Back in the Land of the free, Home of the Food

I made it home!! And since it's the peak of summer here (hot, balmy, blisteringly humid), my dad has become King of the Grill once again!               

AMERICAN FOOD

 We had a feast of bratwurst, cooked cabbage, and sweet potato french fries. Dad grilled (to perfection, might I add) 2 different kinds of sausages: Garlic seasoned brats and Bacon and beef brats. Since they were 2 very distinct flavors, I added different toppings to each.

bacon-sausage with mustard (at bottom) and garlic sausage with peppers and onions (top)

I topped the garlic brat with sauteed bell peppers mixed with onions (mild enough to not cover the garlic flavor but rather compliment it) and for the bacon and beef brat I simply added spicy brown pepper. Add salted (lightly) sweet potato french fries and a side of cooked cabbage (seasoned with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes) and you've got a complete summery meal!

Cologne, Germany

The food in Germany was amazing, even before we made it to Germany!

Chili con carne

 Dad and I left Austria mid-morning, so we opted for lunch on the train. The chili con carne was delicious! Beans, corn, Argentine beef...just the perfect amount of spiciness. And the chocolate cake and coffee for dessert?? We ordered 2 since we figured they'd be smaller servings - dad had to help finish mine after he finished his!

CHOCOLATE cake

 For dinner, dad and I went to the Haxenhaus, which is well-known (especially amongst the pilots) for its haxe. Dad ordered the haxe, which is a pork knuckle that's been baked til crispy.

Haxenhaus - home of delicious haxe

 It was perfectly crispy, salty, and did I mention HUGE?? I ordered the Sauerbraten, a traditional German dish that both dad and I wanted to try. It's a kind of pickley-marinated meat fixed in traditional Rhine-style served with a slightly sweet berry sauce and red cabbage kraut.

charming decor of the Haxenhaus

SAUERBRATEN

HAXE!!

Dad and his haxe

We stuffed our faces at Haxenhaus, then took a short break to walk along the Rhine and let our food digest. Then we stopped at an ice cream shop on the way back to the hotel for delicious German ice cream!

berry ice cream

Definitely noteworthy, and definitely worth a repeat!

Innsbruck, Austria

Turns out, Austrian cuisine is basically traditional German cuisine, not that I'm complaining!

Beer pretzel and mustard sauce

 We had tons of sausages, BEER, meat, and potatoes - perfect cold weather food that fills you up.

SAUSAGES

 We even tried WEINERSCHNITZEL, which was delicious! It's very similar to the Spanish millanesa, which is a breaded and fried thin piece of meat (usually pork or chicken), and served with a cranberry jelly. Most people I saw spooned all of the jelly over the weinerschnitzel, but I just dabbed a little onto each bite. So yummy!

Weinerschnitzel

Pork tenderloin with seasoned butter

We would've taken the chance to try EVERYTHING, but sadly we only had one full day in Innsbruck. That said, we packed in all the food we could! Luckily, we got a second chance in Cologne, Germany!

Apfel spritzer - carbonated apple juice

Florencia, Italia

A lovely display of the many wonderful foods we sampled in Florence...

Zucchini strudel

Cabernet Savignon

pizza w/artichokes, ham, and olives

Pasta with Eggplant

loving life!

Venusiana/fruit gelato

aperitivos: bruschetta, onion frittata, salami, and anchovies!

Italian seafood pasta

Caprese salad

Caprese with Olive oil and Balsamic!

CHEESE platter

roasted chicken and pommes frittes

Crepe with nutella and banana

bread with Olive Oil from the Chianti region

bread with Balsamic Vinegar from the Chianti region

Carprese, again!

Pizza with zucchini and eggplant

DEVOURED.

San Miguel, otra vez!

My dad arrived in Madrid on Friday and of course we had to make a trip to the Mercado San Miguel! We wandered around Puerta del Sol for the most part of Saturday, just browsing through the shops and taking pictures at the palace and other sites of Madrid.

Dad in front of Mercado San Miguel

caprese pincho/tandoori chicken pincho

 Then I took dad for cañas and tapas (and Sangria) in Plaza Mayor and we people-watched for hours.

Mozzarella bar

 FINALLY, we made it to Mercado San Miguel and dad and I were like 2 children in a candy store! We bought a glass of wine each, and just wandered from booth to booth, stall to stall, and bar to bar sampling random pinchos and bites of nearly everything they had.

curry sausage w/ spicy tomato sauce; cheese sausage with aioli sauce

 We had salchichas (sausages) with different sauces, mozzarella salad, goat cheese and caramelized onion bites, caprese skewers, tandoori chicken skewers, and finally bites of turrón to wash it all down.

Dad's first Churros con Chocolate experience!

We then wandered around Madrid a bit more (to let our food digest -- and to make room for more food!) and then we slowly made our way to San Ginés, where we split an order of churros con chocolate. The churros at San Ginés are to die for, mostly because they use such rich dark chocolate as the dipping sauce. You can definitely say we ate our way through Madrid that day!

Pueblo Inglés - a Week in Galicia

The people at Peublo Inglés weren't the only things I was falling in love with; the food at the Hotel Attica 21 in Vilalba was DELICIOUS. Sadly, I'm sure I've gained 10 pounds just from the shear amount of food they were feeding us each day. Continental breakfast full of egg tortilla, sausages, bacon, pastries, yogurt, fruit, juice, cold cuts, cheese, and LOTS of coffee.

tenderloin

 Lunch was a 2 course meal, followed by dessert of some sort, and always accompanied with glass after glass of wine.

fruit salad

 Supper was the same story - 2 course meal, accompanied by wine, and followed by dessert. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I loved stuffing my face with delicious FREE foods for the whole week. My wardrobe can't say the same.

Salmon

 I was very pleased with all of the fish dishes; since Galicia is on the northern coast of Spain, they traditionally cook a lot of seafood. It paired really well with one of the typical Galician white wines, Albariño.

Hake with potatoes

Halfway through the week, I started to follow the lead of many of the Spaniards and eat only half of the first course, and then half of the second course. That way, I could sample both courses and still have room for the dessert without completely busting at the seams. 

Queimada

ensalada con atún

Scallops in Galician sauce with breadcrumbs

Queso y Quince

Gazpacho

While the food itself was amazing, what stands out more for me were the conversations that flowed so easily among the gazpacho and Albariños. Food brings people together, and when you eat every single meal with a certain group of people, every day for a week, you really see that. Good friends, good wine, and great memories.

Mercado de San Miguel

If you get the chance to visit one place, and one place only in Madrid, you should definitely make it the Mercado de San Miguel near Plaza Mayor. This market has EVERYTHING.

Pincho Campero

 It's perfect for lunch or dinner, or simple tapas and drinks. They have foods of all sorts, small, bite-sized portions perfect for grazing with a glass of wine in hand. There's appetizers, skewers, italian, fresh pescado, vats of paella, cocktails, wine, beer, ice cream and sweets galore, and even trinkets such as fedoras and scarves.

Pincho con tomate y mozzarella

Brittany, Gemma, and I decided to go for a late lunch on Sunday and just take our time browsing the market. We started out with pinchos, which are bite-sized skewers with nearly anything you can imagine. I tried the caprese-style pincho (tomato, mozzarella, and a pesto-based dressing) and also the potato-salad-esque pincho (potatoes, olives, egg, red onion, and lettuce, all in a mustard-based sauce.)

beef and caramelized onions on bread; spanish egg-roll

 We then moved on to more of a tapas bar, where both Gemma and I chose the beef with caramelized onions on hearty bread. The carne was deliciously tender, and the onions just the perfect balance of sweet and hot. There were also some cooked carrots mixed in with the onions which gave it a nice roast or stew flavor.

Bacaloa

We then wandered over to the fish area; out of all the tostadas, I thought the Bacaloa looked the safest. It was a mix of codfish (bacaloa), tomato, and vegetables. 

with our drinks, courtesy of our bartender friend

 We quickly discovered why everyone was walking around, drink in hand. With all the nibbling, one becomes thirsty rather quickly. We remedied this with cocktails at the American Gin Bar; Gemma and I with Strawberry Mojitos and Brittany with a Strawberry Gin Fizz.

Strawberry Mojito

 It was sweet and minty, and quite refreshing. We took our drinks to one of the many bar/stool areas and sat and chatted til we were ready for more browsing.

Mozzarella Bar

 After that, we stopped at a mozzarella bar, where everything was mozzarella-based. I chose the slab of mozzarella on tomato on hearty bread with spices (very similar to our Italian seasoning) sprinkled on top.

Mozzarella, tomato, toast, and spices

Even with just a few bites at each place, it was very easy to become full quickly. But just wandering around and taking in all the bars and booths was fascinating. We killed about 3 hours chatting, nibbling, sipping, and soaking up the Madrileña lifestyle. I could definitely get used to this.