Remembering Luc

Our dear friend Luc died suddenly (and far, far too young) at his home in Gent last week. His funeral was today at Lochristi.

Luc was a big, gentle man who loved music, food, beer, movies and books. He was a incredibly highly skilled chocolatier, although in recent years he only made his exquisite chocolates for family and friends. He was a pinball wizard.

We thought we should remember him as much appropriateness as we could manage so far away, so I prepared an echt Gent stoverij - or carbonnades as Scobes' grandma might have called it.

The meat is browning in the pot with the onions, and this is the rest - well, only about half that big bottle of cooking beer. And yes, if there's a bit of coffee left at the bottom of the pot I add that - Roland's mother used to do this, apparently, and that's good enough for me. To be served with friets, of course.

The Chimay is proper beer, to be savoured later. I would have preferred to find some Orval or Westmalle, but these days it seems that anything not in the clutches of InterBrew is very hard to come by, in Edinburgh certainly.

Thanks for all the happy memories, Luc!