My most assiduous readers and many casual ones as well have noticed that the Waffle has slowed down his postings in the past two months.
No doubt, the arrival of the Waffle Jr. is one of the reasons why I haven’t been able to update regularly.
But the main reason has been my frustration with my host, Blog.com.
For over a month, Blog.com was impossible to use. Bad gateways, 502 errors, 504 errors, 505, 506!
It was frustrating at times, and I did consider moving my blog somewhere else.
Once they resolved their stability and performance problems, I was ready to resume my activities. Unfortunately, their fix created more problems, which forced me to make some design changes in order to ensure a smooth migration of my older material. Hence, the Waffle Makeover, which didn’t take as much time as a Restaurant Makeover.
There might some kinks left, but hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy my posts regularly soon. In fact, many posts were left unfinished as I couldn’t save them properly, so you will see some backdated posts popping up soon.
As you can see, the Waffle has a new look. Gone is the green and orange scheme, and for now, the Waffle is applying the No Logo rule. The old logo may resurface again, perhaps in another form.
Many readers have asked me where these Waffles are from. Well, I’m glad you asked.
When Mel and I were in Paris for Christmas in 2007, we decided to take a couple of side trips, one of them to Belgium.
We visited Brussels, had lots of beers, mussels and chocolate and particularly enjoyed the Christmas light and sound show at the medieval Grande Place.
We made a whistle stop in Liêge to admire the architecture, cross the Meuse and visit the public market. We also went to Tongeren, the oldest town in Belgium.
Tongeren was founded in 15 BC and was an important Roman administrative centre.
Our Lady’s Basilica, a massive gothic building, built in 1240, still dominates the town with it’s 64 metre high bell tower. It was undergoing major renovations and preservation work when we visited.
Nearby, the statue of Ambiorix is in the middle of the Grote Markt. Ambriorix defeated two of Caesar’s legions. Tucked behind are some original Roman walls, dating from the II century.
But the real gem was a little waffle shop located on Maastrichterstraat, squeezed between clothing stores, on what is probably the nicest street of the town. We ordered these waffles, and saw them being made in front of our eyes.
And I’ve got to say I never had better waffles in my life.
They were small, you could hold one in your hands. But they were fresh and warm, fluffy yet crunchy, light but dense, with crystallised sugar melting in your mouth without being too sticky.
They were, no doubt, worth the trip to Belgium on their own.