Germany for lunch

As we cooked and ate dinner tonight- schnitzel, spaetzle, and red cabbage- I couldn't help but think back to this past July when we were visiting Jeff and Melissa in Brussels for two weeks. There was a day hanging around for which we had no plan, so after some option weighing we decided to go to Germany for lunch. That's right, we drove to Germany basically to have lunch. Sure we walked around the cute little town of Monschau and bought the obligatory gummy bears, but it sounds so much cooler when you say you're driving to another country to eat. When in Germany... eat schnitzel! (And yeah, it was realllllly good!)

Prost!

Trader Joe's

Oh my... how have I just recently discovered this foodie heaven? (Well, actually, there isn't one within an hour of me, so that's probably the reason.) Anyway, I sought some advice on what are some "must buys" from TJ's and now I'm seriously addicted. Not having a cooler made it a bit difficult as I had to pass up many delicious looking refrigerated and frozen goodies, but I managed to find some new addictions: reduced-guilt guacamole, dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds, curry and masala simmer sauces, to name but a few.

What does this have to do with food memories? Here you go: I am now able to relive delicious memories of some of the places I've been by enjoying foods I can't normally find in a regular store.

• Cookie Butter: I got a "lead" on this product, so I just set out around the store looking for something I knew nothing about. I assumed it was some kind of special butter used to make cookies. Was I wrong! I bought the cookie/cocoa swirl version. Think Nutella (minus the hazelnut flavor) swirled with speculoos cookie flavored peanut butter (minus the peanut flavor). You have to try it to really understand it... it is divine. And I've only ever eaten it as a dip for pretzels (or my finger). Speculoos, I think, is the national cookie of Belgium. It's a spicy little biscuit that is basically in, on, or on top of almost anything there. You can't swing a waffle in Belgium without hitting something to do with speculoos. Now I need to go back to Brussels...

 

•  Fleur de Sel Caramels: Having just traveled briefly to Normandy, France this past summer, I was already seeking the deliciousness of the caramel lifestyle they live in Honfleur. (Think speculoos as above, but the caramel version.) Since Trader "Jacques" harvests their "Fleur de Sel" (flower of salt) from the French coast, I felt I had to give these caramels a try. While they are made with a few more ingredients (like corn syrup and coconut oil, for example) than their French cousins, they are a decent stand-in. Now I need to go back to Honfleur...

• Cheddar & Horseradish Potato Chips: If you've been following me, you know my obsessive addiction with odd potato chip flavors. Well, add this really spicy one to my list. I could just see this on the shelves at the Tesco in London or at the local pub. Add a nice pint and you've got yourself a cozy (or "cosy") evening, English-style. Now I need to go back to London...

As you can see, I'm obviously going to be busy traveling a lot in the near future! With so many places yet to visit and many delicious ones to revisit, choosing where to go will be extremely challenging. But it's a challenge I'm willing to taste, er, take!

Inspiration!

Here it is, in list form- inspiration for my quest for the ultimate crisp. Sadly I've only had #11. Pringles I've had, but not this flavor. Time to get cracking (or crunching)... Of course, this will entail some travel back across the pond. Oh well, what I must do in the name of research!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/the-definitive-ranking-of-crisps-from-worst-to-best

Frites!

Last night, Don and I were out for dinner and one appetizer on the menu caught our eyes- truffled Parmesan frites. How could we say no? They arrived in a little basket lined with paper and a cup of garlic aioli with a drizzle of balsamic. Tossed with herbs, salty Parmesan, and LOTS of garlic these were scrumptious. (By the way, no vampires last night so I guess they did their job.) 

My apologies for not posting a photo. By the time I thought of it, they almost 1/2 gone! A little depressing note was that we only had one order and one sauce... On our most recent trip to Brussels, we ordered at least 8 cones and about a dozen sauces. I don't think anything can top our frite-fest, but this NY version certainly tasted good as it brought back fond memories. Speaking of which, we need more pickel [sic] sauce!!!

My foodographic memory in action

Don went to the bakery grand opening on his birthday to get something for breakfast. Pain au chocolat (chocolate filled croissant) is always a good choice! As we were enjoying our warmed goodies, he recalled having them when we arrived at Heathrow airport in London two years ago. Enter my curse/blessing of a memory... I knew exactly what we had at Heathrow- baguettes with bacon- AND where we had the pain au chocolat that he recalled- at the train station in Brussels. Not bad, though... at least he remembered it had something to do with transportation!

Another trip back to Brussels...

... in my mind, anyway. Well, and stomach.

Go figure that even though I've been sick this whole week, my appetite never skipped a beat. I guess that's a good thing, right? I noticed a banana on the counter. It was one of those bananas on the verge of going beyond edible- more brown speckles than yellow. Probably better than scarfing down a pile of chips. Hmm... chips. There's a bag of chips... chocolate chips. Chocolate chips + banana = frozen chocolate covered banana! 

So I sliced that banana up and popped the slices in the freezer. I felt guilty about opening a new bag of chocolate chips just to melt enough to coat banana slices, but only for a mere second. I melted the chocolate, coated the banana slices and stuck them back in the freezer to set. Here's what I got:

Not the prettiest things, but really tasty!

Immediately I thought of being in Brussels this past Christmas. Jeff and Melissa have this pretty big refrigerator/freezer (by European standards) and, oddly enough, all that was in the freezer was a box of Oufti frozen banana slices. Though now that I think about it, knowing Melissa, it's really not that odd. One night we stayed in, watched movies and scarfed down Oufti bananas and strawberries for dessert. Not one complaint from any of us!

I had to post my inspiration for Melissa to see. This, in turn, inspired her breakfast of banana pancakes. (And a trip to the store for more Oufti!) 

The power of food...

Crisps... again

One would not think that a trip to Brussels and Amsterdam would yield a post about crisps (aka potato chips). Well, enter one funky concept hotel known as CitizenM. In the lobby is their "Canteen" where you can get snacks, drinks, lip balm and stuffed animals 24/7. Lo and behold, prominently featured were (among others) the following bags of salty snacks: 

OK, so the bag on the left isn't THAT weird, right? Seems kind of normal next to the other one, doesn't it?! Of those in our party, I was the only one yearning to delve into the wonderful world of roast ox crisps. I wasn't winning over many friends and I almost had to go it alone. After carefully checking the ingredients, I found that there is no ACTUAL ox in these crisps. Ox flavor, yes, but not real ox. (Ox flavor?) Anyway, I could resist no longer and had to have them. To appease everyone else, ham and English mustard was purchased, as well as sweet Thai chili. 

I must admit, the roast ox crisps were my favorite! They tasted akin to very salty roast beef (but way more crunchy). The ham and mustard crisps were interesting, too. A slap in the face of wicked salty baked ham, then a lingering taste of zesty mustard. As for sweet Thai chili, I've had that flavor before and while they were tasty, they didn't blow me away.

So, keep your eyes open during your travels. You never know where you'll find some interesting crisps in unusual flavors!