Friday, March 15, 2019

Dinner at the Grey Cat in Antwerp

There is Tine on the left, Maikel in the middle and me!

Dinner at the Grey Cat in Antwerp

by Kincsö Horvat

The next stop of the tour of the region was Antwerp. We visited the Grey Cat community. 

I had the opportunity to prepare Hungarian lens soup for 24 people. Moreover this is the only soup that I know how to prepare so I didn't leave a choice for anyone.

That Friday seemed very adventurous and I couldn't wait to meet the Grey Cat community. I really like them, they are very kind people and also the city where they live is a quite cool place.
However, we wasn't really in a hurry in the morning. We woke up, had a meeting, then an hour rest. I don't know what happened to me in that moment but I just had the mood to bake a cake and surprise myself with it so I just started to make my brownie. During that, Michael, my cooking mate arrived and we went together to the supermarket to buy the groceries for the dinner in Antwerp.   An hour later we were ready to the departure with John, Micheal, Wim, Tine and Ian. As soon as we arrived in Antwerp I've got a small heart attack as I realised I forgot the most important ingredients like paprika powder,  and gluten free flour (i know i was so silly) for the soup. So yes.... The moment when we had to leave the house was so sharp and hasty that i just simply forgot it. Thanks to my memory as soon as we arrived to Antwerp my first task was to hunt a supermarket and buy the special ingredients for the soup. I very enjoyed walking and exploring the streets of Antwerp all by myself. The workers in the supermarket were very kind and super helpful and i went back to the bridge builder team with a big success. They were waiting for me in the Koffieklub where they met the owner of the Koffieklub who even told the special story of that place. The Koffieklub of Antwerp gives a second chance for women who used to sold their body but would like to stop. They have the chance to find a safe place in the Koffieklub where they can start their life again next to a normal job. Personally I very respect these kind of places and appreciate those people who make these places possibly.

  Later we quickly went to a little sightseeing. We saw the old protestant church and the Saint Jansplein market. The Saint Jansplein market was built on the 8 of october 1868. It's located to the north of the city and it is the one of the biggest squares of the city. There are also weekly markets on Wednesdays and Fridays. It used to be a place where those women lived who's husband died in the war. The conclusion after the sightseeings and my personal little discoveries in the city was that i just started to like Antwerp the more and more. After the sightseeing we went to the Grey Cat Community's main place and me and Michael started to prepare the vegetables for cooking. It was very fun to cook together. John, Ian, Tine, and Wim helped us to cut the vegetables and everyone had the opportunity to show their potato peeling talent. The cooking was a little bit stressful because it took a long time for the water to boil up but besides that everything went fine. Me and Michael had a good time cooking together and talking with the members of the Grey Cat. Unfortunately the end of the cooking was a little bit stressful as I started to run out of time but thank god the people could wait a little bit more.

I was very happy that my soup didn't kill anyone and that the people liked it. After the soup I ate my life's first stampot. Stampot is a traditional Dutch dish with  the combination of mashed potato and one or different vegetables. This stampot was made from mashed potato, bacon, salad, and usually there is also cheese in it but thanks to my lactose intolerance I couldn't enjoy that part.
There was also 'jus' next to it which is a brown sauce. For dessert we had a super big cake as it was the birthday of José. She is also a member of the grey cat community. We spoke and had a lot of fun during the dinner together.

It was real honor that John had so many trust in me that he let me prepare the soup for the dinner in Antwerp. I very enjoyed my time there.

I really do hope that in the future we are going to have more activities with them.

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