The Scottish Highlands: A road trip of epic culinary and scenic proportions

I want to take you with me back in time to one of my most favorite trips, two years ago in July 2011.  Since working in the airline industry makes it so easy to hop on a plane and fly from place to place, this road trip kept me grounded in a country that has far more natural beauty than most might expect.

I flew into London's Heathrow airport and took the Heathrow Express to Paddington station where I connected on a long rail journey to Glasgow, Scotland.  The trip was pleasant enough, but with not a whole lot to see and jetlag setting in I swiftly fell asleep to ready me for the exciting adventures to come.

Svenja, whom I was meeting in Glasgow, used to live there, and still has friends there, so I got a bit of a locals tour of the city.  In exploring around we did a little shopping and both got some kickass new shoes at 'Schuh' - I had my first experience at the british based chain noodle bar 'Wagamama', which, for a chain restaurant, had good quality noodles and curries.

Wagamama

Scottish Shoes!

The second day we walked the whole center of the city and lunched at Jamie Oliver's, Jamie's Italian.  It was my first time at a JO restaurant and I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of italian cuisine with UK pub fare and a modern cafeteria atmosphere.  At our table we tested out a massive stacked burger with a side of 'posh chips' tossed with parmesan cheese and truffle oil, fried zucchini flower, a prosciutto and pear salad, and wild mushroom panzarotti.  Everything was delicious, particularly the fiori di zucca!

Panzarotti

Burger & Posh chips

Fior di zucca

Prosciutto salad

Onward on our journey we stop in Edinburgh for a day to meet friends and explore.  Popping in at The Elephant House for a quick nosh of shortbread and hot cocoa, it was my second visit (both to Edinburgh, and to this particular cafe).  The Elephant House was made famous by the story of how JK Rowling would sit all day, nursing a cup of coffee, while writing the first passages of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, gathering inspiration for Hogwarts by looking out the windows upon George Heriot's school for orphaned children.  The millionaire's shortbread was well.... shortbread - good. Caramel - good. Chocolate - gooooood!

Hot Cocoa at The Elephant House

Millionaire's Shortbread

Our final and most outstanding culinary exploit in Edinburgh was at one of the best seafood restaurants I've ever had the pleasure of dining, known as Fisher's in Leith.  A multi-course seafood extravaganza unfolded before us starting with a ceviche of Queenie scallops from West Loch Tarbert topped with a broad bean and red onion salsa.  Followed by my favorite dish of the trip, a fillet of wild sea trout and a spinach, ricotta, and pine nut stuffed leek over a red pepper and basil sauce. Our main comes out, split for two persons, and it is a shellfish bonanza.  Lobster, langoustines, clams, oysters, prawns, and more. A friend had the mussels, and for dessert we all had a bite of the sticky toffee pudding.  It IS sticky, its not toffee or pudding, but I promise you it's one of the most amazing things you'll ever eat.  Svenja's friend, wee Carla (she's tiny!) was generous enough to pass along her grandmothers' recipe to me and I have since made my own - I must say it came out amazingly, I only hope I did her family recipe justice.

Scallop ceviche

Sea Trout

shellfish shellfish shellfish

Mussels

Sticky Toffee Pudding!

A slice of my version of sticky toffee pudding from Carla's family recipe!

yellow = outbound, red = return

Here's where we begin the real road trip: the goal is to go where the wind takes our little Vauxhall, but in the direction of the Northernmost tip of the island to experience the true beauty and solitude of the Highlands.  As we head out, the scenic landscape gets more and more sparse of homes and people and denser with mountains, lakes, and sheep.  We pass ruins of castles 600 years old and unbelievably some that are still intact.  Cemeteries pop up seemingly out of nowhere and old churches whose rooves rotted or burnt out long ago, dot the countryside.

When we reach the northernmost parts of the highlands, looking back on the 'lowlands,' is a thing of beauty.  Mountains stretch across the landscape a hundred miles south of us as we stand at the edge of the ocean.  With the North Atlantic to the West, the distant Faroe Islands and Norwegian Sea to the North, and the North Sea to the East, it feels as if we're at the end of the Earth.  Along the way, bed and breakfasts served our respite from the lengthy drives between destination points.  We stayed at lovely B&B's in Dingwall, Ullapool, and Durness.  I can find the names and contact information of the proprietors for anyone interested, they were wonderful hosts!

Svenja and I at castle ruins

Loch something or other =)

http://rooftopphotoshop.smugmug.com
(to see this and more of my photography from around the world in full resolution)

Scottish castle

View from one of the northernmost points of Scotland

View south, back over the highlands

Cute town in the highlands

So we plan to return back to Edinburgh for one last night before I have to catch a plane. With the beauty and the splendor of the country and seaside at our backs, we head south on a single-track road (for those of you city folk, thats just one lane, not one in each direction, but just ONE shared lane) between a mountain on our left and a lake to our right.  Driving a stick shift with my left hand in a right-side-drive car going around a leftward curve, I hit a sharp rock that juts out to the edge of the roadway.  Thirty miles from any semblance of civilization, completely out of cell phone range, and I pop not one, but TWO tires on the left side of our car.  A single-track road is tricky because when you want to pass someone, you can't, and its difficult to get around oncoming traffic.  The good thing about a single-track road when you have two flat tires, is that the first person who comes upon you MUST help you, because they can't go anywhere until you're out of the way!  I swapped the front left tire for the spare and by the time I was done a father and son team from the south came to our rescue. They took us 45 minutes away to the nearest garage (it's in a town called Tongue - honest, respectable and fast service! I don't know the name, but I swear its the only one around) bringing one of the damaged tires with us.  When we arrived in Tongue I dealt with the garage owner and Svenja handled the rental insurance company.  After the garage guys took their lunch break, the new tire situation got sorted, and waited for the repair to be complete, we were back on the road in about 7 hours after 'the incident' -- It could've taken 2 days if we had to wait for new tires to be brought in, so I was rather impressed!

The culprit

Sad face =( 

In just enough time to get a tiny bit of sleep, we made it to the airport for my flight out.  I flew from Edinburgh to Paris, Paris to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake to Los Angeles, and LA to Maui to meet my friend Erin for a week of beaching, surfing and fish tacos. Then, "on the way" home we decided instead to go from Maui to Honolulu, and Honolulu to Tokyo to spend two days or so in Japan - instead, we got caught in an Earthquake in the middle of the night and cut our trip short, flying directly back to New York!

Remember how I said this road trip kept me grounded?  I lied.

Roast pork loin and the cold autumn air

So, Summer is officially over, there's a chill in the air, & I'm cooking again.
Not that I don't cook in the summer.. I grill and experiment with barbecuing all different types of things... Maybe when it gets particularly cold I'll reach back to those summer feelings and toss one of my favorite grilling recipes on here.

Wow, so it's been a while since I've posted here... 'a while,' as in, about 8 months. Whoops.

I'm hungry & tonight I'm making a meal out of whatever I've got in the kitchen.. and the goal is to have leftovers because with a busy few days ahead, I won't have much time to do any serious cooking.

This is what I found:
A center cut pork loin marinated in garlic, lemon, parsley & oil.
Two vine ripe tomatoes
Two zucchini
Spanish onion
Garlic head

It's like a mystery box challenge in MasterChef, I think I can make this work!

Oven roasted pork loin, sautéed onion tomato and zucchini, roasted vegetables and garlic & couscous
Here's the end result!

Not particularly 5 Star gourmet, but damn, this tastes good.
And paired with a Leffe Blonde Belgian Ale it's even better!

Want to recreate? Pretty simple.

Crank up the heat under a cast iron skillet, add some oil, and when its nice and hot sear all sides of the pork loin.  While its searing, slice one tomato and one zucchini in half, lengthwise.  Place the 4 halves of the vegetables in the cast iron skillet with the seared pork and pop it in the oven @ 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

After peeling off the outer layers of the head of garlic and popping off one clove that I used with the vegetables below, I sliced about 1/2 inch off the top of the head, stuck the base in some aluminum foil, and poured on extra virgin olive oil. Wrap it up, stick it inside some more foil (because if this breaks while in the oven you'll want to kick yourself) and toss it in the oven for at least 30 minutes (400 degrees is preferable, but i had something cooking at 350..oh well)

I also diced the onion as well as the other tomato and zucchini and garlic and sautéed them in extra virgin olive oil as well as some of the pork marinade to keep the flavor consistent.

While this was going I had on boiling water with bullion cube to make chicken stock, added the couscous and let it soak up the broth.

Once the pork was done I took it out of the skillet to let it rest, and put the skillet under the broiler to roast the top of the zucchini and tomato - I also put the garlic head there too because I like when its a little crispy and brown at the tips.

Andddddd thats it! Enjoy =)

Sunday cooking; not what you'd expect.

Here's what you expect from Sunday Cooking: homemade gravy, pasta, and meatballs.  8 quarts of simmering tomatoes with fresh basil, two hunks of pork and beef, and red wine from a jug.  Heavily salted boiling water waiting impatiently for 2 pounds of spaghetti, and dozens of meatballs frying on the stove filling the house with the scent of all things delicious.

Here's what you don't expect from Sunday Cooking: Homemade granola, pickled red onions, and pork shoulder carnitas!

So I've had this huge bag of old-fashioned rolled oats in the pantry for god knows how long and since I'm not a baker I've really had no clue what to do with it.  So since I'm jonesin' for some granola I decided to make my own.  It's real simple and I adapted and combined several recipes to get exactly what I wanted in there.. check out my version.

Granola Joe 

(all measurements are approximate - add a little more or less of whatever you like)

3 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats

Granola Ingredients

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup pecans

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup of dried apple slices, diced

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup of plain apple sauce

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

3 tbsp of light brown sugar

3 tbsp of maple syrup

2 tbsp of cinnamon

1 tbsp of ground ginger

1 tsp of salt

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl, add wet ingredients stir and spread evenly on a baking sheet. 

Reserve cranberries to mix in after baking.

Bake 250 degrees for appx 1hr, stirring every 15-20 minutes.

All the deliciousness mixed together

WOW this is delicious. My apartment smells like someone is trying to suffocate you inside a bag of cinnamon toast crunch cereal... not a bad way to go, in my opinion.  

This turned out to be very nutty & seedy - if you prefer less of an equal ratio, add another cup of oats!

Pickled Red Onions

stock photo - forgot to take my own =( 

2 red onions sliced thin rounds 

1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

2 bay leaves

2 dried red chili peppers

1 cinnamon stick

a few whole pepper corns

a dash of allspice 

slices of fresh ginger

Heat vinegar in sauce pot with all the spices until boiling, add in red onion rounds and simmer for 1 minute.  Onions will turn a bright pink color.  Remove from heat, pour into airtight jar, let sit until room temperature and refrigerate.  Onions will crisp in fridge and keep for several months.

Great on top of pulled pork-like dishes; avocado salads; with roasted beets; on a turkey sandwich or just by themselves! 

Speaking of pork...

I followed the David Lebovitz recipe for "Carnitas" from his blog Living the Sweet Life in Paris, almost exactly - with a few added specialty ingredients of my own that I simply will not disclose!
....OKAY FINE twist my arm... I added more cumin, used only Ancho chili powder, and instead of submerging the pork pieces 2/3 under just water, I added apple sauce - a little natural sweetness to counter balance those ancho chilies.  Make it, and taste for yourself how it turns out!

I'm pretty excited to eat this with some corn tortillas, crumbled queso fresco, avocado, cilantro, AND you guessed it: my pickled red onions!!  It all comes full circle baby.

Little piggies in a bath

MMmmmmm Carnitas

DETAIL!

A Hong Kong New Year, Gastro tour of San Francisco, & Adventures in Costa Rica

So it's been nearly two months & I think that means it is time to blog again.

Since we last chatted, or rather, I regurgitated my thoughts for whoever is reading, there have been some holidays and some trips, some ups and some downs... speaking of downs: everything I own was stolen from me in Costa Rica.  Bummer.  I don't want this to be a sob story though, so I'll get to that part but it'll come chronologically - so keep reading!

After Christmas (also known as my birthday) I decided to rendezvous with 3 other airline guys in Hong Kong for a kick ass new years celebration.  It was to be my first New Years Eve outside of NY in my life - I love celebrating New Years in NY but now that I have the opportunity to go anywhere in the world, I'd like to check out how other people ring in the new year.  Next year, I'm thinking Sydney Harbour!

Delta Business Elite from DTW-HKG

[JFK-DTW-HKG]
Hong Kong was great for a few days - this was my second visit to the "Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China" just to be specific.  Kicking it off with an AWESOME flight from Detroit direct to HKG on a newly fitted interior 777 with fully lie flat seats so comfortable that I slept for 10.5 of the 15.5 hours on board.  I met up with the guys at the Hotel LKF by Rhombus - awesome hotel, classy place, accommodating staff, great rooftop bar and lounge, and right smack in the middle of the place to be in HK (not to be confused with the Lan Kwai Fong hotel on Kau U Fong, which also comes highly recommended as that was the boutique hotel I stayed in on my previous visit!).

Szechuan SPICY chili beef

Congee - breakfast!

I showed the guys the city, we had some excellent food, walked the street markets, explored the everyday city life, and very importantly paid a visit to my friends at Lapel tailor where for less than the price of ONE (1) Brooks Brothers off the rack dress shirt, you can get THREE (3) custom designed, fit & cut dress shirts.  Bespoke to the max.  12 shirts & 3 suits later we all walked out pretty happy, and not terribly light in the wallets considering what we just purchased.

Lapel tailor

On NYE we headed off the island of Hong Kong to Kowloon peninsula to the Tsim Sha Tsui metro stop which we were told was the best place to see the fireworks & light display over Victoria Harbour.  It definitely was spot on the best place to view the show - got there around 10ish for the midnight spectacular and downed a bunch of drinks while waiting - what else did you expect? It is New Years Eve!
The show was nice, but not over the top.  The crowds were excessive and our main goal was to get back to Lan Kwai Fong for the party in the street!

Hong Kong New Years Eve over Victoria Harbour 2012

Pearl Bender Maleki & Me

[HKG-NRT-SFO]
______________________

San Francisco visit with Lauren & Nick!

Golden Gate Bridge

Me Lauren & Nick at the Golden Gate

Me Lauren Nick Rachel!

Imagine walking up this hill every day?

Piet Mondrian inspired entry gate

My first time in Northern California was an absolute blast! I was somewhat skeptical, given the excessive number of hippie liberals - but turns out those hippie liberals are pretty nice people, the ones I met anyway.
The city is beautiful and really has so much to offer.  The proximity of the downtown to the residential areas, mountainous forests, wine country, and the ocean makes it truly a desirable location.  Now if only someone could do something about that pesky San Andreas fault...

Spice market

Lauren has been before, and Nick lives there, so since it was my first time I kind of had free reign of what to do!  So with helpful hints by Nick, his father, and Lauren, we checked out The Golden Gate Bridge (obviously), Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, ample restaurants along Geary Blvd, the Embarcadero, AT&T park, Fisherman's Wharf, Haight Ashbury, NoPA, The Mission, and the Painted Ladies (that hill overlooking those houses from Full House).  AND we went up to the Napa Valley as well!

Full House

Vietnamese sandwich shop

Golden Gate from Lincoln Park

Awesome tour, amazing food, excellent wine, and wonderful company.

Food to check out:
NOPA - duck leg & the avocado salad
Nopalito - beet salad w/ pickled red onion
Burma Superstar - any traditional Burmese dish
B*Star - Yellow bean tofu & the Tea Leaf Salad!!

Wineries to check out:
James Cole Winery - wow!

Wineries to avoid:
Black Stallion - yuck.

Burma Superstar

Beet Salad at Nopalito

Avocado, toasted hazelnut and pickled red onion salad at NOPA

[SFO-JFK]
______________________

[LGA-ATL-SJO-ATL-LGA]
With only 24 hours in NYC I unpack, do laundry, wash, regroup, repack, nap, and get back on a plane with Tommy bound for Costa Rica.  The plan: get to airport, get rental car, drive & see the country.  Unplanned: where to go, how to get there, where to stay. The goal: see the mountains, see the coast, take exceptional photography, make new friends, party, surf, explore.. and inadvertently, adventure.

Some of the best trips are spontaneous - our original idea was to go to Thailand for the Full Moon party, but since the flights were booked & we fly standby, we decided on CR instead.  I'm glad we went to Costa Rica, despite having our things stolen at the end of the trip, it allowed us to meet some amazing people and see some truly beautiful things.  You might think I'm crazy but fate has a way of making things happen for a reason.. I mean, we were planning on a Thai full moon party at Haad Rin on Koh Pha Ngan - our stuff likely would've been stolen anyway!  As the unknown author of the well known adage says, "Everything will be all right in the end, if it isn't all right, it isn't the end."

So we drive at night from San Jose airport up into the mountains toward Volcan Arenal - or so we thought.  Stumbled upon this town fair/carnival going on, asked a cop where we were, he couldn't even locate the town on a map.  So instead of continuing we got out, grabbed a beer, found some food, and people watched the locals until it was clear that we were outsiders & then left.  It was late and we were sufficiently lost we pulled over & slept in the car to wake up to the sunrise over the central valley.

Continuing on our way to the Arenal volcano, there was an epic picture of Tom & I after we had crawled underneath a wood & barbed wire fence, standing next to a sign that read DANGER: DO NOT ENTER - DEATH ZONE... and we proceeded to hike up an active volcano.  The views of lake Arenal from 1/3 of the way up were breathtaking and I was sufficiently convinced that we would die in the event of even the smallest of tremors so we hiked back down and continued on to the tree top walk where we saw wild monkeys & two amazing waterfalls at La Fortuna.  Remember how I mentioned our goal was to take exceptional photography - well I did here.  Waded into the river, propped the camera on a log & between two rocks as a makeshift tripod to take a 30 second exposure of the exact waterfall shot I had been looking for & it came out perfect!

Next few stops were along the coast - Playa del Coco where we met some awesome new friends, eh? (mostly Canadians!) Great beachside party town - I could really get lost here & it's easy to see why tourists come and quickly become locals.  Check out Woody's for a good time & don't piss off Dave on Taco Tuesday.

Tamarindo, or Tama-gringo as it's known due to its over-toursisted beachfront was, despite the tourists, also a great town.  Got some surfing in, met some more cool people, and party party partied like there was no tomorrow.  I still don't remember a good chunk of that night.  But it ended in a bonfire on the beach - half locals and half tourists, there was a guitar, and it was peaceful.

Next stop south was Santa Teresa / Mal Pais / Montezuma, at the southern tip of the Nicoya peninsula.  Pulled into Santa Teresa, parked at the beach access, went down to the check out the waves & came back to the car less than 10 minutes later to find that the lock had been popped, and everything important to us had been stolen.  Phone, wallets, passport, iPad, GPS, and worst of all the cameras & the memories.  Hindsight is 20/20.  We shouldn't have left those things in the car.  Lesson learned.  Because of this though we ended up meeting some outstanding people...

I have a few shout outs to make -- If you are going to Santa Teresa:

Stay at: Esencia Hotel & Villas the place was amazing and Marco the Hotel Manager is the type of person who embodies the pura vida spirit of the Tico (Costa Rican) people!  [Santa Teresa on the road toward playa hermosa]

Eat at: Product-C and you will have, I SWEAR, the best ceviche of your life.  Special thanks to the whole Geneau family for your hospitality, care, and concern! [Playa Carmen at the crossroads of Mal Pais & Santa Teresa]

So unfortunately & fortunately we spent the last few days of our trip figuring out how to survive on little money & food because we had nothing, until the Western Union & US Embassy opened up after the long holiday weekend =/

I think I forgot to mention this all went down on Friday the 13th.
Talk about an adventure!

...........................

Thankfully emailed a few Costa Rica photos before the phone was stolen: check it.

Lago Arenal from Volcan Arenal

Playa Del Coco

Tamarindo party people

Santa Teresa Sunset

Only in New York.

So I know I usually write about travel, food, photography, etc. 

But this time I'm going to touch on a 'culture' of sorts, in my own city.

It's 2:54 and this is a true story, which just occurred.  

Crazy shit that happens after 2am: 

2:01am - Downtown 4 subway. NYC.  A seemingly intoxicated “grown-ass man” as he was later referred to, is thrown onto the floor from his seat as the train takes the sharp curve approaching Astor Place station, while his wife/girlfriend and friend laugh hysterically at his misfortune.  The rest of the car (myself & 4 others) are rather amused.  

2:07am - Gentleman to my left, a family man type who appears to have had quite a rough week, falls asleep and as the train comes to a halt at one of the next stops, tips over onto the bench until his torso and then head hit the seat & he jolts upright (yet, still with eyes closed).  His smartphone goes crashing to the floor despite his tight grip on the earbuds in his hand.  He doesn’t bend over to pick up his phone, but curiously digs into his pocket to reach for it.  Out comes his empty hand and accidentally a wad of cash that is evenly distributed on the subway floor around his feet.  He reaches down, grabs the phone, leaves the cash, and falls back to sleep.  The good samaritan across the way picks up all the cash & stuffs it back into the guys pocket. Surprised? As was I.  

2:11am - A strung-out, homeless, crazy, vagabond, type older man wearing dark Wayfarers and a christmas ornament dangling from the right arm of said shades, reeking like an ashtray, saunters into the train car.  He sits to my left and begins talking.  To himself.  He mumbles mostly - I heard something about the promised land and a desert.  But don’t get me wrong, this is no religious fanatic mumbling scripture - he’s definitely insane.  Just before his 1-stop trip on the subway expires he exclaims to myself & the girl across from me that he has found the jewel of the Nile!  He removes his hands from his dirty Jersey sweatshirt pockets and opens them - in his right, an obsidian rock, attractive, but certainly no jewel; in his left, a disco ball.  

Only in NY.  

Hanging out with Mies & Gaudi

Barcelona for the second time around was a completely different experience than the first.  Over four years ago I checked out this city for the first time fresh out of a few semesters of architecture so needless to say I spent a lot of time at Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, Parque Guell & La Sagrada Familia.  All beautiful and individually unique - however, there is much more to the city than JUST Gaudi works.  Last time I was there I didn't even get to check out Mies Van Der Rohe's "Barcelona Pavilion" built for the Germans at the 1929 International Exhibition.

Apart from the club partying, Las Ramblas, Paseig de Gracia, and architectural sites its a great city to just wander.  Simply stick a map in your pocket, get utterly lost, and then figure out where you are and how to get home.

I rented a scooter with an Aussie staying at the hostel (who had been in Barcelona for about 6 weeks) & we headed down the coast to Sitges, a small city about 40-50km from Barcelona.  On the way we stopped at a beach, a buddhist monastery, and a hilltop natural park overlooking the coastline.  Zipping around the country on a moped is definitely one way to feel like a local - the more I visit cities all over the world the more I enjoy seeing them from the day to day perspective versus the standard 4 day tourist trip.

Absinthe bar - Raval barrio, Barcelona

Estoy en el sol

Parc Garraf

coastal road down toward Sitges

Casa Batllo - Gaudi, by night

Crowds cross the street on Paseig de Gracia

Barcelona Pavilion - Mies Van Der Rohe

La Sagrada Familia - Gaudi (130 years into construction)

Here are some pictures!