March 29

I invited Inge to come in the mid-afternoon to meet Hans and Anneke and interview them for an article she is doing about Han’s life-story and truck driving in Belgium – for TFC’s Highway News and Good News. In this photo Anneke is helping Inge choose a piece of Belgian chocolate.

I helped get items and containers together for Anneke who was making supper for us – before Cerwin and I left for a cousin’s funeral visitation.

After returning from the visitation, Anneke had some garbage for me to throw out in the woods – carrot peelings, broccoli stems, potato peels, etc. What fun to see a crocus growing along our rock and cement block border line in the woods.

It reminded me of the quote, “Bloom where you are planted.”

There were other crocus blooming in the same area – where we throw leaves and stuff from our yard and flower gardens that decompose. There must have been crocus bulbs is some of our yard “garbage” from past years.

Back in the house, Hans was downloading photos and videos from his cell phone to a thumb drive by using Cerwin’s laptop. He needed room on his phone for the next three days. 🙂

Before long Anneke’s Belgian supper was ready.

She prepared it by cooking carrots, broccoli, and potatoes in a beef broth, and frying ground beef & pork. Then she layered everything in a 9 x 12 oven dish and covered it with fresh parmesan cheese. She really wanted gruyere cheese but we couldn’t find it in our local grocery stores. I probably could have found it in a Lancaster store, but we didn’t have time to go there. When the dish was ready, she put it in the oven for 15 minutes, then turned the grill on for a few minutes to brown the cheese.

Our table of friends made us feel “wealthy” as Inge’s country of birth is Brazil and Hanse and Anneke are from Belgium.

In Belgium, the hostess serves the meal to her guests. Passing food in a family-style fashion was a new idea to them.

I asked if the dish had a name. Anneke said it is ovenschotel. Translated into English it meant: casserole or oven dish. She said it is a popular meal because everything is in one dish.

Thank you, Anneke for the delicious meal.