Which is it?

A bottle of cheap French wine ...



... or could it be ...

The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch?


OK, I admit it. I've been to lazy to post anything substantial.

And that is something that is not going to change today. Just wanted you to know that I am still here. I do have a bunch of pictures to post from the trip to Turkey, and hopefully will get to that sometime this week.

For now here is a picture of my pantry with several sausages and the Rose de Lautrec garlic hanging.



I did not make any of these sausages, but I am hoping to make some this winter.

Please stay tuned...

Oh yeah, and I'll post a picture of my new wheels then too!

Nîmes …

My previous entries on our journey to the South of France took us up the Cassoulet Trail, but now we were going to see some really cool stuff. Our next stay would be in Nimes before heading back to Montpellier the night before flying back to Germany.

Nîmes is an interesting town. It as a substantial amount of Roman era buildings/monuments/etc. which are still intact including the Miason Carrée…



It also has a coliseum that is still used for the Bullfighting festival (among other things)…



Nîmes has a heavy Spanish influence also (hence the Bullfighting Festival). We wandered around and took some Pictures of some pretty cool stuff.



That night we ate a restaurant that was mentioned in one of the Michelin Guides that I looked at in a used bookstore. It did not have a Michelin Star, but it did have a “Bib Gourmand”. A “Bib Gourmand” is basically a picture of the Michelin man licking his lips, and is supposed to signify that the establishment has good food at moderate prices. While I do not want to quibble with the Michelin judges over what is a moderately priced meal, I feel that I must say that this was, hands-down, the worst meal I had in France. The worst for the price anyway, which while not too dear, was definitely too much. Nothing about the meal was really bad, but nothing was very good either. They had wines that were damn near as old as I am (and probably had better life insurance as well). I felt like Steve Martin in “The Jerk” when I asked the girl if she had anything “newer”.

The next morning we had breakfast at the market. This was good, a simple omelet and some coffee. The market was also fantastic, although I didn’t get too many photos inside. They had the “Rose de Lautrec” Garlic that I had been seeking out for a friend in Kentucky. So I picked up two kilos, and kept one for myself. I also picked up some dried salami that was pretty good.

Here is a picture of the Garlic and Sausage and the Cassoulet bowls that I purchased in Castelnaudary…



After the market we headed out to Pont du Gard, which was the whole reason for coming to Nîmes. The Pont du Gard is the longest surviving stretch of an aqueduct that once carried fresh water for the city from a point some 50 kilometers away. This thing is impressive.





After walking around and gawking at the aqueduct for the better part of the morning, we headed out for Montpellier. Even though it is a sister city of Louisville, Kentucky, I just did not feel the need to explore Montpellier. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived, so we headed down to the beach for a couple of hours and watched the sun set on the Mediterranean.



The next morning we flew back to Germany.

The last two weeks I’ve been out of town for work. I’ve visited the Christmas markets in Wiesbaden, Nuremburg, Heidelberg, and Mannheim. They all have pretty much the same stuff, and they all have Glühwein.



For those of you who don’t know, Glühwein is a mulled (spiced) red wine that is served warm. And yes it tastes just like you’d imagine it would (i.e. not very good, too sweet, and any other adjective you would like to apply). However, even though it tastes as bad as it sounds, I have sampled the Glühwein at all of them (for strictly scientific purposes).

Last Thursday night in Mannheim, a couple of us dined at a Turkish restaurant. I had the Lammskopfsuppe (Lambs head soup), and no, it didn’t stare back at me from the bowl. It was very tasty, although I kept hearing Mick Jagger singing “Angie” the whole time I was eating it.

The Turkish restaurant was a good prelude, because I’m flying to Turkey tomorrow morning. We will be there for work through Friday, but a few of us are going to spend the weekend in Istanbul. One of the guys going with us is from Istanbul, so he’ll be able to show us where to go and what to see.

Stay tuned, it should be fun!

As always more photos on the flickr page.

Carcassonne and Toulouse …

The weather predictions for Montpellier looked promising; highs in the mid-50’s and sunny. That was before we left. It wasn’t bad when we touched down in Montpellier, but then we started driving away from the coast it got chilly and started to rain a bit. I should have checked the weather predictions for the other areas we were going to, and not just the town where we flew into. I might have brought warmer clothing, as it stood I had a hooded sweatshirt and a light waterproof jacket. I wished I would have brought a sweater too.

We drove to Carcassonne, checked into our rooms, and headed across the river toward the Medieval City.





We were able catch glimpses of it from between buildings…



We crossed a bridge over what used to be a moat…



And we were in…



Carcassonne is a completely walled city; some of which dates back to the 6th century. It was rebuilt in the 19th century, so although some of the walls and foundations are very old, much of it is not. It is still a neat place to stop, and the lower town has some very good cassoulet. Here is another picture that I took a few days later from the highway.



After leaving Carcassonne we drove up to Toulouse, stopping along the way in Castelnaudary for some more cassoulet. Toulouse is a nice town that has some areas that are very well kept up. In the downtown area we saw little or no litter or graffiti. There was the occasional beggar, but nobody was very pushy about it. We walked around Toulouse and took some pictures...







We stopped at a couple of markets, had some grub, and drank some good wine.







And no I did not eat what is in that last picture; although, I will be going to Barcelona in January and there is a place there that specializes in them.

I did get the chance to try a little of someone else’s andouillette. An andouillette is basically a chitterling (intestine) sausage. This was not one of my favorite things.

Click HERE for more pictures on my flickr page.

On the Cassoulet Trail…

On the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving, I was contemplating the past couple of meals I’ve had. We have just completed eating three meals of cassoulet, in three different restaurants, in three different towns, in just under a day and a half.

Tuesday night dinner in Carcassonne was Cassoulet…



Wednesday afternoon lunch in Castelnaudary (the home of cassoulet) was Cassoulet…





And Wednesday night dinner in Toulouse was also … well … Cassoulet (sorry but I don’t have any pictures of the Cassoulet from Toulouse).

The one in Carcassonne was by far the largest and arguably the best. Neither one of us was able to complete it, but we had both had appetizers beforehand. My appetizer was a big slab of foie gras. So take it from me kids, if you are sitting down to have a meal of cassoulet, you can skip the appetizers (and any side dishes for that matter).

Lessons Learned.

Thursday is Thanksgiving, and right now I think I’d give thanks to someone who passed me a salad and didn’t ask me if I wanted anything else.

The French wines have been good, the food has been great, and the weather has been colder than expected. However, cassoulet is a good cold weather meal. It’s a real “stick to your ribs” (or in my case – “stick to the region right below the ribs”) kind of meal. If you google it I’m sure you can find a decent recipe. It is by no means fast food; however, if you take the time I’m sure you’ll find it worth your while.

I purchased 3 cassoulet bowls for under 20 euros in Castelnaudary as well as a couple of other goodies that you will have to wait to see. I am out of town right now and don’t know how much I’ll be able to update this before the weekend. I took a lot of photos so I’ll try to post a few later on this week.

More from Porto, and a New Toy …

Here is more from the meal of grilled sardines in Porto:



The Griller





The Grillee(s)





The Meal as Presented





The Completed Meal





The Remains of the Meal



Afterwards, we went back to our hotel to dig all of the tiny bones out from between our teeth.


And here is a new toy I got a couple of weeks ago and although I have not had the time to properly break it in, the first impressions are pretty good...



Yes, it’s my new cast iron wok that I purchased mail order from the Wok Shop in San Francisco. It took a while to get here and the first one they sent was broken. When I called them, they made good on it and sent me another.


I just got back from Southern France today, and am heading out to Nuremburg tomorrow. I took lots of photos in France and will try to update at least some photos before I leave tomorrow.

Porto …

Last weekend two of my friends and I flew down to Porto, Portugal for about 4 days. A good time was had by all. We did the touristy things: took the bus tours, a short river cruise, and went to about 4 different Port Wine cellars.



The food there was good and very inexpensive. We tasted many wines, drank a little beer, ate some ridiculously fresh seafood, and had chorizo and cheese sandwiches for breakfast every morning. I brought home a 20 year old bottle of Port Wine from the duty Free shop at the airport.



i.e. it was a good trip by any standards.

I’m heading to Stuttgart this afternoon for a week and still need to finish laundry and pack, so this update is brief. However, I did post many more pictures on my flickr page, so go there and check them out.

I'm too tired to think of a clever title...

A couple of weeks ago I went up to the Niederwald monument above Rüdesheim. It was a nice day and the vineyards were changing colors, so I took a few photos.







A couple of days later I took these of the vineyards in front of my apartment.



The leaves are completely yellow and falling off now. It won’t be too long before the lush green beauty of the vineyards turns brown and stark as it gets cold.

A friend is leaving Germany and going back to work in the States, so we had a going away party for him last night. I made a lamb tagine (in a big Dutch oven). It was pretty good. I made a stock from the lamb bones the night before. On Saturday I browned the lamb, sweated some onions &c, and added some dried apricots and chick peas, and let is stew for a while. I also smoked some lamb and a piece of pork loin. Everyone seemed to like it. Maybe they were just being nice since it was held at my house. Here is the wreckage this morning.





Not as bad as the last one, but I only have today to clean it up as I am heading out of town again tomorrow. I think I’ve actually got most of it done already; I just need to pack my bags and am going to try to get a decent night sleep.

We stayed in Nuremburg last week, but it was cold, wet and dark by the time we were finished with work. I didn’t get to take any photos there, but I should be heading back in December sometime and will try to get some then.

Details...

Someone requested details on the Fest. Well … let’s just start right off by saying that the picture from the previous post showing me (presumably) inebriated is not a true reflection of my state of soundness at that particular point of the day. I had just purchased the hat from a wandering carnival barker, and had turned around to model it. When the photo was taken I must have been in mid blink. The photo was taken around 12:30 and I was only on my second beer at that time. So you can just put any scurrilous thoughts right out of your collective heads.

Anyway, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

There was a special guest present, and those of you from the Louisville area may recognize him…



I was also asked in an earlier post, for some pictures of women. So Janie, I don’t know if this is quite what you had in mind, but I took these for you. See if you can tell what these two fine Bavarian Fraulein have in common…





Here is a plate of appetizers from our table (American Size)…



Then we saw bigger ones going out and we demanded a Bavarian platter…



Of course it was about three times as expensive as the other one, but there was a point to be made! Actually we had the second (large) one later in the day.

All in all, I think that I was a little disappointed by the Hofbrau tent. Last year we were in the Hippodrom, and it seemed much nicer to me. The waitresses were prettier, the beer was better, the band was better, and I think it was just generally a better place. Now don’t get me wrong … everyone had fun, and we definitely drank our share of the Hofbrau suds. Maybe it is just that the novelty had worn off. I didn’t really even take too many pictures because everything looked pretty much the same as it did last year.

Maybe I’ve become jaded…

However, I am willing to try it another two or three times (for the sake of science, you know).

The day before we went to Oktoberfest a couple of us went to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. We arrived late and the museum wasn’t open, although we were able to go into the camp. After wandering around the camp for a while … I don’t think that I would have had any interest in going into the museum.





Visiting this place is a somber experience. It’s probably not really the kind of thing you would want to do the night before going to Oktoberfest, but I’m not sure there is ever a good time to visit this place. I think that it is a good thing that they have left it as a memorial, and have even rebuilt two of the living quarter buildings.





I’m glad that I got to see it, and would hope that every person in Germany visits it at least once in their lives.

After the Oktoberfest, a couple of us went into Munich and visited the Olympic complex and the BMW museum across from it. Both of these were really quite nice.





We went into town for lunch at the Weissesbrauhaus - the home of two of my favorite beers in Germany (Schneiderweisse, and Aventinus). Apparently many more folks had the same idea, and there were no seats available. This is the place that has the miltzwurst, and sauerlungen. I was planning on trying the sauered lungs or sauered kidneys, but was now unable to.

We ended up going across the road to a restaurant owned by the Paulaner brewery. And although their menu was lacking in viscera, we still managed to have a decent lunch.

The next day we were back in the Rheingau, and went up to Schloss Johannisberg for a wine tasting. It was fun, and the wine was good. It was a clear day so I tried to get some pictures to show how many vines there are in this area.





Over Columbus Day weekend a friend and I went to Trier. Trier is a German town not too far from the Luxembourg border. It was once a capital of the Roman Empire. The town is pretty, but the weather was not great when we were there. There are a few Roman ruins around there, and I would definitely like to get back there someday when the weather is a bit nicer.







Oh … and while in Trier I was able to take a picture of what is obviously Barack Obama’s favorite place in Germany.



Good ol’ Karl was born in Trier, and it seems that the city officials don’t have the sense to try and cover it up or to at least NOT celebrate it. There are more pics from Trier on the flickr page.

I other news, I have procured another vehicle. After driving to Munich in a friend’s BMW, and seeing another friend buy a new Mini-Cooper, I decided it was high time that I join the sporty European class. So after much internal debate, and a little financial reckoning, I … well … let’s just say that I will take delivery of my new wheels in about two weeks. You can check back around then for pictures.

The next six weeks a going to be a whirlwind of trips for me. Starting Monday, I will be away for a week (work), back for the weekend, then another week away (work), then a long (4-5 days) day weekend in Portugal (fun), then two days at the office, after that gone for another week for work, then another long (4-5 day) weekend in southwest France (fun), then two more weeks away for work. This will bring us up to mid December.

If I can remember where I live by that time, I may sleep for a while.