To be avoided

Everyone and their mother loves Trader Joe's, so it may come as a surprise to learn that they sometimes sell bad food.

They do.

These are both bad:

These whole wheat bagels have a terrible texture. They are indeed crispy(er) on the outside with bready innards, but they are overall too chewy. Even after toasting you'll be reaching for a toothpick. The flavor is reminiscent of cardboard. No likey.

I try to stick with organic dairy, and I don't like "light" things, but this is the only organic cream cheese my TJ's sells. It has no flavor. It's like creamy white nothingness. Nada.

Do not buy these items and expect anyone to actually enjoy eating them.

This has been a public service announcement.

Speaking of amateur photography

"Antwerpen" This picture is so, so bad. I cut off the main point of this sculpture, which is some sick homicidal severed hand-in-hand thing up top. I kinda love this picture.

Two weeks ago I revealed that I went on a European vacation, from where my main souvenirs were pictures. Here are those bad pictures! I find them particularly wonderful.

We went from the US to Copenhagen to Amsterdam to 4 cities in Belgium then to London and back to Copenhagen then home. This post will focus on Belgium.

We entered Belgium by train from Amsterdam. The first stop was Antwerp, just a quick peep, and then we were onto Ghent. We spent two nights in Ghent, during which time there was a day trip to Bruges. After Ghent there was one night in Brussels, before the train to London. Pffhew!

First meal in Belgium was a sandwich that I knew had goat cheese and "thinly sliced beef". I took a gamble and won. It turned out to be this cured, aged, very lean cow flesh. Notice the awesome beer list and the ever-present ashtray. Lots of smokers in Europe in all age brackets. That sucks for you, Europe. Good thing you have amazing beer, food, outdoor cafe ambiance, and health care.

Looking down on Ghent from atop the Gravensteen castle. Fun fact - latrines from the middle ages still smell really bad! The castle is right up in the center of town, like the Edinburgh one. (Don't I sound like a world traveler by saying it like that? In fact, my only other time in Europe was a month in Scotland for work. In fall, just like this trip.) This one is a little dinky in comparison. Rick warned me.(Of course I mean Rick Steves. He went on our trip as well.)

And they know it! This motherfucking baby is giving everyone the finger outside the castle entry area. No explanation in English.

Like every place I went, a river runs through it. Man, there's a lot of brown in this picture.

Went to this hole in the wall gin joint and got pre-schooled in gin vs. jenever. This jenever above was the proprietor's favorite. My mouth, throat, and esophagus definitely saw the appeal. Schluuurrrpp. I only wish I got his smirky/smiley face in the photo. He was posing for it, but I worried it rude to capture his face when I only asked to take a pic of the label. If you ever see this label on a bottle for sale, buy me one! For my second jenever I asked for whatever might be smokey or wood-like, and was given this shot glass of amber comfort. If the place wasn't crammed with drunk college kids I would have asked for a pic of that bottle as well. 

Obligatory picture of weird American chip flavors when they sail overseas.

"Sauces" Gotta say, I dutifully ate pommes frites all over Belgium and none of them beat Hopleaf in Chicago. 

Lots of clothing stores for kids and lots of kid mannequins. It's like kids matter as much as adults here, even though they can't afford to shop without their parents. 

The Design Museum in Ghent was weird. It was like a hodgepodge of designy stuff. Luckily it was cheap to walk through and it satisfied my need to better understand the design of this region, which seems highly influential to the stylists and designers that I follow (i.e. like). Chevron floors anyone? We missed out on going to the better design museum in Copenhagen. Next time!

I love it when needs and artistry combine, like this fucking amazing fireplace and wall-to-wall shelving unit (which goes like 15 feet to the left and right from what you see here). Bulky and dark, yes, but that green surround? I mean, come on now.

The next time I'm in Belgium I'm going to buy A LOT more chocolate. I didn't think it'd blow me away like it did. The Belgian chocolate I've bought in the US is half as good and three times as expensive. If you buy a plane ticket to Belgium, don't leave without 50 bucks worth of Belgian chocolate, at least. Take it from me.

Lounging at the original Gruut brewery in Ghent. Gruut beers use all kinds of bittering agents in place of traditional hops (sometimes in addition to). They taste good for me. Fortifying. Like everywhere I drank, I could have stayed here a lot longer. Is this picture worth showing? No, it's junk. I just wanted to talk about the beer.

A shower to remember (in Brussels).

Here is one corner of the Grote Markt (Grand Place) in Brussels. On the walk to this square we passed a little open square and I remarked, "This is it?" No. No, Eve. A few blocks further THIS is it! It was absolutely breathtaking. When we got there (the first time) it was nighttime and a band was playing "Sultans of Swing". It brought a wide smile to my face to hear familiar English.

Gray and gold

I wanted mussels in Brussels (or anywhere in Belgium really, I just wanted a taste). Not knowing where they might knock our socks off, we went with a place Rick said would be good, affordable, and authentic. I did order the traditional style and liked them. The broth was like a celery-infused salt water. No white wine. No cream. Not too much garlic. It was simple. Quite good. And the fries with mayo? Yes please! Cross this experience off the list.

Beer! Beer was like, the point of the trip. Belgium, ahh Belgium. I like you. Since I've been back I've been stockpiling this beer that we had while in Brussels (from the brewery we toured in Bruges). 

So there you have it! Missing you already, Belgium. Missing you already.

My new winter hat

Someday... One day...

Hi, I'm perfection.

Or maybe...

Yeah, I've always been pretty amazing.

Or perhaps...

I love my fantastic life.

Who knows, really. I'd need to work out a budget before deciding to throw down on a hat of this prestige. But, AHHHHHGGLHHLLLLLHHLLL. Such beauty.

And you pick your color! Oh what an extremely important decision.

She also says:

Hear hear! I want a hat that helps top me off. The zig to my zag. The lickity in my split. My special enhancing element. 

This designer gets it. I bet she could look at me and say, this one here, babe, in this color, now let me measure your head. 

I propose a field trip to Edinburgh! Who's with me?!

Ladies to remember

The beauty of Red Butte, Salt Lake City

As we crank into November, it dawns on me that I did two major bucket-listy things this year. I drove cross-country (ok, just 50% of the way, but all new territory), and I went on a multi-city European vacation. Go me!

On travel I try not to pick up physical keepsakes. One or two small, beautiful/practical/unique things is understandable. But if I don't stumble on them naturally, or if I don't pull the trigger when in range, no biggie. I hardly kick myself for this minimalism very long.

What I know I'll always have are a few amateur pictures. Pictures that I'm so excited to capture, even though I know they have little chance of being framed. I'm really photographing a future memory jog. Oh yeah, I was there! That was beautiful!

This blog post will serve to jog a couple memories, but what about the rest?

Saying goodbye to Copenhagen

I believe the concept I'm grasping at is scrapbooking. Or scrapblogging rather.

I'm afraid the excuses I will use to not scrapbook will be plentiful.