tripomatic

I have a feeling his is one of those AMA's that won't go well and end up with a lot of deleted comments..

So where do we stand now? Are we slowly getting out of the global financial crisis? The news in my country seems to suggest we are, but at the same time we get bombarded with rises in unemployment, small as well as big business going bankrupt in record numbers and so on.

As a European I honestly wonder if I'm still paying in euros in a couple of years, because I can only see the south of Europe becoming even worse for the time being and I can't see how north-west of Europe (where I live, in Belgium) will be able to continue to bail them out while also struggling to keep any little bit of economic growth going.

I don't know how close you follow the European situation but I try to find as many (funded) opinions about this as possible. I find the general mood in my country quite depressing because of the economic situation and we're actually still doing better than most of the other EU countries.

The correct spelling for that beer is Kriek Lambic, for anyone who wants to search it.

I'm so awfully sorry to correct you on that mr. Raichlen. I'm a Belgian and really thankful that I discovered your TV show on some small local food network that picked it up. I've learned a lot from you!

The problem with some of our breweries is that they're limited in the amount of beer they can produce, are immensely popular now (lots of export) but cannot really expand for various reasons.

For Lambic for example, there's a very specific bacteria in the water they use. Their beers can only be brewn at a very specific location. Some of these beers have become hard to get for those reasons, even in the home country.

Luckily, there are literally hundreds of special beers worth trying out, so you'll always find something worth your while.

Cooking with beer, even in Belgium, is only recently becoming a big thing. It definitely opens a big world of new tasting combinations.

I hope one day you will succeed in your Lambic quest! I'm not that fond of the fruity beers, but if I have to try one it would definitely be Lambic. Their Geuze beer is also to die for.