Are You a Couch Foodie, Garden Foodie or Stove-Top Foodie?

Jack’s homemade crepes with rhubarb, blackberry and raspberry compose are always a crowd pleaser.

Recently in a cycling forum, a question floated over the Internet: “Do you have a discerning palate?” That got me thinking about foodies, people who pride themselves as food connoisseurs, worldly arbitrators of food dishes from a dizzying array of cuisines.

Just a Stove-Top Foodie: Homespun Knowledge
I fancy myself as a foodie. Not a complete foodie addict, but more a casual stove-top foodie than a Food Network TV couch foodie. In fact, I’d rather not be part of the cursed couch foodies that sparks the ire of some Vancouver chefs. According to the restaurant industry, the Food TV Network, has changed the culinary scene. As one local chef opined:

“.…What makes Vancouver restauranteurs’ and chefs’ jobs challenging is today, everybody believes they’re an expert when they don’t have enough background.”

Indeed, this is the challenge or problem, these days for big city chefs anywhere in a competitive restaurant market.

Guavas on a tree at a guava plantation. Big Hawai’i Island 2002. Photo by J.Chong

Growing a Foodie
I’m a stove-top foodie, because my culinary palate was stoked decades ago, long before Food TV Network, and before I knew how to read cookbooks. As any Asian kid raised on a traditional Asian cuisine, will tell you, babies and children learn to eat all sorts of weird, mostly wonderful stuff without even knowing the English translation for every ingredient or the cooked dish itself. Sometimes I still don’t even remember the proper Chinese name for the dish. But I eat it anyway.

Dinner at one of many Chinese-Japanese restaurants. Toronto, ON 2011.

It wasn’t until my teens I realized I was eating rehydrated lily buds in steamed Chinese meat dishes, bird’s nest soup at wedding banquets and wood ear fungus in Mom’s stir-fries. This was the early 1970’s, not today, when weird food reports have now penetrated globally via the Internet, tv and celebrity cowboy chefs, like Anthony Bourdain storytelling their culinary discoveries.

Children: Equal Partners in Food Discovery
It is children who sit equally at the table with their parents, at a feast or restaurant and gobble down, course after course, of less familiar foods, minus the tea and wine. These

Duck with berry red wine sauce and bowl of spaetzle on side. Strasbourg, France 2010. French Alsatian regional cooking has German influences. And vice versa also: southern German dishes are more delicate in taste and execution because of French influence.

children are not food-ghettoized to their own table of bland adult food versions.

This is how a child becomes a stove-top foodie: they are expected to try a food dish, be a teachable guest, learn over time by taste, what makes the dish enjoyable or dull. Not by how a food dish looks. How else do you think very young children can happily eat tofu, hot curry or sushi?

As I had explained in an earlier blog post, my palate and knowledge of cooking techniques was confined narrowly to Cantonese style cuisine until I left home. It was the regional cooking that my parents grew up and knew. That was my “restricted” culinary world living 100 km. west of Toronto.

Georgia Cannery, Richmond BC. A historic site where there was once several major salmon canneries along the British Columbia coast that employed aboriginals, Japanese and Chinese Canadians. Part of understanding local food heritage.

I didn’t scratch the surface or even know about Malaysian, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese as well as South Asian fare, until I earned enough money to eat in restaurants. I actually considered (and still do) cheaper just to cook Chinese food at home.

Later, I layered my stove-top palate, with a few seminal cookbooks and literary foodie books on long, diverse gastronomic history of Chinese cuisine, lore and technique. Fuschia Dunlop’s Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Chinese Cooking, as well as  books by Chinese cookbook authors from disapora, — U.S. and Britain, who went to visit motherland to document and photo -shoot their culinary connections and discoveries.

Typical home-cooked meal- stir fried veggies that includes fresh water chestnuts, daikon and wood ear fungus

Refined Tastebuds Discern Gastronomic Nuances and Innovations
A well-tuned palate for at least, one complex cuisine, can quickly distinguish between the canon of restaurant cuisine and home-cooking, along with nuances of quality and inventiveness.

Now, with East-West fusion cuisine, it does tease your tastebuds out of complacency. But there are some no-no’s to me, no matter how innovative: raw bok choy just is so …wrong.

Ice cream sandwich vendor pedals her handmade goodies by bike. Farmers’ market by Vancouver railway station. 2012 Photo by J. Chong

But last year, for the first time I had raw, fresh kohl rabi slices. It was delicately crisp and lovely. I was more familiar with kohl rabi soup from childhood or Jack’s German dish of sautéed kohl rabi with a white sauce.

Happily my stove-top palate is enriched with exposure to finer German cuisine. I don’t mean just beer, bratwurst and sauerkraut. I’ve written about my cycling adventures on spargel (white asparagus), multi-layered cake tortes and dumpfnudel, the German cousin of Chinese bao.

No doubt, I have yet to fully know, the spicy nuances for all regions of India or miso differences favoured in Japanese and Korean cooking. But I could tell you that won ton or gyoza like wet dumplings shares similarities with Ukranian perogies and Italian ravioli. It’s differences in cooking technique, fillings and sometimes sauces and dips.

Café sign beckons with beer, meat dishes and kugelhof cake in heart of Strasbourg, France. 2010. Photo by J. Chong

As for ever becoming a garden foodie, nah. I’ll leave it to the patient gardeners and farmers.

Some of My Favourite  Foodie Blog Posts and More: 
Come and Get Your Dumplings: Some West-East Comparisons.

Cycle-Adventuring for Fun, Low Cost Food at Ethnic Grocery Stores and Supermarkets.

Easily Drunk on Cycle Touring in Wine Regions.

Home baked salmon fillet wrapped in phyllo with leek in white sauce on side.

Growing Up and Cycling Through the Years to Farmers’ Markets Home and Abroad.

Kicking Up Schiacciata Con Frutta: Grape Focaccia My Way with Ginger Root and Spices.

Lotus Flower: From Root to Flower to Seed, It Feeds Our Senses.

Romanticizing the Best: Asian Craze for European Desserts.  See under Site Index at the top of this blog for more foodie blog posts.

Da Silva, Michelle. How Food Television is Changing the Way We Dine. In Georgia Straight. Mar. 12, 2012.

Bike tire garden trellis at Mount Pleasant community gardens. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J.Chong

Easily Drunk on Cycle-Touring in Wine Regions

Blasted Church Winery.Okanagan Valley. Near Oliver, BC. 2005. Tasting room is housed in an old church that was carefully dynamited in the 1920′s in order to relocate it at that time. Photo by J. Chong

It’s annoying to have my  health problem whenever we go cycle-touring in the wine regions of Canada, U.S. and Europe: I get easily drunk on alcohol.
 
You could say I am afflicted by a common problem that isn’t just confined to some Asians (although there is that stereotyping). My ears become quite red: fast like a supremely over-exerted cyclist after  less than 6-8 sips of wine.
 
Either Red Ears or Tone Down Wine Sips
By drinking more wine, just to “harden” my sensitivities to the fermented grape, is not a solution. Not when already, I’m into my fifth decade in life.  I still want a liver and control over calorie intake. Drinking wine often means drinking in more calories too.

My seafood salad lunch. Muse Winery Bistro, Saanich. Vancouver Island, BC 2011. Photo by J. Chong. Local fresh seafood is common on an island winery bistro menu. Food sometimes is just as good as the wine from their barrels.

Nevertheless, we have sallied forth by bike into the wine regions of  Niagara-on-the-Lake region, Ontario; Okanagan Valley in interior British Columbia and on Vancouver Island.  We have yet to taste the recent wines from eastern Ontario in Prince Edward County or south on Pelee Island. These areas developed their vineyards after we moved to British Columbia.

Spring time at Saltspring Winery. Saltspring Island, BC 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 Wine Regions- A Heady Bouquet of Memories
We have touched down on some great routes and wineries with  creative tasting rooms, good wines, restaurants and ambience that sometimes tie together the local experience into a lovely bouquet of memories.

At a winery in Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island 2003.

 My jumpstart into wineries, was over 16 years ago with our 120 km. cycling day trip from Toronto to Niagara-on-the-Lake wine region.  Since then, we’ve done this trip several times different ways which included  a ferry across Lake Ontario that ran only a scant 2 summers.  We have also biked around the lake, as a hot humid bike trip in summer from downtown Toronto. Now, wine-thirsty cyclists can choose to roll on their bikes onto the popular  summer weekend Bike Train service passengers from Toronto.

The 50 km. 1-way bike route from Port Dalhousie to Fort Erie, past the roaring Niagara Falls and Butterfly Gardens, is easy, if not also crazy-busy during peak tourist season.  A more pleasant visit is early fall, with the blaze of autumn-kissed trees along the bike path. 

Local art work may be featured at various tasting rooms or outdoors at the site. Nk’Mip Cellars, an aboriginal winery run by the Osoyoos Indian Band. Near Oliver, B.C.2005. Photo by J. Chong. Not typically European in artistry but wine-making is embedded in European techniques.

 During various different trips across Canada, we’ve stopped to pull out our bikes and puff away on short steep hills in the Okanagan Valley, Canada’s near desert-like wine region in British Columbia.

Favourite Wineries Blend Spirits, Scenery, Food and Artistry
One of my favourite wineries for wine, great food and valley views, is Quail’s Gate in West Kelowna which overlooks gentle grapevine slopes dipping down to Okanagan Lake.   The winery’s location shows off the area’s sparkling waters, bright clear skies, undulating hills and winding roads.
 

View overlooking vineyards, mountains to Okanagan Lake, from Quail’s Gate Wines’ restaurant patio. West Kelowna, BC 2008. Photo by J. Chong

At Summerhill Wines, past its signature upended wine bottle sculpture, is a restaurant that offers relaxation for a lovely meal and shade from the sunny dry heat  –that is, if you can avoid the crowds during peak seasons. They once produced a white wine packaged in a blue glass violin shaped bottle which I’ve kept, after savouring its contents.
 
Though we have not yet travelled by bike to the following two Okanagan Valley wineries mentioned below, I can’t resist just mentioning them because of their unusual ambiance and effective marketing.

Antique wooden grape press by a French vineyard. Provence, France 2012. Photo by J. Becker

Blasted Church Wines are arresting just for its wine labels and its story of a carefully dynamited church in 1929 that was moved from Okanagan Falls to its present location that now houses the tasting room.

For innovative surroundings and something unEuropean, but deeply embedded in British Columbian identity, is Nk’Mip Wine Cellars which features aboriginal iconography and artwork in its restaurant, tasting room and grounds. The winery has been developed by savvy local aboriginal entrepreneurs from the Osoyoos Indian Band.

Mermaid in rubber boots is logo for Saltspring Island Wines. Saltspring Island, BC 2005. Photo by J. Chong. Winery as well as Cherrypoint Wines each produces blackberry wine.

Can’t Resist Local Seafood  and Blackberry Wine
What distinguishes British Columbia in vineyard visits and tastings, are also  local salmon and other fresh large local seafood featured on winery restaurant menus at reasonable prices for high quality.

Whenever I visit Vancouver Island wineries, like Cherry Point Wines, I savour the seafood entrees just as much as the accompanying wine from their barrels nearby.  Large scallops, spotted shrimp (unique to Pacific Northwest coast), various clam varieties and mussels, are often drawn from the Pacific waters.  This level of freshness and quality most definitely, is not featured much in Germany at winery restaurants.

Cycle-touring by Rhine River along the “Wine Route” in his birthplace area with vineyards, picturesque old towns and castle ruins. Black Forest Region, southern Germany, 2008.

Ideal frost-snow conditions in British Columbia and Niagara-on-the-Lake wine regions, also allow pressing of ice wine more easily than Spain, Italy or France.

For locals or visitors,  I cannot stop reminding people that Vancouver Island, is home of port-like blackberry wine varietals. Blackberry bushes bust out all over the land, if left unpruned, since they thrive in Pacific Northwest coastal balmy weather and rain –much to the curse of dedicated gardeners.

Wandering and Wine-Tasting Overseas
Further abroad, we have cycle-ventured  into the Napa-Sonoma wine region in California (though more him, than me), bike-touched the wine regions in Washington and Oregon. 

Since Jack’s family roots are based in the Black Forest region in the famed wine region by the Rhine River in southern Germany, we have cycled there for wine, food, and 

Chatting with farming couple at farmers’ market who grew cherries plus make and sell their own kirschausseur, “cherry wine”. Freiburg, Germany 2010. Photo by J. Chong. Wines were sold 4-5 euros per bottle. It is common that some German farmers in the wine-growing regions will make small batches of their own wine for sale. Not far from this market, was a retail store, showcasing and selling local, lesser known wines in this region.

picturesque villages while on our way to visit relatives.  His extended family still has a vineyard and hotel inn with restaurant since the 1700’s.  It is a region that other Europeans flock, whose home country lack wineries due to inadequate climatic conditions for grape-growing –ie. from Scandanavia, United Kingdom, etc.

Cycling by vineyards and winery in Aix-le-Provence, France 2012. Photo by J. Becker

I haven’t yet cycled France enough, to visit its wine regions.  However, last spring Jack rolled through the Burgundy wine region but was unable to stock up on wine due to his heavy packed bike panniers. He really wondered if he would be able to meet his 80-100 km. daily cycling goals if he stopped for a swig of red wine glory. So, he blissfully spun unaware through some French winery areas that produced famed red wines that cost over $120.00 per bottle in North America.

Vineyards surround centuries old town, Weingarten, Germany 2010. Area near where Jack was born and family members are still there. Photo by J. Chong. Approximately 15 km. southwest of the French border. Weingarten translates from German as “Wein” for wine and “agarten” for garden.

So touring wine regions by bike offers many gorgeous vistas, an outdoor Nature experience married with cultural refinement –even if you can’t pack in much wine in your tummy or in your bike panniers, from your favourite winery stops.

Cycling through picturesque old French towns in Champagne, France 2009. Photo by J. Becker. The region that certifies only certain vineyards for producing the real champagne.

 Reading to Entice You:
Tourism British Columbia. Includes information on its wine regions, map and winery links.

Chong, J. Cycling for Spargel, Kirsch and Blue Painted Bikes in Black Forest Region, Germany.  In Cycle Write Blog. Jun. 3, 2010.

Chong, J. Freiburg, Germany: Cycling Among Medieval and Renaissance Restoration. In Cycle Write Blog. Jul. 10, 2010.

Chong, J. An Idyllic Summer Escape to Vancouver Island for Maidei. In Cycle Write Blog. Jul. 3, 2011. 

Homemade focaccia-pizza with a Okanagan Valley merlot from Stag’s Hollow winery in B.C. Photo by J. Chong

Summerhill Wines’ patio wine bottle sculpture. Overlooking Okanagan Lake, Kelowna B.C. Photo by J. Chong

Cesky Krumlov: Czech Interpretations of Medieval and Renaissance Architecture

Cesky Krumlov, a UNESCO heritage site. View from its castle promenade. Czech Republic 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 For another architecturally rich visit in a quieter, smaller town beyond the hustle and bustle of Prague, is the town of Cesky Krumlov.    It is 180 km. southwest of Prague  –a pleasant train ride in old, but clean Czech trains.  We stowed our bikes into the bike train car and settled into our seats to watch the green countryside roll by, dotted with red roofed farmhouses.

As soon as one leaves the train station and rides into town, the preserved walls of the town begin to appear shortly and then you’re pedaling along cobblestone. The town was established in 1302 and ascended in its development to 1602.  During this time period, Cesky Krumlov lay near the juncture of Czech, Austrian, Bavarian (German) and Italian lands.

Looking up at Castle Watchtower from lower town of Cesky Krumlov. Tower has some triumph d’oeil painted on its facade to mimic brickwork and windows. Czech Republic 2010. Photo by J. Chong

Our overnight stay was in a historic guesthouse, Castle Stairs which was tucked under the spire-shadow of the Cesky Krumlov’s Castle Tower.  This was the same place where U.S. television travelogue broadcaster, Rick Steeves stayed.  The owner also ran a souvenier gift shop downstairs.  He generously allowed us to gingerly store our bikes inside the shop among some breakable knickknacks and glass display cases.  If there was an alternate bike parking spot in this historic medieval section of town, we certainly would have used it!

The castle promenade bridge was built later on top of the town’s Roman aqueduct. Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic 2010. Photo by J. Chong

To explore  Cesky Krumlov, we spent the rest of the first day, walking. With the town split between an upper plateau level where the castle was located overlooking the lower level where the the townsfolk lived for centuries, it was just easier.  Otherwise, we would be grinding up and shaloming down slippery, cobblestone streets.

Trompe l’Oeil Without Being Cheesy
What was striking in the castle compound, was the use of trompe l’oeil on the building fascia and on the Castle Watchtower, or painted images to masquerade as bricks and stone. Now, to some visitors, this is cheesy but for a country like the Czech Republic, which already has numerous historic heritage buildings in Prague and elsewhere, it’s just abit more economical and practical.  After all, when I wandered about Prague, I kept wondering how could the city sustain the long-term cost of architectural restoration even with support from other external funding bodies. The Czech Republic has only recently embarked enthusiastically on the road to free-enterprise.

Castle’s gardens were located at the bottom of the hill. Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 Within half a block of our guesthouse, there was a centuries-old, walled royal bear compound where yes, two bears roamed around.  It was for the narcissistic pleasure of the royalty where ‘bear’  in part of the family name, Rozmburk  (or Rosenburg, depending how you transliterate it) and featured in the town’s crest. After touring the castle, I couldn’t help but wonder it was a luxurious, but lonely life in this rural part of the country for the Rozmburks.

Marionette peasant couple. Puppet Museum. Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 An amble along the covered stone bridge down into the lower Cesky Krumlov, offered splendid panoramic views of Cesky Krumlov’s churches,  neatly kept homes below, the Vtalov River, undulating  green pastures and forests.  Here, the bridge is on top of a Roman acqueduct.

At the bottom of the castle, there were gardens and small fountains that mirrored very humbly to the more fabulous French Palace of Versailles-style gardens and topiary. 

Our meals were punctuated with gargantuous Czech dumplings that I wrote earlier in a blog post and the ubiquitous apple strudel. On the second day, we did some simple cycling around the edges of town before hauling ourselves and the bikes with panniers back onto the train.

Strolling and exploring Cesky Krumlov.Czech Republic 2010. Photo by J. Chong. The town has 300 buildings as part of the UNESCO heritage designation.

Cesky Krumlov offered us a relaxing, UNESCO designated historic ambiance of Czech expression for medieval and Renaissance architecture and art, in both high style as well as  burgher style where shopkeepers, tradesmen and workers lived.  It was seeing the best perserved slice of these architectural eras, outside of Prague.

Further Reading and Photos:
Cesky Krumlov’s official web site.

Chong, Jean. Come and Get Your Dumpling: West-East Comparisons. In Cycle Write Blog, Jul. 25, 2010.

Romanticizing the Best: Asian Craze for Gourmet European Desserts

Popular European style bakery chain in South Korea, Paris Baguette Cafe. Changwon, South Korea 2011. Photo by HJEH Becker. Changwon has population of over 1 million.

Romanticizing either one’s own culture or another culture, can be as simple as introducing a foreign food dish, which becomes wildly popular over time.  Popular, because not only the dish tastes great, but the consumer purchases and enjoys the dish as partaking in a refined, higher class or more worldly expression of their personal taste.

Before you jump on me for being critical or elitist, especially for preparing your treasured family heirloom recipes, sit down and have a café with me. Hear me out.

Fine chocolate ganache cake at local bakery cafe. Seoul, South Korea 2011. Photo by HJEH Becker

Asian Crazes:  European Gourmet Desserts
Traditional Asian cuisine is not known for baked elegant desserts at all.  Whatever desserts offered now in Asian bakeries, are an influence of a country’s European colonial past (ie. egg tarts in Macau are a Portuguese legacy; Filipino pastries, a Spanish adaptation) or simply a local baker, restauranteur who loved European desserts and understood their patrons’ need to end a meal with a sweet, elegant flourish.

More upscale local bakery cafe with European pastries and ambience. Seoul, South Korea 2011. Photo by HJEH Becker

Last autumn, Jack sampled both  Asian street food and some gourmet European cake slices when he was in Taipei, Tawain and in South Korea on business trips.  On both occasions, he found the bakery cafes when he wandered around in the cities’  core shopping areas.

Petite four desserts with a coffee or tea. Strasbourg, France 2010. Photo by J. Chong. Little tartlets and squares with some made from marzipan (almond paste).

The cakes were quite good which is a compliment from someone raised by a German mother.  His mother loved preparing elegant multi-layered cake tortes, linzertorte (hazelnut tart with raspberry almond filling), plum kuchens and wonderful cookies by using traditional techniques.  Not surprisingly his maternal line, has pastry chefs and restauranteurs back to the 1700’s.

Former Chinatown Desserts: Chiffon and Sponge Cake-like Creations
Over 25 years ago, the few Asian bakeries that I knew in Canadian Chinatowns, offered very limited desserts that were primarily egg or coconut tarts, buns filled with whipping crème, and savoury fillings such was ham, barbecued pork or even (gasp), wieners. The cake and bun crumb tended to be primarily sponge or chiffon cake-like textures –safe, bland, simple ingredients and not too sweet for Asian palates.   Strangely, I never saw muffins nor pies in those bakeries at that time.

German pastries at local outdoor farmers’ market. Freiburg, Germany 2010. Photo by J. Chong. Not all are commonly found in North American bakeries but for local Germans are low-cost, but freshly baked dessert snacks.

Now, in bigger Canadian cities, Vancouver and Toronto, there are more Asian bakeries and large Asian supermarkets that will offer a bit more  –such as mousse cakes and fruit tartlets along side the egg custard tarts and savoury buns. I’m not sure how many have jumped onto the phyllo pastry bandwagon but it’s just a matter of time:  phyllo pastry is so easy to work with and bakes quickly.

Elegant cake choices at Ganache Patisserie in chic Yaletown. Vancouver BC 2010. Photo by J. Chong

The greatest compliment for adopting a foreign dish, occurs when a  chef or baker embraces traditional techniques, transforms the dish into several different unique variations and creates a business that garners fans.

Ganache Patisserie, a gourmet cake bakery café in the hip Yaletown, Vancouver BC offers walk-in  customers a fabulous range of different elegant cake slices and if needed, customized wedding cakes. The pastry chef is Henry Hwang who picked up his skills in France.

Mango creme puff, one of several flavours at Cruffs. Calgary AB 2011. Photo by J. Chong. Bakery was started up by 2 brothers from Indonesia where the pastry chef previously ran a bakery for 4 yrs.

Meanwhile in prairie city of Calgary, brothers Mario and Ignas Adiwibawa from Indonesia,  launched their crème puff bakery , Cruffs two years ago  in the trendy Mission area.  Mario, the baker added more baking skills to his culinary arsenal after attending a culinary school in Vancouver.

Previously he ran a bakery for 4 years in Indonesia.  They offer their crème puffs with choice fillings which include:  Irish Crème Baileys, pistachio, hazelnut chocolate, mango, lemon and green tea.   Recently they offered a blueberry creme puff.

In 2012 they are venturing into a version of an Indonesian pastry, roti, a Dutch colonial by product.  Their Indonesian coffee based roti, will be rebranded with a different name to avoid confusion with Caribbean and South Asian spicy curry savoury rotis stuffed with sauce, veggies or meat.

Edible dragon pastry decorates a bed of creme puffs. For Year of the Dragon, Chinese New Year 2012 celebrations. Cruffs Bakery, Calgary AB 2012

For those whose cultural heritage includes these fine dessert inspirations, it is simply a wonderful memory and casual touchstone to enjoy a dessert well executed even if the chef came from a  country located far from the dessert’s origins.

Stay tuned for romanticizing a culture feature of the East by the West.

900 Years of Architectural Legacy: Why Prague is a Royal Empress

Some art work on building facades. New Town, Prague 2010. Photo by J. Chong

I had heard of Prague’s splendid old World charm.  But I was unprepared for the city’s dizzying variety and historical compression of architectural centuries at each street corner and with each turn of my head.  Good thing we could explore its astonishing richness of Romanesque, medieval, baroque, renaissance, gothic and art nouveau building wonders, by bike and on foot.   Of course, we could not miss out on some of its stunning cathedrals and museum collections.

During Peak Tourist Season and IFA Soccer Craze
We were there last year for 4 days with an interlude of another 2 days at the UNESCO Heritage site, the medieval town of Cesky Krumlov.  Not only were we in Prague during peak tourist season in June, but also in the midst of IFA soccer fan crowds glued to  jumbo tv screens mounted in old public square, to watch championship playoffs.

St. Wenceslas Square with some manicured gardens in its central boulevard. Prague, 2010. Photo by J. Chong

  Though we stayed in staid sounding Best Western Pave, the hotel was also plunked in a historic neighbourhood. Just next door was a pub with gold filigreed sign, where we heard at night, the raucous cheering and conversation. There must have been also an IFA tv screen tucked somewhere at the bar.  Clean and modern with a curving iron wrought and wood rail and pseudo-marble steps, this chain hotel suggested a previous independent hotel of some vintage.

Panoramic view of Old Town Prague, from Prague Castle 2010. Photo by J. Chong

Lost in Wonder –Literally
It’s amusing to see Prague’s official tourism web site which emblazons one of its information sections:  “How Not to Get Lost”.  Obviously we weren’t the only ones.  Normally, Jack has good wayfinding  geo-spatial sense in strange cities and places where we’ve travelled far and wide.  However in parts of Prague’s Old Town and New Town, we did get slightly lost since neither of us could even guess at Czech letter script to  memorize old street names properly.  But getting occasionally lost for fifteen minutes or so nearly daily, was negligible time lost for seeing along our cobblestoned way, fantastic decorated building facia, gargoyles, stained glass, mounted sculptures, murals –it’s an architect’s, art lover’s and historian’s dream.  If not that, 

Abbey section of St. George's Basilica. Old Town, Prague 2010. Photo by J. Chong. Romanesque paintings. Rare to see paintings depicting abbesses, nuns or any female church order in many well-known European churches that I visited during my trip. However a greater likelihood sometimes in very early medieval liturgical art.

 Prague is a beguiling teacher on over 900 years of European architectural history, just by wandering around slack –jawed in area of less than 10  square kilometers.

How could any ex-Prague citizen find any of our North American cities as artfully intriguing?  There was the Astronomical Clock at the Old Town Square Tower where upon the strike of clock tower bell, the painted and gold figurines of 12 apostles moved.  The Tower dates back to 1338.  We would pass by it  several times, to walk from one pedestrianized street,  old square to another.  Cycling in an enjoyable way, was abit useless among these crowds. Besides, you would miss out on seeing the city’s building splendor up  close. 

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When we had one of our first dinners outside in a public square, St. Nicholas Cathedral  loomed above us, less than 10 feet away. Unfortunately it was closed and somehow I forgot to revisit the place when it was open since I got distracted by the magnificence of St. Vitus’s Cathedral (which I described earlier in another blog post with photos of  its  dazzling stained glass art).  Or another nearby  church-convent, St. George’s Basilica where to the one side was St. George’s abbey dating from 972 with preserved Romanesque mural paintings of several abbesses, a rare thing to see a female church order painted on a large scale inside churches.

Cubistic contemporary building complex amongst heritage buildings. New Town, Prague 2010. Photo by J. Chong

Another time, as we strolled yet another narrow, clean street, we passed by suddenly some Cubistic-like buildings.  Prague was like that:  frequent, unexpected delight of structures from different eras intermixed along the same street, as well as sculptures, carvings and fanciful metalwork adorning building entrances, windows or roof eaves.

I wondered how on earth the city secured the funds to restore its national heritage buildings. It must be an ongoing process of grant applications and lobbying funding bodies and philanthropists.

Silver liturgical art work. St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 Evening with Baroque Music
To lure tourists with its cultural arts, nearly every day there were a few classical music concerts. How could we as baroque music fans, resist?  So we treated ourselves with tickets, to a live chamber concert of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Pachabel’s Canon at Municipal Hall.  The Hall was a stodgy shaped building but was wonderfully embellished with art nouveau art pieces both inside and outside its walls. That evening  less than 100 people attended the concert in a cavernous musical hall that could seat well over 800 people.  But no matter, the soaring music lifted us along with also distractions of the building’s interior.

Fierce protectors guarding at Prague Castle's gates. 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 In tune with the spirit of cultural arts, we winded through the Museum of Musical Instruments, Prague’s City Museum, National Museum and a building near St. Wenceslas Square which I cannot remember its name, that featured soaring ceiling and wall art nouveau murals in expansive public meeting rooms.

We did the slow typical stroll across Charles Bridge, first built in the 14th century with over 12 statutes which are now replaced with copies. After drinking in the panoramic sight of terra cotta roofed buildings and winding narrow cobblestone streets, we spent time at the Prague Castle, Sternberg Palace and the cathedrals mentioned earlier.

Stroll along in Prague 2010. Photo by J.Chong. Notice on halfway on right, a deer sculpture ready to leap out of a window.

Cuisine More Heartiness than Gastronomic
No doubt we were in heavy tourist areas which most likely obscured whatever better Czech cuisine we could have had beyond dumplings, meat, strudel and  heavier cakes than what we had in southern Germany.  Or just mediocre Italian or even Asian cuisine. Only pure pragmatism of cycling with double pannier weight, prevented me from buying tempting Czech wine since we still had over a week in Copenhagen ahead of us.  After all, Czech wines are not often found in Canada.

Stained glass art. St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 Jewel that Survived War and Revolution
It’s even more astounding that Prague’s architectural and artistic magnificence has survived several waves of political revolution. Most  recently after World War II, the Czech Republic was part the Soviet Communist bloc before its final dissolution in the early 1980’s.   Not surprisingly, in 1992 the whole historic city core of over 800 hectares, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Contemporary sun dial art installation in the midst of medieval and Rennaissance era buildiings. Old Town, Prague 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 Prague overwhelms you with her magnitude of visual history, time layers of artistic inspiration and craftsmanship, all  jammed side by side, along its narrow cobblestone twisting streets.  Even after 5 days there, we knew we had not seen all of this wonderful empress of European cities.

Further Reading (and Photos):
Becker, Jack. Cycling in Prague.  In Third Wave Cycling Blog, Jun. 26, 2010.

Chong, Jean. Come and Get Your Dumplings: Some West-East Comparisons.  In Cycle Write Blog, Jul. 25, 2010

Chong, Jean.  Stained Glass Art: A European Sampler of Refracted Light and Colour. In Cycle Write Blog, Jul. 17, 2010.  More photos of this artwork in St. Vitus Cathedral and in Municipal Hall.

Official Prague Tourism site.

Supersized Meals Along Cycling Trips : Gulping Surprises

Ate the whole Mexican meal. Bothell, Washington 2005. Photo byHJEH Becker.

  I’m not sure why it is, but the  most memorable super-sized meals have been during our cycling trips.  Why does this happen out of town?  Maybe I don’t eat out often enough in local restaurants in my home city. I spend more restaurant dollars and sample more culinary variety  when we’re travelling and touring.

After a 100 km. or only a 40 km. cycle to a strange place, somehow it’s easier to justify eating a super-sized meal.  It must the tourist idiot-factor.   We may sometimes do crazier things, away from home.  

At times, what dumbfounded us was the size of food portions in various U.S. restaurants 

Tower of ice cream for 1 person. Avignon, France 2008. Photo by R. Campbell

that  we  dropped  by. A common experience across the international border.  While in the U.S.,  Stone Creamery, the  ice cream chain, there were noticeably  larger ice cream sizes  for the same price in Vancouver.  It’s more  of a novelty for us to dig into huge ice cream globes each time we visit Seattle.  It’s a supersize snack fun time.  Stone Creamery’s ice cream flavours and  bland smoothness appeals to mainstream taste: nothing too wierd nor strong.  Prime for eating lots of  nice, safe ice cream.  We’re more accustomed to playful, stronger flavours of gelatos from various gelatari in Vancouver which range from soy, 

Massive tortellini for Jack. Mount Vernon, Washington 2010. Photo by J. Chong.

 with  flavours more Italian,  Asian or tropical —smaller portions but same price.
 
I have had some eye-popping sized meals in some Mexican restaurants –on the U.S. northwest coast area, an area supposedly where the general population may be more physically active in various activities than other parts of America. Or maybe I only know northwest coasters who like their cycling, jogging, hiking or skiing.

Maegret of duck in port sauce with generous bowl of spaetzle. Strasbourg, France 2010. Photo by J. Chong. Meal a la carte for 1 person.

Hefty Portions in Some European Eateries
What was amazing to us, when we travelled in Europe last year, were supersized meals  at some restaurants in touristy areas in large and small European cities.  Maybe serving larger meals of any common local food, kept the North American tourists happy.

For instance, earlier I wrote a blog post about Czech dumplings which I sampled several times in different places. In one of the photos, the dumplings were mini cake-like, carbohydrate towers.  Well, they really were hulking but fluffy and airy dumplings to soak up the dark brown beef gravy puddle.

Apple strudel for 1 person but split for 2 cyclists. Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 In Strasbourg, France, our first dinner was the traditional baekoff which appeared to be a duo of dumplings or potatoes with a meat dish served in a baking dish.  Each of us ordered a different dinner combination a la carte.  The duck meat portions were generous:  was it because we were in a touristy area or was duck more common in France?

 Of course, at times we’re surprised by a local restaurant. Recently we shared a huge appetizer that was deemed a polenta base with an enjoyable tomato-basil sauce, a prelude to our 10” thin pizzas that we each had later on.  The polenta was surprisingly light which led Jack to believe there was some tapioca used to lighten the polenta  volume. 

Polenta Lasagna --featured appetizer at Pulcinella's, Calgary 2011. With layers of sausage (not obvious to us), tomato and cheese. Photo by J. Chong. Shared by 2 walkers. Consumed before 10" thin gourmet pizzas per person.

  And do I need to say anything further on the traditional Ukranian local fare of a large cabbage roll, 6 cheese-potato perogies, sauerkraut and sausage?  

My apologies for not including any photos of an  Asian banquet array of dishes: I’m used this –but only for special occasions.  Maybe I indulge in supersized meals off-side because it’s memory of those rare Chinese banquets of 8, 10  or 12 courses with friends or for special meals.  Meals to remember.

European City Museums More than Second Cousins: Centuries of Rich History

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Some European city museums can be rich treasure troves of history and art  –meaning centuries of a municipal life. Maybe my North American view of the city museum, as the lesser cousin, was previously influenced by our shorter history – if we … Continue reading →

Behold a Stork! Sightings During Cycling Trip

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Some European countries have a historic love affair with the stork. This bird was the convenient explanation for little children in Germany, France and elsewhere, for how babies were delivered into the world.  While on the Northwest coast, it’s the … Continue reading →

Tour de Gateau, Torte and Kugelhopf

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I never thought I would be doing some food blogging as part of my European trip stories. But after my earlier tour de foodie blog posts on  spargel (white asparagus) and dumplings, a European Tour de Gateau (cake) seemed appropos. … Continue reading →

Come and Get Your Dumpling: Some West-East Comparisons

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Dumpling means different textures and tastes for different cultures.  Depending on the country origin, a dumpling can be served with sauce. In other cultural cuisines, the dumpling is never served with a sauce  or else you could insult the cook. … Continue reading →

Stained Glass Art – A European Sampler of Refracted Light and Colour

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 My interest in stained glass art stems from only two introductory courses I took evenings over 20 years ago. I learned stained glass-making, both by using the easy copper foil technique for small pieces  and also the traditional, more difficult … Continue reading →

Freiburg, Germany: Cycling Among Medieval and Renaissance Restoration

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 Freiburg is seductive:  a well-preserved gem of German medieval and renaissance architecture with cycling embedded into its daily life.  We stayed and spent most of our  4 days in the historic downtown core.  However we did take 3 cycling side … Continue reading →

Cycling for Spargel, Kirsch and Blue Painted Bikes: Black Forest Region, Germany. June 3-11, 2010.

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Without any preplanning, our first few days of our European cycle touring ride became a mini Tour du Spargel or Tour du White Asparagus. The trip segment in southern Germany was marked by the region’s known spring culinary delights:  spargel or … Continue reading →