Vigaron, a local specialty of Granada, looks to be that perfect summer meal topped with fresh cabbage, tomatoes, and served up on a banana leaf.  But if you look more closely, you’ll see this dish comes complete with chicarrones (or fried pork rind), boiled yucca, thai peppers, and dressed with vinaigrette.  This is definitely a case where looks can be deceiving.

We tried the fritada, a fried corn patty with cow cheese. It’s greasy, and the cheese is strong and tart, but where the cheese and corn are a bit burnt, it’s delicious.

From Machu Picchu we headed back to Cuzco, and flew to Quito, which basically saved us about 3 days on a bus.  Once in Quito, we rented a car and to do the Quilotoa circuit, the highlights include the Saquisili market and the Quiltoa crater, Cotopaxi volcano but also passing by the towns of Sigchos, Zumbahua, Tigua, Pujili, Chugchilan, and Latacunga.

The Saquisili market onThursday mornings is jammed packed with locals selling everything from fruits, vegetables, grains, household goods and domestic animals. It rained the night before and on Thursday morning making the area a muddy mess, and the animals all a bit gnarly. The addition of farm animals to the market made for an exciting morning. We spoke to a few animal sellers to see what the going rate for their animals would be…an 8 month old pig was about $100, a cow $300, and a 15 year old llama $80 dollars.

According to the Patricia, there’s not much to do in Sao Paolo except eat (& drink) and shop–which is what we did. Similar to my story with Neil, Patricia had been inviting me to visit Brazil for Carnaval for some time. But every year was the same excuse, I just didn’t have the time to make the long trip. But just recently she landed a big job that brought her back to her native Brazil, so the timing couldn’t have been better to visit Sao Paolo and check in on Patty, and do the thing we like most, eat.

The big thing in Brazil is the churrascaria, which is a Brazilian steakhouse. There are two styles of steakhouses; the traditional steakhouse where different types of grilled meats are bought out on a huge skewer (called rodizio dining) which is sliced and served table-side. The second style of Brazilian steakhouse has a grilling station near your table, and the waiter will bring out a large piece of meat, slice it, and cook it, and serve it at the same pace you eat. As you nearly finish eating what is on your plate, more is served.  We ate so much at lunch that we weren’t hungry the rest of the day, but rest assured, we still forced down dinner at 10:30pm (Brazilians eat late).

The gauchos (former cattle ranchers) in the south of Brazil are very serious about this second method of cooking steak. Patricia’s friends mentioned that it is a “selling point” to those buying a house. Apparently, these grills are the centerpiece in the living room of any self-respecting gaucho.

Oh, and BTW, Patricia is happy to be back in Sao Paolo, reunited with her family, meeting up with old friends, and energetic for her new job.

I figured since there aren’t many photos of Vienna or Budapest, maybe I could just write a few things about the food we’ve had in the last week…

Fried sole with potatoes and chard from Lake Bled, Slovenia.  The presentation is remarkable.  I’ve only seen this done once before.  In Japan, the bones of the fish are served standing up with a long toothpick along side its sashimi.  The presentation is odd, but even more so when you realize the body continues to “beat” so you know it’s very fresh. 

The sole in this case was well cooked, and tasty.  The potatoes and chard were a bit beat up and dry, though.

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Portion sizes in Slovenia are pretty big, along with the layering of different meat and some sort of gravy.  This is beef with a layer of ham, and a bunch of gravy, served with fries.   This was Mike’s meal, and he said it was good.  I have my doubts, though.

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This delicious flaky pastry is called burek.  It doesn’t look too appetizing, but believe me, it is good!  It’s made with phyllo dough, and can be filled with ground beef, spinach, cheese, apple, etc.  It’s greasy and savory (or sweet)– my kind of treat.

It is said to be a Slovenian specialty, but we found it again in Austria.  But Google says it’s Turkish.

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This is kremma snezna rezina or cream cake.  Sorry for the photo, we weren’t hungry at the time, so we took it to go.  It is made of phyllo dough on the top and bottom with layers of vanilla custard and fresh whipped cream.  This is a Bled, Slovenia specialty, and, oh, is it special!  so delicious.

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This food vendor sells pita, burek, and my new favorite, gozleme.  The only difference with the burek and gozleme is the dough.  The gozleme can be stuffed with the same kind of fillings as the burek, but the dough is more like roti or a heavy crepe, not made from phyllo dough. 

I got the spicy meat gozleme, and it was yummy.

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 I always thought goulash was noodle soup with beef.  Apparently in Hungary, it’s a little different.  Or maybe it was the fact we were at a restaurant called “El Greco” in Budapest.  This was a beef broth soup with chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, and paprika.  They also served hot sauce on the side, kind of like the Vietnamese sriracha sauce.  Turns out this was one of the best soups I’ve had, and the Greek food we were served was really bad.

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In search of Mike’s relatives in Porva, Hungary we decided the best place to start looking was to go to where people might gather– the local bar.  We figured we could speak with people, see if they know the Gartners, and get know Porva.  Finding the bar was easy, as there is only one main road, and one bar, and one restaurant, and one grocery store…

This nice barfly(with very few teeth) invited us to sit down next to him.  We discussed the Gartners’ or rather pointed to the piece of paper with the family tree drawn out, and he said he knew them.  Of course he did, the town only has 600 residents!  He spoke to us in German and Hungarian, we gestured back nodding in agreement of whatever he was saying.  Then he bought us a shot of Betyar Vegyes.  I’m not sure what it was but it tasted like vodka flavored with cassis.  Then of course, not to be rude we had to buy him one before departing.  It is said that Hungarians like to do shots for just about any reason, and this guy was no exception to the rule. 

This was Mike’s last dinner in Hungary.  Again–what is it with the layering of meat?  It was beef with another layer of meat with mushroom gravy and 13 tater tots.  Not my kind of thing, but Mike liked it okay.

The food (and drink) overall has been pretty good with a few exceptions here and there.  

Our dive master, Paolo said we should go to Battipaglia, the home of the buffalo mozzarella.

There wasn’t much choice about it, we had to stop and check it out…served on a bed of arugula, the mozzarella was nearly the size of a softball.  The skin on the outside was thick, but when cut into, was milky.  Very tasty.  And with prosciutto, even better.

Tomorrow we hope find a farm that offers mozzarella tours and see the water buffalo.

We wrapped up our week at Profondo Blu Diving in Ustica and can honestly say it was one of the highlights of the trip so far. Their motto is good diving, good food and good company and they definitely provide all three. Paolo and Ann are the most gracious hosts you can imagine, sharing their knowledge of diving during the day and Italian food and culture during the evenings.  I’m not sure what took more out of us, the 2 dives a day, or the massive home cooked meals courtesy of their fabulous chef, Maria.  One of the best meals was fresh jackfish, so fresh we saw it earlier that day when a local fisherman sold it to us as we got off of the dive boat.  Fresh tuna, fish soup, rissotto, meringue with fresh cream, homemade limoncello…it’s a wonder we even needed weight belts to help us sink in the water!

Why go from Spain to Morocco to France then back to Portugal? Well, we were going to skip Portugal, but then decided last minute that we should check it out. We managed to get some cheap flights on Ryan Air and Easy Jet, so we decided to go for it. We flew from Marseille, France to Porto, Portugal. Rented a car, and drove south to the Algarve, stopping on our way to a few different historic sites; more Roman ruins, a few castles, the Convento de Cristo in Tomar (see photo to left) which is the home to the Knights Templar. The architecture is incredible; part of the Manueline times, I think around the 1500’s when Portugal was a strong and growing nation.

We stopped in Fatima, where the Virgin Mary appeared to three young shepard children in 1917, and in 5 different apparitions reveled 3 secrets which foretold the future. Modern day Fatima is now a thriving holy destination for pilgrims. During the holiest of times, the faithful will walk hundreds of miles to visit the site, some of them will even come walking on their knees . Mass is said 2 or 3 times a day and in the evenings there is a candlelight vigil. Arriving late to the vigil, we were surprised to see a thousand or so worshippers. Although there is a basilica, the service is said outdoors in an open square.

After hearing so much about the Algarve, we had to visit and see for ourselves. So after a few days in Lisbon, we headed down to the Algarve. Since we were running out of time, we ended spending one day in Lagos, a nice beach town where the water is crystal blue.
It was worth the trip to see Portugal, but it’s quite clear that by comparison Portugal has not had the same economic growth as its neighboring countries in the EU. There isn’t nearly as much money coming in from tourism, and the towns appear a little more run down.
As for the food, I read that it was homestyle, and that the cuisine lacks formality even when dining out. Presentation is clearly not a selling point. I don’t know the Portuguese name of this dish, but it translates to “seafood on bread”. Turns out it’s bread mashed up with seafood and mustard was added, tableside.

This soup is called alentejana, which our waiter said he grew up eating this since his family was so poor. The ingredients are water, salt, garlic, olive oil, parsley and sliced bread. Turns out with this dish both presentation and flavor was lacking with this dish.
I don’t know how it happened, but somehow we went to Portugal and never had time to try the port.

Culinary contributions from Nice include the Nicoise salad, ratatouille, and socca. I had no idea what socca was before arriving in Nice. Walking around the city though, its pretty hard to miss as it is printed on many restaurant awnings advertising it. To me it sounded like an interesting drink I should try. Maybe because it sounds so much like “so-co” ( southern comfort). Turns out it is basically chick peas pureed with olive oil and baked in an oven or fried. It’s actually pretty good– kind of like a pancake or a crepe mashed up on your plate. And for 2 euro 50 cents it’s the cheapest thing you can buy in the Cote d’Azur.

Today I can barely wait until we can go eat tapas. Yesterday Hedda and I stumbled across my best tapas experience, yet. Those tasty little bites called tapas or pinchos are served all day, even though traditionally they are supposed to be enjoyed between 7-9PM. The dishes are pre-made and sit along the bar and are meant to be a snack before dinner.

So far among my favorite tapas is the cured ham, especially if it is Iberico ham. I have also enjoyed the meatballs with a zesty tomato sauce, and salted cod with onions, green and red peppers in vinegar & olive oil. Of course the fried potatoes are also good, especially when served with garlic mayonaise.

Just so long as they promise to be tasty, I will go to another tapas bar tonight.

The month of July has been filled with amazing foods, not only because we are in Spain experiencing different foods but that we have had the chance of a lifetime– twice this month. Earlier this month Mike and I went to Per Se restaurant in NYC. We indulged in an amazing 9 course tasting menu by Chef Thomas Keller. We had a 10pm reservation, and didn’t finish eating until after 1am. We also had the opportunity to go to Sant Celoni to Santi Santamaria’s (pictured above on the right) restaurant El Raco Can de Fabes, to try the 12 course tasting menu. Both of these restaurants are rated as one of the top restaurants in the world.

If you’ve ever ordered a tasting menu, you know that you will be completely stuffed by the time all of the courses are served. The trick to a tasting menu is to pace yourself, only finishing the plates that are completely amazing, and tasting a few bites of those courses that are good, but do not blow you away. Otherwise, by the last course you will feel uncomfortably full. Unfortunately willpower and eating for me do not go hand in hand…it doesn’t have to be amazing for me to finish my plate. So what happens when I order a 9 course tasting menu or 12 course tasting menu, for that matter??

My top picks from Per Se; Berkshire pork belly, beets and leeks butter poached lobster, peach melba foie gras, and the brownie desert. My top picks from Can Fabes; langostino grilled in herbs, fresh cheese with anchovies, the cheese selection was delicious, and the melon and strawberry sorbet.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at both of these restaurants, and feel very fortunate I was able to try the best that the culinary world has to offer. If given another chance to go back, I’ll take it. In the future though, I might have to order a la carte, rather than the tasting menu so I can walk out of the restaurant, and not be rolled out!

Stopping for the day in this sleepy little town who’s claim to fame is “el raco can de fabes” which we’re hoping is Spanish for “next best thing to ‘el bulli’, the #1 restaurant in the world located right here in Spain and which is only open a few months of the year and impossible to get into. ” We’re ready for some good eats tonight. I’m suspecting we will become familiar with many parts of the pig that we never knew existed before.

Spain is the country of ham. It’s everywhere and in everything. The streets are paved with ham.

Last night we stumbled upon this restaurant called “Botin” which is listed in the Guiness Book of world records as the oldest restaurant in the world. Established in 1725, not quite Columbus’ time, but still pretty old. The specialty of the house is the roast suckling young pig, which of course we had.

Below you’ll find Chrisitne’s video introduction.