'What about John? What do we know about him?'
'He came back to Europe aftre having spent six years in Hong Kong. The 31st of October he arrived in Brussels.'
'And 3 weeks later Jean-François is found dead... Funny coincidence. What about his name by the way? A family of Italian immigrants that give their son an English name?'
'I know that their father was what you might call an anglophile. Two of the three brothers were educated in the UK by the way - Gianno and John.'
'Good students?', he asked.
'I'm not sure. But I believe of the three, Gianno is the most intellectual. Gianno collects African art, understands five languages and - .'
'Do you know why the family emigrated from Italy?'
'No, nobody has ever spoken about the immigration story. But what is clear is that they were not the ordinary poor Italian immigrants coming to Belgium to work in the mines. Their father was educated, a business man.'
'What kind of business?'
...
Family History
Dinner with Hélène (Dominique's wife)
On Tuesday night Hélène and me had dinner at the Belga Queen. The restaurant is located in the center from Brussels, not far from Place de la Monnaie. The building used to be a postal administration center and has been completely redone to come up with an amazingly fresh setting for a restaurant. I enjoyed being there.
After we had been seated and ordered some drinks - we both ordered a glass of white wine - Ellen looked me in the eyes and smiled. 'So? How are you? How's life treating you?', she asked enthusiastically.
'Life is good!', I stated laughingly. 'Life at the Belga Queen is good'. We both smiled. There was jazz music on the background. I recognized a Miles Davis tune, his trumpet. I enjoyed Hélène's company. Since we met there had always been a direct connection between us, we could be completely open with each other. 'But let's start with you... Tell me, how are you doing?', I asked. Hélène took a sip from her glass. 'Fine.' 'And...', I asked. 'Dominique has been very busy the past months, but he told me last week that he would be free in February for a skiing trip'.
The food was simple but good. Belgian classics. I had 'boulettes in tomato sauce with fries'.
When we were finishing our plates, Hélène suddenly said: 'Anna, there is something.' I looked at her and saw hesitation in her eyes. Since the beginning of the evening I had felt that Ellen was not completely relaxed, my stomach had told me so, but I had dismissed it. 'I think Dominique is having an affair, again'. I was surprised and I could not hide it. I knew Dominique hadn't been the perfect husband and that he had had something with someone some 3 years ago - Hélène had told me - but tonight's 'status report' made it appear that their relationship was working, functioning. Reading my facial expression, Hélène started explaining: 'You're surprised. Yes, I know. I was also suprised. I don't even have any real proof'.
News from the world
So there was the news - or should I call it rumour - today that Laurent is coming back from Hong Kong after a 6-year stay there. I'm not sure why he left Europe then and why he is coming back now. When I asked Emilie what Laurent had been doing in Hong Kong, she answered "business".
And also today there was an announcement from Eric: Francesco is looking to speed up the opening of 'flagship stores' in the world's top cities. Negotiations are ongoing with a property developer in Abu Dhabi to lease some 'prime retail space'.
Background
I'm from the UK, from London. I love London and I miss London - even though most of my friends that live there are dreaming of getting out of it. When I was a college student - I studied political & social sciences - I went on 'Erasmus' as they call it. The 'Erasmus' I'm referring to is the exhange program for European university students. I went to Italy for 1 year (10 months to be exact). And there I met a Belgian guy from Antwerp... and to make a long story short: I live in Brussels now, I am single, and I'm enjoying life.
I'll fill the gaps later.
Burglary
This morning was more hectic than normal. Three minutes after I got under the shower my phone rang. It was 7h40 am. ‘Hey, this is too early to be calling people!’ I said to myself. ‘Shall I answer or just pretend I didn’t hear anything?’ After a few seconds I turned off the water and slowly got out. I looked at myself in the mirror. My wet brown hair was covering my face and my shoulders. My eye pupils were black and large. Water was dripping from my hair on my breasts. My mobile was lying on the closet. It was still ringing and vibrating, like a very hungry baby screaming for milk. There was no caller id on the screen. I answered.
‘Hello?’
‘Good morning, is this Anna?’
‘Yes, hello. Who am I speaking to?’ I thought I recognized the voice but I was not able to attach a real face to it.
‘Hello, this is James from Sales. From Francesco. ‘
‘James! Hi! Sorry. What’s going on?’
‘Sorry for calling you this early but there is a problem. There has been a burglary. In the shop. Last night, or this morning, I don’t know.’
‘What?’ I exclaimed. ‘Why? Who?’
It had been only two weeks since we had completely revamped the shop to get ready for the important Halloween and upcoming Christmas season. Me and the people from Sales had spent several long days to get the shop ready.
‘It’s not clear. Anouck arrived at the shop this morning and she discovered everything. A shelf has been broken, the computer screen had been thrown on the floor. The police is here. They’re looking around. It’s strange but nothing seems to have disappeared. Can you come as soon as possible. The police might want to speak to you. And we need to get the shop ready. Paul would like to re-open by tomorrow, if the police allows it.’I didn’t get back in the shower. I wiped myself dry and got dressed. I left my appartment without having any breakfast.
8th Anniversary - Tasting
'Magnificent!'Jean-François exclaimed.'This is excellent!'. Holding a small plastic white plate in his hand, on which 2 very dark chocolates were lying, Jean-François eyes were looking at us enthusiastically. The chocolates had the form of '8's and were an attempt to create a new signature chocolate to celebrate our 8th anniversary.
'This is good', Jean-François uttered. 'We've done something... very simple...but they will like this... love this!'. With 'they' he meant our customers.
Twenty people stood together around our atelier's kitchen. This morning we had all received an e-mail from Lucas asking to come down to the atelier at 11 o'clock. We all knew what this meant. Every three months we held 'tasting sessions' at Francesco's, in which the whole team would try out one or more new chocolate creations.
'We've taken our very dark chocolate - 72% cacao - and I... we have filled it up with milk, ha ha! Condensed, sugared milk, that is. The '8', what a beautiful number.'
'Look how dark this shiny '8' is a beautiful number. It's very round, it's very feminin. All the Arabian numbers are beautiful but for me '8' is the most beautiful, haha... '
'And you know of course that when you lay down '8' on its side, it becomes the symbol for infinity. And Ellen, you surely know what the Tarot card with the number '8' means?'
Ellen was surprised by the question but she answered immediately: 'Of course. The '8' card stands for strength... fortitude. Or sometimes also lust.' She giggled.
'Thank you Ellen, a most complete answer'.
This was classic Jean-François. And although his enthusiasm was fun and contagious, somebody had to stop him, if not he'd continue his interactive dissertation for another hour.
Lucas clapped his hands, smiling. He spoke with a powerful voice: 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating!' Everybody started laughing. 'Let us taste, Jean!'
Everybody was speaking now. 'Yes, let us taste'.'I want to taste infinity', Damien jokingly said.
Jean-François tried to continue his speech ' And '8' is also the symbol for... ' but nobody was paying attention anymore. ' '8' is the symbol for chocolate!', Sylvia proclaimed cheerfully.
Jean-François had understood now that his audience had become too impatient and he gave in to the pressure. With an official voice he ordered: 'Aicha, Joop, bring in the '8's, please!'.
Aicha stepped to ... followed by Joop. They almost simultaneously seized the big metal door bolt and opened the door. They disappeared behind the door. Few seconds later a big plate with around 20 '8's' appeared from behind the door, carried by Joop. Behind Joop came Aicha with a second plate.
After tasting, the voice of the people was loud and clear. Everybody loved the '8's.
We all enjoyed the gathering, but I felt a little akward also. The way Jean-François was presenting his case, it seemed as if he was the 'master creator'. Although from what Aicha had told me some days earlier, I had understood that it had been Joop that had come up with the idea of the '8's and the combination of dark chocolate with a condensed milk filling. I glanced at Joop. His face didn't show much emotion, it seemed.
Executive Assistant
When I was applying for a position at Francesco I never for a moment had thought that people working at a cholocate company could be so tensed. Chocolate gets ascribed so many excellent qualities: it is supposed to be a natural feel good medicine, it helps to prevent cancer and high blood pressure, and it even is said to be somewhat of an affrodisiac. For some reason I had built up the belief that chocolate professionals would benefit from the extraordinary qualities of the stuff they’re working with day in day out…having a relaxed mind in a perfectly healthy body, while enjoying a steamy sex life. I must conclude after one year on the job that at least one of these expectations was quite far from the truth, at least at Francesco Chocolatiers.
I have always loved chocolate: milk chocolate when I was younger (preferably in the form of an Easter bunny or something similar!); darker, purer tastes now that I'm a little older. I do understand people that prefer milky, sugared chocolate with for example caramel crisps in it, but to be honest, I feel they are missing out on something. Dark chocolate gives me access to a deeper sensation. Black and pure. No sugar (or very little) and no milk.
Just to be clear: I used the words ‘a little older’ earlier but I’m only twenty seven. I see myself as a young lady enjoying life to the fullest (this includes eating healthy doses of dark chocolate regularly). I work as a secretary at Francesco.
Francesco doesn’t produce just chocolates. We make the finest chocolates in the world, the best of the best, the crème de la crème, yes sir! But why believe me... I obviously hold a biased opinion. Just decide for yourself. If you're in Brussels you can simply drop by our shop on the ‘Sablon’ (this is really superb square in Brussels where several big chocolatiers do business)here in Brussels for example – mention my name (Anna) and they’ll give you a 20% discount. Interesting offer, isn’t it?
I am not sure how well you know Brussels. Maybe you don’t know it at all. Pierre (my boss) loves to say that it’s the only city in the world where all the top chocolatiers can be found in a circle of 5 kilometers. Brussels is the capital of Belgium and of the European Union. It is a relatively nice city to live I believe although at times I get fed up with the weather. Rainy days are followed by cloudy days, and cloudy days are followed by rainy days… or simply cloudy days again! We do get sunshine now and then of course, but it’s clear that someone who knows how to sell sunlight in packages (one Euro a pack and three for the price of two!) could become very wealthy here.