Friday 26 June 2009

Fri., Jun. 26th WIC Walkers' Annual Summer Picnic





The day dawned sunny and bright and promised to be another warm afternoon with temperatures reaching 26C before thunder showers were expected later in the evening! We met in the parking area of the Dr. du Compt in Watermael-Boitsfort before heading down to the pond for our group photo. Sheila took three or four ladies with her on a Philosophers' Walk and we all met up again after our respective walks to retrieve our picnic items from our cars. We took them down to the 2 picnic tables under the trees near the edge of the pond where we could lay out our picnic! This is always one of our favorite gatherings of the walking year. With so many ladies from so many countries it is always a treat to see what new and exciting International dishes show up each time!
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Fri., Jun. 26th WIC Walkers' Annual Summer Picnic


Thanks to Dolphine who sent several photos of the "short bikers" who had taken over a large area of "our" picnic spot. We were able to negotiate an earlier than they probably wanted departure for them from the 2 picnic tables to accomodate the 26+ of us.
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Fri., Jun. 26th WIC Walkers' Annual Summer Picnic


Here is just a small teaser sample view of the myriad of dishes that were provided for our selections for today's picnic! Some of our choices included several varieties of quiches, a clafoutis of vegetables, a Greek feta cheese salad, a smoked trout salad with green grapes, a German sausage salad, Japanese sushi rolls, chicken drumsticks, a Humus salad, a Spanish omelet, a couscous vegetable salad, a mixed green salad and a large pasta salad with tuna and artichokes. Whew ... and, every year it just seems to get better and better!!! Thanks, Ladies ...
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Fri., Jun. 26th WIC Walkers' Annual Summer Picnic


Hey, ... where's mine??? I enjoy coming out with the ladies to all of these events but sometimes I feel I am forgotten when the food is doled out ... Milky
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Fri., Jun. 26th WIC Walkers' Annual Summer Picnic




Pardon me, Ladies, but I wanted to get this event recorded for the blog! With 27 of us this year we still managed to find seating for all of us at one of the two tables down near the pond. We did have to pay our dues first with a vigorous hour and a quarter walk under the trees and around our route. We were indeed hungry and ready for our picnic break when the time came! We had to fight off a few undersize bikers though to secure the tables ... With such a nice weather week there were a lot of folks out enjoying the scenery but we finally prevailed.
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Fri., Jun. 26th Walkers' Annual Summer Picnic


And then it was time for dessert!!! Unfortunately not all of them are portrayed here but we had some lovely choices available to us ... fruit salads, fresh cherries, fresh apricots, a cheese cake, an apple tart, a Scottish Tipsy Laird triffle, brownies, several Pavlova desserts and a chocolate cake with fresh ripe raspberries. If anyone went away hungry it was her own fault!!!
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Marita's Chocolate Fondant with Fresh Raspberries!

Here was one of our favorite desserts from the Friday picnic and Marita was willing to share it with us!!! Many thanks, Marita ...

Chocolate Fondant with Raspberries

200 g chocolate

200 g butter

200 g sugar

4 eggs

raspberries

Cut the chocolate in pieces and let it melt. Add the butter and let it melt, too.

Separate the yolks from the egg whites. Beat the yolks with half the sugar until foamy and mix them with the chocolate mix.

Whisk the egg whites. When they start to rise, add the rest of the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is white and glossy.

Fold it in with the chocolate.

Bake for 40-45 minutes in 175 degrees C.

Add the raspberries by sprinkling them on top when the fondant is cool and enjoy!


Wednesday 24 June 2009

Annual WIC Walkers Spring Picnic - Fri., Jun. 26th in Watermael-Boitsfort !!!


Friday's (June 26th) Annual Walkers' Summer Picnic will take place in Watermael-Boitsfort (walk #6) Click Here for Map ... starting at 11am for the walk followed by the picnic at 12:30pm. This is also reachable by Tram #94 - "Coccinelles" stop. We have 26 of you signed up to attend! Sandy will lead the main walk and Sheila will be leading the Philosophers' on a (PW) which will be a bit shorter and slower for those who would like to participate at the same time. This is always one of our favorite, fun events with all kinds of great international dishes! A sign up sheet has already been sent to you via email to indicate what you can bring. In the event of rain (don't even mention it) ... we will walk from Sandy's house in Auderghem ( help!!!) ... and, return there for an indoor picnic!
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Monday 22 June 2009

Mon., Jun. 22nd Anne's Tervuren Walk





It was a lovely 2 hour walk this afternoon with a variety of venues to enjoy in the Tervuren, Moorsel and Sterrebeek areas under Anne's guidance. The weather cooperated for us too with mixed sun and clouds.
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Mon., Jun. 22nd Anne's Tervuren Walk


How's this for a colorful group photo? We met up with these clowns at the end of our walk in the Tervuren park and they seemed to fit right in with the group and why not???
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Mon., Jun. 22nd Anne's Tervuren Walk


We settled onto the terrace of the cafe/restaurant La Vignette off the N3 in Tervuren for our refreshments following the walk. It was still quite comfortable under broken cloudy skies and partial sunshine. Our thanks to Anne (2nd right) for such a splendid outing today. We all felt we got a good workout.
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CHARITY WALK REPORT & END OF JUNE WALKS

Hi Walkers,

We are happy to report the results of the money raised by our Charity WIC Walk & Luncheon of 15 May at the home of Christiane C. as well as the sale of Kathleen's cookbook "The Walking Gourmet". To date we have donated 1,209 Euros to WIC for the 2 charities (Grain de Vie and Fondation Belge de Brulures)! This amount can be further broken down into 2 figures - 640 Euros for the luncheon and 569 Euros for the cookbooks/CD's. This latter figure may increase as the last of the CD's are sold. There are many to thank for the success of these efforts but principally to our hostess, Christiane who absorbed all of her costs for the lunch so that all the funds paid by the participants went directly to the WIC charities and to Kathleen who came up with the idea of the cookbook, collected all the recipes and absorbed all of her own expenses in its production so that all procedes from the sale of the printed copies and CD's were donated, also! Without the generosity of these two ladies the figure would be substantially less. Many thanks to all of you, too, who helped out by donating, bringing food, helping out the day of the event, buying the recipe book and contributing your time and attention to make this such a fun occasion. It was a great joint effort.

Fri., 26th : Annual Walkers' Spring Picnic at Watermael-Boitsfort (#6) - lots of fun, bring a dish to share! We start at 11am for this one for the walk followed by the picnic lunch at 12:30.

Mon., 29th - Paulette's Walk - Details to follow

Sunday 21 June 2009

Fri., Jun 19th 20th Anniversary Events


Martha has sent us this additional group photo from Friday's walk which may look better for some of us than the other posted earlier. "Thanks, Martha"!!! Now, we have a choice ...
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Sun., Jun 21st 20th Anniversary Events


We met up Sunday morning at 11am behind the church of Notre Dame du Bois in Jezus-Eik for our group walk to take place under the guidance of Sheila and Keith. The visiting alumnae were represented by Mari and Phil, Beverly and Alain, as well as Verena and Gisbert who joined the other regular WIC walkers. The rain drops started even as we were gathering for our departure ... but, then again we know we are in Brussels ... in June when we can have almost any kind of weather!
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Sun., Jun 21st 20th Anniversary Events



The rain fell fairly steadily throughout the first half of the walk but we still managed to make it around Sheila and Keith's circuit which they had planned for us. Of course we stopped momentarily for a group photo ... Gisbert and Verena almost missed it!
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Sun., Jun 21st 20th Anniversary Events



Still somewhat bedraggled from the rain we made our way to the restaurant La Vigne where the tables has already been set up for our arrival and where we were welcomed warmly.
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Sun., Jun 21st 20th Anniversary Event




Others were gathered at a second "L" shaped table nearby so that all 21 of us could be accomodated in the same front room.
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Sun., Jun 21st 20th Anniversary Event


Our thanks to Sheila and Keith who not only organized today's walk but also worked with the restaurant, La Vinia, for 3 choices of 3 courses for our mid day meal in addition to wines, waters, tea and coffee, too. It was quite sumptious and filling. I don't think anyone went away hungry! Unfortunately, it was then time to say our goodbys to those "alumnae" who had come for the weekend festivities. We all agreed it was great to see each other again and a really fun reunion!!! We hope that those who are living not too far away might consider coming back to Brussels another time to catch up sooner rather than later!
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Saturday 20 June 2009

Fri., Jun. 19th 20th Anniversary Events



On Friday afternoon at 1pm, at the beginning of our weekend of 20th Anniversary events for the WIC Walkers, we gathered first for a group photo under partially cloudy skies near our parking meeting spot in Gronendaal. In addition, to the walkers 20 years we were also celebrating 20 years with the WIC Reading group! It was really wonderful to have so many "alumnae" back to join us for this grand occasion! Paulette then took over and led the group for the first hour (+) ... and as we proceeded the skies cleared for a most glorious weather afternoon.
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