and years ago and who had a reputation for his goodness towards children.
There are many legends about him. Here is the one I was told while I was growing up.
Harvest time was over and poor people had permission to go through the fields to glean whatever was left behind by the farmers. One family had sent their three sons who had walked quite a way from home and decided to stop at the next village rather than walk home as night time was setting in. They knocked on the butcher’s door who reluctantly agreed to let them stay the night. The man had bad intentions on his mind however as they soon found out. Shortly after a meager dinner he did away with them and stored them up in his meat locker.
Later that night Saint Nicolas came knocking on his door too. Our ‘friend’ the butcher was much more pleasant with Saint Nicolas than he had been with the three little boys. Truth is… He KNEW… He unmasked the butcher for the killer that he was and restored them to life.
Saint Nicolas often pairs up with a more sinister character, named Whipping Father, whose job it is to punish the kids who have misbehaved.
On December 5th, little children place their shoes in front of the chimneys before going to bed. In their shoes they leave a carrot and some sugar cubes for Saint Nicolas’ mule and glass of wine to warm the good man.
Stories have been told since the 12th century that a disguised Saint Nicolas goes from house to house, during the night between December 5th and December 6th to ask children if they have been obedient. Good children are rewarded with present and candy while the wicked children receive a spanking from Saint Nicolas’ companion.
In Belgium, it is also a tradition to give big Saint Nicolas gingerbread cookies, fruits, marzipan, chocolate and nuts.
There are many places you will be able to find recipes to make your own or you could purchase the mold and make your very own with your favorite recipe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculaas

Can someone ever remain totally true to his birthplace?
Is there disloyalty in establishing new traditions?
Languages become dead languages when they do not allow for the inclusion of new words, whether these words come from blending cultures or new technological developments.
So do we also doom ourselves to death when we close our minds to new thoughts, new traditions, new friendships, new futures?
mmm… Not quite sure what brought this on this morning…
I have lived in the US for almost 30 years now, have raised 5 children in the rural Midwest, have experienced annual Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with family, Deer season -which for a European is not always an easy thing to understand-, High School graduations –another odd tradition- , weddings, funerals,…
People do things differently here…
My sister seemed taken back that in Georgia the Governor asked the people of the state to pray for rain… This would not happen in Belgium…
Come to think of it, with all this mess over the Blue Orange in Belgium right now, I wonder if it had happened here, someone would have stepped in and suggested the country should begin praying that the statesmen find a way to mend fences and make things work…
That’s not the ‘Belgian way’ though… must be a leftover from the Celtic days…
But that seems to be ironing itself out… The Belgians do things their own way… that’s for sure…

The Guillemins Train Station

The Guillemins train station in Liege brings back a bag full of memories: going to Maestricht to the dentist..., going to Koln with some friends, taking the train to Luneburg (ride I thought would never end!), going to Ostend to pick up the Malle to Dover when I was 13 (with a fellow passenger's pet monkey entertaining us!...), waiting in the cafe-restaurant...

But it also reminds me of car washes when Dad would take the Simca and my sister and I marvelled at the soap covering the windows, then the water... the smell of the fresh clean car...

I also remember being forgotten there when I returned from England...

The first Guillemins Station was built in 1842. There has been a rail link between Malines and Liège since 1837, but it ended at Ans due to a steep incline (± 450 feet) which had to be negotiated in order to reach the center of the city. This incline, built by Henri Maus enabled trains to finally travel as far as Liège from 1842 onward. The method involved towing the trains from the valley up to the Ans plateau. During the descent, great reliance was placed on the brakes of the train.

The Guillemins station was considerably enlarged in 1881, then again in 1905 at the time of the World Fair. The modern station as we now know it dates from 1956.
http://www.euro-liege-tgv.be/

A century after the 1905 World Fair in Liège, when it was a dominant player in the world's industrial scene, a new monument to engineering progress is scheduled for completion, heralding a new era of promise.

This is the vast arching roof structure of the new Calatrava TGV station in Liège. Like the wing of a giant sea ray, the roof, about the size of ten football fields, will rise above the station creating a new Crystal Palace.

The station is still under construction and maybe someday it will look like this video shows. This is dreamlike... not reality... but oh how beautiful... I can't seem to picture where exactely the streets I remember will be but then again it seems this is the prototype not the finished product which is not quite up to the design...

Still... watch this video and slow down... imagine arriving into this train station... I bet Harry Potter would fancy it too...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1kwny_la-gare-de-liegeguillemins_tech

Tchantches, Nanesse and Charlemagne

The day I was born Charlemagne entered my life.
Well… not the real Charlemagne but the statue that stands on the Boulevard d’Avroy.
As my father sped past it to get to the hospital, he noticed the emperor on his horse.

Later on, as a young woman attending school at the Lycée Léonie de Waha, I walked past Charlemagne every day on my way to pick up the bus.

In October, the whole atmosphere changes as caroussels and rides of all sorst invade the boulevards and surround Charlemagne with noise and activity. Smells of Brussels waffles, roasted chestnuts, French fries (which should really be called Belgian fries, but that's another story) fill the air for a whole month.

The beautiful bronze statue reminds everyone that Liège claims Charlemagne as one of her own.

Yes, Charlemagne is also a Liègeois (born in Herstal) and the symbol of the unification of the Franks into a more defined Western European entity.

Ok, so you know Charlemagne, but what of Tchantchès? Who is he? And how does he fit in Charlemagne’s life?

Tchantchès is the epitomy of what being Liègeois is all about.

According to the legend, Tchantchès was born in Liège, miraculously, on August 25th, 760, between two cobble stones in Outre-Meuse.

The good folks who found him marvelled at hearing him sing, so soon after birth.

He was a chubby baby, always smiling, except he didn’t like water and so his adoptive father took to giving him a cookie dunked in some pèkèt then weaned him with salted herring which caused him to be forever thirsty.

Tchantchès had many troubles in his life, the least of which was not being endowed with a nose worthy of Cyrano. This caused him so much ridicule he hesitated to leave the house but the evening of August 14th, 770, he volunteered as Saint-Måcrawe, and covered in soot, was hoisted on a chair and paraded in triumph across the neighborhood. This taught him that ugliness, when mixed with wit and kindness, can be loved. From that day forward he was crowned "Prince di Dju d'là Mouse" (Prince of Outre-Meuse).

One day while walking along the Meuse River, he met Bishop Turpin and Roland, Charlemagne’s nephew. Turpin was chastising Roland over his poor grades in Latin. Tchantchès, who was ever the impertinent, interrupted their conversation and in an attempt to appease both master and student, he made this profound statement : "Yes, Lord Knight Roland, Latin serves no purpose, but it is still very useful".

This earned him an introduction before Charlemagne, and the chance to become Roland’s companion. There followed the grand expedition to Spain. History o full of interesting anecdotes showing the great familiarity Tchantchès enjoyed with Charlemagne. Tchantchès never left Charlemagne or Roland’s sides: he was ever present in private councils and on the battlefield, helping them with his good advice or his phenomenal head butts, as Tchantchès was the champion of the « soukeus de Dju d'la ».

This is how Tchantchès fought: without lance, without pick, without sword, a red handkerchief around the neck as his banner, his blue apron as his shield, his black hat as a helmet upon his hard-as-rock skull. He spits in his hands, grabs the adversary by the shoulders and wham! Right in the sternum, smacks him with his head, breaks his ribs and sends him to a better place. No armor, however strong it can be, can resist this great ram; any man hit by Tchantchès is a dead man, while he remains untouchable thanks to his blessed nose.

During the Battle of Roncevaux, Roland was overconfident and told the yawning Tchantchès to go take a nap after he had already broken the ribs of 3,000 Sarrazins. That was a big mistake. What pain our hero felt when he saw Charlemagne holding Roland’s body!

After avenging his friend’s death, Tchantchès took leave of the Emperor and returned to Liège and never forgave himself for falling asleep during the last part of the Battle of Roncevaux. He died of the Spanish flu and was buried at the very spot where a monument in his name was erected on the place de l’Yser.

Nothing could defeat him, not love, not even old age (he was 40y old when he died) Missed by everyone, he has remained the prototype of the true Liégeois: hard headed, insubordinate spirit, loud mouth, enemy of grandeur and ceremony, violently independent, but a heart of gold, prompt to engage in all noble causes.

As you can imagine this life, mixed with History, can produce quite a number of good stories.

When I was little my father took me to see a Puppet show recounting such heroic tales. of Roalnd and Charlemagne. I am not sure whether it was already called the Musée Tchantchès but the marionnettes are the same (or at least exact replicas) as those used there today.
I vaguely recall that time yet the impression has lasted to this day.

The marionnettes stood a good 3 feet high, adorned with beautiful period costumes.

It was like stepping back in the days of Guignol, when puppets were used to amuse the public, not just children.

Today the plays seem to have less appeal so the troop has increased their repertoire to include a variety of plays.

Tchantchès is my hero… I love his good naturedness and his tenacity, his loyalty and his humanity. If he is the symbol of the spirit of the “Ardent City” that is Liège, then it shows its vibrancy and its life.

It’s the end of October and kids in the US and many other places are going to celebrate halloween… In Liège, the annual October Fair crowding the long boulevards in front of my Lycée, will close soon and Charlemagne will find peace once more, on top of his steed. Another year…
http://www.tchantches.be/archives.htm

Once a Liegeois, always a Liegeois...

Ask my husband and he will tell you how stubborn I can be.
He says he knows that when I get a certain look on my face, he better move over because I'm ploughing through.
He affectionately refers to me as his "Belgian bulldog"
I don't mind.
I am Belgian, but like any self-respecting Belgian will tell you, I'm not just Belgian...
In spite of the fact that my ancestors come from all 3 language regions that make up Belgium, my heart belongs to Liege. At well over 1,000 years of age, it is a vibrant city whose past is rich in triumphs and defeats that gave Liege its character, its strength, its resilience.
Its mascott is Tchantches, also a champion of loss causes...
These past few years I have come to believe we do inherit regional traits from the areas we come from, the places where we grow up...
I emigrated to the US about 30 years ago and have since adopted this country as my own, but there are undeniable ties that often make me feel very different from the people I live with today. Sure I have an accent when I speak... it becomes more pronounced with the years, funny enough... For many years that bothered me as I strived to blend in with everyone, even though I never succeeded... Today I see it as what makes me who I am and that is just fine.
All this talk of Belgium disappearing off the political face of the Earth really troubles me.
My father felt the people of Belgium don't really care about the linguistic barrier. It's a handful of politicians who seem bound on destroying the balance...
In a world where technology brings us in daily contact with people from all over the world, and where people are building rapports of cooperation and goodwill, isn't it time the Belgians start looking at what they have in common rather than at what separates them.
Digging through their family history is bound to show there is no 100% Walloon or 100% Fleming...
Let's fly the flag of truce and restore unity so the national motto can once again prove to hold: "Unity makes us strong"
As to the blog, I'll attempt to tell you about going to school in the big city in the 1970's.
You'll see that it was not that different from school in the US...