Venice Part 2 - The end of our cruise

The sun was rising over Venice as we sailed into port, ready to depart the ship. The best way to see the beautiful city of Venice is as you sail in or out on a cruise ship. The city is truly unlike anything in this World.

Our group all parted ways with different journeys home from the ship. Kyle and I were scheduled for a layover in Paris, but before our flight departed from the Venice airport, we made one last stop in Venice for food! We searched what seemed like the whole city for a good breakfast spot since it was only 8AM. And by breakfast, I mean gelato.

We found a spot, and it was probably nothing special by Venetian standards. But to us, the gelato was heavenly. It came as a set with coffee. This must be a tourist trap, knowing that only an American tourist in a gelato frenzy would need gelato for breakfast, in addition to some coffee.

We also ordered a breakfast panini, which was fabulous with the Italian prosciutto and cheese.

My parents spent one more day in Venice before flying home. They wondered around the Venice fish and open market, finding some fun and unusual finds.

And had one last meal of their favorite Italian dishes.

My dad's favorite is Spaghetti Vongole, or clam spaghetti with a white wine sauce.

Happy Eating,

Emi

Split, Croatia - The end is near

Our cruise was nearly coming to a close as we sailed into Split, Croatia. It was probably the best way to nudge us out of our dream vacation state, as the weather in Split was the hottest and most humid of the whole trip. We came into port early in the morning, and already it was nearly 90 degrees and nearly the same percent humidity.

We have heard rave reviews of Croatia. We know it is some people's favorite country. Whether it was the heat, the dread of going back to work, or the city itself, we sadly did not fall in love with Croatia. However, looking back at our photos and reminiscing, there were some really nice highlights that still made the day memorable.

We spent some time walking around the city and shopping at the local outdoor market. I loved the vats of dried dates and figs, all emitting a sweet aroma in the humid air. While our farmer's markets in the States are amazing, there is really nothing like the markets of Europe, especially the Mediterranean. You can't beat the natural abundance of the local produce and eats of this incredible region.

It was so hot that Kyle and I stopped five times (not exaggerating here!) in about six hours for some type of drink or food. We were really just looking for an excuse to cool down.

We first stopped into a little Croatian cafe for some breakfast. This was a breakfast for one person! It came with local Croatian cured meats, cheese, olives and tomatoes, an omelet, fresh baked bread, coffee and orange juice.

I notice that I wore a bathing suit that day under my clothes. It is kind of funny thinking back on this idea, because we quickly found out this was not the city to swim in. Although the water appeared crystal clear and blue, we couldn't help but notice the pungent stench of raw sewage that made us think they dump all our dumps from the ship into the port! Instead of going for a dip in the ocean, I opted to go back to the ship for some pool-time.

While we ate in the cafe, we saw dozens of tourists taking photos at this spot. So we decided to be followers.

After walking about 10 feet, we stopped yet again for some Croatian wine. It wasn't my favorite wine of the trip, but still satisfied us with a good cooling and relaxing effect.

Kyle and I had some Croatian cash to burn, so we went to a local grocery store to spend it. We got a bunch of these packets of amazing spread for toast--it was similar to Nutella, but a little better because it had a wonderfully rich white chocolate hazelnut swirl. We packed it to bring home to our family. However, when I opened my luggage, I found the packets had exploded! So we now only have a photo memory of this delicious treat.

In addition to the Nutella spin-off, we got a couple Croatian beers and sat on the dock, watching sweaty tourists walk by.

 

 

Happy Eating,

Emi

The Tale of the 20 Barbouni

Kyle and I took a long break from blogging...partly because it was too depressing to look at photos of the beautiful Mediterranean when outside our window was the typical Northwest rain and clouds of winter. Partly because we got some exciting news in September...we are expecting our first child this coming June! The combination of exciting news, the holidays, and my lack of appetite (which has FINALLY started to come back, thank goodness--it's hard to blog about food when you aren't hungry!); all of these factors made for an easy excuse to get away from blogging.

So we pick up from where we last left you...onto our favorite stop of the whole trip, Santorini, Greece.

Santorini is everything you imagine and more based off of the classic picturesque photos you might see in Greek restaurants. When we sailed into port, the sun was beginning to rise on this magical island, a good omen for the day ahead.

The whole group booked an excursion together that took us through the old town of Oia, off to a local winery, then dropped us off at Fira on the opposite end of the island. For anyone interested in doing our cruise in the future, I don't think this expensive excursion is worth it. You can easily get onto the island via a gondola, walking up a steep path or a donkey (!). Save your money for some barbouni...story to follow.

The excursion started at 7AM and went until 11AM...just in time for lunch! I'm so glad Kyle took a photo of the restaurant our group found, because finding it again would be a true treasure hunt.

We wanted local Greek seafood and a good view-- this was the perfect find. My mother in law asked that we all wear white to match the white buildings, hence the matching outfits.

We ordered a couple bottles of wine from the winery we visited earlier, including a bottle of retsina, a must-drink while in Greece.

Retsina is a wine special to Greece. Supposedly before impermeable glass bottles, oxygen would get into the wine and it would spoil within a year. To combat spoilage, the Greeks would seal the bottles with pine resin. The resin added a unique piney flavor to the wine. Even with today's glass bottles, the practice has continued in this region. Sort of like a gin wine with the pine taste.

Whetting our appetites. We let my dad do the ordering since he spent several months in Greece back in his 20s. He ordered all the classics, like mousaka, mezes, Greek salad, grilled octopus, and a local fish he loves...barbouni, a red mullet type of fish. We asked for enough barbouni so about 5 of us could sample it, about 5 fish total. Unfortunately, it looks like although this is a touristy town, English is definitely their second language.

We started with some amazing mezes that we slathered onto fresh Greek bread.

My favorite was the smooth, creamy, delicious fava bean puree. We tried to recreate it in Seattle, but the fava beans here make a chunkier puree that is not nearly as creamy as this creation.

Next, it was a classic Greek salad. The feta in Greece is absolutely the best, making it impossible to go back to those crappy plastic tubs of pre-crumbled rubber feta back in the States.

The best moussaka I've ever had. It came bubbling hot in this dish, looking like our own little pot of scrumptious gold. Hey, didn't we order barbouni?

The grilled octopus was not quite as good as the grilled octopus we enjoyed in Montenegro, but still very delicious. We ordered two of the moussaka, dips, salads, and octopus for our table. We wanted to have enough for everyone so ordered two. After finishing our shares of the octopus, we were wondering if they forgot about our barbouni. We decided they must be fishing for it.

And just when we were starting to feel nice and full and were about to tell the waiters to hold the barbouni order, they arrived. It took three waiters to carry out five plates that each contained four barbouni...yes, do the math, that's 20 little fishies ready for us to devour.

The fish were crispy on the outside and moist and flakey on the inside. They had a perfect salty crust. If this had come earlier in the meal, I would have wiped out a whole plate on my own. But at this point, it was a chore to make it through one, let alone the THREE each person was tasked with eating!

Kyle filmed this to capture the moment.

We did our best to get through the lot, but a couple extras had to be packed up for some stray cats we saw along the way home. This tale of Twenty Barbouni is now becoming a legend in our household.

The next day, we docked in Mykonos, and poor Kyle and Joyce were still immersed in the barbouni experience if you know what I mean. It was the gift that just kept on giving.

Happy Eating,

Emi

Kusadasi, Turkey: A Whole New World

As we pulled into our first port in Turkey, scenes from Aladdin started streaming through my mind. I was on a Disney fantasy kick during this trip.

Kyle and I walked around the market place, hoping to find a couple bargains and a good place for breakfast. I stopped into a shop with floor to ceiling shelves full of Turkish goodies.

When you only have a couple hours in a port, you get a little taste of the flavor of the country/city. I mean this literally. One of the flavors in Turkey we had to get a sample of was the Turkish coffee. We found out that the coffee itself is not Turkish--it's probably the same beans that we drink in the U.S. It is the style of coffee that makes it unique.

The coffee is a dense concoction with thick sludgy coffee grounds at the bottom of the cup. You don't drink this part of the coffee, but it definitely helps to give the drink an extra punch of flavor and caffeine. A nice pick-me-up when you dock at 7AM in a port!

I had the Turkish apple tea which is a tea with a subtle apple flavor. You can add a sugar cube to add some sweetness.

As Kyle and I strolled around the city, we quickly discovered that this was a tourist hot spot by the fact that every breakfast spot advertised an "Irish breakfast." This was a bad sign. All we wanted was a true Turkish breakfast. We were starting to wear down and decided to stop anywhere that at least owned a meat spit, which would indicate they eventually sold some type of Turkish food at some point in the day.

I was slowing down to look at a restaurant when an older gentleman started chatting with me, suggesting I stop for breakfast. He was perched on a little stool outside a jewelry shop and spoke perfect English. We took a seat and asked him what Turkish people usually eat for breakfast. He told us that they don't typically eat breakfast like Americans. Breakfast is usually a light meal of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, some feta and a little bread. The main course is the Turkish coffee. He waved the waiter down and spoke in Turkish, telling him that we wanted a Turkish breakfast. For 10 euros, we drank coffee and tea, munched on sweet, fresh tomatoes, crispy cucumbers, some delicious feta, and crusty bread. Best of all, we learned a lot about Turkey from our new friend, who told us to call him "Kevin" because it was easier to pronounce that his true name.

 

Kyle and I made up a story for Kevin, that included a tale about Kevin being a fugitive hiding out in Turkey. Kevin told us he speaks 7 languages and appeared to know everybody. He sells jewelry for his friend and tried to convince me to buy a $900 ring (I had to go into the shop after all the time and effort he spent talking to us during breakfast! I know Jasmine would do the same). When we asked him to take a photo with us and the restaurant owner, we took several photos and Kevin did not look at the camera in any of the shots! He was my Turkish mystery man.

 

Sometimes food can create stories, but in this case, the food tasted better because of the stories, thanks to Kevin and this Aladdin-like land.

 

Happy Eating,

Emi