food

What’s that wacky German food? Spargel

white asparagus = spargel

It’s here! Spargelzeit is here! What, you mean you don’t celebrate asparagus time where you live?

The Germans are crazy about white asparagus, a special breed that grows underground and is only harvested for a couple months each spring. Restaurants have special menus featuring white asparagus done every which way, and all the fruit and veggie stands display big piles of it, as if it’s the only thing worth eating this time of year. Preparing this Teutonic vegetable is relatively easy, but there are a few things you should know before doing it for the first time.

Read moreWhat’s that wacky German food? Spargel

Something I love about Germany:

The national obsession with asparagus. This week a newspaper in Munich was promoting a feature on “the first asparagus (where it comes from, how it grows, how much it costs).” Never mind that German asparagus season is still a month away – anticipation is part of the pleasure.

Eating Oktoberfest: a vegetarian survival guide

If there’s one thing you don’t see very often at Oktoberfest, it’s a vegetable.

Navigating the menu at an Oktoberfest tent is not always easy for vegetarians. In here, a plate of sliced-up sausage qualifies as a salad. But even at those tents named after the animal they are best at cooking, one can find at least a couple of meatless dishes. Bavarian vegetarian food is heavy, creamy, cheesy, and infinitely starchy: actually, not such bad attributes for a meal that’s accompanying many liters of beer. Now that you’ve found a seat in one of the tents, here are some of the vegetarian dishes you are most likely to find on the menu:

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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.

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A quick Italy fix in Udine

On our way back from Croatia we broke up the driving by spending a night in Udine, Italy.

We didn’t have much time there, but we managed to squeeze in two meals, two gelatos, and a lovely aperitivo while people-watching on a busy square (ie, all the essentials of a great Italy trip).

We had dinner at the charming and casual Al Vecchio Stallo, where we learned that Friuli offers up dishes just as yummy as those from Italy’s other regions

Read moreA quick Italy fix in Udine