Sunday, December 11, 2011

A few of my favourite things...

It´s been more than a year.

Of that year, I have spent almost half travelling through Europe, and still, not a peep.

While I can´t begin to make up for all the missed meals, I can start up again now and let you know about a few of the absolute stand out,(food) experiences that I have had this trip.

Chronologically, because I could not even begin to order things otherwise, these have been a few of my favourite things:

- Cote de Provence Rose sitting at an outdoor table in the Parisian summer

- Spinach (or other wild greens) and cheese burek washed down with cold natural drinking yoghurt in Belgrade (and all through the Balkans)

- Peaches, quite simply perfection, from the market in Montenegro

- Eating $2 bowls of borscht with a hard boiled egg at a plastic table in Poland´s soviet hangover `milk bars`

- Organic blueberry, pomegranate and pear gelati (separately, but at the same time) in Bologna.

- French "hyper" markets, with 4 cheese sections, 2 aisles for butter, beautiful yoghurts in tiny glass jars, artisan ciders, cans of everything from ratatouille to duck confit, 38 cent baguette perfection... I could go on.

- Olive oil that makes everything else look like a poor imitation, bought from a lady´s garage at the side of the road in Puglia

- Everything with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and a sprinkle of oregano in Greece

- Naples. Pizza. Perfection.

- Naples. Sfogliatelle. Perfection.

- Tapas, clearly from a can, and at $5 a bite, a total rip off, but coupled with a glass of cava and a crowded bar, deliciously worth it.

- Coffee in the early morning sun at 3000m in Andorra

- Gluwine at Christmast markets everywhere from Bern to Baden.

That brings us about up to the present, though I´m sure I´ve missed at least two dozen unforgettable experiences.

For now at least, I feel better about having gotten some of that down.

Stay tuned... I won´t make you wait a whole more year for a new post this time.