Fri., May 29th Sarah's Grand Leez Walk

It was a bit of a drive out the E411 (exit 11) to Grand Leez but well worth the effort on such a lovely spring afternoon. There we met up with our leader and hostess, Sarah and doggie, Rasta, in front of their farm home and began our walk from there. We wandered through lovely farm lands, saw animals and the ancient Moulin Defrenne where we stopped for a group photo. As you can see we are pretty well dwarfed by the more important view.

Fri., May 29th Sarah's Grand Leez Walk

Öur thanks" to Yuko for this lovely shot of the ladies walking through the high waves of grass!

Fri., May 29th Sarah's Grand Leez Walk

The blue skies remained with not a cloud in the sky as we continued our walk under Sarah's lead. We stopped in the sculpture park for the group photo and Sarah remembered to bring some carrots to feed the animals as we came toward the end of our outing today. What glorious spring weather we have enjoyed!

Fri., May 29th Sarah's Grand Leez Walk

Back from the walk we met up in Sarah's kitchen where she took charge (black top) and advised us what we could help move out to the back terrace where we were all to gather.

Fri., May 29th Sarah's Grand Leez Walk

With the wind blowing and still quite active we settled around Sarah's picnic table out on her back terrace under the seemingly painted blue Belgian sky to indulge in her delicious offerings. Here we also met up with Sheila and her "Philosophers" ... Martha and an "old" friend, Lydia, a former very active walking member who came to discuss plans for the upcoming Alumnae Weekend (June 19 - 21) when we will celebrate 20 years of WIC Walking! It was a lovely afternoon to sit outside and enjoy the delicious sweet cakes ... chocolate and rhubarb as well as a savory one, too! "Many thanks" Sarah for not only the walk but for arranging the lovely weather to accompany us today as well as your delicious desserts and liquid refreshments, too. Sarah has been kind enough to pass on her cake recipes, too, which we will make available to all of you via email. Because of space concerns we are only posting one here! We look forward to a return trip to Grand Leez over the summer.

Sarah's Rhubarb Cake with Nuts & Soured Cream Topping ... YUMMY!!!

Topping:-

15gr butter

100gr Cassonade graeffe
100gr mixed nuts chopped roughly
1tsp cinnamon

Cake:-

100g butter at room temperature

250gr cassonade graeffe
1 large egg
225gr plain flour
1 sachet baking powder
2 x142ml cartons soured cream
300gr rhubarb chopped into 1cm pieces

Oven 180C/gas 4/fan 160C
Line 33x23x5cm tin or grease similar sized dish if you want to serve as a pudding
Melt the 15gr butter & mix with castor sugar, nuts & cinnamon. Set aside.

Cream the 100g of butter with the sugar till light and fluffy. Add the egg and a spoonful of the flour and whisk that all together. Add flour, bicarb & soured cream. Stir in rhubarb.

Pour mix into tin & sprinkle with the topping mixture.
Bake 30-35 mins until skewer comes out clean.
Serve immediately as a dessert or cool & cut into squares.

Please note the other recipes will be sent to you via email attachment!

Mon., May 25th Paulette's Jezus-Eik Walk

With temperatures close to 27C we were pleased to walk under the shade of the large trees in Jezus-Eik under Paulette's guidance on Monday. We walked for about an hour and a half finishing with a route through the Arboretum before adjourning to the restaurant/cafe, Istar, for our refreshments. Our photographer had to leave before the cafe stop so no photos of the end of the afternoon! Sorry ...

Fri., May 22nd Sandy's Auderghem Walk

This was a holiday weekend in Belgium with Thursday being Ascension Day so we were not sure how many walkers would be around for today's outing. As it turned out we still had about 11 of us show up for a lovely spring walk in the Foret de Soignes. We met at the top of Rue Nisard for our group photo before starting off on our hour and a half excursion. Unfortunately, Sandy had to leave after the walk for a previous engagement so we don't have any photos taken at the restaurant stop, Au Repos des Chasseurs, which followed for those who could stay. The ladies were to meet up with Sheila and the Philosophers who would have completed their walk about the same time! We welcomed a new walker, Manou, who appears at the far left in the group photo. We hope to see her again soon on another walk!

Mon., May 18th Isobel's Alsemberg Walk

Under fast moving skies of mixted clouds and sunshine we made our route around Alsemberg this afternoon and covered some lovely views at the same time. We saw a nice mixture of fields and animal life with some ups and downs but we really enjoyed it all. At the end we met up with Sheila who had offered one of her Philosoophers' Walks in the same area.

Mon., May 18th Isobel's Alsemberg Walk

We did encounter a little mud in the low areas on the walk which meant at one point the ladies had to cling to the fence on the left to get around it or clamor through the Nettle plants on the right ... either choice was a bit of a challenge but it did make the outing more interesting. Here Yuko carries Milky to keep him out of the mud!

Mon., May 18th Isobel's Alsemberg Walk

We are almost back to our starting point here as we make our way along the streams we followed on the way out an hour and 45 minutes ago. We all agreed it is one of our prettiest and most desirable walks in this area!!! Thanks to Isabel for leading us on it today!

Mon., May 18th Isobel's Alsemberg Walk

We completed the afternoon's outing with a stop on the street terrace of the snack/tearoom, 't Pleintje where we were able to relax at tables on the curbside. We met up with Sheila there and with 13 of us gathered we had to divide into 2 tables. It was a pleasant way to end such a nice spring event.

Fri., May 15th WIC Walkers Charity Walk & Lunch in Sept Fontaines

The events for Friday began when we gathered outside of Christiane's home in Sept Fontaines for the 11am departure of our WIC walk. It was overcast but somewhat muggy at about 15C but we managed to get in an hour and 15 minute walk with Paulette and Sandy before returning to the house for lunch at 12:30pm. We had no rain ... until the end of the afternoon as some of us were departing.

Fri., May 15th WIC Charity Walk & Lunch

Here are a few images from the afternoon. You can click on the photo to enlarge it to see better ... then click the left arrow to return to the blog! The meal started with crudites and dip contributed by our hostess followed by a mixed green salad course offered by Penny H and Sandy O. For the main dish we had a choice of Chicken Curry or Fish Waterzooi, both were specialities of our hostess, with quinoa on the side. We then moved to dessert with coffee, tea and expresso. Ingeborg and Sarah K both contributed chocolate and lemon cupcakes and Sarah also provided a cake and chocolate brownies. White and rose wines as well as still and sparkling waters were also on offer! It was all quite delicious. Many thanks to all who paricipated to make this such a success.

Fri., May 15th WIC Charity Walk & Lunch

Christiane, our hostess (first photo, 2nd from left) had transformed her living room by moving furniture and fitting in 4 large tables for us so that we were all comfortably seated for today's luncheon.

Fri., May 15th WIC Charity Walk & Lunch

Last, but not least, of course ... Sandy (left) sits with Linda and Vyvyan who arrived a bit later than the rest due to circumstances beyond their control but who were still able to enjoy a full lunch finally!!!