Germany & Switzerland

BREAKFAST


Here's the lovely set out breakfast table. Lena's mother adores candles and she lit some anytime we had a meal, snack or tea. She's also a fantastic interior decorator, if I do say so myself. On the table we've got some great breads including the wonderful pretzel, some croissants and really great rolls, some with poppyseed. Bread is Germany is fantastic, with a texture on the outside and a nice fluffiness on the inside. Lena's mum goes out to the local bakery and picks up the bread fresh. Next to the breads we've got some lovely Swiss jam, Nutella and honey, I believe. Butter as well. I'm a big fan of butter with Nutella on a croissant. :)
Note: that shark at the bottom isn't particularly German. Lena's mother heard that I LOVE croissants and got some extra for me the next day for breakfast; the one I fished out of the basket had a small defect to it: it was missing teeth. So I gave it some.


Meet German New Years bread! It's a sweet kind of bread, slightly like King's Hawaiian, but not quite as cotton-candy like as King's Hawaiian bread. It's between that and perhaps a soft scone, being more dense, but not hard.


I can't quite remember what these are specifically, but I do know that that cheese is goat cheese. The meats are schinken and speck (thanks Denise!!). Nonetheless, extremely tasty. This was the first time I had goats cheese while knowing it. And I liked it. :)

APPETIZERS/SIDES

Cheese-stuffed baby peppers. A nice twang balanced out with the goat cheese. The olive oil it's soaked in makes it fantastic. I believe the peppers are slightly pickled as well. Great side.

ENTREES




This is raclette. Basically it's like an indoor grill with a top grill underneath. How it works is you grill whatever you want on top, really, and then in your individual trays, you put cheeses and meats and whatever else to be melted under the grill. When it's bubbly and gooey, you remove the tray and slid the toppings onto either a slice of french bread or some lovely potato. Delightful and very Swiss.


While this is more a dish that Lena and her mother cook (not entirely sure if it's particularly German), this meat, eggplant and zucchini lasagna was wonderful! I've never had eggplant before (just because it looks funny, in all honesty), but I thoroughly enjoyed it here. Everything in Germany = sooo much tastier than British food, by the way.



Lena made some pie that we decided to call cottage pie, since it wasn't quite shepherd's pie or any other English pie. It was great! :)


Nurnberger Rostbratwurst and potato salad. My last night in Germany, Lena and her mother searched forever to get me traditional sausages from Lena's mother's hometown Nurnberg, or Nuremberg as we say in English. And success! I'm learning that sausages are very particular... (I wish I could take a class on learning about the types. Same for cheeses.) Also, teamed with some really really good potato salad. It was made with dwarf potatoes, sliced pickle and a certain kind of oil.

DESSERT/SWEETS


Though we had this for afternoon tea, it technically can go under desserts. It's a really nice vanilla cream cake basically. :) The cream was very good. Eaten at the Hohentwiel restaurant down the mountain from the actual castle.


You can't go to Switzerland without having Swiss chocolate because it actually is amazing. So milky, soft and wonderful! It's like velvet in bar form! (I'd also LOVE to take a class on just chocolate.)


Bratapfel: so there's no Wikipedia page in English for the bratapfel, but it basically means "baked apple"-- no, not that kind of baked. >_> I shadowed Lena as she made it, so I can describe it and hopefully duplicate it one day! The apple is first hollowed out and then filled with a mixture of breadcrumbs, raisins, ground almonds, honey and a bit of sugar. Then slices of butter are placed on top and it's placed in the oven and wonderfully baked! I really adore this dish... (Boy, I sound like Ina Garten now.)

This is just something adorable I have to share:

I've set my heart on finding one and buying one to bring home. Except my fridge is not magnetic. Dammit.

Grub in Istanbul

BREAKFAST

Turkish Breakfast - this is all eaten with bread rolls; there's sausage, cheese, tomato, an egg, olives, sourcherry (popular in Turkey) jelly, chocolate spread, butter and honey. And an orange slice to taste. This was the complimentary breakfast at the hostel, but I saw the same thing on menus at several other restaurants.

ENTREES


Lamb doner with rice, salad and chips - The lamb was cooked perfectly (really tender!) and was complimented with great spices which I can't really name.
A lot of places are beginning to add chips (or fries) to their foods. At one restaurant we had doner wraps with fries IN them. Not bad. A bit like a California burrito. But not a burrito-- man! I miss Mexican food! The restaurant I ate this at was very close to my hostel. The drunken restaurant owner, who called himself "Uncle" beckoned us in. And he gave us a free concert. What a man. I'll provide you with some entertainment by Uncle before we continue this tour of Turkish cuisine (Uncle let me play with his "guitar" thing before he gave us a free acoustic concert):




Perde Pilavi - This dish starts out like a cylinder-shaped tower of rice with almond slices on top (representing children). Inside is rooster meat (representing the groom) and chicken meat (representing the bride). The rice symbolizes blessing and the dough sheets on pilaf represents the immunity of the home. Originating from Middle Asia, this dish is now popular for Turkish weddings. That little dumpling thing on the side is kinda like a pizza in a roll with mushrooms, cheese and peppers.


Grilled fish - they have these open grills all over the riverside next to fresh fish stands. If you want, you can even hire a boat to take you on a tour, have the staff catch a fish for you, and grill it right on the boat.


Grilled fish sandwich - this is usually how the grilled fish is eaten, with lettuce, tomato, onions, oil and salt. We ate fish sandwiches twice simply because they were really amazing. I haven't had many fish sandwiches, so this was easily the best fish sandwich I'd ever had. The key? The fish. INCREDIBLY fresh.


Chicken kebab with rice bulgur pilavi (rice), lettuce and flat bread

DESSERT


Rice pudding - You can get this in lots of Turkish shops and restaurants, but be careful: it has to be done right! If it's too watery, well, all I can say is that it's ruined! The consistency is meant to be between jello and grits.


Baklava from Karakoy Gullugolu Baklava Shop - The best baklava I've had to this day (and ask my mother, I've eaten a lot of baklava). Perfectly flakey and caramelized; good texture. Not too hard. A nice twist with the ground pistachio.


Tulumba tatlisi - I don't know the translation of this sticky, delicious cross between a churro and a glazed donut, but it's very sugary. The syrup, which I'm pretty sure is JUST sugar will essentially glaze your hand if you don't eat it fast enough.


I've heard of the company that makes these bars, but this I've NEVER seen this one before! It's essentially a Neapolitan chocolate bar! Light, airy (like those Aero bars) strawberry and vanilla on the inside, covered in chocolate. I dunno about you, but I think this is a great invention.

BEVERAGES


Turkish apple tea- made with loose leaf tea, not exactly sure what else is in it besides apple, but I bought a box before I left Istanbul. It's one of my favourite teas now because it's so true to the apple flavour and scent.

Pomegranate Juice
I sadly have no photos of this, but it's not exactly an unheard of drink. Basically what makes it special is that they juice the pomegranate for you right there. And it's delicious. :) And good for you!

Welcome!

Hello and bon appetite!

I'm launching this sub-blog of my travels to provide food coverage! Food from everywhere! While I generally try to save money whilst traveling by buying bread and cheese from grocery stores, I splurge on the occasion to get a taste of the local eats! This is where you can read up about it! I'm going to make entries for each trip (in no particular order), complete with pictures so as to not clog up my regular travel blog. Food deserves its own space.

Cheers!
Raechel