mmm-yoso!!!

Jerusalem (Before Covid) - Exploring Machaneh Yehudah Market and the Old City, Lunch at Jachnun Bar, Dinner at Machneyuda, and Beer Bazaar

**** This is another long one as I try to finish up our Israel posts; thanks for dropping by

I made sure to keep our last full day in Jerusalem open. I figured that we'd have seen enough over the last couple of days to figure out how we'd like to spend the day. And we started off at Machaneh Yehuda Market.

It was early and the food vendors weren't open yet, so we had a chance to check out the produce, bakery, and meat stalls....something we always enjoy and this was no exception.

We always learn so much about the culture and a region by just exploring the open air markets.

   We stopped to check out the varieties of tea available in this shop and the very friendly young man started chatting with us. He was so nice and we came to find out that he is originally from new York City! Of course the Missus finding out he was from the states immediately started the "interrogation"....boy did the questions flow. And he was so nice, with a great sense of humor. I ended up getting a coffee and the Missus some tea....She even purchased some tea as well. 

I asked the young man where to grab a Sabich and he made a recommendation.....he was so nice.

Machaneh Yehudah Market
Agripas St. 90
Jerusalem, Israel

From here we walked past Mamilla Mall and into the Old City.

This was a Monday and things seemed much quieter than the previous days.

And along with the now familiar sites.....

There were things we hadn't noticed on the previous day. At the Fifth Station of the Cross we saw this.

Apparently, this is where Christ stumbled and placed his hand on the wall to balance himself. And this is his handprint in stone along the Via Dolorosa.

We went ahead and followed the route in reverse from where we had started the previous day.

 Until we arrived at the First Station where Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus to die and the Crown of Thorns was placed on his head.

Right past this spot is the Church of the Flagellation where Pilate had Jesus flogged. We had wanted to see this area the previous day, but our guide would not take us because it as in the Muslim Quarter.

From here we decided to explore the Muslim Quarter for a bit.

Which seemed pretty mellow and relaxed. We stopped for some tea at this shop.

And just hung out with the old timers outside and watched the world go by.....

We were starting to get a bit hungry so we headed back to the area around Machaneh Yehudah Market and found the recommended Sabich Shop. We walked in and the menu was in Hebrew. There were no customers when we arrived so I asked about the menu....the two young ladies working were not very nice; I was told; "you read the menu and order....it right there..." And she walked away. I did a Google translate thing, walked back to the counter and was ignored. Two customers walked in behind me and their order was taken. So, I figured that they really didn't want my business so we crossed the street and went into the Market and stopped at this stand.

The Young Man working the counter was a hoot....he loved flirting with all the girls walking by.

There was something on the menu She wanted to try......

    The Shakshuka. This was quite good; great acidic-sweet tomato flavors.....like sunshine in the form of food. The eggs were lovely, the Missus just loved the seasoning. She even enjoyed the bread!

I was told; "you better up your Shakshuka game!"

Hmmm.....

Me, well I got the namesake item; the Jachnun.

  Man, this was quite good as well. Loved the pastry used to wrap the simple fillings; egg and eggplant was particularly tasty.

This was a very nice lunch...I'm glad we came here; I guess it was fate, huh?

Jachnun Bar
(Machaneh Yehudah Market)

We strolled back to the apartment and packed, we had a morning flight back to Paris, so there would be no time to dilly-dally in the morning. After which we had a nice afternoon nap.

For our last meal, I chose a highly recommended and very popular restaurant near Machaneh Yehudah Market named Machneyuda. I kept reading about the place and when Yotam Ottolenghi mentioned the place in several articles online; well it just seemed like the right pick for us.

We had 645 reservations and arrived at a hair past 630. The place was already packed and we were seated upstairs where the music and the discussions weren't quite as loud.

   The menu is a single sheet; but there's quite a bit to choose from. The direction of our ordering was based on our previous meals and we also selected dishes that caught our attention.

And as we often do; we made a meal out of several starters as those menu items seemed the most interesting.

The first two dishes were easy to pick. We had really enjoyed the vegetables in Israel, so we made sure to get a couple of veggie based items.

Starting with the Turkish Tomato Salad.

Man, the wonderful sweet-acidity of the tomatoes; just perfect.

The Cabbage Siniya was also very good.

The cabbage had been charred thus creating a nice smoky-sweetness and wonderful textural contrast. The nutty-earthy tones of the tahini gave the dish some heft and the chilies added a bit of zip.

Our least favorite item of the night was the Shaour Tartare.

   The tartare was delivered covered by spinach leaves; which were browning and getting discolored. The fish itself was quite chewy and very mild in flavor which was just over-powered by the aioli, herbs, and spices.

Meanwhile, the Sweetbreads were so delici-yoso!!!

Firm at first bite, giving way to a wonderful creaminess; the tomato and radish paired quite well, smoothing out any strong metallic-offal flavors with the dill adding in a grassy, slightly anise touch to things. The flatbread was crisp and nicely charred.

Our last dish was the Crispy Brain with Eggplant.

As if things couldn't get better; the brain was nicely fried; the interior so crisp then creamy, the tender eggplant smoky, the bread added a brioche like sweetness.

Overall, this was a excellent dinner and a great way to end our stay in Jerusalem.

Machneyuda
Beit Ya'akov St. 10
Jerusalem, Israel

After this wonderful dinner, the Missus treated me to a nightcap, stopping at the Beer Bazaar location in Machaneh Yehudah Market.

Hipster Jerusalem anyone?

Actually we enjoyed the vibe here; the bartender spent time in San Diego! 

She told me to keep the coaster to remember our time here.

Cool folks!

Beer Bazaar Jerusalem
(Machaneh Yehudah Market)

Like I said, this was our favorite area in Jerusalem.

Back at the apartment, I sat on the porch for a while.

And tried to take in all that we'd seen and done over the last couple of days....whew.....

The next morning we were off to Ben Gurion International Airport. We had time to check out the lounge since we were flying Business Class on El Al.

And had a light breakfast.

And we got fed again on our flight to Paris.....

We arrived in Paris on time. We'd have one night before moving on to our next stop!

Clearing Out the Memory Card - Our Last Night in Bologna

I figure I better get these posts done. Our trip to Florence and Emilia-Romana finished up in April of last year.

We had really enjoyed our time in Emilia-Romagna; from the Culatello to the Tortellini en Brodo, to aged Parmesano Reggiano...well, that was me. The Missus loved the castles, the Devil's Bridge, and we both loved the warm and friendly people...and of course the amazing Italian Days Food Tour.

For our last dinner in Bologna, I selected a modern, yet very popular restaurant named Oltre. I'd heard it was a bit difficult to find, so while the Missus was taking a nap I headed out to find the sticker covered door of the restaurant.

So, for dinner, I basically retraced our steps. The restaurant was dimly lit and the wine and bread were quite good.

The food however, was disappointing; from the bland broth and the strange and almost rancid tasting pasta in the Tortellini en Brodo (we mentioned this to the Server who looked at us and said; "this is the way it's supposed to taste").

To the tough meat in the Sformantino en Ragu....

The Guancia di manzo (beef cheeks) were very tender, but the thick sauce was bitter and overwhelmed the equally delicious black cabbage.

We just decided to call it quits before dessert.

Oh well, sometimes it just doesn't work out, right?

Oltre
Via Augusto Majani 1
40122 Bologna, Italy

We took our time heading back to the apartment. Stopping to take in Piazza Maggiore.

And yet another amazing street performer.

Here's a little snippet of the performance.

Awesome, yeah?

As is my little tradition; I picked up a beer on the way back to the apartment.

And the next day we headed home. The Business Class Lounge in Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport is kinda cramped and the offerings nothing worth mentioning.

What is worth mentioning is the excellent fast-track security exit at the rear of the lounge.

And because "DerekR" seems to like my airline food photos...….this is for you!

The Chicken Terrine was the best item.

So that's it.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Budapest - Getting There and Exploring Lipótváros (Leopold Town)

***** Sorry, not much food in this one. But, if you'd like to see some photos and stories on Budapest....

Four months seemed like an excruciating wait for the Missus. After going "back home" for a few days in January, She had to wait four months for our next vacation. But I thought this one was going to be worth it. It entailed starting in a city that the Missus always wanted to visit, Budapest, and ending in what has become (along with Japan) almost like our home away form home if you will.

The travel time was going to be rather long, though the meals on the San Diego to LHR leg was not bad at all.

And while the Galleries Lounge in Terminal 3 at Heathrow was rather small and seemingly a bit worn, it was quiet, and relaxing.

And so it was; an almost eleven hour flight from San Diego to Heathrow, a five hour lay-over in LHR, followed by an almost three hour flight to Budapest. In the end we'd had three square meals in an airplane.

We felt blessed to be able to travel in Business Class.

We arrived in Budapest after midnight, though getting thru customs and immigration, then working a system of getting a cab at the booth, you go to the cab booth, tell the person your destination, you are handed a ticket with a number. This number coincides with the cab number. You'll see the number on the visor of the taxi. Since we pack light and never check luggage going, we actually got to our hotel, the Budapest Marriott around 130 am. There's a reason I picked the Marriott; while the façade looks like something left over from the cold war, the view when I opened the shades in the morning looked like this.

That's the Royal Palace perched on top of Palace Hill, on the Buda side of the Danube. Man was it beautiful!

Since the sun rose early and set at around 830pm, we'd be able to get in a good amount of exploring. There were two things we noticed right away as we walked along the Danube. There were benches everywhere....along with statues and monuments...too many to count. Like this one; simply called "A girl with her dog".

The day had started overcast and it started drizzling a bit, well, more like an irritating mistiness as we got to the Parliament Building.

And yes, that's another statue, of Attila József a 20th century poet, who is much beloved in his home town of Budapest. In fact, his birthday is celebrated as National Poetry Day in Hungary. Sadly, József's life would be a rather short one. He was run over by a train on December 3rd, 1937....whether a suicide or a terrible accident is up for debate. Regardless, he died at the age of 32. His statue sits on the stairs right before the parliament building, looking at the Danube.

We headed down the stairs and headed south along the Danube, to this somber monument of 60 1940's style iron shoes at the banks of the river.

This is the monument called "Shoes on the Danube Bank". This memorial remembers the hundreds of Jews killed by the militia of the Arrow Cross Party. Many were murdered along the Danube and were forced to remove their shoes and even strip naked before being shot.

From the rocks and pebbles placed in and around the shoes; something that is often done on graves; to the flowers, candles, and other items.....on a later visit we saw a woman who looked like was in perhaps her late 80's place flowers here, walking arm in arm with what I can only assume were relatives.

It was quite moving.....

More on the Shoes on the Danube here and here.

We then crossed back and took in the impressive Parliament Building.

As we took a walk around the building there were...well, monuments galore. Like this one of István Tisza.

On the grand statue of Ferenc Rákóczi, who led Hungarians in an uprising (unsuccessful) against the Habsburgs.

Across from the Parliament are two other grand looking buildings; the Museum of Ethnography.

And the Ministry of Agriculture.

We crossed the street to check something out at the end of the building.

These black "plugs" are actually bullet hole markers that memorialize the victims of "Bloody Thursday" a moment at the beginning of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. On October 25th, 1956, a large group of peaceful protesters gathered in front of the Parliament Building. For whatever reason, the Államvédelmi Hatóság (AVH - the Communist Police) opened fire and scores were killed.

Yes, the views are beautiful, the buildings grand.....

But if those structures could talk...…..

Thanks for stopping by!

Anchorage - The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, Orso, and Darwin's Theory

After having our lunch at IHOH we strolled the short two blocks or so to the coast. Past the house of Oscar Anderson who claimed to be the 18th citizen of Anchorage. The house is now a museum.

Anderson lived in this house until his death in 1974 and he sure had a heck of a view.

Right past the house is the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail; named after the 7th Governor of Alaska, Tony Knowles, this nicely paved trail runs for eleven miles (!) all the way past the airport to Kincaid Park.

And no; we didn't do eleven miles. But we did enjoy strolling along the coast.

Not too many people on the trail; but lots of birds!

We stopped on the shores of Westchester Lagoon; where there were quite a few folks; of the two and four-legged kind enjoying the day.

From here we decided to head back to our hotel.

It was a pretty long walk; past some interesting and colorful homes.

Through Delaney Park.

Before getting back to downtown and doing a bit more shopping.

It was still fairly early' like 430, but we were hungry. I had read that the place right next to Glacier Brewhouse, named Orso had a pretty nice Happy Hour until 6pm. So we headed on over.

We sat in the bar area and ordered a couple of items and had a few drinks. The staff was very friendly.

We started with the Roasted Beets and Fresh Mozzarella ($5.95).

The beets were really hard; the pesto like sauce quite salty which really just over-powered the mozzarella and everything else in the dish.

The Flash Seared Crab Cakes (Happy Hour - $10.95); were mediocre as well.

Not "flash fried" enough; somewhat mushy, and frankly, bland.

The Crispy Cauliflower (Happy Hour - $2.95) was a bargain during HH. However; the "tomato-red pepper sauce" was too salty. And not sure about the temp of the oil used for frying as this was on the greasy side.

I think the final nail in the coffin for the Missus was the Polenta Ragu another Happy Hour bargain at $3.95.

The polenta was on the dry side, there was a bit too much cheese for our taste, and not enough "ragu". What sealed the deal was the bread crumbed crusted poached egg; a bit too much fried stuff going on at Orso. And then when we tasted the egg; there was definite fishiness to it. I've noticed that more and more; we're coming across eggs in the States that have a fishiness to them. Not sure what they're feeding the hens, but we're not fans of it.

We decided to pay and head next door where the Missus wanted to do another flight of Bourbon.

Orso
737 W 5th Ave.
Anchorage, AK 99501

And so; the Missus got Her Bourbon Flight.....

And I got an Old Fashioned.....

But the place was slammed, so after this we decided to head back to our room......

Except that we passed this bar on the way....one that I'd seen earlier and was curious about.

Named Darwin's Theory...… I talked the Missus into checking the place out. It was the most wonderful dive bar! The service was straightforward and for some reason, folks in the place started talking to us. Seemed like there were a good amount of locals in the place. Folks seemed to know each other...….just like back home in Hawaii.

So we sat and had a Bourbon.....

The young man who sat next to me was very friendly and we started up a conversation.....he is born and raised in Alaska. We did learn a bit about living in this state of hardy, self-reliant people....but one of the first things we were told was not to "ring the bell" in the place. If you ring the bell; it means you buy the everyone a round! Often times, folks flush with money off of the king crab harvest or something similar will come into the place and ring that bell.....and buy everyone in the house a drink. Heck, if I win the lottery and am visiting Anchorage.... We started chatting about his life and he told me he was a refrigeration mechanic for the last 6 years. But before that he did seasonal work on the king crab and other boats for three years...and even earlier seasonally. He looked really young; I asked him his age....26! Yikes!

Anyway, this was totally my kind of place. If I ever find myself back in Anchorage, I'm headed here...….

Darwin’s Theory
426 G St
Anchorage, AK 99501
Hours:
Sun - Thurs 10am - 230am
Fri - Sat   10am - 3am

We headed back to our room and slept well....there was no one coming back at 4am.....nor were there any ghosts waking us. Still, daylight at 430 am kinda threw me off.....

Yes, I got up real early due to the daylight. Our flight was scheduled to leave Anchorage at 930, but man, it was so bright at 5 am!

I mean, as of right now, based on current experience, I'll take polar winter over twenty hours of sunlight.....

Anyway, we found some interesting "gifts"...….. loved the hand sanitizer collection.....

And we had an actual meal from Seattle to San Diego which wasn't bad at all.

And while the food had left something to be desired. Well, the beauty and experience was priceless.

Thanks for stopping by!

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to Los Angeles and a walk around Little Tokyo

*** Not much food in this post - so maybe you'll just like to come back tomorrow.

During the fall of 2018, the Missus and I looked back on how busy we'd been the last couple of years. We did have a good number of amazing trips and checked off a few bucket list items during that time. Still, it had been over four years since I was last "home". The Missus hadn't seen Her parents in ages it seemed. So it was time. I decided to use miles and points for some of the trip; so we decided to fly out of LAX.....not something I looked forward to; but heck first class is first class, right? We then decided to catch the train down to LA, something I hadn't done in over a decade. We also hadn't been to Little Tokyo in nine years! Once I planned things out; we quickly pulled the trigger.

And we caught the bus and trolley down to Santa Fe Depot to catch the Surfliner up to Union Station in LA.

The trolley was a lot busier than we anticipated on this day because of the Women's March......

But things went fairly smoothly. Our train left at noon. We'd had a small breakfast, but should have not worried since we were riding Business Class....which gets you this rather large "snack box".

One box was more than enough for the Missus and I; so we saved the other for later on. Some fairly healthy stuff......

There was a 20 minute delay in the OC; but I'd planned our arrival to be close to 3pm to coordinate our check-in at the Miyako Hotel. We were quite excited to check out Little Tokyo. When we lived in the SGV in the late 90's, we'd drop by Little Tokyo almost weekly and were wondering how things were in the area these days. We need not have worried; it was even more busy than we recalled. Our room in the Miyako Hotel overlooked 1st Street and at 3 in the afternoon, the lines for Little Tokyo favorite Daikokuya and Marugame Monzu, which wasn't even there when we last visited the area were pretty long.

We quickly freshened up and then headed out; with mixture of excitement of revisiting a pace that we loved when we lived in LA and dread, of possibly finding out some of old favorites were gone.

And while we were surprised at the crowds and all the Daiso like shops, it was nice to see that many old favorites were still there.

I'm not sure if you folks know; it was Frances Hashimoto, President of Mikawaya who invented mochi ice cream.

We took a right on 2nd and headed to Weller Court to see a monument I always try to visit when I'm in Little Tokyo.

Located on the street named after him is the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Memorial Monument. Way back on January 28th, 1986 it was quite early on a Tuesday morning in Honolulu. I was off from work; my eyes glued to the television for the launching of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It was to be an important launch for several reasons; Christa McAuliffe was to be the first Teacher, a civilian launched into space. Even more important to many of us in Hawaii, Ellison Onizuka, a Sansei from Kona, who had become the first Asian American in space the year before was part of the crew. Sadly, 73 seconds into the flight, the shuttle broke apart, killing all seven crew members aboard. It was a sad day and one I'll never forget.

From an address he made to the graduating class of Konawaena High School (his alma mater) in 1980"

"Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but by what your mind can imagine. Many things that you take for granted were considered unrealistic dreams by previous generations. If you accept these past accomplishments as commonplace then think of the new horizons that you can explore.

From your vantage point, your education and imagination will carry you to places which we won’t believe possible.

Make your life count – and the world will be a better place because you tried."

We took the corner back down on 1st street and was happy to see Anzen Hardware (est 1946), Fugetsu-do (1903) and Suehiro Café (1972) were still in business.

Which brought a smile to our faces. We need to drop by Suehiro again one of these days....

For now; it was time to take a short break and then head out to dinner......

Thanks for stopping by!

The Concorde Room (London Heathrow) and British Airways First Class London Heathrow to San Diego Lindbergh Field

While purchasing tickets for our San Diego - Copenhagen trip I noticed something that I believe was a bit of an aberration. For the return flight to San Diego; British Airways First Class was just a bit more than Business Class. I thought this would be a nice treat for the Missus. Especially since we had a 5-1/2 layover in Heathrow. So, for this slow Saturday, I thought I'd complete the posts on that trip with a short, mostly photo post.

The Concorde Room:

The flight from Copenhagen to London-Heathrow was short and sweet; we went through the usual hassle at LHR, the second set of security, not knowing what gate our flight was going to be at, etc.

One thing did make this lay-over a treat was the Concorde Room, unlike Galleries Club in Terminal 5, set for Business Class and the Galleries First, which, even though it says" "First" caters more to elite status fliers, the Concorde Room, which has it's own door after security where you can bypass all the shops and such, is for only passengers with First Class BA tickets or those with a Concorde Room card.

This large lounge has four basic areas; the lounge and basic seating area.....

You can even pre-book a "Cabanas"; basically a day-room, which I understand has a private bathroom, shower, day-bed, and television.

The Restaurant, with booths, and a separate menu.

And our favorite area; the Terrace, with couches, chairs, and day-beds, which I made really great use of during our lay-over.

From the Terrace you can view the tarmac.....

And the bustling terminal.....if you look closely, you'll notice a place where we had a rather mediocre meal on a previous trip.

The menu outside of the dining area is a simple abbreviated one.

It's all table service; so you won't find the chafing dishes and the buffet line here. I found the service to be quite professional.

The Missus decided on a breakfast sandwich; but couldn't decide on the filling, so the really nice Server asked Her if She wanted all three on Her sandwich. Which is what She ended up getting. I got the Smoked Salmon and Scrambled Eggs.

and two glasses of Champagne later; I had a short nap while the Missus watched Her Netflix.

Because of the lay over; we were asked about lunch, but we were still full from breakfast. The flight desk was really good about letting us know our gate and other info and soon enough we boarded.

In a nutshell, the key difference I saw between Business and First on this BA flight was the space and the service. The pod was surprisingly large.

Please take note of the seatbelt on the "footrest" section of my pod.

After the usual glass of sparkling wine to start things off...…

We were asked if we'd like to dine together! Really! And you know what? They did a second setting and the Missus and I shared a nice dinner.....

I don't think the food is really different between Business and First; though the presentation is.....

Man, that cheese plate was quite generous.....

Best of all, was the lie-flat bed....with a much larger area then the usual Business Class Pod.

So there you go. I'm not sure when or if we'll be able to do this again; but it was a nice way to end our trip.

Montreal - Patati Patata

It was our last morning in Montreal, our flight was at 3pm, though we had to check-out at 11am. We did need something to hold us over....so why not poutine? There were a few stops to make in the morning and Patati Patata Friterie de Lux....well, with a name like that and being a few blocks from where we were staying, it just made sense.

This tiny corner shop was quite charming as it really looked like an old school diner.

The Missus enjoyed the fresh squeezed orange juice and we both enjoyed our coffee.

We also ordered the Poutine Avec des Ouefs.....which seemed like something right down our alley, with easy over eggs (sorry to FOY Jessica).

So, the frites were crisp, but on the dry side, the cheese curds too mushy, the gravy quite salty....the eggs wonderful. This reminded us of the poutine we had in Vancouver. Not a bad thing, just not to our taste.

The service was great, we loved the vibe, but not the poutine. glad we got to try it though.

Patati Patata Friterie de Luxe
4177 St Laurent
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

We had use of one of the Sky Team lounges at Trudeau International Airport which was pretty quiet.

The food choices were fine for a snack to hold us over.

And we had bought some "goodies" to have at home.....

Though it was nothing like having it there....in Montreal.

I guess we'll just have to return.

From Amsterdam to Paris and Self Catering on Rue Cler

It was a quiet Saturday morning as we finished packing, had some coffee, and checked out of the apartment we were staying in.

The streets were quite empty, except for the local street market; the Lindengracht Market.

Our favorite statue of Theo Thijssen cracked us up. Remember, on our first night in Amsterdam, which was rather chilly, the sculpture of the child in the display was covered with a blanket? Well, I guess since it was market day.....he was now covered in kale! 

The one thing the Missus really took to in Amsterdam were the Stroopwafels and She had quite a collection to take home with Her.

The walk to Amsterdam Central Station was uneventful....even sedate.

Purchasing our tickets early on Thalys, I netted us a good deal in First Class. So we had had some time to relax in the lounge. Folks here were nice. The really friendly young woman in uniform saw us; approached us, and lead us to the waiting area, and then since we had first class tickets, walked us to the lounge. Great service.

Here we found a nice quiet corner, had some water and coffee. There was a group of Japanese businessmen in the lounge as well.

It was a smooth (and ontime) three hour - fifteen minute ride from Amsterdam to Gare Nord in Paris.

From there it was a taxi ride and viola! We were back on Rue Cler.

The 7th is (for now), the Missus's favorite district in Paris. In fact, She was toying with the idea of trying to buy property in Paris (more on that later). So, I decided to get a studio apartment basically one street over from Rue Cler.

And while we stayed in the area previously, we had never been able to take advantage of all the wonderful looking shops in the area. On our previous trip, we had always wanted to just relax, grab some cheese, wine, and a baguette, but weren't able to find the time. This time, we made sure to enjoy the late afternoon (after a nap of course), by doing some shopping at places that had multiple recommendations on sites like Paris by Mouth and others....to many to name.

First off, the cheese, Fromager Marie-Anne Cantin a highly revered and recommended shop was basically just down the street.

Amazing selection of cheeses, many unpasteurized, so you won't find these in the states.

Great service; the butter......is so....."buttery".....

Fromager Marie-Anne Cantin
12 Rue du Champ de Mars
75007 Paris, France

Next, the baguette, "bien cuite, s'il vous plait" - well cooked is our preference.

Les Gourmandises d'Eiffel has three top ten placements in Grand Prix de la Meilleure Baguette de Paris over the last decade.

For some reason, we didn't care to much for our baguette from here; perhaps it was too late in the day.

Les Gourmandises d'Eiffel 
187 Rue de Grenelle
75007 Paris, France

Circling back to Rue Cler. We had wonderful help picking out a wine to go with our cheese from the local outpost of Nicolas.

Nicolas
39 Rue Cler
75007 Paris, France

And picked out some lovely tomatoes and since we bought butter from Marie Cantin; I convinced the Missus to get some radishes from Les Halles Bosquet.

Les Halles Bosquet
50 Rue Cler
75007 Paris, France

Along with that excellent Gouda we purchased in Amsterdam. This made a nice meal....with cheese leftover for the next day's lunch.

Though the Missus still doesn't get the radish with butter thing.

After freshening up a bit, we decided to head out for a stroll.

More than one person I know has told me that the Rue Cler area is more for tourists, it's the "Paris the mind expects", but not the "real Paris". I don't know.....seems like lots of locals around, along with tourists of course.

And we were having a great time. We loved the dogs in the area. I'm just sorry I never got a photo of our favorite, whom we saw 4-5 times....he really got around. This mutt was so obsessed with whomever preceded him and would keep sniffing the walls, sign posts, trash receptacles. We named him "Wall Sniffer"......and we kept seeing him all over the place!

Of course we had to finish the evening off by viewing the Missus's favorite landmark in the world.

From both sides of the Seine.

As we watched the Eiffel Tower light show go off; the Missus muttered to me, "it's so nice to be back in Paris".

From San Diego to Bologna

It was quite interesting. When I mentioned to folks that we were headed off to Florence; everyone seemed thrilled, there was all that art, the architecture, and the history. When I mentioned visiting Emilia-Romagna, I'd often get quizzical looks....why not Milan, Verona, or "fill in the blank"..... And yet, getting to the source, the home of Parmegiano-Reggiano, Balsamic Vinegar, Mortadella, Prosciutto, the (at that time) mysterious Culatello, and of course what folks here call "Bolognaise" sauce, the "Ragu" drew me in. On my shelf resides a cookbook that spawned an entire series on NPR. Published back in 1992, The Splendid Table (which spawned the radio show), won a James Beard award, and is about the food of Emilia-Romagna. I'd always wondered about the food and foodways of the region and I finally had my chance. Plus, I just had to visit a city whose nickname is "la grassa" (the fat one) and since Bologna's other nickname is "la dotta" (the learned), I might learn a thing or two.

First things first of course. We had to get there. Our flight from San Diego to London Heathrow was ten hours long. We then had a five-and-a-half hour layover, before flying to Bologna. We'd be arriving at 1130 pm. Things were a bit hectic, so we didn't have time for dinner before leaving. We figured we'd get something on our flight.

Still, our flight wasn't until 845pm and we needed something, however small, to eat. Since we were flying in Business Class, we had use of the Airspace Lounge. Be it ever so humble, flying on British means that you have a choice of complimentary wraps, appetizers, and desserts in the lounge. Along with drinks.

Which aren't half bad. Though the Missus doesn't care for the glassware used for wine and champagne in the lounge; who are we to complain? It's a nice getaway from the chaos before boarding.

I'll go over BA's Business and First Class seating in a future post.

Strangely, both that Missus and I have found that food on international flights from the US is not quite as good as on return flights for both BA and JAL. I'm not sure why. On this outbound flight, I really didn't enjoy my dinner very much.

The crab rillettes presentation looked odd and it was really bland. The beef filet was really tough. I enjoyed the fruit plate the most. Nice and refreshing.

Because of the lie-flat seats; we were both able to get a couple of hours of sleep, which I believe is quite important.

We both actually enjoyed the Traditional English Breakfast. Which wasn't too bad.

To be perfectly honest; I've mentioned this before, Heathrow is not my favorite airport. The lack of signage, having to go through rather chaotic security check a second time, the "cattle call" flight notification in Terminal 5....you cool your heels, while trying to find some seating until your gate comes up, sometimes waiting until 45 minutes before your flight. In many cases you have to then catch the tram to your find you gate and so forth.

So even though the Galleries Business Class Lounge can be pretty busy. It's still an oasis during a five-and-a-half hour layover.

For some reason, we always find seats tucked away in the corner. The Missus can watch Her movies on the iPad. I can check work emails and catch up on things.

We can hydrate, the food is nothing to write home about, but on occasion, we'll try something like clotted cream, which a coworker of the Missus said we just "needed to try".

I'm still not certain what the symbolism of the Horse with the Lampshade Hat is to BA though.....

Eventually, we made our flight, and arrived in Bologna at 1130pm. I gotta say, getting through immigration at Guglielmo Marconi Airport was amazingly quick and efficient. It helps that we travel with only 8-10 kilos of luggage each, regardless of whether we're staying two weeks or two months, you usually don't need more. Plus, this is Europe, you can usually get whatever you might need. 

Because of our late arrival and having to catch the train to Florence the next day, I booked a hotel two blocks from the train station. It was the most expensive room we'd have during our entire stay; but the check out time (noon) was convenient for our 155pm train and they served what was a pretty good breakfast.

We still have over three hours to kill before checking out. So we headed out.

From the Porta Galliera, which was one of the original gates of the medieval city of Bologna.

 

Past the Park of Montagnola.

And down Via Indipendenza which is considered the main street of the city. Bologna is famous of the "Portici" the porticoes which cover over 22 miles of the city.

To what is considered the heart of Bologna, Piazza Maggiore.

This large area is connected to the Piazza del Nettuno, which houses one of the most well known of landmarks, the Fountain of Neptune. Erected in 1564, there's quite a story behind this fountain, you can read more about it in this wonderful post. A really neat fact about the fountain; Maserati's logo is based on the trident of the fountain.

That large church is the Basilica of San Petronio. Construction on it was started in 1390. It is the 6th largest church in Europe. There's a distinctive look to the façade of the church. That's because it's unfinished. According to the design it was to be larger than Saint Peter's in Rome (link to our post), but Pope Pius IV put a stop to that, diverting the funds to create a new university. Hmmmm......more intrigue.

We'd end up hanging around Piazza Maggiore when we returned to Bologna. Though we ended up not spending quite as much time here as we wished.

We headed down one of the side streets....quite surprised at how quiet things were.

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We wandered down the porticoes when the Missus noticed this church; San Giovanni in Monte.

From here, things went off the rails a bit, as the Missus seemed fascinated with just wandering around.

We then got a bit lost. When trying to locate our position on the map; it seemed we were off of it! Time to turn on data and find out where we were.

Turns out we were on a street named Via Libia and pretty close to the Bologna San Vitale rail station....pretty far off course.

We righted ourselves and walked back; through the university district, pass the Le Due Torri, the two landmark leaning towers of Bologna.

Time was tight, but we did make the noon check-out and walked the short way to the train station. The high speed rail from Bologna to Florence is supposed to only take 34 minutes. However, like we'd find while riding the rails in Italy, unlike the Shinkansen in Japan, trains here are terminally late. And this was no exception; 25 minutes late.

We actually found this kind of humorous. And we were on vacation.......

Next stop; Florence!

Thanks for reading!

Tromsø - Dinner at Mathallen

We'd had a fun day exploring Tromsø. It was so different from San Diego. Polar night is fascinating and a bit disorienting as noon seems like dusk and by 2pm it looks like had fallen. We really only had time for one dinner in Tromsø since the previous evening we'd been "Chasing the Aurora". We had decided to stay close to the apartment, just kind of chill and relax, and had made dinner reservations at the highly regarded Mathallen. Locally sourced ingredients and they had something on the menu I wanted to try....and no, it's not reindeer.

We had early reservations, which really didn't matter, since it already was so dark it felt like 9pm.

The menu was really small, with only four starters and three mains.

And like almost every other restaurant we had dinner at in Norway, they had an open kitchen.

We love the bread in Scandanavia and Mathallen was no exception. Also, I had wanted to visit Mack Brewery, founded in 1877, it is the northernmost brewery in the world. But we had run out of time, so I settled for a Mack Pilsner at Mathallen. Not very distinctive in flavor; very light and easy to drink.

The Missus started with the King Crab Soup (185 NOK - about $22/US). Yes, that's right, this bowl of soup was over twenty bucks.

Not too much crab, but the soup was nice and rich and obviously made with a very good seafood stock. Loved the texture which coated the tongue quite nicely.

We just couldn't seem to get enough pickled herring, so I ordered the Christmas Herring (155 NOK - $18.50/US).

This was delici-yoso!!! Just a couple of bites, but man, the herring melted in your mouth. It wasn't fishy in the least; very savory, and I'm thinking the Aquavit really added a nice touch of sweetness.

The Missus went with the "Catch of the Day", Cod (320 NOK - about $39/US).

She enjoyed it and said it was nicely cooked.

Since we were in Norway, I really wanted to try Lutefisk, which is made by air-drying fish, usually cod. A few weeks (yes weeks) before serving it is soaked in water for a week, then in lye (!!!) for two days. At which time it's pretty much poisonous. It is then soaked in water for another ten days to make edible.

I ordered the Lutefisk (575 NOK - $70/US). Yep, about seventy bucks US.....yikes!

The process gives the fish a jelly like texture, which was a bit odd. At least you can't complain about dry fish here, eh? Apparently, during the last set of soaking, the fish becomes so hydrated that you don't need to add any liquid to "boil" the fish! It also has a fairly strong smell; but not too bad. The flavor is fairly mild, on the briny salty side. It definitely needed the lardons and mustard sauce for flavor. Those brown shavings are Brunost, a brown "cheese" that is made from milk, cream, and whey. It has a very interesting slightly sweet and yeasty flavor. The mashed peas were very bland, the potatoes, simply done were delicious.

It was an interesting meal, the service was fine, not as friendly as at other places in Scandanavia. And heck, I'm not opposed to having lutefisk again.......

Mathallen
Grønnegata 58-60
Tromsø, Norway
Hours:
Tues - Sat 1130am - 11pm

We took the short walk back to the apartment and relaxed. I just sat at the window and watched the snow flurries come in.

Our flight from Tromsø was scheduled for 1030 am. We got up, packed and walked over to the stop for the airport bus.

It was 8am in the morning......

And it looked like midnight. We watched these guys working on the roof of a building across from the stop. Man, I sure wouldn't want to be doing that during the winter.

The airport in Tromsø is fairly small.

But SAS actually has a small lounge.

Where we were able to grab breakfast.

While staring off into the snow......

I'm not sure we'll ever be back in Tromsø, but we really enjoyed our time here. It was a great experience, but we were now looking ahead.

Next stop.....Amsterdam.