Waiter, please take away these ten thousand spoons when all I need ten thousand forks

All that talk and YouTube videos yesterday about one of my favorite topics — waffles — made me a mite peckish for those delicious hot 'n' crispy breakfast treats, so it was off today into Manhattan to Petite Abeille, my favorite Belgian restaurant in the Big Apple. How Belgian is it? So Belgian that Hercule Poirot eats here.

In fact, I was so hungry that I vowed to eat

10,000 WAFFLES!

So, come along with me, won't you, to eat 10,000 Waffles! Or, as they say in Belgium, "Volg me en eet tienduizendtalwafels." Make sure you keep count along with me, okay?

One of the best things about Petite Abeille is their exclusive Belgian waitstaff. Here, a young waiter takes my order, then disappears for six months into Tibet with his fluffy white dog.


Ah, the menu! Or, as we say in Belgium, the "menu". And hey, look, Bumblebee from the Teen Titans is on it. I wonder how much she makes for that endorsement deal.


Ah ha! Voila! 'Ere is, as you say, le waffle section. I zhall 'ave ten thouzhand of zese, s'il vous plait! Eight thousand with whipped cream, fifteen hundred with nutella, and five hundred with speculoos.


All good restaurants have some form of entertainment to keep you amused while the specialty chefs in the kitchen are preparing your beautifully handcrafted meal. And if you're ordering ten thousand of them, you're gonna have a little bit of a wait. That's why I'm lucky that Petite Abeille offers a lending library of Tintin paperbacks, in both English and French! I think I'll choose this Hergé classic to while away my waffle-anticipatory wait.


There's always high adventure, action, thrills and laffs at Marlinspike Hall! And this special edition of Tintin is actually scratch 'n' sniff! Let's see what this page smells like...mmmmmm, Captain Haddock's whisky!


Don't fill up on bread! That's how they get you.


Hey, who ordered mac 'n' cheese for an appetizer? Oh well, it looks delicious! Nom nom nom nom nom!


It's always a good idea to choose a beverage that compliments your meal. I intensely consultated with Petite Abeille's sommelier, who informed me with not even a tiny bit of snootiness that white wine goes with fish, and red wine goes with meat, but waffles are best complimented with a fine local Belgian brew. What the heck, bring me a bucket of the stuff!


I think I drank it too fast. (hic)


Hoorah! Waffle #1 has arrived! Mark that down...waffle number one. Let's get started on it right now!


Mmmmmm...that was good. But I'm kinda full now. How many more do I have to eat?


I think I better take the rest of them "to go."


Luckily, when I was heading home, I saw the Rickshaw Nice Dumplings van! Yummmm...I'm so hungry, I'm going to eat ten thousand dumplings!