Christmas in Charleston

And now for something completely different.

Tiring of our glamorous European lifestyle, we decided to hop across the pond for Christmas in the Deep South. It’s possible that our decision was swayed by the generous invitation of my parents to join them there, but in the end we found Charleston to be a most pleasant place to spend a few days (lack of appropriate Christmas weather notwithstanding). » Read the full post

Tags: Americana, art, Christmas, holidays, restaurants, travel, USA

A spin around Cologne, with bloggers

Alaaf! This year’s WEBMU (Whiny Expat Blogger Meet-Up) took place in Cologne. Our hosts Resident Evil on Earth, Cheap as Chips, and Futile Diatribes did an excellent job of putting together a fun-filled agenda for all of us.  » Read the full post

Tags: beer, bloggers and the people who love them, Cologne, Germany, restaurants, travel

New York food porn: the vegetarian restaurants

Welcome to part two of my 2011 New York food porn. I got too hungry working on the first post, so I had to divide it up. Here are the vegetarian restaurants we sampled in the city in May, with my favorites marked with asterisks.

*Dirt Candy is a tiny little restaurant celebrating vegetables in all their glory. Each dish features variations on a single vegetable (even the desserts), and so many of them sounded good that we had trouble choosing. » Read the full post

Tags: New York, restaurants, travel, USA, vegetarian, vegetarian restaurants

New York food porn 2011

Scott and I get back to New York to visit friends and family about once a year. Well, we pretend we’re there to visit, but mostly we are there to eat. Here are some of the culinary highlights from our most recent visit (those marked * were my absolute favorites from this trip). » Read the full post

Tags: food, New York, restaurants, travel, USA

London notes: food

With the exception of, well, pretty much anyplace in Italy, London is my favorite food city in Europe. Long gone are the days of tittering about the blandness of English cuisine; London restaurants are creative, varied, and plentiful. Here are some of the notable eateries from my last visit. » Read the full post

Tags: England, Europe, food, London, restaurants, travel, UK, vegetarian, vegetarian restaurants

Edinburgh: where to eat

We spent most of January in Edinburgh (I know, I’m a little behind on my blogging), so we got a chance to try quite a few of the city’s restaurants. That is, when I wasn’t busy using our apartment’s induction hob or sampling oddly-named desserts from Marks & Spencer. Here are the notable eateries, favorites first.

David Bann quickly became my favorite restaurant in the city » Read the full post

Tags: Edinburgh, Europe, food, restaurants, Scotland, travel, UK, vegetarian restaurants

Prague notes

I’ve been to Prague many times, but this last visit was the first time I’d seen it decked out as a winter wonderland, probably one of the city’s best looks. » Read the full post

Tags: Czech Republic, Eastern Europe, Prague, restaurants, travel

Copenhagen: up-and-coming Nørrebro

If I were to start out by telling you that both of my walking tours of Copenhagen involved close encounters with drug dealers, you might get the wrong impression of the city. So instead I’ll lead with this pig on a car:

One of the best parts of TBEX was the tours of Copenhagen. The first afternoon I got an insider’s peak at Christiania; the second day’s tour took me to Nørrebro, billed as Copenhagen’s emerging hip and trendy neighborhood. » Read the full post

Tags: Copenhagen, Denmark, Europe, restaurants, Scandinavia, TBEX, travel

The New York food post 2010

Our last trip to New York City was a whirlwind of friends, family, and food, topped off with a little bit of art and some volcano drama. Here were some of the culinary highlights from this time around (if you don’t feel like reading the whole post, scroll to the bottom for the best restaurant of the trip).

We arrived in New York exhausted and much later than scheduled, but dammit we weren’t going to miss a single NYC meal opportunity. » Read the full post

Tags: food, New York, NYC, restaurants, travel, USA, vegetarian restaurants, vegetarianism

Merano: best lunch ever

So where were we? Oh yes: Merano, Italy. On our second day there, we asked at the hotel for a lunch suggestion. Lucky for us, the recommended place was closed, and we ended up improvising. We found Castel Fragsburg at the top of a windy road outside of Merano. The posted menu looked interesting, if a bit expensive, so we decided to give it a try. We were led through a large dining room out onto a terrace with a sweeping view of the valley below. Worth the price alone.

Before we can even order the chef starts sending us little ‘greetings from the kitchen’ » Read the full post

Tags: Alps, Castel Fragsberg, deliciousness, Italy, Merano, restaurants, South Tyrol, Südtirol, travel