SB 2010!

I did not have a typical college spring break this past week. My travels were relatively tame compared to those of my state-side friends. However, I believe that I had the best Spring Break ever. I traveled to Ireland and Paris and did some amazing things. I visited family in Ireland and had a lovely, lovely time. The Irish are very fond of the word "lovely" and I have taken it upon myself to start using that word more often.

My family cooked for me while I was in Ireland and I greatly enjoyed my meals. Both nights we had mashed potatoes with gravy, mashed carrots and turnips, and meat with gravy. It was very simple, but also very delicious. I also drank and INSANE amount of tea. Everywhere I went, everyone was offering me tea. In the morning, during lunch, after dinner, after a walk, after sheep-herding ,after a late night talk. Along with tea, there were also small cakes and muffins. The Irish also put a lot of milk and sugar in their tea which I found odd. I like tea, but I enjoy the bitterness of it and I prefer to drink it as is. I drank tea a total of 7 times in 2 days!

I also went out to eat at a restaurant located in the only hotel in Caherciveen. I ate their twice and it was not until I left Ireland that I learned that this is the place where my great-grandma Kate worked before she came to America. The first time I was there I ate fried scampi with chips. It was very good and my second cousin once removed ordered the same thing. As I doused my chips in ketchup, she dipped hers in mayonnaise. Odd.

The second time I went there with a distant cousin and ate fried cod and chips. Both times the food was very delicious! I will post pictures soon!

Paris is another great city for food and I had some lovely dining experiences.
The first night there we went to a small restaurant in Montmarte which is the artsy district of Paris on the Northwest side of the city. We ate at a restaurant that served its wine in baby bottles because people often spill in the narrow restaurant. Sadly, we could not show off our wine-tasting skills as we could not swirl our glasses or smell the wine. Darn!
For dinner we ordered meat fondue. It came with a big bowl of red raw meat and some taters! It was fun cooking our own meat and gave us a chance to really enjoy the meal and the atmosphere of Montmarte. This was one of my favorite nights out as I got to enjoy the company of my friends!

The next day I enjoyed free croissants at my hostel. After a lot of sightseeing we headed to an area where we heard there was good, cheap food. We found a restaurant offering a tourist menu with 3 courses for only 8 euro! I usually like to avoid touristy places, but when you find this amount of food at such a low price, you cannot pass it up! I ordered a chicken and mushroom crepe and beef bourguignon. The meal was delicious! For dessert we received ice cream, definitely a bang for your buck! That night I ate some fruit from a stand near my hostel.

The next day I grabbed lunch on the go as I headed to Chartes. I got a mushroom and cheese and tomato crepe from a stand near the train station. Once again, delicious! That night I got Kebab from a Greek restaurant in Chinatown!

The next day I was not feeling too well after a night out on the town. Finally, around 1 I regained my appetite and we went in search for another tourist menu. It was Saturday, so we knew we would have to spend a bit more money. After a long search, we found a restaurant serving 3 courses for 10 euro, success! I ate French onion soup, duck, and chocolate mousse. The Duck was my favorite. It was very succulent and tasty!

For dinner we found another restaurant in Montmarte with 3 courses for only 12 euro! Ah, Pareee!
I cannot remember the name of my first course, but it consisted of thinly sliced tomatoes with cheese and a lemony sort of sauce. It was warm and very very delicious. For my second course I ordered beef bourguignon once again. It was much much better the second time around. It was very tender and melted in my mouth. For dessert, chocolate mousse!

I loved the food I had during Spring Break! Now it is back to my reality of a quickly dwindling bank account and home-cooked sandwhiches for every meal! Boun appetit!

My Favorite Things

Chicago is a great city for food. Every year I look forward to the Taste of Chicago. This is a festival held near the lakefront each year during the 4th of July (my favorite holiday, I LOVE America).

There are about 60 or 70 different restaurants that set up booths in the street and sell their most popular dishes. Food is bought with tickets and costs between 2 and 8 dollars. You can also get "taste" portions of the most popular item at each stand. This, of course, is my favorite thing to do.

The Taste can get pretty overwhelming though - millions of people in the sweltering heat fighting for Eli's Cheesecake and Ricobene's breaded steak sandwhiches, it gets brutal! I have a friend who's family never misses the taste. They taught me how to easily conquer the taste and eat everything your heart desires.

First, you must go to Eli's Cheescake stand and ask for a box. Their cheesecakes get delivered in large boxes, so they are happy to give any of them away. Now you have a means of carrying all your food!

Then you must cut the line at every stand. It is vital that you do this alone because it is too difficult to stay with a friend, every man for himself! Determine a rendevous location for later.

Go to as many stands as you can and then meet back up with your friends. Find an open area in Grant Park and sit down. Go get a beer. Now you can sit down with your friends and enjoy the free live music and delicious food of Chicago!

One thing that saddens me though, is that my favorite restaurant in Chicago does not participate in the Taste. I guess it does not need the publicity that the Taste brings in for restuarants because it is a very famous and historical restaurant for Chicago. The Berghoff on Adams street, just east of the Sears Tower is my favorite restaurant. A sad thing happened in February of 2006 when the Berghoff decided to close. The owners were getting very old and sold the restaurant to their daughter. Instead of keeping the restaurant alive, she decided to use the restaurant to operate her private catering company. Horrible!

People in Chicago were outraged! There as nothing we could do. Obviously, my family drove downtown every night for the last week it was open to wait in line for hours in order to eat at our favorite restaurant for the last times.

After it was closed for a few months, the new owner reopened it under a different name, 17 West. The purpose of this closing and reopening was to disband the union that all the servers at the Berghoff belonged to. They were the highest paid servers in all of Chicago and they received great benefits. It's a shame that the owners pulled this move on their loyal employees, but then again, this is Chicago.

17 West still serves the same food, with some new additions. The cuisine of the Berghoff is German and they brew their own beer and root beer. Everytime I have ever been there I have ordered the same thing because it is just so good. I get the Saurbraten with sides of spatzle, creamed spinach, red cabbage, and German potato salad.

For anyone traveling to Chicago, I recommend going to this restaurant for Lunch. You usually have to wait about 10 minutes, but it is definitely worth it. This restaurant has been around since the Prohibition. The Berghoff was the first place in Chicago to regain its liquor license after the Prohibition.

If you enjoy German food you cannot miss the Berghoff (17 West) on your next visit to Chicago!

http://www.berghoff.com/

Porn

After traveling to Amsterdam last weekend, I have realized that Porn is something very prevalent in this world. I regularly indulge myself with porn - but a different kind of porn. I love to eat. Actually, I love to eat well. All my life I have had an adventurous appetite. My parents and grandparents loved it because they could bring me to exotic restaurants and not worry about finding something on the menu that I could eat. My little sister, on the other hand, is extremely picky! She will not try anything new and hardly eats anything as it is. Often times my family has to leave a restaurant, or try to order off the menu for her. It's ridiculous; She is 17 years old!

Anyway.... whenever I cannot indulge and participate in some fine dining, I often ask others what they ate and try to live vicariously though them. I always find myself asking my friends to describe their meals. Since I have been in Italy, I have been missing a lot of my favorite restaurants at home. I receive weekly emails of specials from my favorite restaurants and instead of delete them, I scour over them, while thinking of the food I can consume when I return home.

My little sister knows how much I enjoy dining out in Chicago and she had to antagonize me by sending me an email with the subject line "mmmm this sounds goood!" and this link: http://chicagochefweek.com/

AH! I cannot believe I am missing this! The restaurants are offering a special menu at a fixed price for one week only and I cannot enjoy it.

Now, I feel like a fat kid writing this, and maybe I am a fat kid at heart, but I cannot hold back my love for all different kinds of food. My greatest fat kid moment in Italy happened in Berlin, according to my roommate. We were all very hungry so we went to a street side fast food joint to try Berlin's famous Doner Kebab. I ordered first and received my Kebab first. It was sooo good! Lamb meet, lettuce, onions, tomaters, cucumbers, and cucumber sauce in a toasted bread pocket. I began enjoying it but quickly stopped. Sarah asked me why I was waiting to eat it and I replied, "I don't want to eat this too fast because I will be jealous if I finish first and have to watch everyone else as they eat it!"

Wow, I need help!

Dam you, Amsterdam

I got home from Amsterdam yesterday morning, and had not slept in 36 hours. Thank you, Amsterdam! There is Dutch fare, but I did not get to experience it while in Amsterdam. Most of the restaurants there are fast-food and of all different cuisines. I suspect this is to satisfy all of the tourists that spend time in the Coffeeshops! While I was there, it was nice to try food that is hard to find in Rome.

When we first arrived in Amsterdam, it was midnight on Friday. The streets were packed and everyone was partying in the clubs. We wandered around and were amazed by all the different cuisines Amsterdam has to offer. Immediately we stumbled upon a place called Wok to Walk. I had to get it. Asian cuisine is my favorite and I have not had a lot of it while in Rome. This fast-food joint let you create your own stir-fry to go. It was magnificent. I got rice noodles with vegetables, pineapple, and peanut sauce; My favorite! After that we quickly fell asleep in our 5x5 hostel room.

On Saturday we went to a Tapas bar across the street from our hostel. I ordered 2 plates: Potatoes in a spicy sauce and calamari. The potatoes were delicious! The sauce was mild and tasted like a lighter and spicier version of McDonald's special sauce; I am American, so of course I love Big Macs! The calamari was ok; nothing special. It was just calamari rings and I received a lemon wedge with it and no sauce.

The next day I saved my appetite up for another Asian meal. We went to a restaurant called Eat Mode in the Asian community of Amsterdam. I ordered vegetable tempura and "Chinese noodles cooked in a Japanese way with vegetables." Once again, everything was delicious and I highly recommend this Asian restaurant!

On the plane ride home we received small cookies, i think they are called Stroopwaffels. They are small waffels, cut in half and stuck together again with a carmel-like sauce. Everyone needs to try these; they are great.

Well thank you, Amsterdam, for a wonderful weekend filled with munchie num-nums!

Berlin!

This past weekend I traveled to Berlin, Germany, and I had a wonderful time. At first, I was most excited to be in a land plentiful with Beer and Brats! I had no idea that Bratwursts come from the family of 'wursts, and that there are many different kind. Needless to say, it was the "wurst" fahrt ever! (Fahrt = Trip in German)

As soon as I arrived at my hostel, I threw down my bags and headed to the corner store to buy some Berliner Beer. After downing a nice, cold, German Beer, I headed to the opposite corner for brat. I decided to try a currywurst, which is a sausage smothered in spicy ketchup and paprika. It was delicious and I quickly grew tired and went to bed.

The next morning we headed out for some sightseeing. Around noon I was getting hungry so we stopped to get a brat from a lady wearing a grill and an umbrella - quite impressive!

For dinner we went to a restaurant near our hostel and ate some "authentic" German food. The restaurant was very cute, with stuffed goats, and men hanging out of trees. The waitresses also all wore checkered dresses. I ordered suckling pig with red cabbage and mashed potatoes. It was covered in a light but sweet gravy sauce that was delicious! The red cabbage was sweet and sour - just the way I like it.

The next morning I was hung over so I got another bratwurst for breakfast - yummy! After sight seeing we stopped at a fast food joint to try the famous DONER KEBAP. Doner Kabab starts with lamb meat on a bread roll. Then you add tomaters and onions and lettuce and cucumbers and cucumber sauce. I wish I had a picture :-(

On Sunday I saved up my money and my appetite for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Schwartwaldenstueben. There were quaint tables with couches and chairs. It was very cozy and there were boars heads on the walls. We ordered the house beer - Rothaus! The menu was full of twists on authentic German recipes - I highly recommend it! I ordered meat stuffed pasta squares with potato salad and lettuce. It was amazing! For dessert we shared pineapple ravioli and apple crepes with mango sauce. The pineapple ravioli was pineapple cut very thin, stuffed with white chocolate and pressed together to make ravioli squares - exquisite! The apple crepes with mango sauce was also one of the best things I have ever tasted!

Berlin and its food was amazing and I cannot wait to try different cuisines as I travel throughout Europe!