Baloney and Dan Marino?

A couple of Saturdays ago a friend and I went to Bologna Italy. We met up with a woman who works in our building, and a friend of hers there. They were planning on renting a car and going to San Marino on Sunday.

San Marino is a very small republic totally within Italy. It is the smallest of the European micro-states. Apparently it is a big shopping area, because their taxes are lower. Shopping was the reason that the two women had come. We thought we might tag along if we caught up with them early enough.

Saturday evening my friend and I wandered around Bologna, drank some wine, and had the best gnocchi I’ve ever eaten.

Sunday we got down to breakfast at the hotel and did not see the two women. We decided to go to San Marino anyway. We took the 1 hour train ride to Rimini, then the 20 minute bus ride up to San Marino.

What a beautiful area! We did not visit the shopping district, as we pretty much stayed in the old fortified town at the top of a hill for the afternoon.



From there you could see (what seemed like) all of Italy.

If you faced west you could see snow covered mountains...



Toward the east you are overlooking farmland and can see the Adriatic...



And there is a little rain falling somewhere to the northwest…



The fortified town is really pretty as well. This is the new wallpaper on my computer…



We took the second to last bus of the day back to Rimini, which is on the Adriatic coast. And since Rimini it is a coastal town, we decided to eat at a seafood restaurant there before taking the train back to Bologna.

The next day we saw the two women at breakfast. They had never even made it to San Marino. One of them was from Rimini, and they had visited her father and never made it to the shopping Mecca.

On Monday, my friend and I wandered around Bologna. We took photos, visited markets, ate good food, drank good wine, and admired some pretty Italian women. I even had one of those girly coffee drinks (a mocca-latte-choco-crème-fresh-machiatto, or some testicle-shriveling crap like that). I’m almost afraid to say that I liked it (but it really was pretty good).

The market was pretty big. They had plenty of fruit…



Vegetables…



Cheese…



And, of course, ham…



One of the butcher stalls had this painting on the back wall.



Doesn’t he remind you of Reverend Jim Ignatowski?

Almost every store in Bologna had mortadella (the original bologna that Oscar Mayer based his upon). I didn’t get any photos of it, but I did eat it for breakfast every morning while there. It is good, but it is not my favorite of the cured meats. I wonder if anyone fries it up for breakfast like Oscar Mayer’s. I can get it here in Wiesbaden, so perhaps that will be my next food project.

Bologna is a pretty town. It has a couple of leaning towers (I think these were built before the time of Terzaghi and Casagrande).



It’s hard to get a close-up picture that shows it, but both of these towers are leaning.

Bologna has a large concentration of covered walkways. Almost every building in the downtown area is built with the second floor extending over a walkway. It would be a nice place to shop in the rain.



There are some neat architectural flourishes on the buildings such as these faces that are popping out of holes.





It reminded me of the Joke Wall at the end of the Laugh-In.

The city has a large square with a fountain. Inside the fountain is statue of King Neptune…



And the King is surrounded by ...

... cherubs(?) …

... and below the cherubs are ...

… well, what appear to be …



… lactating mermaids?

When we left Tuesday, we were all struggling to get our carry-on bags configured so that we could fly on Ryan Air. If you are not aware of them, Ryan Air is a budget airline in Europe and their prices are great. However the restrictions on baggage are getting to really be a pain. You are allowed to have one bag that weighs no more 10 kilograms (22 pounds). I had more than that.

So I filled my coat sleeve with the items I had bought, threw the coat over my arm, and had them weigh the bag. 9.3 kilos. I was OK to pass. I cannot believe that the folks working the X-ray machine didn’t say anything about the 5 pounds of meat in the sleeve of my coat.

Here is part of the haul…



A big fatty slab of Guanciale (i.e. pork jowl bacon), some nicely fermented salami (with the plastic wrap), and three somewhat moldy salamis that I bought at a farmers market. Two of these moldy salamis are made from wild boar (one spicy, one not) and the other is made from Asina.

That is correct, I bought a moldy salami made from the meat of a female donkey. I haven’t tried it yet, but it does smell a bit funky. I’ll let you know how it is.

Last week I was in a training class for work, the week before that I was back in Turkey for work. Next week I’ll be in training in Oberammergau, after which I’ll be spending the weekend in Munich before heading to Stuttgart for a week of work.

So don’t expect an update for a couple of weeks… and be sure to check my flickr page for more photos.

oh yeah, I almost forgot ...

How 'bout them Cards?

And ... my kimchi got the thumbs up from the wife (who happens to be Korean) of a guy I work with. I also made some kimchi fried rice (stir fried kimchi with rice) the other day. Now, I'm just one man talking, but ... that is something you only want to do when you are the only one home (possibly the only one in the neighborhood).

Boy, is that stuff ever stinky. It tastes great, but you don't want to be around when it is being cooked. Luckily for me Saturday was a nice day and I could air out the apartment.

Happy St. Valentine's Day...

That's right, it's Bacon Love!

This, and more fine art prints (of meat), are available though http://mikegeno.com/index.html

... and even though just the thought of bacon warms my heart, it's still cold here.

Friday the 13th…

Is it because it’s Friday the 13th, or is it because of something stupid I did on Monday the 9th?

I’m not sure but, whatever the case may be; I am paying for it now.

German homes are constructed very well, and are pretty weather tight. Many (and mine in particular) have no bathroom fan. Of course, this will result in te formation of mold if the moisture from the shower is not dealt with. One popular method, and the one I use, is to open the bathroom windows for about 10-20 minutes after showering. This practice lets the steam out and allows the humidity to normalize.

Monday I was going out of town for the week, and was a little rushed in the morning. Today, Friday (the 13th) upon returning home, I realized that it was a bit cold inside the house. I turned up the radiators. However, I soon realized that they were not getting warm. Not eve tepid.

I turned on the hot water in the kitchen sink and it ran cold. I let it run for a couple of minutes and it remained cold.

I knew I had a problem, so I called my landlord. She called the heater guy, who was over to the house within 30 minutes. He said the system was low on water and didn’t have enough pressure in it. At least that was what I got out of it (he speaks very little English, and I speak even less German). He put some water into the system, and tried to restart it.

Nothing.

There was a valve that was stuck or something. All I got out of him was, “This is kaput!” It was too late to get the part today. He ordered it, and will come and install it the morning.

I am flying to Italy in the morning.

I’ve been gone all week, and still need to pack for this trip. I need to get some other things done around the house, and would very much enjoy being able to sleep in my own bed for at least one night . Only there is no heat in the house.

It is Friday night, and it is cold outside, and it is almost as cold inside. See, this is not the kind of cold that comes from not having heat in a house for 5 days. No sir. this is the type of cold that comes from some moron leaving the window open on Monday morning before he left.

So not only am I sleeping in a house with no heat, I am sleeping in a house that has had no heat for an unknown number of days. I am sleeping in a house that has had a window open for the past 5 days. In a town where the temperature has been hovering around freezing for at least two weeks.

So I’m not sure if I can blame it on Friday the 13th, Monday the 9th, global warming, or my own stupidity. What I do know; is that it is getting late, I will need to shower at the office tomorrow morning, and I can see my breath as I type this.

The brandy helps a little bit, but I need to get under some covers.

I hope it’s not this cold in Bologna!

p.s. At least the kimchi didn't explode in my refigerator while I was gone. And at least the cold seems to have dampened the smell (a bit).

A Couple of Projects...

I’ve been playing around with pizza making for the last month or so.



I’m working on my crust method and recipe, because this summer I, and a number of others, may build a cob oven in my backyard. Now, having a wood burning pizza oven in one’s back yard would require the occasional pizza party. In fact it would hardly be worth it to get the temperature up to bake one or two pies.

Naturally I’m not going to allow just any monkey to come over with some English muffins and tomato paste. So I need to get a repeatable (and foolproof) method of making the dough and the sauce for this endeavor.

I’ve been playing around with a no-knead pizza dough recipe, and things have been promising. With no-knead dough, you mix the ingredients and then allow them to sit for a minimum of 12 hours at room temperature. I’ve tried mixing the dough and allowing it to rise in the refrigerator for 24 – 36 hours. I’ve even left that same dough in the refrigerator for a week, and have had good results.

I’m also trying to figure out which dough will work best for my needs. I’ve got easy access to Italian “00” flour and have had good results with it. I bought some bread flour the other day ad will try that out in a week or two.

I’m pretty happy with a simple uncooked sauce that I got from a book called American Pie . I am also playing around with some toppings.

I’ve used Spanish Chorizo…



Which is very good if you use the right chorizo (this particular one is not the correct chorizo – but it was OK anyway)

A Blutwurst Pizza …



Any semi-regular reader of this blog knew that this was bound to happen. Just as any one who has ever tried Blutwurst knows that this is not something that needs to be repeated. It wasn't horrible, but the texture is weird, and the flavor is not strong enough to compete with the sauce.

I also made a “breakfast pizza”, including an egg…



and underneath the egg and cheese there also lurked …



That’s right boys and girls, it’s SPAM!

Not just Spam, but Tabasco Spam! Nobody else was interested in trying that one, so I had to eat it myself. I am a lucky man!

Overall, I’d have to say that the chorizo pizza was a keeper. The Spam and Blutwurst pizzas? Not so much.

This week I decided to make something that I had been thinking about for a long time, but for some reason or other never got around to actually doing. Friday I gathered the ingredients together (and had to go to three stores to do so).

Saturday, was a bleak and rainy day in the Rheingau. The perfect day to make a batch of Kimchi!

I started off with a head of Napa cabbage and cut it into quarters. Salted it and placed it in brine. It was weighted down by two water-filled wine bottles.



After about 4-½ hours it was sufficiently wilted and looked like this.



I took it out of the brine, rinsed it and let it drain. Meanwhile I had mixed up this unholy concoction of onion, radish, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, and lots of red pepper into a paste-like substance.



The paste was then spread between each leaf of the wilted cabbage quarters.



The pasted quarters were then folded over and unceremoniously stuffed into a plastic container that once held peanut butter filled pretzels.



Although the original purpose of this container was a noble one, it now has a new lease on life. And its new purpose is a sacred one.

I want to wait about a week or so for the Kimchi to ferment before trying it. This will not be a problem as I will be out of town next week for work. And then, I’m taking a four day weekend in Bologna, Italy.

When I get back I should be in Kimchi Heaven!





…and yes entire apartment stinks!

Barcelona (Part II)

While in Barcelona we visited a couple of the many architectural works of Antoni Gaudí that are in Barcelona. I can really appreciate his work a lot more than Geary’s big titanium turd in Bilbao. However, much of Gaudí’s stuff resembles gingerbread houses. I still kind of like some of it.

Here is the Casa Milá…




The Casa Batlló...



I also get the idea that maybe the word gawdy was inspired by this guy.


Here is the Park Güell...





This park was going to be a housing development, but the guy who was putting up the money (Güell) died. Either that or he pulled the plug on the funding and died later (in either case, he's dead now). Work was abandoned and the entire site was turned over to the City of Barcelona which later made it into a park.

And finally the Sagrada Família (Sacred, or Holy, Family) Cathedral which is his masterpiece (and is still under construction).





We were going to go into the Sagrada Família late on Sunday afternoon but it was closing in about half an hour.

Monday we went up to Montjuïc and visited the Olympic Park and took the gondola ride up the hill.



There was a fantastic view of the harbor up there, but the sky began to look a little shaky.



There was a pretty cool little fortress at the top called Castell de Montjuïc, and we wandered around for a while.



The weather cleared up while we were there and I managed to get a couple of good pictures of the city and the harbor…



and then this ugly guy got in the way…



On Monday we also went to see the Palau de la Música Catalana which is this amazingly ornate music hall. It was one of the few things there that was not designed by Gaudí. Actually this is untrue, but there is a lot of his stuff there.



We missed the last tour by about ½ hour, and it was getting too late to head back to the Sagrada Família, so we decided to go the train station to take us back to Girona. We were spending the night in Girona because we had an early flight Tuesday.

In spite of not getting to see a bunch of stuff that I would have liked to, I was really impressed with Barcelona. I would definitely like very much to go back in the spring or autumn. The food there though, was not really up to par for what I’ve come to expect of Spanish food. I guess it was because we were in a rather touristy area. We did have a couple of decent meals off the beaten path, and one very good meal in Girona on Monday night (I had the confit of pig’s cheek and some fries).

I must say that the Paella I had Saturday evening was probably one of the worst I’ve ever had. Oh well, I guess no place is perfect!

Next time: My new car!

Here is todays Wordle...

Barcelona

It is Saturday morning, 17 January 2009, and I wake at slightly after 3:30 AM and stagger into the shower. I’m up at this ungodly hour because a friend is coming by to pick me up at 4 AM. We are headed to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (which is, interestingly enough, about 1½ hours from Frankfurt). Once there we will board a Ryan Air 737 that will take us to Barcelona, Spain for a long weekend. So I can’t really complain about the early hour.

This is what the Rheingau looked like a week earlier…





How happy do you think I’ll be to arrive in Spain?

We arrived at the airport in Girona, and took the bus into Barcelona. Once we got to our hotel rooms, we dropped our bags and headed for the center of town. On our way we stumbled upon a parade. One that was complete with a very tall bare-chested-bird-headed woman (I’m basing the woman part on the chest, not the bird head).



There was also a bare-chested-bird-headed male, and both were wearing crowns. I am unsure of the significance of these two characters.

These two youngsters were part of the next group. I believe one kid has grapes suspended above him, and the other has a hop cone above his head.



Wine and beer ... I think I’m going to like this place.

A couple of groups later had a fire breathing dragon. The dragon actually had a long tube of some sort protruding from its mouth with a constant flame of about 6” long. Within the same group were little children in dragon outfits, complete with safety glasses and gloves. The dragons which they were wearing had a roman candle attached to their mouths. The roman candles were periodically changed out and new ones were lit by the adults walking with them.



Check out the size of this kid…



Look at all the proud parents and grandparents in the crowd. I don’t think this type of thing would ever be able to happen in the U.S.

God I love Spain!

After the parade we went to La Boqueria. Which is the big market in Barcelona. They had everything a good market should have…

Fruits



Vegetables



Peppers



Ham



Lambs heads



And assorted feathered and furry animals.



While we were out wandering around town we saw the Columbus monument.



I was walking around the base of this impressive monument and photographing the various statues. Now I’m not the most politically correct person in the world, but even I was taken aback when I saw this one…



A proud native bending down to kiss the ring of … wait a second … he looks familiar.



Oh my God! It’s the 30th District Congressman from California, Henry Waxman!

Barcelona is a beautiful city. It is full of parks and large open areas, has some amazing architecture, and is right on the Mediterranean coast.

Our two week trip to the Czech Republic was cancelled (or at the very least postponed), so it looks like I’ll be in the office for the next two weeks. This will be the longest stretch since September I think.

I’ll be posting more pictures from Barcelona this week along with pictures of my new car and my latest food project.

Please stay tuned…

Turkey (the country) and Choucroute Garni...

The weather in southern Turkey was beautiful, incredibly clear skies, with clouds appearing only one or two days.

Our work was done on Thursday, so that night we went into the nearby town of Adana for dinner. We had an incredible meal there. The waiters just kept bringing out starter dishes. The table was so full of food that they were balancing plates on the edges of the plates because there was no more room at the table. There were six of us, and we had enough food to serve 10 people easy. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera to get a picture of the feast.

Everything was delicious. There were plates of hummus, baba ghanoush, tomato salad, a tzaziki-like cucumber-yoghurt sauce, a garlic and red papper paste, various breads, some type of tahini paste, and much more. As it turned out, one of the girls with us was ordering everything. We had thought this was standard fare, nobody at our table had even been handed a menu by this point. There were four or five waiters constantly bringing and taking plates away from our table.

Friday we flew to Istanbul where a couple of us were spending the weekend. One of the guys with us is from Istanbul, and is going to show us around a bit. He still has family there and wants to spend some time with them, so we end up hanging out with him Friday and will be on our own until our plane leaves Sunday afternoon. It is cloudy on Friday and I am hoping that the weather gets a little better so I can get some good pictures. Friday night it starts to rain, and it is constantly drizzling until we leave on Sunday.

We still got to see plenty of stuff, and have more great meals, but the weather really prevents us from doing everything we would like to. It also prevented a lot of my pictures from turning out.

We visited the Hagia Sophia which was the main church of the Eastern Orthodox religion. That is, until it became the Ayasofya Mosque under the Ottoman Empire. When the Republic of Turkey was formed, Atatürk had the early Christian icons uncovered, and turned the whole place into a museum. It is really quite an impressive structure, and has an amazing history for a single building.

We saw the Blue Mosque on Friday, although we did not go in until Sunday.

Over the weekend we went to the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Market, the local fish market, and we saw the outside of the Topkapi Palace but did not have time to go inside.

Early Friday evening we found ourselves inside a mosque at the time of the evening prayer. I was assured by my Turkish friend that it would be OK to look around as long as we stayed quiet and remained near the back. There were a couple of rows of men praying, kneeling, standing up… kneeling… bowing… etc. It was probably a better aerobic workout than a catholic mass.

We were walking along in the back when Eric whispers my name and points toward the wall. I look over at the wall and see an electric box with a big shut-off handle and immediately I am trying to stifle my laughter. It looks like one of the switches that Marty Feldman throws in Young Frankenstein. If it was labeled “DO NOT throw this switch during prayer time” it couldn’t have been funnier. I think I may have even snorted a bit. Needless to say we got the hell out of there as soon as we could. I figured that an international/interfaith incident was not really the type of thing I was interested in at this point in time.

Istanbul is a wild town, and I would like to go back when the weather is better. It is this incredible melting pot of eastern and western culture and religion. Everyone is trying to get their hand into your pocket, but they would rather sell you something overpriced than steal from you. Everyone was very nice to us, and there was not a time when I felt unsafe there. I will definitely go back.

On new years day I made a big pot of Choucroute Garni for some friends of mine. Choucroute is the French word for sauerkraut, and the Garni part means pork (I think). What I do know is that a plate of Choucroute Garni is a plate of sauerkraut, potatoes, and a splendid assortment of pork and pork products cooked in riesling. Mine had a pork shoulder roast, kielbasa, two kinds of bratwurst and two kinds of blutwurst. I did not get the pork belly or liver dumplings, but I think I was forgiven.

It is a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition is to eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year ’s Day to bring good luck. It really was wonderful, and if eating all this pork on January 1st doesn’t bring us all good luck … then I'm afraid nothing will.

(more pics on my flickr page HERE)