Easy fasting and yummy remembering

I wish an easy fast to all of my fellow members of the Tribe out there today.

Strange how fasting gave me the idea to write a post on my favorite meals that I've eaten during my travels. Here goes a mild form of masochism. Hope those of you who can eat today enjoy it, and for those of you who can't, I'm very sorry — though, come to think of it, you're probably not reading this on Saturday anyway, because that's not allowed, so enjoy it over your own yummy meal!



Cava sangria and salmon topped with pineapple with a side of fresh vegetables on our first night in Barcelona made for the best meal ever in my European travels.

 

The next day in Barcelona brought a meal constituted of individual pieces bought from the awesome food market off of La Rambla, including a baguette, cheese, lunch meat and tomatoes, all for a whopping 2 Euro per person. The day ended with an enormous seafood paella split between the four of us.

                              

Edam cheese is super duper yummy, especially when you get it from a shop in Edam.

I could have eaten my way through Italy, and practically did ;-). Our trip started in Venice, where I had the best slice of pizza of my life at a hole-in-the-wall little shop in Ghetto Vecchio (the Old Ghetto). Gelato was EVERYWHERE ... this shot was taken in Rome.

                                          

In Dublin there was a lot of liquid nourishment, but this traditional Irish breakfast helped soak up some of that alcohol.

 I loved being in Prague. The effortless beauty of the city and its architecture was a pleasure to explore. As was the food, which reminded me so much of the food I have grown up with. This meat plate was enough to fill up two of us.

French food is renowned for its flavor and yumminess. Even this Parisian deli hot dog, smothered in cheese, and accompanied by delicious pastries held up its reputation.

I think the best meals are ones you create for yourself ... especially when they're made with the freshest produce. This simple but absolutely delicious meal of pasta with pesto chicken and tomatoes and some white wine was the result of a day of shopping at London's Borough Market. I bought the tomatoes, my friend bought the pesto, and we topped it off with some Waitrose pasta and chicken. It was yummy!

During my trip to Egypt, our group took a detour, on camels, to a small Nubian village where we had one of the best meals I have ever had. The delicious meat, potatoes and vegetables were prepared in a traditional Nubian fashion, slowly baked in clay pots in the oven. Seriously, YUMMY!

Eating Indian food feels like an explosion on your tongue. The spices and exotic flavors create a party for your pallet. And it tastes even better when it's the product of your own hard work. Below is a fruit pizza (not something you'd think would taste good, but totally is) from a small restaurant and the fantastical result of a cooking class, both in the little town of Orcha in India.

In Nepal, my tour guide doused his meals in hot sauce because he claimed they were too bland. For me, they were just right. Below is a Nepalese samosa, which was more like a burrito, covered in cheese (which is always OK with me).

Chicago's known for its deep-dish pizza. And rightfully so. The stuff is delicious. Now, I know that as a native New Yorker, uttering that phrase is probably blasphemous, but I'm not saying it's BETTER than my beloved NYC pizza. In my opinion, it's too different to compare. Below is a yummy steak and broccoli stuffed pie from Giordano's.

On my most recent trip to Grand Cayman, my boyfriend cooked a lot in our hotel suite. It was cheaper, and frankly, a lot more delicious than the on-site restaurant's cuisine. However, as food lovers, we absolutely had to try the local delicacy of turtle. And it was delicious. Below is my boyfriend's yummy concoction of chicken in hickory-barbecue sauce combined with peach preserves and broccoli, a meal of turtle steak from what we were told was one of the best restaurants on the island, and a coconut that we devoured at a coconut tasting at our resort.

             

For me, food is such an important part of travel. Experiencing local cuisine is a great way to partake in local culture — and it's yummy to boot!

What are some of your favorite travel meals?

Weekend getaways: Chicago

Even though I certainly do love my long vacations, there’s a lot to be said about weekend getaways. After all, that’s how I saw most of Europe during my semester abroad in London. Jetting off for a three-day weekend to Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin and Brussels was easy when each was less than a two-hour plane ride away.

Yummy stuffed pizza at Giordano's

Though our country is much bigger than all of Europe, anything within a three-hour plane ride is pretty manageable for a long weekend. And there’s plenty of the states that I’ve never stepped foot in. So I’m starting a mini-series on the blog of all of my weekend getaways — starting from the more recent ones close to home, then going back to my European ones and topped off with exciting new ones as they happen.

First up: my April trip to Chicago — my first time there. The boy and I left New York after work on Thursday evening, arriving in Chicago in time to grab a dinner of delicious deep-dish, followed by an early night to prepare for the next day.

Cloud Gate (a.k.a., the Bean)

On Friday we were up nice and early and set off on our separate adventures for the day — him to C2E2 (Comic Con) and me to explore the city center. Lucky for me the day was a gorgeous one and I had my fill of walking around and snapping photos of Chicago’s landmarks. In the evening we had a lovely dinner on Navy Pier at a swanky restaurant and then went to an 11 p.m. show at Second City.

Wrigley Field

The next day we slept in a bit (we were on vacation, after all) and headed out to Wrigley for a Cubs game. Following that we walked around Wicker Park and Lakeview and finished the night by strolling through the Loop checking out Chicago by night.

Museum of Science and Industry

On Sunday we had a flight in the early evening, so we checked out, left our bags at the hotel and headed down to the Museum of Science and Industry. After several hours there, we picked up our bags and headed on over to O’Hare and went on our merry way home. I feel like a got a good sense of Chicago (at least a touristy sense), and felt much more rested than if I had just hung around home for the weekend. And I only cashed in one vacation day.

A nice, brief weekend getaway is a great way to mildly quell the itch from that pesky travel bug bite ... at least for a little bit.

A particular traveler’s extroverted look at introverted travel — wait, strike that, reverse it ... wait ...

On her blog, RestlessNewYorker.blogspot.com, my friend Kristine recently wrote a great piece on being an introverted traveler, which she was inspired to write by a piece that appeared on WorldHum.com, Confessions of an Introverted Traveler.

Hostel beds in Amsterdam (above)
and Barcelona (below)

“I realize that all this pretty much defies all the tenets of solo travel or backpacker culture. Most of those who stay in hostels don’t go out exploring alone; they spend the day hanging out together and drinking in the common rooms. But I would argue that being introverted can be an advantage rather than a hindrance while traveling solo,” Kristine wrote.

Kristine’s point made me think of my experiences staying in hostels. I stayed in plenty a hostel on my adventures throughout Europe — not for the hostel culture, mostly for the price. I traveled with friends and none of us could understand how it was that our other “roommates” were in the room when we left in the morning and were there again when we got back after a full day of exploring. I don’t get what the appeal is of sitting in a hostel’s bar or game room for an entire day. For me, a hostel is there so I'm not sleeping on the street. I need clean sheets and a hot shower ... otherwise, you’re in a city that you obviously paid money and took time to get to. SEE IT!

As a natural extrovert myself, I understand the desire and sometimes need to connect to other people. Unlike Kristine, I do enjoy small talk. I don’t necessarily delude myself into believing that the superficial connections I make with people over a beer at a bar will lead to lifelong friendships — even though, honestly, it’s happened to me a few times before. However, needing interaction to the point of foregoing the beauty of discovering the place you’ve spent your resources on to come and see seems like an absolute waste for me. My time in a different country was planned out as to maximize what I could see without being too overwhelmed.

I also think that while it’s great making connections with other travelers, there aren’t locals at the hostels — except maybe the people who work there. The whole point of traveling for me is to actually experience the people, sites and cultures of the place you’re in. Spending your time all day in a hostel is not the way to do that.

While I am extroverted, I also am a very particular traveler. My time is planned out as to see everything I want to see. A vacation spent lying lazily on the beach every day for a week sounds absolutely horrible to me — I’d much rather be so tired from walking around all day that I pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow at night.

So while I do enjoy traveling with others — I actually don’t think I’ve ever traveled completely alone — I don’t enjoy traveling with just anyone. My travel companion and I have to be of the same mindset. I have no problem splitting up and meeting back again later if my travel buddy wants to see something I don’t particularly care to or vice versa, but, ultimately, he or she has to want to see SOMETHING. (Luckily, I’ve discovered that my boyfriend and I are very compatible travel companions ::sigh of relief::.)

My friends and me in Park Guell
in Barcelona

While I enjoy the company of other people, I agree with Kristine that there are many advantages of being an introverted traveler. During my semester abroad in London, I traveled mostly with my two roommates and another friend from college — my roommates also were friends with whom I had requested to live with while abroad. And while our trips were fantastic and I really enjoyed not being alone, when we would get back after a weekend, I would be so ready to be alone that I would drop off my bags, grab a book, go to my favorite sandwich shop on Gloucester Road, get a sandwich and a Coke Light and then head over to a bench in Hyde Park and sit there for a few hours by myself, reading, eating and watching the dogs running around on the grass.

Even the biggest extroverts need their alone time sometimes.

Exploring Chicago on my own: Me reflected in the city on
the Bean, a.k.a. Cloud Gate, in Millennium Park

On a recent trip to Chicago with my boyfriend, he wanted to go to Comic-Con, I didn’t all that much. So we agreed that he would go there and I would go explore the city on my own. We had plans for dinner and a show later. Now, granted, this was Chicago and I wouldn’t necessarily go out exploring on my own in a lot of other places I’ve been to — but in this case, it was great! While I, of course, would have loved to spend that extra time with him, he had a great time doing what he wanted, I had a great time exploring the city, and everyone was happy. I do know, however, that after about a day-and-a-half, if I actually had been there by myself, I would’ve gotten lonely.

For me, a great trip has the combination of extroversion and introversion. I do really enjoy other people’s company and greatly enjoy meeting new people, especially when those meetings do sometimes turn into actual friendships. But every once in a while, I need my time to be just for me — whether that is a couple of hours in the park or a full day exploring a new city on my own.