Life: Idiotropic

May be you've heard of "The Bite" events as in Bite of Portland, Bite of San Francisco, etc... where some of the best restaurants put of tents and serve small portions of some of their star dishes. Well... tonight Kirk and I went to the Preuvenemint - essentially The Bite of Maastricht with 31 food booths ranging from caviar to Korean, Dutch to Italian, coffee, gelato and so much more... it was amazing.

Music played all day and into the night from the stage in the Vrijthof that was surrounded by enormous hanging floral arrangements and dozens of sunflowers all around the stages edge. We heard American rock and roll, German folk music, and French ballads while we were there. People crowded around the stage to watch with small bottles of wine topped with these funnel shaped tops making it easy to drink straight from the bottle. Couples dance at the event entrance. It was crowded, but not uncomfortably so... I enjoyed the sun, the ambiance, and the people watching.

These weren't just booths. Some set up with to-go style food that you could walk with or eat at outdoor patio areas near by and others set up mini restaurants complete with stylish tables and chairs, decor similar to their restaurants decor, flowers, and one had a chandelier and branches with floral vines hanging from the elevated tent ceiling. Atmosphere changed completely from booth to booth and it was really fun to see. We started with Korean - something Kirk misses from his time in Osan. He greeted them and said goodbye in Korean and for our interest, Kirk got a free bit of extra kimchi. It was relaxed and casual. From there we went to Moods with tall white tables - modern and shiny like patent leather and long benches that were soft round cylinders of black leather - sheek and modern. Kirk had a delicious Thai curry soup. I had scampi with sundried tomatoes and salad (a taste in a very small cup with an over sized toothpick to eat it - no fork). From Moods we shared a scoop of sangria sorbet served on balsamic vinegar marinated strawberries and mascarpone cream. Wow. A phenomenal flavor combination.

After moods we had Thai - chicken sates in peanut sauce and lumpia served from a stand with only outdoor seating. A patisserie caught our eye, so we did a quick stop there to taste some too-too decadent desserts served in tiny clear bowls. Then we went to Tom Miessens with bright wine themed art on the tent walls, tall round tables, and large silver bowls filled with ice and chilled champagne bottles. We each had a glass of wine and shared a cheese plate served with good bread and strawberry jam and I learned that those overly stinky cheeses are delightful when paired with a thin layer of sweet jam. The combination makes each part better.

Full, but with 5 coupons left, we toddled toward the ice cream tent, but I just couldn't bring myself to order ice cream. I was too stuffed and didn't want to feel heavy. So we opted for coffee at Coffee Lovers - the perfect end to our afternoon out. The coffee was perfect and mine was served, happily, in a real, full-sized, coffee lovers ceramic mug. A nice touch of class and the perfect comfort food.