Cut-ography

I really wish I had taken more pictures specifically regarding this topic while I was in Regensburg (*brief sobbing moment regarding past tense of the sentence*), but we'll just make do.

In Europe, aside from flavor, there are two other distinguished differences between the pizza there and the pizza in America - 1) It is much thinner, and 2) It is typically served uncut.

When going out with friends to one of the 203502395 Italian restaurants in Regensburg, I would always notice how differently everyone cuts his or her pizza.

• There's me, hacking in long, broad slices and then into bite-sized pieces, maintaining a fairly evenly distributed offensive front from my side of the pizza.
  
• There's the Hack Straight Into The Middle And Work Your Way Out.
  
• There's Radial Triangle Slicing, more frequently seen in some of my American friends, for obvious reasons (or for those of you who don't live in America, American pizza is always served sliced radially in typically 6-10 slices, depending on pizza size).
  
• There's the Alien Parasite Breaking Into The Barrier At One Point And Eating Out The Innards From There, Leaving The Crust.
  
• There's Chaotic Random Hack-At-Will, Which Bothers The Author Of This Blog A Lot.
  
• And I've even seen, Holy Heavens, This Pizza Is Huge, I Must Fold In Half And Hack From The Back If I Am To Conquer.
  
• etc. etc. etc.

Ah, so many different varieties. How I only wish I had taken pictures!

I just have this feeling that the way you eat your pizza reflects your personality, which is why I am so personally fascinated by this. If you don't believe me, just humor me.

Meerrettich

Because of the following story, I will now never forget the meaning of this word.

I've known J. since we were both 5 years old in the same Kindergarten class, and only until college did we go to different schools. Two weeks ago, she and her boyfriend came by Regensburg on part of their vacation through Europe. We walked around the city during the day, and in the evening, I took them to Alte Linde ("Old Linden Tree"), a well-known beer garden in Regensburg situated on a small island on the Danube with a great view across the river. As with most beer gardens, it serves lots of beer and lots of very traditional German food.


The two of them don't speak any German, so we went down the menu and I translated for them. J. pointed to an item under the Brotzeit menu (traditional German meal where cold cuts, cheeses, bread and other spreads are served on a wooden cutting board) that had a long list of sundry items that came with it. One of the few words I simply couldn't remember was "Meerrettich", because I just hadn't encountered it much. But the other items sounded alright, so J. went ahead and ordered it for dinner.

After a while, our food finally came, and in front of her was a big variety of the items mentioned above. We sat there trying to guess what everything was, because I haven't actually ordered Brotzeit much and wasn't entirely sure. Then she scooped a bit from a small white mound, spread it generously across a piece of bread and took a big bite. We were eating when she suddenly sat up in a panic, flailed her hands and desperately started guzzling some beer (there weren't any other options on our table).

The white stuff, Meerrettich, is horseradish.

And German horseradish is strong.

Oops! Sorry!

It won't happen again!

Coffee... from Togo?

As you all likely well know, countless English terms have been integrated into languages in both Europe and all over the world, and German is no exception.

Although Europe is filled with the traditional cafés where one always goes purposefully to sit and enjoy a cup with company, the characteristically American concept of grabbing coffee on the run in the mornings or around lunch has likewise infiltrated the modern food industry here, and nowadays, it's not uncommon to come across the distinctly English term "Coffee - or "Kaffee" - To Go" in coffee shops and restaurants everywhere.


It's hip! It's modern! And sometimes, it just feels cooler to advertise than "Kaffe zum Mitnehmen"!

Unfortunately for many of the older generations of Germans, it can be often be quite difficult to keep up with the dynamic changes that almost seem to flood in with every passing week.

But it's to my personal great amusement when you overhear an elderly German going up to a counter and ordering "ein Kaffee Togo, bitte". Togo, pronounced with German vowels. Togo, which rhymes with "pogo" of pogo-stick. Togo, like the small west African country. Togo, like only a cute old German would say.

Venticello

Sometimes, if the wind is right and I happen to stick my head out the window, the wonderful smell of garlic, herbs and Italian cooking wafts up to me from the two Italian restaurants on the square just by my street.

Mmmmmm....

Herbivore

Kristen is a vegetarian, so naturally, this was a concern of ours on this trip - especially because in this region (southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc.), sausage and other meats are prevalent, traditional favorites. (I love being omnivorous. And completely unpicky. Marvelous traveling advantage.) Many before us have also warned that it is difficult to find strictly vegetarian food, and that it is uncommon in the area.

But much to our pleasant surprise, we had virtually no problems finding vegetarian options throughout the trip. To boot, it wasn't even "fake vegetarian," as some vegetarian travelers have found in other countries where the meat is simply hidden more subtly in the exact same dish.

From Whirlwind Alpine Tour

Delicious, vegetarian Indian food in Salzburg
Here are shots from the somewhat upscale vegetarian restaurant Hiltl (restaurant website) in Zürich, Switzerland. The set-up is a long selbstbedienung ("self-service") bar with a huge variety of international vegetarian dishes, ranging from Thai to Greek to Indian and beyond. You schlock whatever you'd like on to your plate, weigh it and pay for it at the register, and sit yourself down.

From Whirlwind Alpine Tour

Being on the constant look-out for veggie-friendly places, I found this place in on of our city guides and suggested that we have a look. It was a bit pricey, but we decided to take it on with reckless abandon. Everything is pricey in Switzerland, why not just get a good meal out of it.

We notice there is a long bar, and hesitantly assume that it's buffet-style. I ask a waiter and find out that you pay by the plate. To make a long story short, we both end up dishing out a pretty pricey amount for our respective plates (think CHF 30-50 -- and the Swiss Franc is currently equal to the American dollar), because we discover (too late) that it's priced by weight.

From Whirlwind Alpine Tour

But Whoa. Who cares. It was superb food, and in my opinion, completely worth the one-time splurge. And every bit was vegetarian-friendly, to boot.

In conclusion, if you're an herbivore like Kristen, you'll probably be surprised to find that there are plenty of vegetarian options around, so long as your friends don't mind eating at the same places. We believe the reason people say that veggie places are few and far between is that they aren't looking for them. (Click here for a hilarious and dead-on example of how you miss what you're not looking for). But as globalization as well as vegetarianism spreads, we think you'll find that there are tons of restaurants who take their vegetarian customers into consideration as well.

Valentinstag

So tell me:

Is it wrong to be outside blissfully enjoying two scoops of ice cold gelato this much while strolling around on a below-freezing evening in the middle of February--?

No. (*slurp*) It is not. (*slurp*)


Pure, frigid happiness.


... (*slurp*)

(In case you hadn't noticed, the Italians are back now.)

Grand Marnier

A friend and I were strolling through the Christkindlmarkt this afternoon, looking around for Christmas presents. At the end of our walk through, I decided to get a crepe to eat. Looking down the list on the side of the stand, I couldn't decide which type I wanted. I spotted a "Grand Marnier" at the very bottom of the sweet crepes list, and we both agreed that I should go for it, though neither of us had any idea what it was. But I like to throw a dart at the dartboard with my eyes blindfolded as far as trying new foods.

Standing before the crepe master and his pan, both of us watched to see just what sort of grand piling of ingredients would go on my crepe.

Start with some melted butter...

... Generous sprinkle of sugar...

... Generous sprinkling of some kind of alcohol...?

And then I suddenly realized, he is DONE. That man is folding the crepe.

Lesson learned: Grand Marnier is a strong alcohol.
Experience briefing: The crepe is folded. When you start at the edge, it's not so bad. But towards the center where the layers are thick, it took me a slightly longer endeavor to finish it off, particularly if you can smell the scent of rubbing alcohol coming off of your crepe corner by the time you get that far. An amusing experience, but I will go with the strawberry-banana-Nutella crepe again next time.

Salzburg

So as I mentioned, Michael and I hopped an early morning train and went to Salzburg for the day on Saturday.

From Salzburg

Salzburg sits in west Austria on the river Salzach. Mozart was born there, so as it were, there is Mozart paraphernalia all over the city...

From Salzburg

Seeing as it's December and every European city that has a Christmas Market has got it set up by now, Michael and I hit up the market streets during our wanderings through the city.

From Salzburg

From Salzburg

We only truly realized that we had done absolutely no "research" for our trip to see what kind of locations we needed to visit in Salzburg until we had stepped out of the train station and were looking around our first glimpse of the city. But that was okay. Some of the very best trips are always impromptu.

So as usual, the full collection of pictures is on the Picasa album ("Salzburg"), along with extra explanations. Kuck mal ;) ! ("Have a look!")

From Salzburg

For All Those Who Doubted Me

Yes, I can cook pasta. And yes, I can cook beautiful pasta.

From Living in Regensburg

Zwei Kugeln Gelato

("Two-Scoop Gelato")

I'm feeling down. I wish someone could go out for some gelato with me right now!!! Soooo many gelaterias around Regensburg... But I don't feel that it would help me right now to go alone.

Yet I hear the gelato! It's calling my naaaaame.....

Sorry. I'm in an odd and not particularly dandy mood. Maybe I'll just go down to the River Regen again and feed expired Müsli to the Enten ("ducks").