Around the World trip updates

A long while ago, longer than I care to admit, we took a 4 month trip around the world.

Life got in the way and I never finished writing about the rest of our trip. I've had several emails about it (apologies!) and I'm working on getting it all up to date, which honestly is no small feat. I know there are worse problems to have.

Here are places we visited that I have written about:

New Delhi • Jaipur • Agra • Kathmandu • Bangkok • 

Kuala Lumpur • Penang / Butterworth • Singapore • Siem Reap • 

Phnom Penh • Kampong Phluk / Tonlé Sap • 

Ho Chi Minh • Củ Chi Tunnels • Mỹ Tho + The Mekong • Hong Kong • Macau

The remaining places I will be writing about include:

Beijing • Tokyo • Kyoto • Hiroshima • Miyajima • 

New Zealand's North Island + White Island • Cook Islands' Aitutaki

Oahu • San Francisco • California's Pacific Coast Highway 1 • Los Angeles • 

Las Vegas • Bryce Canyon • Antelope Canyon • The 4 Corners Monument

Albuquerque • White Sands • El Paso • New York City • 

Savannah • Hilton Head Island • Charleston

Iceland travel spots

In just a couple weeks we are going to be heading back to Iceland in hopes of catching the aurora borealis.

2012 + 2013 are supposed to be the best years in recent times to see them, so I hope we have a little bit of luck on our side.


Aurora Time-lapse / Iceland 2012 from O Z Z O Photography on Vimeo.

These two sites: aurora predictor + aurora hunter, are a fun way to get a forecast and it says September and March are statistically the best times of year, too.

Even if that doesn't prove to be a success it's going to be great to be back in one of our favorite places on the planet. I'm already excited to eat as much skyr as humanly possible. Stefan can't wait to visit Icelandic Fish + Chips which has 'skyronnaise'.

We'll also be there for Beer Day, so we can sample some of their microbrews and the Food and Fun festival will be going on, too.

We are hardly running out of things to do in Iceland.

With my love for organization, I created a google map with locations I've read about or someone has recommended to visit (red spots are locations and links to places we've visited, blue markers are locations that we want to visit... looks like we need to stay longer):


View Iceland in a larger map

A few more helpful sites and videos if you are planning a trip, too. If you need any encouragement, just watch these videos and the nature will reel you in.

Grapevine best of Reykjavik 2011... the local English news and info source
Iceland Travel blog... a cohesive site with lots of Iceland info
aurum jewelry... I saw a bracelet that I loved here during our last visit, hopefully they still have it!

(As a side note, Jeni's ice cream shop is introducing an Icelandic cake flavor in March, it's called Icelandic Happy Marriage Cake and will have skyr, sweet oat biscuits, and rhubarb compote - yum! Maybe next she'll try one like the rye bread ice cream at Reykjavik's Café Loki.)


Scenes From Niceland from SCIENTIFANTASTIC on Vimeo.


ICELAND from Gunnar Konradsson on Vimeo.

Tartine Brioche bread pudding

This weekend we set out to make our own bread pudding à la San Francisco's Tartine.
The brioche came from a bakery to save time (... if you live in Munich you can find it at Brot- und Feinbäckerei Neulinger, but you might have to order it in advance).

We made use of the blueberries that are everywhere right now; I'm assuming because it's summer in the Southern hemisphere. 

This recipe would be great with any in season stone fruit or berries though.

The Tartine cookbook is nothing short of incredible and the recipes truly taste like the ones from the original bakery. They aren't incredibly fussy or difficult, but the results are something special. 

[Here is Tartine's Savory bread pudding recipe and also there famed Morning Buns recipe, which I think we might try next.]

Books: Pierre Hermé Pastries + Henri's Walk to Paris

If you love pastries as much as I do, you'll be delighted that Pierre Hermé Pastries is soon to be released with more of his incredible creations.

It's supposed to come out March 1st, but when I pre-ordered his macarons book it came a bit quicker.

[if you want to read more about an apprenticeship with master pâtissier Pierre Hermé, check out  Food Beam, written by Fanny, a pastry chef / food blogger]

Let me know if you end up making something from the book, too!

I think I will be making something from Pierre Hermé for my brother-in-law's wedding festivities in March.

Another great Parisian related re-release is Henri's Walk to Paris by Saul Bass. The illustrations are spectacular!

Send me an email or leave yours in the comments if you'd like a 10% off coupon and free shipping globally (before 29 February) on these books or whatever else you'd order from the book depository. (As always, I'm not receiving anything for these recommendations, but I love to share.)

San Francisco

We opted to avoid the holiday travel chaos, which meant a delayed trip to the US.

This was the best option after having several airline mishaps in the years past - driving from Washington DC to Ohio on Christmas Eve three years ago, and nearly getting stranded in El Paso two years ago.

Thankfully this year the weather decided to also cooperate with us.

Before our biannual Ohio visit, we stopped in San Francisco for 5 days to visit our dear friends, Emily & Jeremy, and their new pup - Banjo.

Having visited San Francisco twice before, it was so nice to see the city from our friends' view points and to simply catch up more on life after Germany. We sure miss them.

San Francisco is a great city;  fog swept rolling hills, inventive restaurants, creative people, and a lot of high tech industries. The only downsides are the amount of homeless people and dog poo littered sidewalks.

There are also many public parks speckled around and warm weather year round to make it incredibly livable.

Oh, how we missed the variety of American food. The portions may be larger than in many places, but it's the best way to enjoy a meal - by sharing great company and delicious foods. We did a lot of eating and this is certainly the city for that.

A few of the restaurants we visited included:

Tartine ... this is the legendary pastry shop with long lines that are worth the wait.
Nopa ... for a great New Year's eve dinner
Umami Burger ... waygu burgers
Tacolicious ... I will dream about these tacos and margaritas for a long long time. They are perfection. The tuna tostadas were my favorite, but I don't think you can go wrong.
Mosto... the tequila bar right next to tacolicious, making waiting time that much better.
Beach Chalet ... as close to a California beachside biergarten as it gets - with a veggie hops burger.
Tornado Pub ... an endless array of beers from around the world.
Mission Chinese ... this pop up restaurant has caused quite a stir and is now here to stay - don't miss it! The food is crazy good and the rap music is a hilarious blast from the past. The salt cod fried rice and the thrice cooked bacon were probably my favorites.

Bi-Rite Creamery ... delicious ice cream, which is extra sweet to enjoy in Delores Park with great weather in the middle of Winter. They also have an ice cream cook book coming out later this year! 

Chantal Guillon macarons... a touch of France in California. 

Ici ... (Berkeley) I'm not sure what the deal is, but sadly it was better the last time we went

Saigon Sandwiches .... Banh Mi, Vietnamese sandwiches

If you are planning a trip check out the following:
Jamie Oliver's San Francisco tips... We visited many of his recommendations, although the magazine came out a month after our trip.
7x7 Big Eat List of 2012... plenty more restaurants to try
7x7 Big To-Do List... 100 quintessential San Francisco experiences

Not all of our time was spent eating... we also did a lot of walking. I always seem to forget - or mentally block out - how impossibly slow and archaic the public transport is even in the biggest US cities.

With the California sun shining brightly and only needing to wear a jacket I wasn't sure if I was in some sort of alternate reality. A heavy dose of sunshine in the middle of the Winter is really is amazing and was the perfect way to start the new year. Those year-round beaches are such a luxury, too.

Fort Funston ... this beach is so unique. Dogs and their owners stroll along, splash in the waves, and find little treasures washed ashore. I'd go to take it all in even if I didn't have a dog, but I really can't wait to get one.

Tilden Park... for incredible Bay area views and a nice nature stroll.

Street art... lots of self expression around town 

St. Mary's Cathedral... home of the "two o'clock titty", at two o'clock the sun's channels its own Mary Katherine Gallagher to give the church it's own perky bust. 

What a great place to start the new year. Even the fog couldn't hold those fireworks back this year. 

whites

I have an ever expanding collection of white dishware. A lot of pieces are typical, but then I love the quirky everyday things made ceramic.

These are a couple pieces I picked up recently:

pillow plates - made in Ohio for eleven madison park in New York City

berry punnets - for my love of blueberries

pâtisserie plates - like those in European cafés, for cakes, cookies, and confections.

I love having guests and giving them something a little unexpected in terms of servingware. 

It's the little things.

Finger Limes

I've been hearing about these for the past couple years and now that they are in season I went to find some.

Finger limes are often call the caviar of the fruit world. These little fruits are like confetti. They come from Australian and are available in a variety of colors, which have different flavors. Our exotic fruit man got us the pink variety, which have a tart peppery citrus flavor and are slightly sticky.

If you live in Munich you can get them at the exotic fruits stall at Viktualienmarkt, but you'll have to order them in advance. He told me they are available until March and they cost about 1.50€ each.

[Here are some finger lime recipes.]

I also asked if miracle fruit was available to order, but sadly it's not. It's a tiny red berry from Africa that gives everything naturally sweet an enhanced flavor. Lemons taste like lemonade and strawberries are ultra sweet.

We were able to try miracle fruit while we were in Tokyo a couple years ago and it's a lot of fun to have an altered sense of taste. Unfortunately sugar lobbyists aren't so eager to promote its use, but if you ever find them give them a try!

[Apologies, because I still need to write about our trip to Japan!]

Fei Scho

We decided to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Dragon at Munich's new dim sum restaurant Fei Scho.

If you're looking for a fun and offbeat little place with great food and a Bavarian slant - this is it. The menu is small, but everything we sampled was delicious.

The schweinekrustbraten dim sum with dunklebiersauce and apfelblaukraut is a fun twist on melding Bairisch and Asian. They have quite a few vegetarian options, too.

恭喜发财 - Gung hee fat choy!

Tartine

While I actually prefer savory foods, I do have a weak spot for really well made pastries.

They tend to be time intensive to make and slightly difficult to pare down, which can be troublesome if I'm baking for just the two of us. Those factors never usually stop me.

A few months ago Emily and Jeremy sent us the kind of care package that makes your heart skip a beat. It was filled with many treats from home, handmade items, and the Tartine cookbook.

The morning after our arrival in San Francisco we stopped at the actual location to sample Tartine's legendary array of foods. Despite having ample time to decide due to a line that wrapped around the building, I felt overwhelmed deciding exactly what to get. Since there were 5 of us it helped in being able to sample and share, so we ordered a lot of food.

[Here's the Tartine Menu if you want to plan in advance!]

As we waited we saw the pastry chefs working their magic through the window. Sometimes I think it would be so much fun to be a pastry chef, while other times I have to remind myself the job doesn't only entail eating all day and baker's hours aren't great for someone who loves sleeping.

Not one thing we had was just mediocre. I loved all of it.

I'm really looking forward to putting that book to work until we make it back to San Francisco again. Hopefully I can achieve similar results! 

Jet Lag

We just got back from the United States.

It's funny to notice little things after being away, even though it's only been about 6 months since our previous visit.

Some things feel foreign, sometimes I feel a little foreign, and other times I love the familiarity. It's like an old friend who you can pick up with without skipping a beat.

The variety always amazes me, too... the complexions, subcultures, styles, foods - those are things I desperately miss after all of these years away (not to mention friends, family, and my parents' dogs).

Mieka and Josh were happy to see us. Mieka was eager to celebrate my birthday in hopes of stealing a bit of cake (she was unsuccessful). Since she has Addison's disease, she is constantly hungry and will do anything for the smallest kibble. It's sad and sweet all at the same time.

Joshua was so delighted to run in the first snow of the season. I always seem to forget he is such a behemoth and looks like he belongs in a zoo. What a sweet boy he is.

We miss everyone already.

I hope to catch up a bit this week and write about our trips to San Francisco and Ohio. It was such a great visit and so nice to have some sun!

2011 + 2012

In 2011, we visited :

Paris • Marrakech • Essaouira • Croatia • Bosnia + Herzegovina • Montenegro • Moscow •
 Iceland • Boston • Ohio • Venice • Burano • Gaisberg • Florence

We celebrated 5 years of :

marriage • life in Munich • enjoying Oktoberfest

We made a huge array of ice creams and I had some success with macarons, too.

2012 will be another year full of love, excitement, travels, and sweet treats, including:

• Celebrating the New Year in San Francisco
• Going back to Iceland - hopefully to see the aurora borealis!
• Taking an Indian cooking course
• Traveling to Istanbul
• Being part of the lantern world record in Poznań, Poland [I can hardly handle the excitement!]
• Making baked goods from Tartine, Momofuku Milk Bar, Les Petite Macarons, and Heston at Home
• Several weddings
... and I'm sure plenty more surprises we don't even yet know about.

I hope 2012 is a special one for you, too! 

Raclette

While raclette is a traditionally Swiss meal it's still very popular here during the Winter months and great for gatherings.

Even though we've only had snowfall a few times it's still a nice excuse to get out our raclette grill for some Alpine comfort food.

The raclette cheese is the important part. It's stinky, nutty, and surprisingly quite mild, but it melts beautifully and works really well with an array of ingredients.

I'm sure it's due to tradition and the lack of fresh produce, but many of the accoutrements are canned and preserved. We try to add fresh things when possible.

Whenever I think of Switzerland I hear Stefan saying "all Americans go to Interlaken, which people here don't visit."

I'm also reminded of when we visited Zürich while we were back in college. That was a quick way to feel extremely broke. 

Cookies + Markets

One thing I desperately miss about the US around the holidays is how everything centers around food.

It's an excuse to gather, to enjoy, and to eat a bit more than usual with pot-luck style meals and cookie exchanges.

Here people tend to do it all on their own.

I'm always impressed when we visit Stefan's family and there are an array of different cookies all meticulously put together and perfectly bite sized. His Mom has a legendary fondue, which has become a fantastic family tradition, too.

Each year I think I should organize a cookie exchange, because I love variety, but the holiday chaos usually gets in the way. It gets a little trying to make an array of cookies on your own. This year Stefan joined me for a glühwein and evening of baking, which was a lot of fun.

I try to make new recipes, old favorites, and learn some German varieties with lebkuchen and the standard Mürbeteig base.

There seems to be a distinct difference from celebrating in Germany and the US. As with many things I wish that I could meld the two together.

Here people celebrate oftentimes outside and away from their homes. They gather with strangers, neighbors, and friends for Christmas markets and festivals.

The US is a bit commercial with a strong emphasis on gifts, family, and individual traditions.

If we ever move away from Germany I'm certain we'll have an annual Christmas market party - complete with lebkuchen, glühwein, spiced nuts, spätzle, open fires, and undoubtedly our own traditions thrown in.

Here are a few photos from the Tollwood festival, which is an enormous organic around the world style Christmas market, similar to Yellow Springs back home. It takes place on the same grounds as Oktoberfest.

We had some incredible schupfnudeln and spätzle, which came in edible dishes. Isn't that ingenious? 

...and of course our fair share of feuerzangenbowle, which a glühwein with rum over pressed sugar that is then lit on fire. 

Florence

Florence or Firenze is a city of prestige, style, and art.

This was the most powerful city in Europe for 250 years or so and really helped Europe come out of the dark ages with currency. It's also credited with creating opera, the most authentic Italian spoken,  and Pinocchio. The Renaissance and Neo-Classical architecture from Brunelleschi and Alberti changed the way cities would be built forever. As we walked through the streets I kept thinking it would have been incredible to live during this age of discovery and creativity.

One of the most memorable courses I took in my art history studies was Italian Renaissance art. Seeing many of the things I learned about with my own eyes was really something special.

The landscape alone made such a gorgeous tapestry of colors with the late Autumn leaves, purple mountains, and rolling hills. It's certainly clear to see why it's an inspiration for artists.

We were lucky to visit during the off-peak season. The city itself while sprawling, has a concentrated area for the touristy things, so it probably doesn't take much for it to feel slightly congested. Before our trip I read the Florentines are their own type of people: elegant, cultured, and sophisticated.

Our apartment was right at the Palazzo Vecchio (where the David originally stood) and the Uffizi in the Santa Croce district, which is reputed to have some of the best restaurants.

I think we ate cannolis every morning for breakfast... and maybe a small one after dinner if we weren't enjoying the cantuccini + vino santo.

There seemed to be no shortage of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving in Italy - from the college students biking around to the older tour groups.

I was able to cross a few things off my list of impressive art and architecture to experience: Bottecelli's Birth of Venus, Michelangelo's David, Brunelleschi’s dome, and Giotto's Tower to name a few. We also picked up a kitschy ornament of the David he'll remind us of our trip for holidays to come.

It intrigues me how so many artists had patrons with ties to the church, powerful families, and endless amounts of money. Seeing how art, math, and engineering combine to create some very impressive works makes that money well invested.

We pre-booked tickets to the Galleria dell'Accademia and Uffizi, which turned out not to be necessary since there weren't so many tourists. A little tip if the pre-booked tickets are sold out is to head to this little window between the Palazzo Vecchio and the Cathedral. They have tickets from cancelled reservations for the various museums.

Here are some of the pretty things we saw, ate, and experienced: 

Ponte Vecchio

Meats, Cheeses, Cantuccini + Vino Santo

Baptistry Doors

Catholic street art

Giotto's Tower + The Cathedral Façade

Osteria Pepò ... for a terrific wine filled lunch

Medici Palace

The view from Giotto's Tower 

gelato + pastries

The Florence Marathon... one of these two won

The Occupy Florence movement

Pretty street decor

Ospedale degli Innocenti by Brunelleschi

Ospedal degli Innocenti details

Motorbikes along the Arno

Ponte Vecchio's jewelry shops

Christmas lights

Uffizi Gallery

Palmanova Starfort... something cool we spotted from the plane window.

As always, I wish that we had more time to explore the city and to visit the outskirts as well. 

The Tuscan area certainly has an allure to it. 

I'm looking forward to looking at some of the photos my parents took (slides actually) when they visited Italy and Florence on their honeymoon. I'm sure the fashions from the 1970's alone will be a treat.