Home-cooking on the road

Cooking on the road is not as easy as it is in your own kitchen. There's limited cooking utensils and you don't have all your usual spices, sauces and other ingredients at your fingertips. I've managed to crank out a few decent meals. I kind of surprised myself with what I can do with just 1 pot, 1 steak knife, a wooden spoon, salt, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegarette, soy sauce, ginger and garlic.

 

1. Baguette with two types of cheeses - gouda and a random unpasteurized cow cheese. It was really important that I knew the word for "cow" and "goat" in both French and Spanish because I only eat cow cheese. I didn't know cheeses made from a blend of cow and goat milk were so popular.

2. Chicken curry on rice. Rice, chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions are universal ingredients that can be found anywhere. I found S&B Golden Curry in Asian markets in both Paris and Barcelona. Drop in a few blocks of the curry and you get a delicious Asian meal. We've had this 4 times so far.

3. Baguette with sliced chorizo, cheese and pears with a dipping sauce of balsamic vinegarette and extra virgin olive oil. This has been the easiest meal to make because it required no cooking!

4. Pan-fried fish (dorado), small clams sauteed in ginger, garlic and leftover white wine, and a random vegetable sauteed in garlic. The clams and the dorado were two local, in-season foods of Barcelona that escaped me in restaurants. I got to order clams, but not the little ones, which are my favorite. As for the fish, I saw other patrons eating it as I was waiting for a seat and I knew I wanted it. However, by the time I finally sat down the waiter told me that it was already sold out. HA! They thought they could get away!

5. Dumplings in chicken soup. Chicken, ginger, salt and water are such plain ingredients, yet together, they make the only kind of chicken soup I eat. The frozen dumplings were just OK.

6. Ground sausage meat with pasta sauce on top of spaghetti, field of greens dressed with balsamic vinegarette and extra virgin olive oil, and a glass of red wine. The supermarket (Monoprix) near our apartment in Paris has a nice selection of 3/8 bottles of French wine for under 3 Euros! Since J doesn't drink wine it's great for me to sample a couple while I'm here!

7. Pork chops marinated in garlic, soy sauce and leftover white wine with a side of spinach sauteed in garlic. HIMYM Seasons II and III has been keeping us entertained during dinner time.

8. Rice with peppers and beef sauteed in sha-cha sauce, and stir-fried tomatoes with eggs. I was excited to find Niu Tou Pai Sha-Cha Jiang at the Asian market in Paris's Chinatown.

9. Beef steak served with garlic chips, bread, and field of greens salad with tomatoes dressed with balsamic vinegarette and extra virgin olive oil. OMG, the tomatoes are beautiful and so cheap!

Day 27: Thanksgiving in Paris

Thanksgiving 2008 was the second consecutive Thanksgiving that J and I have spent abroad. Last year, we were in Costa Rica. I aways feel a little blue being away from friends and family during the holiday season. Being spat on on Thanksgiving Day didn't make make me feel any better. Can someone please tell me why you would circulate coins that are considered "rude" to use? If you don't want it, then I don't want it either! Those 0,01, 0,02, 0,05 Euro coins are either taking up valuable counterspace or weighing down my pants. But, whatever. I'll just laugh it off as a learning and cultural experience.

Thanksgiving afternoon was spent along the Champs-Elysees. We started at Place Charles de Gaulle with a trip up the Arc de Triomphe and ended at the Place de la Concorde in front of the Roue de Paris (a large ferris wheel). In between J and I enjoyed a lunch at McDonalds (my world tour of the Big Mac continues), the Louis Vuitton flagship store and the Champ-Elysees Christmas Market, which is apparently making its debut this holiday season. Thanksgiving dinner consisted of chicken noodle soup because chicken was the closest thing I could get to a turkey at the local supermarket.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. If you had bet me a year ago that I'd be done w/ graduate school and living in Paris as part of an 8-month world-wide tour I would have laughed hysterically and given you 100-1 odds. You'd be a rich (wo)man.

1. Champ-Elysees as seen from the top of the Arc de Triomphe
2. The Eiffle Tower as seen from the top of the Arc de Triomphe
3. The spiral staircase of the Arc de Triomphe.
4. Big Mac Paris
5. Le M Paris (otherwise known as "el Mac" in Barcelona)
6. Louis Vuitton flagship store
7. Christmas Market shops along the Champ-Elysees
8. Christmas lights along the Champ-Elysees ending at the Arc de Triomphe

Current Location: Paris, France

Strategic Eating in Paris

Paris is going to hurt. We've been in town less than 48 hours, have eaten 3.5 meals and we're already wondering how we'll be able to survive this city on a budget while still being able to sample the amazing food we know this city has to offer. After some discussion, J and I decided that we'll go out for dinner 1-2 meals per week while alternating lunch between cheap meals (< 10 Euros total; sandwiches, crepes to-go, fast food or eating in) and pricier meals at brasseries, bistros and cafes. Since we'll be here a whole month I think this plan will still give us plenty of opportunities to sample the local cuisine.

What I should have known, but only recently realized, is that Paris is very much like NYC in that it's a melting pot of people all over the world. Good food doesn't just mean French food. I've already heard that Vietnamese and Mediterranean food is really good here. However, I still must wonder if I should spend my precious meals on eating non-French foods. Can't I get good Vietnamese at Pho Pasteur when I visit Boston for Christmas? Shouldn't I eat Argentinean food when I'm in Buenos Aires or Italian food when I'm in Rome? I am soooo lucky that this is the biggest dilemma in my life right now.... =)

Day 22: Last full day in Barcelona

I'll recap the events of our last full day in Barcelona. Sorry, no pictures today since most of our electronics are packed.

9:00 AM: I wake up and put a gigantic load of laundry into the washing machine.
10:00 AM: J wakes up and together, we hang the laundry out to dry.
10:30 - 11:30 AM: I do price comparison/research for a weekend to Amsterdam from Paris while J reads our Barcelona guidebook to see if there's anything else he wants to see in Barcelona.
11:30 AM: The apartment manager reviews the apartment and returns our security deposit.
11:30 - 12:00 PM: J OKs the plan for Amsterdam and does some preliminary packing. I book plane tickets and hotel for a 3 day, 2 night weekend trip from Paris to Amsterdam through expedia.com and hotwire.com, respectively, which surprisingly yielded the most convenient, affordable and comfortable itinerary.
12:00 - 12:15 PM: prepare to leave the apartment - turn off the gas, lock the patio door, gather our passports, phrasebook, wallets, keys, phone, cameras and city map.
12:15 - 12:45PM: take the Metro from Urgell to Jaume I via Catalunya.
12:45 - 1:00 PM: find our way to the Museu d'Historica de la Cuitat de Barcelona
1:00 - 1:45 PM: make our way through the first quarter of the Museu d'Historica de la Cuitat de Barcelona with complementary audio guides.
2:00 - 3:15 PM: lunch at Senyor Parellada
3:15 - 4:00 PM: roam around El Gottic, La Rambla and La Boquera while waiting for the museum to re-open at 4:00 PM
3:55 PM: stumble across a Xurreria on Carrer de Banyas Nous. Bought 100 grams of fresh-out-of-the-fryer churros topped with sugar. Best churros ever.
4:10 - 6:30 PM: finish walking through Museu d'Historica de la Cuitat de Barcelona
6:30 - 6:45 PM: window shop
6:45 - 7:15 PM: take the Metro from Jaume I to Urgell via Catalunya
7:15 - 8:30 PM: fold laundry and pack 90% of our stuff
9:00 - 10:30 PM: dinner at Cerveceria Catalana (fried baby squid, fried little fish, patatas bravas, veal sirloin on toast, salted cod brochette, steamed mussels, grilled clams, beer and wine - oh, so good)
11:00 - midnight: J finishes packing while I am composing this blog entry.
midnight: last full day in Barcelona ends.

 

Current Location: Barcelona, Spain

RTW Lodging: Sobre Atico in Barcelona

Atic Arago
Arago, 116
Barcelona, Spain

Convenient location in Eixample district
  • 3 blocks away from the metro station (Urgell)
  • Lots of mom & pop restaurants around with 8-10 EUR menu del dia for lunch.
  • 1 block from the supermarket (Consum)
  • A few blocks away from Mercat del Ninot (produce/meat market)
  • Close to a lot of buses, including one that runs through La Rambla to Barceloneta

Modern-looking top floor studio with good amentities

  • Small kitchen: 2 gas burners, microwave
  • Main space divided into a living area and sleeping area
  • Double bed on futon frame
  • Very small bathroom
  • Ikea furniture
  • Leather loveseat
  • LCD TV with no English channels.
  • Washing machine, outdoor dining furniture and refrigerator in covered sunroom
  • Expansive outdoor deck sporting a clothesline (no drying machine)
  • Internet (also see Shortfalls)

It has some shortfalls

  • Sunroom gets too warm and bright during the day and had a permanent mildew smell
  • Washing machine is difficult to operate
  • Very little counterspace in the kitchen (just enough to put down a cutting board)
  • Pots and pans were unusable (boiled some water in them and it tasted like teflon)
  • Poor internet connection: the connection is not permanent; it ended up being a USB key that you plug into your computer to access the internet over the cell phone network; limited data plan (1 GB); it took three days for the property management company to get it to us after checking-in
  • The shower stall was ridiculously small

It's not cheap

  • 1500 EUR for 21 nights (~95 USD per night)
  • Originally found on www.vrbo.com, but is managed through a property management company (www.aparteasy.com)
  • We were frustrated with the management company with not having the internet set up on the day we arrived. Their answer to everything was "manana" (tomorrow).

1. Length of the studio apartment - from bed to sunroom.
2. J working in the sunroom. You can also see the outdoor deck beyond the sunroom
3. A view of the National Museum of Art from the deck
4. The kitchen
5. The bathroom
6. The extremely small shower.

Seeking recommendations for Paris

J and I are headed to Paris, France on Sunday after 3 amazing weeks in Barcelona.  We are currently seeking any tips, advice or recommendations from our readers for our Parisan stay. Here are some topics I can think of, but don't feel limited to these subjects.

1. Oh, if you're in Paris you MUST go to _____________________ (dining establishment) to have breakfast/lunch/dinner
2. Oh, if you're in Paris you MUST visit _____________________ (attraction)
3. Oh, if you're in Paris you MUST _____________________ (activity)
4. If you go to Paris avoid ________________ (activity)
5. ______________ (location) would make a great day/weekend-trip
6. Try ___________________ (website or travel agency) for good deals on weekend trips.
7. Here's a tip: ____________________ (something useful all locals know, but a tourist would not know)
8. It was one of those "get lost roaming the streets of Paris" days........ (the rest of your experience)

Thanks everyone!!! 

Non-Spanish foods in Barcelona

One of the benefits of staying in a city for a longer period of time is that we don't feel the pressure to eat the best local cuisine everyday. Imagine if you were visiting Seattle for a week and ate Salty's, Daniel's, Purple, Coastal Kitchen, Portage Cafe and The Herbfarm on 6 consecutive days (*cough* Jon & Jane *cough*). Here's a recap of the non-Spanish dining establishments we've visited in Barcelona.

McDonalds. The golden arches are universal. Fast, tasty and cheap. McDonalds didn't even cross my mind until I came across a 2-for-1 Big Mac coupon in the Bus Touristic Coupon Book. After that, I had to have one even though I distinctly remembered not particularly liking Big Macs because of the 1000 island dressing. Now I know - I LOVE the Big Macs in Spain! The 1000 island dressing is replaced with a tastier, less creamy orange/pink sauce and the meat is saltier. They offer regular fries, but you can also opt for "patatas deluxe" which are more like potato wedges. I didn't even mind the taste of the Coca-Cola fountain drink. And, although I did not take advantage, you can get beer instead of soda with your value meal. =)

Burger King. The obsession with Burger King  started when J picked up a coupon off the ground on the busy street of La Rambla. 2 whoppers and a drink for 5,99 Euros. I actually walked by it first and was tempted to pick it up, but I figured J, being the germ-a-phob that he is, would just yell at me for picking up something that dirty. When we finally made it to a Burger King we ended up not using the coupon because it was only valid at the La Rambla store. Instead, we got their special promotion to share as a snack since it would only 12 PM, still 2 hours away from peak lunchtime - 1 double BBQ cheeseburger with small fries and drink for 2,99 Euros. The burger and fries tasted pretty much as they would in the US, but let me tell you... the Coca-Cola was SOOOO BAD that it didn't even taste like Coca-Cola anymore. I don't care what kind of sugar or alternate formula they used. The taste was altered so much that it should be classified as another type of beverage.

Yamadori. This was our adventure into Japanese food in Barcelona. If you look for top-rated restaurants for Barcelona on Tripadivsor you will see that about 30% of the restaurants on Page 1 is Japanese, including the #1 most recommended restaurant. Surprised? We were. Does that mean Barcelona has some pretty darn good Japanese restaurants? Well, we had to find out. So I went online and picked out Yamadori, supposedly one of the oldest Japanese restaurant in Barcelona with a mostly Japanese clientele. While we were waiting to be shown our seats we overheard the sushi chef speaking fluent Japanese to two people, who we later found out were Japanese tourists. Good sign. The menu came and it had "nato" (or Japanese fermented soybeans). Another good sign. The green tea came and it tasted rich and roasty. We had high hopes at this point. Then the food came. Not as good. The elements of J's Katsudon were there, but the flavor was a little bland. The kimchi in my yaki-udon was just weird. However, I will admit it was the first time I had yaki-udon. Overall, it was an OK experience. The two Japanese tourists sitting next to us seemed to enjoy their meal. Perhaps we just ordered the wrong things.

Shanghai 1930. My parents would be proud. This was our adventure into authentic Chinese food in Barcelona. I'll stress it again - authentic, as in not the sweet and sour chicken variety. Again, I based this decision on internet reviews. We didn't make a point to search it out, but I did remember the relative location of the restaurant in case we were in the vicinity. I'll say one thing - it was a strange experience. Let me recap. We walk in and ask for a seat for two in Mandarin. The host leaves us a stack of menus, two of which are only in Chinese! BINGO! A lady comes to pour us a small cup of very tasty tea, which we later found out was limited to only one cup. You don't get to keep the pot and they don't refill it for you. J is tempted by the Chinese-only dim sum menu and orders turnip cake and rice noodle. The waiter kind of hesitates, but writes down our orders without question. We next ask him for a recommendation and he recommends "sui(2) zhu(3) niu(2)" which means "water cook beef." I don't like beef much and isn't this a Shanghai restaurant? (The beef dish screams Schezuanese) So, we tried to order "mei(2) cai(4) kou (4) rou(4)" which means "preserved vegetables with really fatty pork." He does this little chuckle and tells us not to order pork and just order the beef. I've never had a waiter who openly told me not to order something, so I appreciate his honesty. 3 minutes later the same waiter comes back and tells us they don't have turnip cake so we order fish cake on his recommendation. The fish cake comes - very tasty, but not so Chinese. In fact, the protein of fish paste shaped into a cake is very Chinese but the seasoning is very Spanish (olive oil, garlic, parsley and salt). Next, the beef comes. Now we're talking. It's a soup of oil and spice with napa vegetables and baking soda tenderized beef. It was very tasty and pretty authentic in my opinion. The rice noodle comes and it's literally a roll of rice noodle pan-fried on both sides, a far cry from the shrimps wrapped with rice noodle drenched in a soy-based marinade served in all dim sum restaurants in the US. Overall, it was a good experience. If we had skipped the dim sum and just stuck to main dishes only, it would've been a more authentic meal. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to my parents if they visit Barcelona one day, but I'd definitely tell them to stick to the Chinese-only menu or speak to the waiter in Mandarin to get a recommendation. I'd also tell them to stay away from the price-tempting menu del dia which offered ravioli with tomato sauce as a first course. No joke.

Day 19: It's postcard day

I am going to attempt to print out some custom-made postcards today. I went into a Ritz Camera equivalent near Placa Catalunya a few days ago to see if they printed post cards. It was a gigantic store and they seemed to print everything else - mugs, calendars, coasters and even high quality hardcover books to name a few. However, when I asked a girl whether or not they printed postcards she said 'no.' I'm just hoping there was a mis-translation and she thought I was asking if they sell postcards. If all else fails, I'll just try mailing regular prints.

If you'd like a postcard with an authentic postmark, please email me at my regular Gmail account or J at whatever email address you have for him. Please do not leave your addresses as a comment on this blog post for everyone to see, unless you want stalkers. =)

Current Location: Barcelona, Spain