And we're off....

While this is the first entry in the blog that may or may not chronicle our lives in Luxembourg for the next two years, we’ve been in Lux for several days already and have been on the road for just under a month now. If you are reading this, then you are family or friends we’ve told about this ‘attempt’ to stay connected to everyone via blog. Hate to disappoint before we’ve even left the gates, but this blog will be more for us than for you. The idea is that a few years from now, we’ll be able to print this whole thing off and have a nice photo and story journal of our times in Europe. That said, in order to make this fun and not a chore, we’ll do much of our writing quickly and without the delete/backspace button. The less bullshit the better… in the immortal words of Mike Tyson “…if you don’t like it, turn of your station.”

And as you can see by the title (and by our general eating habits, or issues, as we refer to them), the central conversation for this blog will be food. Thing is, there will be other things for us to keep a record of during our stay, so it won’t solely be about food – other things like booze and wine and maybe travel, oh and our kid, will probably come into play. And for the next few months, Football (note the capital F in homage to the real sport of football – American football) will be discussed, specifically my Fantasy Football team, the Cornhuskers of Nebraska in their final season of the Big XII conference before the move to the Big 10 in 2011, as well as the Jayhawks of Kansas led this year by Turner Gill, a former Husker that was an idol to my generation. Finally, observations of Eurotrash and their likely comparisons with good old fashioned American White trash may also be explored. I should also mention that the title really comes from Darren and Gwen whom we met in Kinsale. They are Irish, but just returned after 16 years in the States. Their blog Eating West Cork is about eating and living in the great town of Kinsale. They are great people, treated us to some great conversation over a pint of Murphy’s (black ice cream as they say) and we hope to see them again either here or there.

As I mentioned, we’ve been on the road for nearly a month now, but have only been in Lux for a handful of days. That being said, this entry will probably be 50X longer than any that follows as there is a lot for me to put down on paper. The first three weeks of our Adventure (must pronounce this in an overtly-Australian accent…long story involving bad reality TV) were spent in the heaven known as Kinsale, Ireland, a coastal holiday town in Co. Cork. We’ll likely be throwing up some pics of our stay in Ireland, but they won’t compare to what it was really like. We stayed in three different places during our time in Kinsale, each with its own charm and immediate access to different parts of town which is somewhat of a misnomer as anyone can cross town on foot in 30 mins. Needless to say, much Murphy’s Stout was consumed during that time of our lives. Probably the best beer we’ve ever had.

The food in Kinsale was killer, too. Jimmy Edwards is a wonderful restaurant and bar in the center of town and we ate there three times (in the bar, not in the dining room). Their seafood chowder cannot be beat in our eyes. We loved the place so much, we even celebrated Rudy’s second birthday there. We had a bunch of wonderful Irish men and women helping us sing happy birthday to little man. Those people are some of the greatest people in the world.

Other good eating in Ireland was done at Fishy Fishy which is probably the most well known of the nicer dining establishments in town. Again, we decided to eat at the bar rather than in the restaurant – it’s easier for your 2-year old to make a scene in the bar (esp in Ireland).

During our stay in Ireland, we ‘somehow’ made friends with Ken, the proprietor of a great wine shop 1601 right in the middle of Kinsale.  We saw Ken’s face more than any other person’s in town. He took care of us, steered us quite nicely to the cheap, but good bottles of wine. He even gave Washington some love and carried a few wines from K Vintners in Walla Walla. I could go on and on re: Ireland, but I’ll stop there. Needless to say, if any friends plan to take a vaca in Ireland, make Kinsale a stop on your list – I’ll put you in touch with some good leasing agents and some great condos.

So we arrived in Lux on Thurs, Sept 2, 2010 at 11am local time thanks to a 6am flight out of Cork (not fun with a little one, but Rudy was in really good form and took it like a champ). After having a couple of bags lost, we got in our rental car and headed to our home at 36, Montee de la Petrusse in the very cool and very old area of Lux known as the Grund. Our relocation services had the place decked out in serviceable temporary furniture, so we didn’t walk into an empty house which was great.

Rudy and I got settled and then took naps and Sara walked to work to check in. Her commute has dropped from 2 hours to 5 minutes (on foot no less). Not bad. When we got up Sara was home and we drove over to Auchan grocery store to stock up on provisions and some necessary items. We got there at 715 pm and they close at 8pm. Needless to say, a nice clerk found us in some random isle and said something in French and tapped her watch. We were the last ones out of the store – they literally shut the door behind us. The girl at the checkout was pissed. Sorry check out girl whose face I wanted to punch in, but those are the breaks. Sometimes you get a-hole Americans who can’t wait til tomorrow to by toilet paper and food for themselves and 2-year old. Oh, and note to all of you reading at home, yes , the grocery closes at 8pm. Hell, that’s when I do my best shopping; when there are less jerks to push my cart around. Oh, and here’s the kicker, not open on Sundays, either. Really? Really.

Our first full day in Lux we went to city hall and did a bunch of paperwork (i.e. registered at our commune, did some customs stuff, bought garbage bags (really), etc) all with the help of our wonderful advocate from the relocation service that Amazon uses. Then we went to the bank and got our account set up and credit/debit cards in hand, etc.

The next day, Saturday, was a huge farmers market right in the center of town. I mean, huge. Like Portland, OR farmers market huge. It was incredible. Fresh fruits, veggies, meats, fish, cheese….you name it. We did most of our food shopping there and had to lug bags and bags of it home (fortunately only a 10-15 min walk).

Been eating in since getting here. Some of the meals were pretty quick and dirty and couple were old staples. The first real sit-down meal we had a few nights ago was a roasted chicken stuffed with dates, fennel, onion, apples, garlic and finished with some lemon wedges under the skin. The two family staples, mashed potatoes sautéed kale with garlic, onion and white wine finished things off. Good end result. Musical accompaniment during cooking was Pearl Jam’s Backpacer album, which I’ve owned for a little while now, but really did not like it at first. I must have been in a sour mood the first time I listened to it because it was much better than I remembered. I’d still toss out a third to half of the album, but the songs I’d keep are really good, classic PJ, which I love.

Last night, did a pumpkin, pea and chantrelle mushroom risotto – another of the old guard. Always reliable and easy to make – esp without my cookbooks which probably won’t arrive for another month or more with the rest of our stuff. Had a nice spinach salad on the side with some nice Luxembourgian Riesling (of which they are very well known). Music support in the kitchen was provided by Stevie Wonder. A good time was had by all.

Tonight will be leftover night: risotto, mashed pot, kale and then a nice recipe I got from Robbie via the NYT that is a Radish-Garlic-Anchovie bruschetta type thing. Again, no recipe on hand (and no internet) so I’ll have to wing it.

Earlier today, Rudy and I made our first solo trip to the Auchan grocery store (meaning: without Sara who has some French chops, rusty albeit, but much better than my douchebag American communications. Note to self, start those French classes yesterday.

More to come as things happen.