World Cup Fare

I don't know about you, but I spent Saturday cheering on the USA, wearing one of Shaun's many USA jerseys, and eating enough buffalo wing dip to feed a family of five (more on that later). Though it was a sad turn of events, it got me thinking about World Cup 2006, when Shaun and I somehow scored first round tickets through the crazy FIFA lottery system and trekked over to Germany for our first Euro vacation.

With tickets to 2 of the 3 first round games, we made the plan to do a 3 city tour, spanning Germany and France. The trip began in Cologne, Germany. With fan fare unlike any I've other seen, there wasn't a whole lot to do in Cologne aside from walk the pop-up street fairs in honor of the World Cup and park ourselves at outdoor cafes for hours on end, watching games, drinking Kolsch (the official brew of Cologne) and eating wiener schnitzel and frites until our stomachs begged us to cease. Yeah, it was pretty great.

In a land where it's cheaper to buy a pint of beer than a glass of water, we sampled all of the local goods. From gelato with bits of ice cream cone mixed into it...To neverending bratwurst...

Even though it was years before The Avid Appetite was born, it's pretty clear that Shaun and I were destined to be world-seasoned food fans, don't you think? Anyhow, at the first US game in Gelsenkirchen, we encountered that fan fare enough to top any Subway Series game to boot. Fans draped themselves in American flags, sang American songs, and drank in the streets for hours on end (and in the blazing heat no less).

And we partook in the fun...

With days between games, we made our way to Paris for a few days and then circled back to Kaiserslautern, Germany for the tailend of the trip. Since our friend Geoff, along with his wife Blaire, was stationed at the US Army base there, we had our own personal guide to the town. Somehow, the nights turned back to food at an outdoor cafe (where I sampled bona fide moldy cheese) followed by beer and Jagermeister sampling through the town's street fair. With dark beer served by the meter and Jager at every turn, here's a peak at what happens when you mix the two after many many hours...don't try this at home...

Yep, Shaun ended up riding a metal pony in the middle of the town fountain. Anyhow, while I'll continue my depression over the US loss to Ghana in 2010, it's pretty fab to relive our German adventure of '06 and reminisce over our first major trip together in a real once-in-a-lifetime experience. Plus, ya gotta love a land that encourages train breakfasts consisting of bread, nutella and beer.

So there you have it - a peak at our World Cup adventure of '06. How are you feeling after Saturday's game?

Croque Madame at Elysian Cafe

Last weekend, in addition to spring dinner party things, I had brunch at a charming little place in Hoboken called Elysian Cafe. Though crowded on that gorgeous Sunday morning (what happened since then?), Maggie and I secured a table and thoroughly enjoyed our last Hoboken brunch together (she's moving away and leaving me, you see). Anyhow, I typically have enjoyed the eggs benedict and have tried my hardest to ignore Tony Bourdain's warnings of hollandaise sauce, but this time, I switched it up a bit and went with the Croque Madame. Yum.

The traditional Croque Madame is comprised of ham and gruyere cheese grilled on a sandwich, and topped with a bechamel sauce (read: sauce of creamy goodness) and a fried or poached egg (my favorite being the latter...oh how I love those yolks...). Though this version was anything but traditional (egg in the sandwich, rather than on, and it included spinach), it was still pretty delicious. Of course, my own personal love affair with the Croque Madame began at a tiny cafe across from the Notre Dame cathedral en Paris...in fact, I'm fairly certain that I had no clue what Gruyere cheese was and so, to me, the sandwich was like entering a new world of delicious. And since I was utterly clueless that four years post-Paris trip, I'd being singing its praises on The Avid Appetite, I neglected to snap a photo. I did, however, dig up this little gem - a view of Notre Dame from the tiny, name unknown cafe in which we delighted in a real Parisian breakfast sandwich. McDonalds, who?

Isn't she a beauty? This was, in fact, our favorite part of Paris...sightseeing from the top of Notre Dame, strolling by the Seine, and sampling pommes frites with mayo until our hearts begged no more.

A Weekend in Antigua: Sampling the Local Goods

As I mentioned earlier this week, Shaun and I took a little vacation over the weekend. It snowed uncontrollably in the New York/New Jersey area and we barely made it out on Thursday morning. I have to tell you...after a long, seemingly never ending, bitterly cold winter (which is still going on, by the by), there's really nothing quite like swimming and sailing in aqua blue water, sipping mixed drinks all day and laying on the beach reading Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential (see? even when I'm not writing, I still have food on the brain and I just can't seem to get enough of that guy).

Though a gorgeous island in the Caribbean with lots to offer scenery-wise, as evidenced above, Antigua did not have many local eats. One of the stand out foods of the trip was a delicately fried conch fritter. White conch meat mixed with stuffing and fried, the fritter was served up with a light tartar sauce. Bellisimo.
Despite the abundance (or lack there of for that matter) of local fare, one of our must-do activities when traveling anywhere, inside or outside the US is to test out the local brew. Since Shaun and I have traveled to quite a few places in Europe and in the Caribbean, and sampling  (and subsequently smuggling for souvenir purposes) a bottle o'beer in each destination has become something of a tradition. After all, just as street food says so much about one's culture, so does the beer. Whether a cold Kolsch at an outdoor cafe in Cologne, Germany, circa 2006...
a mug of Staropramen to warm up on a rainy day in Prague in the Czech Republic...
or 40 oz bottle of Saku to pass the time on the overnight cruise between Sweden and Estonia...
I think local brews are a point of pride for many locales. In Antigua, the local beer is Wadadli. Hardly able to be kept cold in the extreme island temps, Wadadli follows in the Dutch tradition of Heineken and Amstel. A fine and somewhat tasty brew for a hot day, but not sure that it would be my go-to on a regular night in the Jerz.
Local fare aside, it was a fantastic vacation, filled with relaxation, rum slushies, and ok...maybe more than a little Wadadli. But when you end your day with this, it doesn't really get much better.So what about you? Are you a beer drinker? Do you sample local brews from place to place? And more importantly, did you take any vacations this winter to get out of the extremely frigid temps we've been having over the last months? And while you were there, sample anything worth noting?