Exotic Diner!

This is the story of how 8 Canadian got starred at on the train for being decked out in Canadian swag. :)
Since being on my exchange, I’ve noticed that I have become a lot more patriot about being a Canadian. I’m pretty sure it’s what happens to most exchange students; wanting others to know how proud they are of their country. When I get called American I quickly try to correct the person (except for my history teacher, who even after being corrected by the entire class still thinks my name is Jennie and that I am American, who I have just given on trying to set straight), being Canadian is something I am proud of, and usually love because our country is so diverse and different. But with Canada being filled with people from all over the world, it is extremely hard to determine what foods are actually Canadian and not just ‘borrowed’ from other countries.
Yesterday ROTEX held a potluck lunch for all the inbounds in Belgium and their host families. There are a couple of things you should know before I start talking about this sweet weekend.
1. ROTEX is a group of Belgian rebounds, aka kids that have already returned from their exchanges, and they plan out activities for us inbounds throughout the year.

2. The hall that this lunch was being held at didn’t have anywhere for us to heat up food, so they suggested us making foods that could be eaten cold.

3. You can’t buy gravy packets or cheese curds in Belgium… Trust me I’ve looked everywhere!!!!!!!

The Mission

-         In groups of 4 or 5 students, get together and cook a speciality from your home country. Cooking enough to feed 45 people.

Because we Canadians are super cool, we decided to make one big group instead of two smaller ones (ps. There was more than just our group of Canadians. I think there are about 40 Canadian inbounds in Belgium this year!) So it was me, Jasmyn (from Powell River (one of the girls I flew here with), Devyn (from Vernon), Alana (from Drumhellor, Alberta), Michaela (from Ontario), Kanen (from Ontario), Jocelyn (from Ontario), and Cat (from P.E.I.) all in a group together. And because my host parents are really cool, and they love me, they let me invite my whole group over on Saturday afternoon, make a huge mess in their kitchen, take over their dining room to have dinner, stay up really late to finish cooking in their kitchen and then take over their living room for a sleep over!  Thanks hosties!

So on Saturday afternoon, Jocelyn and Cat got dropped off at my house and we walked to the train station in La Hulpe to pick up the rest of them( except not Jasmyn, because she wasn’t able to come, so she joined us the next day). Stopped at the store on the way home for pizza, and came back to my house to eat as we prepared a list of stuff we’d need at the grocery store. On the menu was Montreal-style Bagels and Maple Syrup Baked Beans.

Now I’m pretty sure the people at the grocery store already think I’m weird because I often just go there to look around at all the products we don’t have in Canada, or to buy cheese pizza and chocolate when I’m feeling home sick, but then walking in with 6 extra over excited, loud English speaking, possibly even singing the Canadian national anthem Canadians I’m positive they all rolled their eyes at us.
The recipe for Montreal-style bagels said it would take only 1 and a half hours from start to finish, but somehow we started baking at 3 pm and finally called it a night at 1 am. None of us had ever made a bagel before, but we figured that with my experience of ‘baking them off’ and Cat’s doctor/bagel making dad on speed dial we decided to give it a try. It was defiantly a challenge, and with the sketchy recipe directions I found on some Google approved blog, we are proud to say that they were edible!  Turns out you are supposed to boil the bagels before you bake them, and when I recipe says to only let them rise for 20 minutes, you really should listen to that, and not leave them out for 2 hours well your host mom has friends over for dinner in the kitchen. But with a ton of hard work, a huge mess of my kitchen and a frantic international call to Cat’s dad we survived.

Also on the menu was Maple Syrup Baked Beans. Which were a huge hit, and smelled amazingly. Way easier to make then the bagels!

In-between cooking, we had dinner which consisted of a very elegant spaghetti dinner, and a night full of junk food.  Nanaimo bars, ice cream and nacho’s and cheese sauce helped us think of home, well our new favorite snack Paprika flavour chips and Belgian chocolate added a Belgian feature to our night.  The next morning, we awoke bright and early to put the beans in the oven and then a couple of us ran down the hill to get fresh bread and pain de chocolat for breakfast before leaving for the train all decked out in Canada flags, t-shirts and tattoos.

After getting starred out on the train, we got off and met up with a couple of Australian oldies and hopped on a tram to them to ULB (a Belgian university campus) where they lunch was being held. We put the finishing touches of cream cheese and smoked salmon on our bagels and had my host parents bring the pot of beans with them we were all ready to serve.

In between serving parents our food, being asked my we didn’t make poutine and snaking food from other groups we got to hang out with our other exchange student friends. A brief appearance from St. Nicolas throwing candy around the room, and a lot of singing, it was a lot fun!

Super 7 thanks for coming over and making my weekend a whole lot better, we’ll defiantly have to do it again sometime!