Cooking in America

On our expat adventure, we ate some really amazing food.  On each holiday we sought out the local delicacies: 

Portugal - pastel de nata

Spain- churros con chocolate, Jambon Iberico, paella, and sangria

Italy- the best pizza, pasta & gelato you've ever had

Norway- herring (um no we passed on that one)

The Netherlands- Stroopwafels & appeltaart

France- coffee, croissants, macarons, and champagne

German- spätzle, currywurst, beer, and pretzels

While each country has rules about food labels & ingredients in their food, the overall food quality across our European travels was of great. Meats & produce were almost always from local farms with minimal processing.

Upon our return to the US, it was difficult to acclimate back to American food. First of all, the portion sizes were at least double of what was served in the UK. Secondly, the taste of many foods we used to like are nothing like we remembered. We've gone out to chain restaurants that we frequented before our expat adventure, and it's been awful. After a few disappointing meals we are more content with eating at home where we control the quality versus spending our money on mediocre, deplorable food.

I've made some pretty spectacular things lately that I think you should try. You'll notice a lack of quality photos because I had no plan to blog about them, but as the weeks pass I can't stop thinking about making these recipes again.  

Shawarma

Shawarma is nothing new to our family because it was very common in the UK. I first heard about this NY Time Shawarma recipe from a Real Simple Podcast, Things Cooks Know: Cooking for Crowds. I served it with pita bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and this delicious cucumber raita, My family loved it, and it is now heavy in the dinner rotation. It has several spices you may not have in your cabinet, but that's not a problem. You will love this recipe so much that you'll make little packets of the spice mix to give to your friends & neighbors. They will want to make this too.

Pizza

Our family was surprised that it's darn impossible to find a quality pizza in Raleigh. Our favorite thin crust pizza is back near The 407 in Chicago, and I suppose we assumed that this pizza was everywhere. The pizzas we've tried were either tasteless behemoths of dough or greasy cardboard. Our neighbor told us about one local chain of restaurants on the west side of town that is on our list. Until we venture that way, a homemade option was required. 

Making your own pizza dough is easy, but it takes some preplanning to allow time for the dough to rise. It's far superior to the premade crusts from the market.  We had good results with Bobby Flay's dough recipe, but Trader Joe's fresh pizza dough is a winner for a weeknight pizza. The sauce is extremely delicious. I made four individual pizzas with this recipe and had a lot left over. It's in the freezer for next time. If you are in a hurry, a small can of tomato sauce & paste, garlic, and Italian seasoning will get you going as well.

Cinnamon Rolls

Our Sunday breakfast at The Manor was always Pain au Chocolat. Don't think I learned from the Parisian masters how to make this amazing pastry. I bought them at the market like you find cinnamon rolls in the refrigerator case. The only difference the Pain au Chocolat don't suck like refrigerator cinnamon rolls.  

I've made one home made recipe, which requires mass patience for the different rise stages.  The recipe I used made enough for two pans, and the second went in the freezer before the final rise. The end result was only OK so I won't share the link for that recipe.  Despite the OK nature of my confection, it was light years better than the garbage in the market refrigerator case.

Baking at home
Baking is a hobby that I really enjoy.  I suppose it makes me an enabler of my own sugar addiction. I came to love Handmade Baking by Kamran Siddiqi. The chocolate chip cookies really are the best you will ever eat. The banana bread is phenomenal. The blueberry corn muffins are beyond delicious. And then there's what the author calls Everyday Chocolate Cake. Both kids asked for it as their birthday cakes. It's my new favorite book.

At the end of the day, cooking at home is a much healthier choice.  There are times when I would prefer to be served. However, I quickly get over my laziness when my dining mates send their compliments to the chef.  

Food in Berlin - Touring Tuesday

Eating in Germany is all sorts of wonderful.  As a life-long carb lover, I had no problem finding good eats for the family.  Interestingly, our first meal in Berlin was a lovely Italian meal.  The restaurant was close to our hotel and it was just what we needed after a day of travel.  We had an interesting experience with the waitstaff.  They were Italians in a German city; what's the best way to communicate?  We switched between German & Italian cordials.  At the end of the meal we asked the waiter which language they preferred.  He chuckled when I asked, and he said that they spoke many languages and were happy to speak in any one!    

Why have only one pasta when you can have three?

Spätzle - The boy was not sure about spätzle, but he quickly realized how delicious a platter can be.  I was pleased to finish what he could not.  We actually had dinner here two times.  The specials were delicious.  Matt had the sauerbraten and I had the gulasch vom wildschwein (goulash with braised boar)

Currywurst - I refused to leave Berlin without consuming a currywurst.  It's quite a simple dish, but man was it good.  The German sausage is served with a zippy ketchup and a sprinkling of curry powder.  (For you baseball fans, the zippy ketchup reminded me of the special sauce at Miller Park in Milwaukee.)  We saw many outlets that served currywurst - from one-man band style server to full sit down restaurants.  We opted for a street-side stand to have a proper table, yet affordability.  My kids were not fans of the curry sauce, but a quick scrape of the fork quelled their dislike.  

Doner kebab - These are big business in Germany.  Some say it's due to a large Turkish population, which arrived in Germany to rebuild the country after World War II and stayed.  I have observed that many of the bloggers I follow tend to go to similar spots, and many of them went to Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap.  This stand alone hut on the sidewalk often has a huge queue.  On the day of our visit we probably waited about 20 minutes.  The food was good - a pita bread filled with lamb, fresh veg, and feta cheese.  I don't think I would go out of my way to go there again, if I was in the vicinity I might stop again.  But that's just me.  

Beer - self explanatory 

Proper German breakfast - All of the places we've stayed in Germany provide a proper breakfast, and our hotel was no different.  Our kids are well served by these breakfast spreads.  Youngest Kiddo loves salami, ham, and cheese for breakfast.  Oldest Kiddo can't get enough of the tiny pancakes and Nutella.  Matt and I are big fans of the endless coffee and bacon.  

Of course many pretzels were consumed along the way, but for some reason none of them hung around long enough for a photo.  All of my carb and red meat fantasies were fulfilled with each meal in Berlin.  

Paris Times Deux - Touring Tuesday

Last fall I had the pleasure of going to Paris. 

Twice.

The two-hour Eurostar train ride from London's St. Pancras Station couldn't be easier.  If you book your ticket well in advance, you can get a round trip for £79 ($120).  Another bonus to the Eurostar is that when you disembark from the train at Gare du Nord Station, you are already in Paris and can get started with your touring immediately.  If you fly it can take well over an hour from Charles de Gaulle Airport to get into Paris via public transport.  No one has time for that on a short visit.

The first of my trips to Paris was with my mom.  She was planning to visit Paris with some of her friends, but unfortunately that trip fell through.  So Matt knew that she'd appreciate a short side trip when she came for a visit in September.  He booked us for one night at a hotel close by the Arc de Triomphe.  The goals of our trip consisted seeing as many iconic structures as our feet could handle and eat along the way.  We lucked out with gorgeous weather.  With our limited time we only went into the Musée d'Orsay, and I am so glad we did.  The museum is a beautiful old train station, and the art is gorgeous.  We liked the place so much we decided to have lunch in the cafe, and it was delicious.  

It may appear that a majority of our caloric intake was from sugar, but we did have four square meals while in Paris.  Breakfast in the hotel was standard European pastries, muesli, coffee, and fruit. One lunch was at a terrible cafe a few blocks off the Champs Élysées, but dinner completely made up for it.  We ate at a little place where we could see the chef cooking our meal and practically licked our plates. 

I can't share mom's trip to Paris without showing you this scary van.  Stay away children, stay away.

The second visit to Paris was with two mums (that's British for moms) from school.  This trip was planned for the first weekend in December.  It's not the most ideal time to go, but we were willing to take our chances with the weather.

The thing that was different about this trip........we went to Paris for the day.  

We left on the 6:30AM train and returned on the 10:30PM.  We did not tour any museums, but we sure saw a lot of beautiful spots.  Even though it was the first Friday in December, not all of the trees had dropped their leaves.

Notre Dame is a stunning building.  The bridges covered in locks are not as stunning.  I think the concept is a smidge overdone, but that's my opinion.  

The Christmas market was up and running along the Champs Élysées, and we made a pit stop for a glass of champagne.  It gave us enough buzz to keep walking to get to the  Eiffel Tower.  Once we made it to the spot in the photo above, our feet refused to move much further.  We hopped on the Metro in search of dinner.   

One of the moms talked to the French man sitting with us on the train to tell us where we should eat.  At first he thought she was joking, but when she wouldn't drop the subject he gave us a few places he liked.  It did not cross our minds that the places he recommended would not open until 8PM so that did not work for us to make our return train.  We stumbled across a restaurant that made us all happy, and our feet thanked us for the short respite.  

Our ride back to London was significantly quieter than our ride into Paris, but we made the most out of our few hours.    

Would I go back to Paris?  Oui.
Would I do a day trip again? Oui.

As if you needed another reason to why Europe is great.

Weekend in Stockholm Day 2- Touring Tuesday

After Saturday's epic walking adventure, we were pretty tired on Sunday morning.  Of course not too tired to partake in breakfast.  Once we were fueled up on carbs & coffee, we were back out on the street.  The goal for our day was to visit the Vasa Museum, which was a thirty minute walk along the waterways of Stockholm.    

The Vasa Museum is all about a boat - a seriously impressive boat.  The story goes that King Gustav Adolf commissioned the building of four boats.  Hundreds of men work tirelessly for almost two years to build the first one, and everyone turned out to watch the launch of the ship in August 1628.  

The ship was delivered with 68 cannons and over one thousand trees were used on the hull alone.  It was a celebratory affair with families and friends of some of the craftsmen on board for the maiden voyage.  

As the ship was on her way out of Stockholm Harbor the supporting cables from shore were released.  To everyone's surprise the ship started to list (tip!).  Water entered the gun portholes and the darn thing sank!  It only ventured approximately 1300 meters (about 4000 feet).  It is stated that around 30 people died on the ship.  

Obviously the Swedes wanted to find out what caused the disaster.  The final verdict was that the lower hull of the ship was too small to compensate for the weight on the top; the ship had two levels of gun portholes which proved to be too much for the vessel. 

The next part of the story is quite unheard of - they forgot about the ship for the next few hundred years.  I'm sure it wasn't forgotten accidentally; the King's inner circle probably made sure no one spoke of it to avoid embarrassment for him.  Explorers attempted to locate the ship over the years, but it wasn't until 1956 that two men found the wreckage.  An immense effort was taken to release the ship from many years of silt, and it wasn't until 1961 that the team successfully reunited the ship with land.    

The brackish water where the ship rested for hundreds of years preserved it so well that only 5% of the ship's structure had to be replaced.  The overall lighting in the museum was low, I suspect, to protect the ship.  In person the detailed carvings on the ship is astonishing.

We continued to walk during our final hours in Stockholm.  It just so happens we ended up over by the cafe where Matt had his soup bowl of coffee the previous day.  I'd had my eye on the Prinsesstårta, and it did not disappoint.

I'd been pining for a piece of this cake after it was on The Great British Bake Off.  If you can get the You Tube video below to load, skip forward to the 22 minute mark to hear the master Mary Berry explain the cake.  

After that calorie-free snack we slowly made our way back to the airport for our trip back home.  

Did we see all there was to see in Stockholm?  Not a chance.  Warmer weather is definitely the time to see this country, unless you fancy time on the ski slopes.  Our short weekend in Scandinavia certainly gave us a taste for this region.  

The best part about our flight home?  We walked in just in time for the latest episode of Downton Abbey!