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We're on vacation in Belgium at the moment.  We've been enjoying all sorts of wonderful food, the cheeses, the fresh Belgian endive, mache (a wonderful salad green), chocolates, beer and more.

Today we drove up to Ghent to do some sightseeing.  While we were there we had the incredible pleasure of dining at an amazing restaurant called Kasserolleke.   We sat down, ordered our drinks and our very friendly server brought us some delicious mixed olives in olive oil flavored with red pepper flakes and rosemary.  She also brought us some small rolls and butter.  Steve tried a local beer on tap, I went for the Kriek, a cherry flavored beer that is absolutely wonderful.

The host came over to take our order and when I mentioned that both my daughter and I were vegetarians and we were wondering if we could just get something without the meat in it he offered to check with his son, the chef, to see what he could do.  Our host came back and said that the chef proposed a dish of pasta with mushrooms and parmesan in a light cream sauce.  We agreed that this sounded fine.  Fine does not begin to describe how amazing this dish was.  First of all the presentation was fabulous and I regret that I did not bring my camera cord with me so that I could share the picture.  The dish was mushrooms and shaved fresh parmesan in a heavenly cream sauce topped with finely diced tomatoes and amazingly tender, fresh, young arugula.  We loved it!  We told the server to tell the chef how wonderful it was.  My daughter told the server it needed to be a regular menu item (although who knows when we'll be back).  I told the host how amazing it was.  Good food, cooked well is just a wonderful thing.  And the kindness and accommodation of the chef was a gift, thank you sir.

Steve had a roundsteak in a lovely sauce with a great looking salad, a huge pile of fresh frites with fresh-made mayonnaise.  I stole a bunch of frites because they are just that addictive.  His grandmother had a fresh salad that looked amazing and was so large she could not finish it.  

I can assure you that this was one of our most memorable visits to any restaurant in Belgium and should we ever manage to make our way back to Ghent we will definitely go there again.  If you find yourself in Ghent, look these people up, it's worth the visit.