Brussels

Did you ever stop to wonder why the only photograph one ever sees of Brussels is the Grand Place? It's probably because it's the only place in the city worth looking at. Deciding to vacation in Brussels is much like planning a holiday in downtown Los Angeles! As a seasoned traveler who has seen much of Western Europe, Brussels is the dirtiest city I've visited. In 1986 I made arrangements for a one-week stay in Brussels in a five-star hotel about six blocks from the "Grand" Place.

Dear SOS: Please, please, please get me the recipe for the Brussels sprouts at Cleo in Hollywood. My husband and I ordered a variety of food at our dinner there, and the Brussels sprouts stole the show. I would love to get the recipe. It's the first time that my husband was actually excited to eat vegetables! Caroline Livengood Toluca Lake Dear Caroline: I've never had Brussels sprouts quite like this before. It's kind of like a salad - Brussels sprout leaves tossed with a tangy vinaigrette, capers and toasted almonds - except that the leaves are deep-fried first, giving the whole dish a surprising texture and crunch.

I was delighted to see Brussels, my hometown, featured in your section ("Brussels, Heart of Europe," Aug. 15). I hope it will prompt more Americans to give it more than a passing glance. However, I wonder where you got your "restricted fare" starting at more than $1,000! I have never paid anywhere near $1,000 to fly from Los Angeles to Brussels, and I am afraid it might discourage people from going there. Not mentioned was how easy it is to get to the center of town from the airport, thanks to the special train running to all three town stations (for about $2)

European leaders grappling with a stubborn debt crisis reaffirmed their commitment Monday to sign a new pact limiting public spending, but pledged also to spur growth and create jobs in an acknowledgment that austerity cuts alone will not pull the continent out of its economic funk. European Union officials said they would make special efforts to tackle youth unemployment, which has swelled to alarming levels in countries such as Spain. They promised to increase apprenticeships, remove impediments to further liberalize trade within the EU and dip into an untapped pot of more than $100 billion in development funds to launch new projects.

We really enjoyed the James T. Yenckel story, "Brussels Is a City Not to Be Ignored," June 10, having returned from Belgium and France in late May. His experiences mirrored some of ours. We also found the Petite Rue des Bouchers and the intersecting Rue des Bouchers fascinating. We also enjoyed a fine meal at Aux Armes de Bruxelles, about $34 each, including wine. We were sorry that the mussel season was over, but we enjoyed other Belgian specialties such as waterzooi, beer and frites.

Usain Bolt ran the fourth-fastest 200 meters in history Friday in Brussels to upstage Yelena Isinbayeva , Sanya Richards and Kenenisa Bekele , who split a $1-million jackpot for winning their events in all six Golden League meets this season. Because of a wet track and cold conditions at the Van Damme Memorial, Bolt never got close to the world record of 19.19 seconds he set in Berlin last month. But when it comes to performing in bad conditions, no one has done better than his 19.57 on Friday.

A passenger train collided with a locomotive Tuesday in suburban Brussels, injuring 30 people, officials said.

Upon the recommendation of one of your reporters ("Brussels, Heart of Europe," Aug. 15), I recently spent a night at the "smallest hotel in Brussels," the six-room Hotel Welcome. I was charmed and delighted at its location, its quaintness and the friendliness of the staff. Thanks for the great tip. JAYSUN HOWELL La Mirada

Police discovered 253 pounds of cocaine in the freight depot at Brussels international airport in the largest haul of the drug ever made in Europe, the Belgian news agency Belga reported Saturday.

An AIDS epidemic threatens to sweep Belgian jails unless immediate action is taken to step up prison hygiene and improve treatment, a prison watchdog group, Passe-Murailles, said in Brussels. The group said in a statement that at least 10 prisoners in a Brussels jail are already suffering from AIDS--acquired immune deficiency syndrome. It said prisons are ill-equipped to treat AIDS and that prison doctors are often unwilling to help AIDS patients.

Director Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" starts innocently enough - with Tintin, it always does - at a flea market, where the dauntless boy reporter finds an old model boat. But blistering barnacles! - as his buddy Capt. Haddock would say - there's a secret inside about a long-lost pirate treasure. So Tintin sets out to find it, undeterred by goons with guns, crashes, explosions, cracks on the skull from behind. Hold it. Rewind. That flea market? I think I've seen it before.

If you go THE BEST WAY TO BRUSSELS From LAX, United offers direct service (stop, no change of plane) to Brussels, and United, Lufthansa, British, US Airways, American and Delta offer connecting flights (change of plane). Restricted round-trip fares begin at $456, excluding taxes and fees. TELEPHONES To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 32 (country code for Belgium), and the local number. WHERE TO STAY Hotel Metropole, 31 Place de Broukère, 2-217-2300, http://www.metropolehotel.com . A Belle Époque landmark that figures in the Tintin adventure "The Seven Crystal Balls.

By agreeing to knit their nations closer together on fiscal and economic policy, Europe's leaders are writing a potentially momentous new chapter in the continent's drive toward political integration. But at the end of a two-day summit in Brussels on Friday, it was unclear whether the enforced austerity demanded by France and Germany would help revive Europe's weakest economies, or condemn them to a cycle of deepening recession. And the chorus of oui , ja and si at the summit was punctuated by a resounding "no" from Britain, laying bare the widening rift between one of the region's biggest players and its neighbors on the European mainland.

In the white-knuckle game of chicken that the euro crisis has increasingly become, three players are staring one another down: the markets, the masses and Merkel. As time runs out to save the shared currency and avert global economic pandemonium, the question of who will blink first is likely to become clear over the next few days while European leaders prepare for a crucial summit. All three players are refusing to budge, making it difficult to tell who will yield or whether their intransigence will result in mutually assured destruction.

There are two secrets to preparing this recipe by Russ Parsons. First, steaming the Brussels sprouts whole and then quartering them, which gives a beautiful range of colors, flavors and textures, from the tender, sweet, dark green of the outside to the bright, slightly bitter, crisp center. And not overcooking them; that's what creates that stinky sulfurous cabbage smell. To make Thanksgiving Day go more smoothly, you can cook the Brussels sprouts the day before and then cook the bacon and chestnuts and finish the dish shortly before serving.

Despite pressure from some NATO allies to halt the bombing in Libya, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Thursday said alliance warplanes will keep flying as long as combat persists between the provisional government's fighters and forces loyal to deposed leader Moammar Kadafi. "If there continues to be serious fighting, if there continues to be threats to the civilian population, then I'm sure this mission will continue," Panetta told reporters after two days of meetings with defense chiefs and military commanders at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters here.

Two armed robbers stole a painting by Belgian artist Rene Magritte from a small museum in Brussels on Thursday, police said. Brussels police spokesman Johan Berckmans said the men escaped by car with the 1948 "Olympia" oil painting. The nude portrait of the surrealist's wife, Georgette, is valued at $1.1 million. The painting hung at Magritte's former house, which has been turned into a small museum. Entry is by appointment only. It is separate from a larger Magritte museum that opened this year.

Murray Seeger, a Los Angeles Times foreign correspondant who served as Moscow bureau chief in the early 1970s and was later director of information for the AFL-CIO, has died. He was 82. Seeger, who lived in Silver Spring, Md., died of pneumonia Monday in a hospital in Olney, Md., said his son, Stephen M. Seeger. After entering journalism in the early 1950s, Seeger was covering economics, labor, banking, the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and regulatory agencies for Newsweek magazine in Washington, D.C., when Los Angeles Times editors recruited him in 1967 to create a similar beat.