Field Hockey & Food

Well, I'm back from my trip to Belgium with our high school field hockey team. We played in five games, winning two and losing three, and getting seventh place out of eight. We ought to have done a lot better, but I know they had a great time anyway. We play against teams who have kids in clubs and who have been playing since 4 (believe me, I saw the 4 yr olds out there practicing...they are amazing!!!). We now know what we need to do in order to get better...and some of that comes from training our younger kids better.

The best thing about the trip is the social aspect which is helped by the kids staying with families from the school (hosting as it's called). We hang out with the coaches on two evenings and our parents on the last (yes, we had 13 parents this year come to see the kids play!). We started off having a meeting and dinner at the British School of Brussels. I have to say that their chef made some wonderful food! So much better and healthy than what we get in our caf. Then we were off to the bar at our hotel (just outside Antwerp) where we hung out for a bit. It was nice as there were many returning coaches. We tend to all get on quite well.

The second night a bunch of the coaches went to Dock's Cafe in Antwerp. It was so much fun and great food! I started out with 9 fresh oysters on the half-shell. Sooooo yummy! And then I finished with a lovely medium rare steak. We were given the opportunity to have as much house wine as we wanted for 10 euros...we definitely had more than 10 euros worth each! Felt we got our money's worth (61 euros each).

The third night we were taken out to dinner in Brussels. It involved walking to a tram, a tram ride and then the train (50 min) to Brussels. Normally I wouldn't go that far for a meal, but usually the parents take us somewhere really cool and special. And they didn't fail! We went to L'idiot du Village (or the Village Idiot), which is a small little funky restaurant. I started with hot foie gras in a vanilla sauce (OH...MY...GOD). Lovely. And then had scallops over lentils. Just wonderful. And of course, wine. We came home tired as all else, but full of good food.

So now on to a busy week. It's been made less busy by having my Tuesday night thing cancelled (a shame but have to admit I kinda need that night free). But then next week after that we have Thur and Friday off for Thanksgiving...though I'll be the cooking queen for T-day! I plan on getting some sleep though....