A pertinent quote; stolen.

"For if every true love affair can feel like a journey to a foreign country, where you can’t quite speak the language, and you don’t know where you’re going, and you’re pulled ever deeper into the inviting darkness, every trip to a foreign country can be a love affair, where you’re left puzzling over who you are and whom you’ve fallen in love with. All the great travel books are love stories, by some reckoning—from the Odyssey and the Aeneid to the Divine Comedy and the New Testament—and all good trips are, like love, about being carried out of yourself and deposited in the midst of terror and wonder." 
- Pico Iyer, Why We Travel


(borrowed from a food & travel blog of a friend of a friend of a friend that I stumbled upon some time ago... Just A Pinch of Salt)

Six hours in N’awlins

When you work for an airline and three of your colleagues also have off on a random Tuesday, what do you do?  That’s right.  You take the 7am flight from New York to New Orleans, spend the day in the Big Easy, and take a 6pm flight home.  

So we get into New Orleans at around 10am, grab a cab, and head down to the Garden District.  Our “plan” (if you can call a 5-minute conversation about what we’ll do today, a plan), was to walk the Garden District, admire some architecture like the mansions on St. Charles Ave and the hard to find shotgun houses (typical of the less wealthy suburbs of the city) in this district.  

Prytania Street, Garden District

Next we took our cabbies advice and grabbed the trolley car to take us into the French Quarter.  It’s an interesting place yet unexpectedly empty, albeit noon on a tuesday, for the raucous crowd we expected to see on Bourbon Street.  So beads in hand, we took to the street stopping in bars for two-for-one drinks all day.  

Jackie & I 

Hunger strikes and it’s suddenly my favorite part of the trip - a table for four at Emeril’s Restaurant.  I wanted to try his NOLA restaurant, but word to the wise, they only do lunch on weekends!  Creole marinated calamari with olives, smoked tomato sauce, and parmesan - the tentacles were perfect, and though the rings were slightly rubbery it was still toward the top of the list for great calamari appetizers.  

Creole Calamari

My entree was perfect in every sense of the word - the Andouille crusted drum (a white fish with a mild flavor) was enhanced by grilled eggplant and shoestring potatoes accented with a delicious creole pecan meuniere sauce.  

Andouille crusted drum

Other dishes I tasted include the sweet barbecue glazed salmon with andouille potato hash (excellent!) and a chicken and waffle dish which was even better than the 'chicken and waffles so good they’ll make you want to slap yourself' I shared in Memphis.  

Sweet barbecue salmon

Chicken 'n Waffles

So while we were eating we found out from some of our awesome and attentive coworkers back home that our return flight direct to NY was cancelled due to eastern seaboard thunderstorms.. so we had to leave about an hour and a half ahead of schedule and re-routed through Atlanta - which was fine with me, seeing as I got a first class seat because of our connection ;) 

NOLA, I’ll be back. (On a day when it’s not 105 degrees).

Marzo... a story that restores my faith in humanity

Midterms have come and gone and it’s now time for spring break.  WOOO Spring Break PARTY! CANCUN!...... no.  

I’m in Italy, one of the richest cultural and historical countries in the world.  I’m not wasting my time partying on the beach for a week.  Some of our friends headed down to the Canaries, a small grouping of Spanish islands off the coast of Morocco.  I saw their pictures and it was beautiful, but I was in the mood to take in as much of Italy as I could.  Will, Amy, and I headed north from Tuscany to Liguria and the rugged coastal cities that make up Cinque Terre, or “The five lands.”  From La Spezia you can take the local train to the five towns - Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso.  The best thing I could suggest for any able-bodied person to do would be to hike the trail that runs amongst all five towns.  It will take you from one adorable coastal city to another, and while you walk (in some places hike and climb) from one to the next, you can see the towns down below, the waves crashing against the breakers, steep farmland on the hills, and if you time it right, a beautiful sunset over the Ligurian Sea.  To hike from the first to the fifth takes a good 5 hours, depending upon your ability.  Walk the steep and narrow “streets” (aka stairs) that meander through each town, you’ll find unique homes and friendly locals (if it’s not tourist season).  Next stop for us is Genova and to be honest I don’t remember much of the city other than the fact that every shop sold Pesto & there’s a sizable aquarium in the city.  

View of Vernazza from the cliffs

train tunnel in cinque terre

Cinque Terre

There’s a really cool but incriminating story that is attached to our arrival in Milan.  I was a last minute addition to Will & Amy’s trip through Italy, and I’m grateful for their invitation!  The hotel we stayed at in the city didn’t really allow three people in a room - so after they checked in and I found out what floor they were on, they made their way to the elevator, and I headed up the fire escape ;) 

Half of the cathedral in Milan, the lower half was under renovation

I’m not a die-hard Dave Matthews fan, but to those of you that are, you’re going to hate me for this.  They had tickets for a Dave Matthews acoustic performance at an opera hall in Milan that sat maybe 800 people.  For those of you who know him well, it’s not uncommon for Dave to play to outdoor crowds of 40,000+ people - so this was a rather intimate gathering.  Since I didn’t have a ticket, I went with my friends anyway intending to buy one on the street, but decided it would be far more fun to just sneak into the show.  Mission accomplished.  

After Milano I head south with Trenitalia to Pesaro & Urbino, where my friend Erica studied Italian.  Urbino is a very tiny medieval fortress type city - extremely hilly, and vastly different from any other Italian city I’ve seen.  Great people, great food, great gelato, great little city.  

Urbino

Now! For the moment you’ve all been waiting for: my restoration of faith in humanity.  

It’s the festa della donna, a day to celebrate the achievements of women.  I’m on the train from Pesaro on the east coast of Italy, headed north through Bologna, to connect south to Florence.  Pain in the ass trip.  And to make it even better - the Italian transportation workers go on strike at 9pm mid-way from Bologna back to Florence.  I don’t know what city I’m in, how far in miles, kilometers, or hours to home, and I don’t speak Italian very well at this point.  Not good.  Fabrizio, the 50-or-so year old gentleman sitting across the aisle is on the phone with his wife relaying the news of the transit strike to the passengers nearby.  Michelina, the nice young italian girl across from me, is trying her best to translate for me in English.  Fabrizio invites the woman across from him, Michelina, and myself to join him in a cab to go to Prato, his hometown (which I found out later its just outside of Florence).  Michelina assured me it was a good choice, and my other option would probably be to sleep in the train station, so I said what the hell.  Fabrizio would not accept a single Euro from any of us for the ride - he said it was his way to recognize the Festa Della Donna .... e l’uomo Americano... 

Not only did Fabrizio pay for the cab to Prato, but he also offered myself and Michelina a ride into Florence, all the way to Santa Maria Novella, the main train station!  But first, we were to stop at his house, because he hadn’t eaten since breakfast.  Food is very important for those of us with Italian stomachs.  We were introduced to his wife and kids, and the dogs came around to greet us as we were invited to partake in some wine & cheese, torta, focaccia, olives, etc.  Then, Fabrizio and his wife got back in the car and drove Michelina and I to the city - we walked to the Duomo and parted ways, thankful and happy that such hospitality exists in any country, and in people still today.  

Someday I will find a way to properly thank Fabrizio and his family for their generosity.  

For the following week, my girlfriend at the time Kaitlyn came to visit and we had a blast.  Explored Florence like tourists - we climbed to the top of the duomo, went to the Academia to see the sculpture of the David, and explored all the open air markets that the city has to offer.  We also ate at Il Latini, a fantastic restaurant on Via dei Palchetti that is family style - when you attempt to get in, tell them how many people you are and that you want to try everything!  Antipasti, primi, secondi, contorni, dolci, e vini.  Lots and lots of food & wine.  You won’t regret the pounds you put on.  At the end, the price per person for the table varies based on how much fun you had, how much italian you speak, how cute you are, and how much you flirt with your waiter.  The several times I went we paid anywhere from 25 to 40 euro per person.   

And finally, later in the month a group of us headed down to explore Rome.  I need to go back there because we didn’t spend enough time exploring or eating our way through the city.  We did your basics - The Coliseum, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, St. Peters Basilica and of course the Sistine Chapel.  

This was long, sorry. 

Until next time!

Not your mom's hummus...

Once upon a time I wanted hummus (who am I kidding, I want hummus every day), but on such a particular day there was a little snafu in my plan to make my own - I was out of tahini, the sesame paste that makes hummus so damn delicious.  So I kept my chick peas, garlic, and salt, but did away with the lemon, olive oil, and other goodies.   I decided that instead of making traditional Mediterranean hummus, I'd make it Asian style because I had all the right ingredients: Lime, red chili, ginger, etc.  It was creamy and spicy, but something just wasn't there...


I USED THE WRONG BEAN!  Call them what you will - chickpea, ceci, chana, garbanzo... these little guys are traditionally mediterranean, found in the region dating back thousands of years and pair well with other mediterranean ingredients - not southeast asian additives!  Edamame, on the other hand, are immature soybean pods from the far east and their flavor profile is far better suited to the taste I've been trying to accomplish.


Today my craving for a unique hummus hit once again and I wanted to do it Asian, and do it right.  The ingredients you see below (plus a few secrets) comprise the new and improved Sweet & Spicy edamame hummus.  I'm pretty sure this recipe is good enough to sell - anyone have a contact at Sabra?

Walkin' in Memphis

What I noticed first was the open space. There is just SO much space. Nothing is piled on top of other things, the highway entrance ramps are full clover leaves and not misshapen ovals that force drivers to drop down to speeds in the teens.  There were farms - lots of them.  The forecast said 88 and thunderstorms but the sky was free of clouds, yet somewhat hazy. My first glimpse of the Mississippi river - it is the color of coffee: light and sweet. 

Thanks to Hertz for Melissa and my sweet $26 Toyota Yaris, we drove around and explored Riverside drive's beautiful homes before hitting the Peabody hotel for the march of the ducks. Yes, not penguins. Ducks. They live on the roof of the hotel in the duck palace (I'm still not joking), and come down every afternoon from 11-5 to be cute, play and swim in the fountain, entertain guests, and be a general spectacle. It's basically slave labor if you ask me. But I'm no PETA advocate, so well, I don't care. 

We hit Beale street: memphis blues and rock 'n roll cafe's and eateries. We had fried chicken and waffles that we were told, are "so good you'll want to slap yourself."  That was some damn good chicken but let me just say I kept my hands to myself. 

Did some walking along the river and jumped into the mississippi!  Kidding: I would never put my body in that water but I had to touch it. So I did stick an appendage in - add it to the list! I have a list, you'll see it soon. 

We sat by the river and chatted, drove and walked some more of the city, saw the Lorraine Motel here MLK Jr. was assassinated, got an awesomely interesting tour of Sun Studios where none other than Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash recorded hit albums, and headed to Overton park for a walk in the woods.  On our way to dinner we dropped by 1372 Overton to check out the place where "Lucero," Melissa's favorite band practiced, and it was also the location of Elvis' dojo for karate lessons. Bet you didn't know that. 

Ending our day trip at Marlowe's Restaurant, as seen on Guy Fieri's "Diners, drive-ins and dives," we had some ribs, and by some I mean a 20+ piece full rack, BBQ brisket, refried beans, saltly slaw, and biscuits that were more like zeppoles or doughboys depending on your neck of the woods.  Delicious ribs.  These babies were dry rubbed then smoked for 12 hours before a slathering of house made BBQ goes on top!  Well done Marlowe.  Well done.  

Head back to the airport to fly to our respective homes: NYC + BOS. 

On the descent, the blanket of cloud cover so thick above new York city was glowing a mixture of charcoal and orange, almost as if the entire city below were on fire.  The aircraft skimmed along above the clouds like the pilot was waiting for an opening to dip through. When we finally dropped in, and made our way through, we exited the clouds (or from the ground you'd have called it fog) and were at most 100 meters above the runway. Crossing over the grand central parkway, we touched down brilliantly. Thanks for a smooth ride, cap'n. (That's what she said) 

Febbraio - Swiss Alps, Barcelona, Venice

Kevin, a new friend and apartment-mate, and I decide to go on a weekend trip to Interlaken, Switzerland - the extreme sports capital of Europe, with Bus2Alps, a tour company based in Florence targeting American students.  The bus was waiting for us at La stazione Santa Maria Novella, the main train station in Florence.  Kevin and I are two of the last four passengers to get on the bus.  We sit in the first or second row, and as we get settled look around the coach bus and realize that of the 40 plus people present, we are the ONLY guys.  JACKPOT!!  The last two to get on were Aaron & Chris, and we immediately decided that they were our only male competition and subsequently the scum of the earth, and we would not befriend them....  Today, the four of us are still friends.  

We stayed at Balmers, the famous hostel in the region and there met an Aussie who took us on a day hike of a nearby mountain.  [I continue to meet more Aussies backpacking the world than any other nationality.]  The hike was great, the scenery was beautiful, and the company was excellent.  New friends abound when you stay at hostels; we met a bunch of cool people including Mollie Missouri (she’s from Missouri), Jen & Colleen, and Eve (i’m still coming to Colorado to ski someday, I promise).  Day 2 we went up the Jungfraujoch - even it’s name is intimidating.  It’s the 3rd highest mountain in the Bernese Alps topping out at 13,642 feet... and I’m skiing for only my 3rd or 4th time ever, in the Swiss Alps - great idea, right?  Well, it turned out to be amazing.  I only almost died once or twice and it was warm, sunny and crystal clear - perfect for our group of skiers, and perfect for our counterparts who decided to go skydiving instead.  Day 3 we rented mopeds - in the winter, in the shade of the Swiss mountains.  THIS was a bad idea - there was ice everywhere.  Eve was the only one that didn’t bite it on the pavement; Aaron drove straight into a wall.  Whoops.  

View of Interlaken from the hike

hiking in Interlaken

Hiking Group!

we took the train tracks down, it was way faster

Kleine Scheidegg, Jungfrau, Switzerland - Ski Day

Other travels in February include Barcelona and Venice: 

La Sagrada Familia as seen from Parc Guell

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona

Barcelona was spontaneous and combined multiple groups of friends.  It was a good trip, but not the best of the semester.  Barcelona is a massive city, filled with architectural splendor, a port and coastline, thriving nightlife, art museums, Parc Güell, La Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlló, Casa Mila and everything Gaudí.  Lots of walking, partying, sightseeing, and purchasing of gifts occurred here.  

Venezia.  We decided on a day trip.  Took a three hour train from Florence to Venice and arrived in the early afternoon.  Explored the main city and the labryinth of canals, ate at ‘street’-side cafe’s and passed on the uber-expensive gondola ride.  The fun came at night.  It was the Carnivale di Venezia - masks and costumes, parades, crazy looking people all intermixing at Piazza San Marco (or, St. Marks square, for those of you who don’t speak Italian).  Though Venice is beautiful, the architecture of a city built on the water is astounding, the best part of the trip came at night.  The simple pleasure of drinking in public to American young adults.  We all bought our own bottles of wine, popped the corks and drank while walking the streets and froze our asses off napping in the windy train station at 3am waiting for the first train back to Florence.  Upon returning, my silly friends headed straight to the apartments to get an ounce of sleep - I, on the other hand, went directly to the Arno to walk the river, cross the bridges, and watch the sunrise.  The photos and memories I have of these moments are some of my favorites of all times.  

One of my favorite photos, sunrise over the Arno, Florence, Italy

Street drinking at Carnivale

Sleeping & Freezing, Venice, Italy

The end of the month saw us prepping for midterms and continuing the exploration of Italy!  Look at that, two posts & my semester of bliss is already half over!

Eat it in a pita...

I’ll get back to my semester in Italy in a few hours, but we need to pause so I can show you the delicious lunch I just made myself.  You know what you can do with a pita? ANYTHING.  

Italian sweet sausage with fennel seeds + sauteed mushrooms & asparagus, and mozzarella cheese over baby spinach.  Really basic with just some salt and pepper, the natural flavors of the ingredients mix together nicely.  The key here is not to overcook the asparagus.  Nobody likes mushy asparagus.  

I will now reminisce about the February of my semester abroad as I wait for my pee to begin to smell funny... 

Mmmmmm