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.