Tag Archives: food

anecdotes

Doubling up on Hello Fresh boxes…

Because of last week’s billing issues with Hello Fresh, I inadvertently ended up with several subscriptions.  I asked Hello Fresh to cancel all but the first order, but somehow I’m still ending up with twice what I intended to order.  Today, I will receive two classic boxes of three meals for two people and two fruit boxes.  I guess I’ll send one of the fruit boxes to work with Bill and maybe keep the extra box for next week, when my niece visits.

I’ve sent several emails to Hello Fresh since I last posted.  One was to make sure next week’s delivery is “paused” because next week’s meals include mushrooms, which I do not eat.  I wasn’t able to pause it myself on their Web site, so I had to email them.  The other was to make sure that in the future, I don’t get double orders.  I asked them to check my account and make sure future automatic orders are just for one box– one fruit box and one classic box.  My next email to them will probably be to ask them to cancel my account.

As much as I enjoy learning new recipes and trying new foods, this screw up with billing and repeated need to email them has left me with a bad impression.  We’ll see how much or little we enjoy this week’s recipes.  The double boxes this week may turn out to be okay, since we’re going to have company.

This weekend, Bill and I are going to Regensburg, which is a beautiful Bavarian city.  We have both been there before, but not with each other.  I look forward to seeing Regensburg again and taking lots of new pictures!  I’m ready to blog about travel rather than food.

Unbelievable…

Look what just arrived.  Looks like they didn’t cancel all the orders after all.

ETA:  Here is today’s email exchange…

Okay, now you are SURE that my next order will be just one classic box and one fruit box?  Because when I wrote last week about the inadvertent extra orders, I was told the problem was fixed.  And I just received this.

Their response

 Feb 11, 12:35:

Hello,
thank you for your message.
In future you will only recive one meal- and one fruit-box.
You wrote us on monday and on monday we couldn’t cancel your orders or change them.
This is the reason you recived two boxes each.
Best regards,

My response

Actually, the first time I wrote to you was on the evening of February 3rd when the extra orders were accidentally made.  This is what I wrote in my first email.
Hi,

I tried to order a classic box and a fruit box and use a coupon.  I kept getting messages that the payments failed, so I tried to use PayPal and a credit card.  My husband’s card worked, but now I look in my bank account and it appears that the other attempts also worked.  This is just a message to let you know that we only want one classic box and one fruit box for next week.

Thanks,
I got an email from a customer service employee on February 5th.  This is what she wrote.

Feb 5, 13:22:

Hi,
thank you for your message.
You did indeed subscribe for 3 fruit and 3 classic boxes.
I cancelled 4 boxes for you. You will get the money back automatically.
Please make sure, this won’t happen again. 🙂
Best regards,
Her response is the reason I was under the impression that this issue was fixed.

I’m pretty annoyed about this.  I’m also really disappointed.  Evidently, the guy can’t count, either.  I have three classic boxes and four fruit boxes.

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Our second Hello Fresh meal

Last night Bill and I enjoyed our second Hello Fresh meal.  When I say we “enjoyed it”, I’m being truthful.  I liked it better than the first one Bill fixed on Wednesday night.  One of the reasons it went better was because Bill took the recipe to work and had it translated before he started trying to cook it.  That made for a much less hectic cooking experience and better prepared food.  Here are some photos of the process of making last night’s meal of chicken with carrot-yogurt salad and baked sweet potato wedges.

Bill’s translated directions…

 

Chopping red onion, carrot, and lemon…

These were served as a garnish.  We don’t usually have those in our house!

Red onion “cooking” in a little lemon juice.  The citrus cooked onions were added to chopped carrots, almonds, a little yogurt, almonds, and parsley for a very nice salad.  We don’t usually have “those” in our house, either!

Sweet potato wedges baking in the oven.  These were later seasoned with a spice mix that came with the Hello Fresh kit.  The spices really added an interesting twist to the sweet potatoes.  I don’t even like sweet potatoes very much, but I enjoyed these very much.

Carrot being grated. 

 

Cooking the chicken.  We got a little more chicken than beef and it was very good, especially with the yogurt dressing Bill made to go with it.  It reminded me a little of tzatziki.  I don’t usually like yogurt much, either, but was pleasantly surprised.

The end result.  

Very tasty!

Much to my surprise, I liked this meal more than I did the steak and potatoes we had on Wednesday.  One of the main reasons I liked it better was because the end result turned out more like what I think the Hello Fresh people envisioned.  Our first attempt was made more difficult by Bill’s attempt to translate as he went along.  By getting the recipe pre-translated, he saved himself time and effort and was more able to concentrate on the cooking.  Yes, it should go without saying that non-German speakers should get the recipes translated before trying to cook the Hello Fresh.  I just want to emphasize that it made a world of difference in the quality of our end product.

This meal was easier to make and the chicken portions were larger.  We had plenty to eat and I attained a new appreciation for sweet potatoes, yogurt, and salad.  That’s a good thing.  We have one more meal to try before we decide if we want to subscribe to Hello Fresh or just order another single box.  I have a feeling it’s going to be a winner.  It’s pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil, and mascarpone cheese, which I have a feeling I will love.  Stay tuned!

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Hello Fresh!

A few weeks ago, someone on the Stuttgart Friends Facebook group asked about getting boxes of vegetables from co-ops in Germany.  Although I have never ordered vegetables that way, I am interested in doing it.  I need to broaden my palate and both my husband and I could stand to improve our diets.

Several co-ops are available in our area.  One person recommended Hello Fresh, which is not really a co-op per se, but a company that prepares boxes of fresh food that can be turned into delicious meals.  Hello Fresh is an international company, but I had not heard of it before I came to Germany.  I read up on it and didn’t give it another thought until I was on an Air Berlin flight back from Hamburg.  The airline’s magazine had a coupon for 20 euros off a box of food from Hello Fresh.  Since the boxes for three meals serving two people run about $50 (39.99 euros), I thought that was a generous deal.  I talked to Bill about it and, since he does a lot of the cooking and shopping, he decided it would be worthwhile to try Hello Fresh.

Here’s someone’s Hello Fresh review posted on YouTube.  These reviews are also what helped me take the plunge.

It turned out the 20 euro coupon was only good if you became a subscriber (two box minimum).  Since I wanted to just try the service, I went ahead and ordered a one time “Probierbox-Classic“.  It cost about $51 and contains enough food for two people and three meals.  The box arrived a little while ago and I just unpacked it.  I’m very impressed thus far.  Have a look at these photos…

The UPS guy joked that he’d brought me my Mittagessen.  Special thanks to Duolingo for teaching me that much German.

First impression of unpacked box.  Everything is neatly packed.

Fresh broccoli, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and an onion.  Pasta from Italy.

Recipe cards with photos.  Yes, the directions are in German.  Here’s a good chance to exercise my budding German skills.  I’m sure the photos will help.

Directions are on the back…  Includes serving size info.

Fresh tomatoes.

Fresh basil.

Almonds, garlic, and spices

Cold pack with cream, mascarpone cheese, yogurt, and fresh mozzarella…

Fresh beef and fresh chicken.

Coupons for other services.

And the card that started my experiment.  I will very likely be subscribing, so I will get to use it.

Hello Fresh offers boxes that contain meat and vegetables, but they also have boxes for vegetarians and boxes with just fruit.  The boxes contain all you would need for the recipes featured except for some very basic ingredients like salt and pepper.  You don’t have to get a box every week and you can pause service when necessary.  Next week’s boxes have recipes that use mushrooms.  I don’t eat mushrooms, so I won’t be ordering that one; but I may very well get the box offered next.  We got the smallest box offered, which is for two people.  They do have larger boxes that contain enough food for four people.  They also offer boxes that have five meals for two or four people.

You do have to order your box before a certain time each week if you want one for the following week.  Once you order, Hello Fresh is great about keeping in touch and letting you know when to expect your delivery.  Mine was scheduled between 8:00am and 12:00pm today.  If no one will be home to collect the delivery, you can specify for it to be left with a neighbor or make other arrangements.  When you have ordered five boxes, you can return all the packaging materials to Hello Fresh and they will recycle it for you.

Here’s one potential drawback to this service.  Say you don’t like pork or, like me, you hate mushrooms.  Unfortunately, you can’t ask for a substitution.  You can order a different box, say the vegetarian one or the fruit one.  But, say if you prefer the classic boxes that include meat, they won’t give you a different recipe.  The recipes also vary and don’t tend to be repeated.  If they do have one that turns out to be especially popular, the Hello Fresh folks might repeat it after at least fifteen weeks.  For more information about how this service works, I recommend opening the Hello Fresh Web site on Chrome (if you don’t understand German) and reading the FAQs there to decide if their conditions are acceptable to you.  The nice thing is, if the boxes contain something you don’t like, you don’t have to buy them each week, even if you are a subscriber.

Bill and I will try making one of these meals tonight.  Stay tuned to find out how it went.  I have a feeling Bill will want me to order again since the service is very convenient.  The shopping is done for you and the ingredients are very high quality and fresh.  It also appears to be a great way to expand your culinary horizons and try something new.  I look forward to our experiments!

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France and Germany… a send off from the Army– Part 5

The next city Bill and I visited is Lyon.  I wanted to go to Lyon because I had seen Samantha Brown profile it on her show, Passport to Europe on the Travel Channel.  Supposedly, it’s the biggest food town in France, which means it’s probably one of the world’s best food towns.  Bill and I even asked Sylvain, one of the owners at San Antonio’s premiere French restaurant, Saveurs 2009, about Lyon.  He agreed that it is a very good place to get a great meal.  Unfortunately, after spending two nights near Lyon, I can’t say Bill and I experienced eating great French food there.  We did, however, find an excellent Moroccan restaurant!

Not knowing anything about Lyon, I had trouble choosing where we would stay.  I finally chose Villefranche sur Saone, which is a pleasant suburb just a bit north of Lyon.  We ended up in a very comfortable Best Western, which was a good thing because we landed at the train station for the first time during a nasty rain storm with high winds.  The hotel where we stayed was very close to the train station, but we took a wrong turn and ended up wandering around with our bags.  We finally consulted a map.  A very friendly French lady who didn’t speak a word of English tried very hard to help us, even though we didn’t ask her to.  She was determined to assist!  We could make out that she was pointing us to the tourism office, which wasn’t too far from the city map.

Fortunately, Bill got his bearings and we managed to find the hotel without help from the tourism office.  We got a room with twin beds, which I don’t think Bill was happy about… but you know, I actually ended up loving that arrangement.  With twin beds, you get more room and you don’t have to deal with the mattress moving or too much heat emanating from your partner’s body…  Bill has a tendency to put off lots of heat.  It’s like sleeping with a furnace sometimes.

Anyway, we missed lunch, so we decided to go to the Irish pub that was within spitting distance of the hotel.  That was when I first noticed just how many “Irish pubs” France has… and how quite a few of them bear no resemblance whatsoever to actual Irish pubs!  This place near the hotel at least had an interior that looked Irish.  It had a pretty good beer list, with the obligatory Irish beers like Guinness and Smithwicks.  I was impressed, though, that they had lots of Belgian beers, too.  I am a big fan of Belgian suds!  They were playing 80s music, which got my attention.  Bill and I ordered a French pizza, which had bacon, tomatoes, onions, and egg on it.  It was called a “farm” pizza.  It wasn’t the best I’d ever had, but it wasn’t bad at all.  It sated our hunger and allowed us a nice beer drinking session.  Our waitress was a very alternative looking lass who took good care of us and complimented me on my taste in beer!

Our French pizza.

 

Somewhat authentic decor…

Bill had French beer; I had Belgian…

After our afternoon at the Irish pub, we went back to the hotel room.  I proceeded to take a delightful three hour nap while Bill worked on school lessons for his cyber security course.  When I woke up, we went looking for dinner.  On our way into the town, I noticed what appeared to be an exotic looking Middle Eastern restaurant.  It turned out it was actually a Moroccan place and obviously very popular with the locals.  Our waiter was a Moroccan guy who didn’t speak English but managed to be very charming nonetheless.  I had a tanjeen dish made with duck breast and vegetables.  Bill had a chicken cous cous dish that was enough for about five people.  Eventually, a young woman came out to talk to us, because she spoke some English.  I got the sense it was her family that owned the restaurant.  She was genuinely interested in finding out who we were and what we were doing in a Lyon suburb eating Moroccan food!  She was very kind and we left that place kind of in awe of what you can find off the beaten path.  Bill marveled about that Moroccan meal for days!

Bill waits to be greeted by our waiter…

 

Moroccan wine

The bowl should have been a good clue about portion size!

My duck dish…  Figs, apricots, prunes, and raisins accompanied the meal.

Bill’s chicken and cous cous.  That chicken was delicious!  It just fell off the bone.

 

Dessert…  Bill had a “colonel”, which was a hollowed out lemon with lemon sorbet in it and vodka to drizzle over the top…  I had chocolate, as usual.

Mint tea to finish things off!

 

Outside of the restaurant…

The next morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel.  I noticed a guy wearing what I knew to be riding breeches.  I knew because I used to wear them myself.  He also had knee socks pulled up over his pants, which a lot of riders do to make it easier to pull on boots.  He had a rather alternative looking girlfriend.  They seemed very friendly and even said goodbye to Bill and me before they left for the stables!

After breakfast, we caught a train to Lyon.  It was about a twenty minute ride.  Lyon’s train station is a complete madhouse, too!  But there is free WiFi there, which is a great thing for those who need to get their bearings.  We walked all over Lyon, which once you get beyond the train station area, is a very pretty city.  I wouldn’t say it’s as grand or impressive as Paris is, but it has its own charm.  We eventually ended up near a church that I thought was interesting looking.  I didn’t notice a man sitting nearby, messing with his phone.  I took a picture and he started yelling at me in French.  I suddenly had a flashback to Madrid, when some crazy lady started yelling at me for taking a photo of a door.

This is the church that prompted an angry outburst…

 

I have no idea why the guy was yelling at me.  All did not seem well with his mind, to be quite honest.  But instead of answering him in Armenian or English, I just started laughing.  That made him even more angry.  Then Bill and I turned and walked away.

For lunch, we stopped at another Irish pub.  It was called Johnny’s Kitchen.  I didn’t actually want to eat in an Irish pub, since we were in a foodie city.  But we were hungry; Bill wanted to use cash; and the price was right.  Actually, it was a pretty nice experience.  The pub was small, but well-decorated.  It appeared to cater to students and had a lot of burgers and “jacket potatoes” on the menu, as well as specials.  I probably should have gotten the special, which was seafood lasagna.  But I ended up with a “Betty Burger”, which had onions and bacon on it, I think.  The chef came out and said, “Most French people prefer rare beef, but I notice Americans like their burgers more done.  How would you like yours cooked?”  I thought it was very nice that he asked me that.  I asked for medium and that’s what I got.  We enjoyed lunch over French pop music and a very friendly and hard working waitress.

Lunch at Johnny’s Kitchen!  One of my friends had the nerve to ask if I was eating a Royale from McDonald’s.

 

Dessert…  I had cheesecake and Bill had ice cream.

 

Authentic decor… ;D

 

After lunch, we walked around some more and eventually found our way back to the train.  We happened to get one during rush hour.  Bill and I were lucky to get seats; not five minutes after we sat down, the train filled up and we were joined by about half a dozen college students, all of whom were males with their own mp3 players.  Most of them had to sit on the floor, because there weren’t any seats left.  I noticed that one of them kept an eye on us for signs that we might vacate.  As we did, one of the guys rather boldly laid claim to my seat not seconds after I rose to leave.  He didn’t even wait for me to move completely out of the way.  That experience made me feel like a house mom at a French fraternity house…

We went back to the Irish pub near our hotel for a couple more beers.  Then, much to my shame, we went to Domino’s Pizza for dinner!  How dumb is that?  There we were in a great food city and I hadn’t had Domino’s in years and never thought it was that great to start with!  But we got a Hawaiian pizza and ate it in our hotel room, because I couldn’t be arsed to go looking for something better.  Honestly, I think I just didn’t want to spend a couple of hours eating.

We liked Lyon, though… and I think if we ever have the chance to go back there, we will.  And that time, we WILL have a nice meal in a French restaurant!

Kwak!

 

Food!

Loved the windows in this cathedral in Lyon…

Outside of Lyonnais cathedral…

On the packed train…

Leaving Lyon…

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France and Germany… a send off from the Army– Part 2

My feet were horribly swollen after our long flight to Germany on the cramped plane.  

After a night’s rest, Bill and I decided to go to the Kaiserslautern train station.  We knew we wanted to go to France, but I also had an interest in visiting the Rhein.  We flipped a coin to determine where we would go next.  Heads would take us to Reims, France, which is Champagne country.  Tails would take us to the Rhein River.  Heads won, so we purchased train tickets from Kaiserslautern to Reims.  The train journey would take us to connections in Saarbrucken, Strasbourg, and Champagne-Ardennes before we reached our destination.  It was an all day affair.

On our way!

At one point, Bill ended up in the bar car to buy me the French equivalent of a sandwich you’d get at a gas station, along with a small bottle of wine.  Actually, it was pretty good.  I had a club sandwich, which had ham, bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato on very fresh wheat bread.  It had a nice mustard sauce on it, too.  The wine was local and excellent, of course.

I took this photo because I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen colored toilet paper.

Champagne! (check the sign)

Bill enjoys the view…

 

We got to the Reims train station in the late afternoon.  We didn’t have a hotel reservation and we were both still pretty jet lagged from our travels.  After fruitlessly trying to use the local interactive guide near the station with no Internet access, I finally suggested we hit the local Ibis.  You can pretty much find an Ibis hotel near most train stations in certain European countries.  Bill and I have stayed in a few of them during our travels.  They can be counted on to be clean, basic, and no frills.  The one near the Reims station is no exception, although they do sell champagne at a pretty good price at their little bar. We got a bottle of my favorite bubbly, Taittinger, for 42 euros.  Quite a bargain, given that we bought it at a hotel…

I thought it was funny that the hotel sold feminine hygiene products alongside its champagne…

The bar at the Reims Ibis.

Expensive bubbly at a cheap hotel!

We went out to dinner and ended up at this place called Cote Cuisine.  I think I was lured there by the sight of the cute little garden where they were serving dinner.  We didn’t have reservations and the waiters were very “weeded”– as in, they had more business than they could handle in a timely manner. It was okay, though.  The food was good and while the wait staff wasn’t all that friendly, we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

Serrano ham appetizer…

Our first bottle of champagne…

I had turbot.  Bill had monkfish…

The turbot was delicious, but the sauce was totally sinful and made mostly of butter.  I love butter, but I had to eat that sauce very sparingly.

Bill loved the monkfish.  I didn’t try it because of the mushrooms in it, but he pronounced it delicious.

Chocolate and vanilla tart for me…  

Chocolate mousse for Bill…  I think?

We walked back to the Ibis and got some sleep in the no frills bed after enjoying more champagne…  I wish we’d had more time in Reims.  I would have liked to have visited some of the champagne houses. We did manage a day trip to Epernay, which is where the champagne is produced.  More on that in the next post.

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anecdotes

Pleasant Italian food memories…

Last night, I made baked ziti for dinner.  It was purely American style, which means that no Italian would touch it with a ten foot fork.  But Bill and I enjoyed it.  As we were eating dinner, we reminisced about visiting the Piedmont region of Italy back in May 2008.  It was our first trip after we moved to Germany.  I kick myself for not taking a trip earlier; we were in Germany for over six months before we went anywhere, unless you count a quick trip over the Swiss border that we took when our dogs were being temperament tested at a dog hotel.

Anyway, we started our trip at a small hotel near Lake Como.  We were just over the Swiss border, high in the mountains that overlook the lake.  We spent a few peaceful days there, enjoying the beautiful views and good food.  It was Bill’s first trip to Italy and he was loving it.

Our trip was to last about ten days, including four nights at Bella Baita, an adorable little B&B in Serre Marchetto, near Pinasca, Italy, and a couple of nights in Thun, Switzerland.  While all parts of our trip were fun, we especially enjoyed Bella Baita.  I found this little retreat while searching for accommodations near Torino.  Bella Baita is maybe 30 miles from Torino, very close to the French border.  Owned and operated by Marla and Fabrizio Roncaglia, this place is totally secluded with beautiful views of the French Alps.

View of the French Alps from our Italian B&B, Bella Baita.  France is about a 90 minute drive.

But what Bill and I were remembering last night was the wonderful food we ate on that trip.  Marla and Fabrizio are chefs and we signed up for a cooking class with them.  Bill requested to cook rabbit and Marla and Fabrizio were delighted, since that was a local specialty and almost no one asks to cook rabbit.  Frankly, I’m not a fan of rabbit… they are too cute to eat.  But Bill is an Arkansan (sort of) and loves game.

Marla took us to the market in Pinerolo, where we purchased all the ingredients for our meal.  She knew all the vendors and where the best food was.  As I made the ziti with ricotta last night, Bill was reminded that we bought ricotta at the market for a fruit tart we made at Bella Baita.  I don’t eat uncooked/unmelted cheese, but Bill tasted it and said it was unlike anything you could ever find in a United States supermarket.

The duomo in Pinerolo…

As he commented about that cheese, I was reminded of a delightful meal we enjoyed in Pinerolo.  We were looking for a place for lunch when I stumbled across a brand new restaurant that opened in May 2008 called Perbacco.  The owner’s mom came out.  The restaurant wasn’t open for lunch, but was open for dinner.  She didn’t speak any English, but she gave us a business card and wrote Aperto: 19:00 on it.  She made it clear that we should come back for dinner.  We did… and boy, was it a great experience.

I remember having this delicious carrot spinach flan there that was nothing like I had ever tasted before.  I wish I had taken a photo of it.  I wasn’t all that excited about the flan; I picked it by default.  It turned out to be amazing.  For my main course, I want to say I had steak.  But the one thing that really sticks out in my mind was the wine.  Bill asked the sommelier what we should have.  He made a suggestion and advised us to let it sit for a few minutes.  We did and it opened up beautifully.

A table of Italian men sat nearby and they were all enjoying steak.  They were loud and obviously having a great time.  The sommelier was fascinated to be serving Americans.  He wondered what on earth we were doing in Pinerolo when most Americans go to Florence, Rome, and Venice!  We told him about Bella Baita.  It wasn’t until last year that Bill and I did the so-called “Holy Trinity”.

 
A small shrine near Bella Baita…
 

When we got back to Bella Baita, we told Marla and Fabrizio about the new restaurant and showed them our bill.  Marla, who is an American, commented that the food was cheap and they must be trying to build up a clientele.  She told us that Italians won’t pay a lot for untested cuisine.  She assured us the prices would eventually go up and we were lucky to visit when we did.  She also noted that the table of men were there enjoying beef because the prices were so good.  We encouraged her to go there with Fabrizio and check it out.  We still talk about that meal six years later!

Another great meal we had was at the tiny restaurant next to Bella Baita.  I’m not sure if the place is still open, since during our visit, Marla commented that they didn’t get much business.  She said the place was called (in Italian) The Ant and the Giant, because the husband/wife owners were respectively very large and very tiny.

When Bill and I dined there, we were one of two couples.  The restaurant was very charming and the food was exquisite.  Bill ordered branzino, which is a delicious fish that has a lot of bones in it.  The chef brought it to our table and deboned it for him.  It was one of the more memorable experiences we had on our trip.

Of course, Italy has been the site of many a wonderful culinary experience.  Last year, when we went to Italy and Greece, we enjoyed an amazing meal at a small restaurant near our secluded inn.  Half the staff did not speak English, but they brought out the most amazing food.  And one waiter spoke English, Italian, French, and German flawlessly.

*Sigh*…  I wish I could live in Europe again.  For now, I’ll keep making my American style baked ziti.

My ziti.

An old review I wrote about Bella Baita…

Beautiful views and blissful times at Bella Baita in Pinasca, Italy…

May 28, 2008 (Updated Jul 22, 2008)
Review by   

Rated a Very Helpful Review

Pros:Beautiful setting. Warm welcome from our hosts. Good food and cooking seminars. Inexpensive.

Cons:Difficult to access without a car. Credit cards not accepted.

The Bottom Line: Bella Baita definitely lives up to the hype!

My husband, Bill, and I just got back from a wonderful vacation to Italy and Switzerland, with a couple of day trips into France. It was Bill’s first time in Italy, though I was there last in 1997. He wanted to visit the Turin (aka Torino) area and put me in charge of finding us lodging. I plugged Turin into my favorite search engine and soon found myself reading many wonderful reviews of a B&B called Bella Baita. Intrigued, I visited Bella Baita’s Web site.

As it turns out, Bella Baita is not actually that close to the city of Turin. It’s in the province of Torino in a little town called Pinasca. Situated about six kilometers up a mountainside, Bella Baita offers plenty of good views and peace and quiet. The B&B, which consists of three rooms, is run by American born Marla and her Italian husband, Fabrizio. Both Marla and Fabrizio are chefs who, besides offering lodging, cook meals for their guests and teach cooking seminars. Since Bill and I are amateur foodies, this was a definite plus for us.

When I noticed the room prices, I was actually very surprised. At this writing, a double room at Bella Baita runs just 50 euros a night (approximately $80 by today’s exchange rate). I had a feeling the place would be rustic and, at that price, I wondered just how rustic a room there would be. But the endless stream of positive reviews on Trip Advisor won me over, so we booked four nights and a cooking seminar.

The B&B… off the beaten path

Both the reviews I read and Bella Baita’s Web site warn that Bella Baita is located on a long and winding road that goes up the side of a large mountain. For that reason, it’s best for visitors to have access to a car. Bill and I currently live in Germany, so we drove to Italy. I remember being very impressed and a little scared on our first trip up the zig zagging little road to Bella Baita. The views on the way up are breathtaking, but it definitely pays to drive carefully. The road is not very wide and some of the local drivers we encountered were pretty cavalier about taking the hairpin turns. Happily, by the time we were finished with our visit, Bill and I were more comfortable with the road.

Our arrival

We found Fabrizio doing some work outside when we arrived at Bella Baita. He greeted us with a big smile and helped us get settled in our room, inviting us for a drink after we’d had a short rest. Marla fixed us some coffee and cookies, plus gave us a taste of some local liqueurs. Since we didn’t have dinner plans, we ate dinner with Marla and Fabrizio. We enjoyed Marla’s fresh foccacia bread, a turkey and spinach roulade, local wine, and a banana crepe dessert for a total charge of 36 euros– definitely a steal.

It was chilly our first night, so Fabrizio brought us a space heater to use in our room. The heater, coupled with the cozy flannel sheets on the bed, made our room quite comfortable. I’m also glad to report that the bed was also very nice; we had plenty of room and the mattress was neither too hard nor too soft for my tastes. An added bonus is free wireless Internet.

The bathroom

During our trip to Bella Baita, I encountered something I had never seen before, the “sit bath”. I’m sure there is a technical term for this apparatus, which resembles a short bathtub with a little seat built into it, but I don’t know what it is. Anyway, the sit bath has a faucet and a sprayer. You fill up the tub and then use the sprayer to rinse off and wash your hair. It takes a little getting used to, but I got the hang of it quickly and actually enjoyed using it.

Besides the usual toilet and sink, the bathroom also includes a bidet and a hairdryer. I was glad I had brought my own toiletries since there was only hand soap in the room and there definitely aren’t any stores nearby!

Breakfast

Each day, Marla served us breakfast consisting of warm pastries and bread, fresh fruit, cereal, juice, and hot coffee. I particularly enjoyed the fruit and pastries while gazing out at the spectacular view of the mountains from the kitchen window.

Cooking seminar

My husband, being an Arkansas native, wanted to try cooking braised rabbit and risotto. I was a little skittish about cooking rabbit, but I needn’t have worried. As it turns out, game is a specialty at Bella Baita. Marla told us that she was happy when Bill asked if she and Fabrizio could teach us how to prepare rabbit. Apparently it’s not a request they get very often.

Cooking seminars at Bella Baita are definitely an experience to savor. Our Wednesday started with a trip to the market in Pinerolo, a good sized town not far from Pinasca. Marla took us around to meet her favorite vendors, charming Italians who didn’t seem to be too jaded about Americans. We really enjoyed the sights and sounds of the market and Bill got to try some wonderful cheeses and locally produced salami. I’m not as much of a cheese fan as he is, but even I was impressed by the delicious local ricotta we tried, which is nothing at all like ricotta you can get from an American supermarket.

Later that day, Bill and I donned aprons and submitted to Fabrizio’s tutelage, as he showed us how to cut and peel vegetables for our risotto and braise the rabbit. We also got some great tips on finding good cookware and knives. Marla prepared a delicious fruit tart made with ricotta cheese and fresh strawberries and pineapple. Then, we enjoyed eating our meal with our hosts. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the rabbit was. You know the old joke about rabbit tasting like chicken? Our braised rabbit at Bella Baita tasted much better than chicken. Marla printed out the recipes for us so we can try them at home. We paid 90 euros (45 euros apiece) for the cooking seminar– again, money well spent.

Other things we did

Bella Baita is in a very beautiful and unspoiled part of Italy. It’s about a 90 minute drive from the French border, so we took a drive to Briancon, France and had lunch, passing through Sestriere, Italy on the way. Sestriere is where the 2006 Winter Olympic village is located and the place where many of the ski events were held. The scenery in this part of Italy is amazing and again, not teeming with tourists.

We also visited Turin and checked out a great Italian gourmet store called Eataly, where we loaded up on pasta, risotto, cheese, chocolate, and some special canned tuna. Afterwards, we strolled through Turin’s old town until we got rained on by a surprise storm. For dinner, we stopped at Perbacco, a wonderful new restaurant/wine bar in Pinerolo, and enjoyed a very nice meal with wine for only 54 euros.

Things to know about Bella Baita…

As much as I enjoyed my stay at Bella Baita, there are a few things I think prospective visitors should know before they book a stay there.

* It’s best to have a car. Public transportation is available to Pinasca, but it won’t get you up the mountain! Marla and Fabrizio will pick you up on your arrival and drop you off when it’s time to go, but if you want to go into town during your stay, you might have a problem finding transportation.

* A GPS will help you find the B&B, but bear in mind that many GPS systems give incorrect directions for the last three miles. Our GPS lost the signal once we got close. Take heed of the directions posted on Bella Baita’s Web site and the signs posted on the road if you’re planning on driving.

* There is a restaurant located next to the B&B which offers excellent food and good service, but it’s not open every day. Likewise, grocery stores, laundromats, and gas are also located at the bottom of the mountain. That’s another reason why you might want to have a car available.

* The area around Bella Baita offers great opportunities for hiking, rock climbing, and biking, especially if you’re in good shape! Mushroom hunting and wildflower picking are also popular pursuits. But it does get cool on the mountain, so make sure you bring some warm clothes and sturdy shoes.

* We found Bella Baita’s accommodations to be very comfortable and affordable– especially for Europe– but they are not necessarily luxury accommodations by American standards. Be sure to bring your own shampoo and don’t expect a big screen TV or a jacuzzi (what do you want for 50 euros a night?)!

* Bring your laptop computer. Bella Baita offers free wireless Internet.

* Bring cash. Bella Baita does not accept credit cards.

Overall…

I would not hesitate to recommend Bella Baita to anyone looking for a peaceful, homey, and affordable vacation spot. We found Marla and Fabrizio to be wonderful hosts who went the extra mile to help us have a good time. I had originally intended to book three nights at Bella Baita, but ended up going with four. I’m so glad I did that because our time in Pinasca was the highlight of our trip. We left Bella Baita feeling like we had gotten a slice of Italy that we never could have gotten had we stayed in a hotel. Needless to say, Bella Baita gets five stars from me!

Bella Baita’s Web site: http://www.bellabaita.com

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A review of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing

Last night, I finished a delightful book written by esteemed food and travel writer Anya Von Bremzen. I had never heard of Von Bremzen before I picked up her book, Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, even though she is a well-known food writer who has published books and written articles for many well known food magazines.  And as I read her memoir, Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, I didn’t know who she was.  It wasn’t until I reached the end of her book that I realized that the story I’d just finished about her “weird” past had led to her becoming a James Beard award willing food writer.

I didn’t read Von Bremzen’s book for food, though, even though the title mentions Soviet cooking.  I read it because I remember the Soviet Union and even lived in Armenia for a couple of years after the Soviet Union fell in 1991.  I moved to Armenia in 1995, just a few years after the mighty Soviet Union collapsed into oblivion.  When I was growing up, the Soviet Union was this big threat.  The people were mysterious, living behind the “Iron Curtain”.  We had no Internet in those days, so my curiosity was piqued.  Once I lived in Armenia and saw remnants of Soviet life up close, I was even more curious.

A couple of months ago, I stumbled across Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking and thought it sounded fascinating.  I had been wanting to read the perspective of someone who had lived grown up in the Soviet Union.  Anya Von Bremzen was born there in 1963, in an era of bread shortages.  She grew up in a communal apartment building where eighteen families shared one kitchen.  Her mother, Larisa, was not a fan of communism and discouraged her daughter from learning the songs about Lenin that were taught in school.  Anya had attended a special kindergarten for privileged kids, where they were fed caviar like some kids are given cod liver oil.  Her mother told her not to talk about the “special food” she got at the school.

In 1974, Anya and her mother left the Soviet Union under the guise of “reconnecting” with Israel.  Since they were Jewish, it was allowed.  Anya also had a childhood form of scleroderma, a disease that is deadly in adults.  That was given as a reason for their departure, though it turned out Anya’s scleroderma was “harmless”.  Via Rome, Anya and her mother moved to Queens, New York, where Anya polished her piano skills and eventually earned a master of arts in piano performance from Julliard.  Anya’s father, Sergei, stayed behind in Russia and eventually sent Larisa a letter asking for divorce.  He turned out to be an interesting character– Anya writes about how he eventually lost all of his teeth, but rather than missing them, he found life without his teeth “liberating”.

Interspersed within Anya’s life story and tales about the food she missed from the Soviet Union.  She includes fascinating tidbits about the Soviet machine when it was still powerful and innovative.  One of my favorite tales in this book was the one Von Bremzen wrote about Anastas Mikoyan, an Armenian Soviet statesman, who was one of Josef Stalin’s top performers.  Miokoyan eventually became the People’s Commissar for Food.  In 1935, he and his wife were sent on a goodwill trip to America to travel around tasting American food, visiting factories and production plants, farms, and slaughterhouses.  Mikoyan tried popcorn, Coca-Cola, hamburgers, ice cream, and hot dogs and he brought new ideas back to the Soviet Union.  In fact, Mikoyan’s cutlets, basically his version of the hamburger, were still enjoyed when I lived in Armenia.  Ice cream was Mikoyan’s biggest love and he was responsible for popularizing it in the Soviet Union.

Anya Von Bremzen writes about her first reactions to American food.  She writes of how grossed out she was by cold Pop Tarts, her mother not having learned that many people prefer them toasted, and super soft, spongy white bread.  I imagine her reaction to American food was much like my initial reaction to Armenian and Russian food.  I had trouble with borscht, dolma, and eggplant, all of which my host family served me during my first weeks in country.  My very first taste of lamb (which was actually probably mutton) was in Armenia.  I didn’t react well to it.

I also enjoyed reading about Anya’s family.  She writes extensively of three generations and the history of how she came to be.  She includes stories of food and drink and how they impacted her family relationships.  I was particularly interested in how the foods she missed from her homeland delighted her when she went back to the Soviet Union years later to visit her family.  Despite her extensive training in music at one of the world’s most prestigious schools, Anya turned her fascination with food into a dream career.  At the end of the book, she even includes some beloved Soviet recipes.  

Though I can’t say that everything Anya writes about was appetizing to me, as someone who has lived abroad and missed home, I could definitely relate to how much she missed Soviet food.  I felt the same way when I lived in Armenia and missed American food.  Much to my shame, I even remember spending $7 on a bag of Chip’s Deluxe cookies weeks after my arrival.  I would definitely not do that today, but I’m much worldlier now than I was in 1995.

I learned a lot reading this book.  It’s not just about food and family; it’s also about history, politics, and geography.  Since I have been to three of the former fifteen Soviet republics, I could relate to Anya’s book on a personal level.  For me especially, this book was pretty fascinating… especially as Anya describes how she felt on the day the Soviet Union fell apart.  She was in Abkhazia, an autonomous area in Georgia, when Mikhail Gorbachev came on television to tell his countrymen that the Soviet Union no longer existed.  How weird that must have been.

If you are interested in reading about the Soviet Union and what it’s like to be from a place that no longer exists the way you once knew it, I would highly recommend Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking.  I found it a true delight and even learned a few new Russian words.

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Air Europa and Madrid…

The last time I was in Madrid, it was September 1997.  I was 25 years old and broke, on my way home from my Peace Corps assignment in Armenia and traveling with friends.  We arrived by train from Barcelona and stayed in a cheap hotel in the Puerta del Sol area.  I remember hearing U2 play in my room, as they were promoting their album, Pop, at a concert that was playing in town.  My sister joined me in Madrid and I parted ways with my friends.

My sister and I were not particularly compatible travel companions and I don’t think I got as much out of Spain as I should have during that trip.  I was also preoccupied by worry and the prospect of finding a job and going home, where I would end up living with my parents for two arduous years.

Since Bill had never been to Madrid or any other city in Spain aside from Barcelona, I determined that we needed to go there.  The train seemed like it would take too long, so I searched for plane tickets.  As it turned out, Air Europa, a somewhat new airline based in Spain, offered cheap tickets from Lisbon to Madrid.  The catch was that the flight would leave early in the morning.  However, these tickets were over $100 less per person than the others I found for sale.  For about $200, Bill and I could fly from Lisbon to Madrid much faster and probably more cheaply than we could go by train.  Since there was a time change in Spain, we’d arrive at about 10:00am, giving us plenty of time to see the city.

I booked the tickets.  In retrospect, it was a good thing that I didn’t read the reviews written about Air Europa before I booked, or I might have been scared off.  Our experience was actually pretty decent.  We checked our bags and headed to the gate.  It turned out the plane was pretty small, with two by one seating.  Everyone with a bag of any size had to check it, so I was relieved of my carry on before I got on the aircraft.

Our flight was no frills.  The lone flight attendant didn’t pass out any snacks or beverages and there was no entertainment.  But honestly, I didn’t miss the lack of amenities.  We had a smooth, safe flight and all our luggage got to the destination.  We did have to pick up my carry on after we got off the plane, but the other two bags were at baggage claim, safe and sound.

The views on the way into Madrid…

We walked out of Madrid’s Barajas Airport and got a cab.  Refreshingly enough, our cab driver was female and very friendly.  It was 30 euros to get to our hotel, Hotel Atlantico, which was located on the Gran Via.  I didn’t know it when I booked, but this hotel used to be a Best Western.  But it was actually a pretty nice place to stay.  We booked a cheap room with a view into a shaft.  Since the weather was rainy and cold, that wasn’t a huge deal.  The room was ready on our arrival, so we dropped our bags and then went exploring.

I had forgotten how grand and ornate Madrid is.

I think this was a stage production of Dinner With Schmucks…

I had to take a photo of a restaurant called Nebraska.  It just struck me as weird.

Someone with a Jim Morrison fetish made this… “This Is The End”

We found a great restaurant here called Roll.  I think it might have been owned by Spanish-Americans, since it boasted a Spanish-American menu.  Plus, I heard a guy come in who obviously was important there and he had a distinctly American accent.

We got to Roll before 1:00pm, which is when the kitchen opened.  It was cold outside, so we decided to drink some rioja while we waited.

Bill and I enjoy munchies while we wait.  Unlike Portugal, it seems that in Spain, the pre-meal munchies are free…

First courses.  That tomato soup was absolutely delicious and perfect for a cold afternoon.

 
 

I originally ordered the chicken in front of Bill, but it was loaded with mushrooms, which I can’t eat. We switched plates and I got the fish and chips, which were surprisingly good.

We were too full for dessert, but we did enjoy coffee and another glass of wine.  The waitress had some leftover from a recent wine tasting.  All in all, it was a very nice meal and I’m delighted we stumbled across this place.  Here’s a write up by someone else who liked Roll, too.

The following photos were shots I took on the way back to the hotel.  We decided to go back and take a quick nap.

Ham is BIG in Spain… and it’s uniformly delicious.

Love the blurry photo of the Spanish dancer mannequin…

Fans!

At one point, we looked inside a cathedral and I took a couple of photos.

Right after I took a picture of the above cathedral, I took a picture of this door.  Suddenly, an older woman in a thick white coat started yelling at me.  I don’t know what she said because I wasn’t listening until I heard her say “camera”.   She seemed a bit strange, so Bill and I ignored her and left the area.  She must have lived in the area because we saw her several times over the course of our two days in Madrid.

Plaza Mayor

I was eager to show Bill this Spanish landmark.  The weather was chilly and rainy and the plaza was overrun with a lot of homeless folks.  However, there was yet another great street musician playing guitar there and the plaza is still pretty impressive despite the smell of stale urine and sight of the downtrodden seeking shelter there. The last time I was in Madrid, I stayed in a hotel very near this landmark.  I was surprised I still remembered so well how to get around.

Just beyond the Plaza Mayor, there was a great food market that had all sorts of tempting food and drink.  Bill and I went in there to warm up with some hot beverages.

My hot chocolate…

After we left the food market, we walked back to the area around our hotel and looked for dinner.

The storefront of El Corte Ingles.  This is a pretty cool Spanish department store chain that seems a lot like Harrod’s.  I remember stopping there when I was traveling with my friends in 1997.

We had dinner at a small bar called Desengano 13.  Bill ordered Iberian ham, which is made from pigs who have eaten acorns.  It’s quite delicious.

We also had fried cheese tapas dressed with balsamic vinegar…  I drank fizzy water and a little wine…  

All in all, it was a successful day in Madrid.  Stay tuned for my post about the Prado museum.

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Donuts, pizza, burgers, travel planning… and beautiful scenery

Military lodging is cheap and convenient.  Our room at Lajes Field was only $55 a night and had a lot of conveniences that you wouldn’t find in most quaint hotels.  Not too many regular hotels have laundry facilities that aren’t coin operated, free internet, microwaves, and fridges.  The drawback to staying in military quarters is that you’re behind a gate and that makes getting around for local food somewhat of a challenge, especially if you don’t have a car.  The first thing I ate on Lajes Field was a cheeseburger and fries.  It tasted okay going down, but my stomach was really queasy from the flight and probably from being so tired.  My body rejected the fast food about an hour later.

After sleeping for five hours on our first day, we were in no mood to go looking for food.  So we ordered pizza from the Oceanview Grill, which is a place on Lajes Field run by Portuguese.  They stay open 24/7, which seems crazy to me, since I can’t imagine they have the business to sustain that.  On the other hand, there are also Portuguese forces at Lajes Field, so maybe they come in during the wee hours of the morning for food.  Anyway, Bill got us a pizza from there that was surprisingly good.  I mean, it was probably the best pizza I’d had in months.  And this time, it stayed with me.

One of two pizzas we enjoyed in Lajes…

I turned on the TV because I felt like watching the Armed Forces Network, which is famous for its cheesy PSAs.  They were running a video that was obviously done during the Christmas holidays.  I recognized a couple of people from our flight on the video.

In the mornings after the three nights we stayed at Lajes, Bill would visit a little coffee shop run by a local.  He picked up coffee drinks and pastries.  One thing I learned on this trip that Portuguese people love their donuts and pastries.  They were offered everywhere!

I would have liked to have stayed on Lajes a little longer, but Sunday and Monday were kind of wasted by our need for rest and not having access to a rental car.  So Bill and I started making plans.  He was told we should visit the travel agent on base, who had “deals” to get to Lisbon.  Bill and I had never been to any part of Portugal before and I was curious about Portugal’s capital.  So on Tuesday, we went to the travel agent’s office to see what we could do with the rest of our time.

I don’t usually use travel agents when I go places.  I like to keep my options open and I enjoy finding things on my own.  I also have certain things I look for when I book hotels.  But the lure of a “deal” got me in the travel agent’s office.  A young Portuguese lady tried to help us, but it was pretty plain that she was used to dealing with Americans who just want to take a bunch of guided tours and stay in business class hotels.  Her colleague was an American expat who has lived in Portugal for a couple of decades.  The American lady had a somewhat better sense of what we wanted and gave us some good advice.  We still ended up booking a boring business class hotel, though.

Round trip tickets to Lisbon weren’t that much more expensive than one way tickets were.  We paid a little more to get the round trip ticket, just in case we needed to get back to Lajes to catch the Saturday flight home.  I strongly doubted we would need to do that, but it made Bill feel better to have the option.  The Lisbon hotel for two nights and the tickets cost about $850.

Once we were finished with our travel planning, we went to the base exchange to rent a car.  We ran into the Air Force captain who was on our flight with her kids.  She was friendly and seemed happy to see us enjoying her home base.  I’m sure if we’d stayed longer, we would have run into a lot of other folks from the plane, too.

A joyride around the island…    

Our first taste of Portuguese food 

We rented a small car with standard transmission so we could get a better look at the dramatic scenery on Terceira and maybe find some authentic Portuguese food.  We did manage to find a little cafe in Praia Victoria, but they mostly offered sandwiches and soup.  I will admit the soup and sandwich I had there was satisfying, but it still bordered slightly on junk food.  My body was craving vegetables, especially if they didn’t come in a box.

As it turned out, we never did find a restaurant.  We probably could have, but we were overcome by laziness and not wanting to deal with the time constraints one often finds at restaurants in European countries.  Meals are served at certain times and they don’t tend to cater to patrons who aren’t quite ready when they are.  Also, parking was kind of a pain at some places.

Anyway, we had a very enjoyable time driving around the island.  Here are some very dramatic photos from our driving tour…

The island has a lot of amazing, dramatic coastline…

Most of the land is parceled out and surrounded by stone fences.

We stopped to check out this overlook over Raminho.

Apparently, the Portuguese want to free Tibet, too.

The roads are narrow and sometimes covered by trees.

I could look at these views all day!

These are just a few of the dramatic photos I got on our trip around the island.  I would have loved to have visited other islands in the Azores.  Hopefully, someday we can go back and I can see more of this extraordinarily beautiful place.  I’m sure when it’s not winter, it’s even prettier!

 
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Hebridean Island Cruises

Five star cruise ship food porn…

At the risk of sounding trite and using the now somewhat cliched term “food porn”, I am inspired to post about some of the fantastic food we’ve enjoyed on SeaDream I and Hebridean Princess.  These two ships are both five star all inclusive vessels.  For the most part, the food offered on them is outstanding.  SeaDream’s menu tends to be Asian influenced and includes raw items for those who are into raw food.  Hebridean’s menu is very traditional and British and not quite as extensive as SeaDream’s is.

I liked the food on both ships and have had the chance to tour the galleys on SeaDream I and Hebridean Princess.  I am amazed at what the culinary staff is able to do in such small quarters.  I especially enjoyed Hebridean’s kitchen staff, who tried to tell me a story about hunting haggis… to which I said, “Bollocks!”  They thought that was funny… or maybe I thought it was because I was high on scotch after trying haggis for the first time.

Anyway, I often wonder about the stories cruise ship employees pass around after their guests are safely out of earshot.  On luxury ships, I’m sure the standards are high and they run into their share of tough customers.  The beauty of luxury cruising is that there are fewer tough customers than what they would have on a large mainstream line like Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

So, without further ado… here’s a parade of food I have enjoyed on my five luxury voyages…

Minute steak on SeaDream I

Salad!  SeaDream I

Prime rib on SeaDream I

Looks like fish and risotto…

We were presented with this cake after dessert and chocolates… Never did really get to eat it.

Thai satay style lunch on SeaDream I.

Pasta on SeaDream I.

Dessert!

Eggs Benedict made with regular bacon instead of Canadian.  I requested that.

Smoked salmon scrambled eggs and caviar…

Not sure what that is… looks lovely, though.

Pear sorbet in a candy dish… Yes, the dish is made of sugar candy and is completely edible.

Hmmm…

This was part of the tasting menu.  I think it was filet.  Excellent beef!

Grand Marnier souffle!

Caviar and champagne…

This was the day of the Champagne and Caviar Splash… There was lots of food.

Dessert extravaganza!  The pastry chef insisted that I take that huge piece of sugar candy that was part of his display.

A nice simple dessert.

Raw food.  This was actually very good.

I think that was duck.

Raw panna cotta!

Breakfast on Hebridean Princess.

Colorful!

Fish!

Smoked salmon and shrimp!

Eton mess… very yummy!

Lovely rice pudding with raspberry.

Looks too good to eat…

Mmmm…

Salmon and potatoes…

Beef and asparagus…

French toast!

Haggis.  It was not bad at all, especially when washed down with scotch.

Fish!

I think this was lamb.  Must have been Bill’s dinner.

Scallops!

Duck

Fish!

Gelatin with berries… 

A fruit and ice cream surprise…

Lemon pudding…

Ham…

Burritos! SeaDream style…

Chicken breast!

Strawberries and chocolate

I think I have the itch to book another cruise.  Unfortunately, I don’t want to do that until we know if Bill is going to have a job after June.  For now, I think I’ll have to gaze at all these photos and be inspired by the creativity of some very talented chefs.

Lobster on Hebridean!

Pork…

Pear…

This is making me hungry…

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