barry + breakfast + deutschland!

(it has fruit in it so it must be healthy, right?!)

guten tag!

breakfasts were so varied in germany, that i've broken this down into 2 posts. today, we're looking at a traditional bavarian brunch, with some cake thrown in for good measure. perhaps you'll be inspired for your own sunday get-together? it's easy enough to head down whyte, pick up some weisswurst, weissbier and have a family wurst showdown. ;)

i tried to tie this in with edmonton dining week menus, but the closest germanic influence i found was cafe lacombe doing a saskatoon berry strudel for their dessert. really? come on guys.

(how is it that almost one year later i can still tell you that here we have an egg nog, bavarian fruit bombe, austrian sachetorte, champagne and spanish vanilla selection?)

(for anyone headed over to bavaria, make a special stop in freising to naschwerk for some truly awesome cake.)

(apparently one way to eat weisswurst is to suck the meat out of the casing. oddly enough, none of the guys wanted to demonstrate this.)

also, please note the BASKET of pretzels. one basket is not enough.

(this is meatloaf. i don't even know what to say to that.)

barry's breakfast series continued...

(so. much. cod.)

take 2: lisbon, portugal

breakfasts i wish i was eating now continues in portugal where they have a massive obsession with salted cod...sure.

BUT fried cod fritters, egg tarts and cherry liquor totally work for me. you can find some wicked egg tarts right here in edmonton (including at the italian centre) to start your own breakfast foods journey.

if you're following along with edmonton dining week, might i suggest pairing your portugese breakfast stylings with sabor divino for lunch: they're serving cod!

(belem egg tarts and cod fritters: a winning combination.)

sweet and savoury,
with a depth of flavour.
my love of fried things :)

(a ginjinha liquor. very lisboan.)

a 10am start
could only be completed
with cherry liquor.

(seriously? even in the graffiti?)

barry attempts to explore florence's mercato centrale...

...and is at a loss of where to begin. so i think i'll break this up into a couple of posts.

bustling with locals and tourists alike, the mercato caters to all tastes. luckily, i was there on a private food tour with angel walking tours, and so was able to enjoy stuffing my face with delicious goodies in relative peace. our guide, Samanta, started us off with a "small" selection of italian antipasti and wine (can you already tell that this is going to be good?!). everything was local, fresh, and told a history of the region that made you wish that all history lessons you had in grade school had a sample involved, because you would actually remember what you learned. i'll try to impart just a fraction of the wisdom i learned, and leave it to you to discover the rest on your own food adventures.

can i just say that i love cheese? i've been smitten with it for years, but would never have thought to serve it straight up with huge dollops of raspberry jam and orange-onion marmelade. DO IT. a staple around florence, and with so many sheep in the countryside, both fresh and aged pecorino cheese is the only way to go when sampling tuscan cuisine.

how can you tell a florentine salami from a venetian, or even a hungarian? no, this isn't some dirty joke, there really is a way. just look at how big the fat bits are. florentine ones will have larger fat bits, and lots of black peppercorns. other sausages will have smaller bits closer together. eccola! with info like this, you're going to be a hit at all the cool kids parties!

let's talk carbs, shall we? or more specifically, tuscan bread. no, i'm not talking about the soft, fluffy stuff they serve at olive garden with their mozzarella fonduta, but instead, the saltless wretch that tries to rip you teeth out of your mouth when you take a bite of it. ah...THAT bread.

for years florence and their rival (well, one of their rivals), pisa, went after each other in anyway that they could to get the upper-hand, and one thing that the pisani had access to that the florentines did not was the harbour...and salt. by heavily taxing salt headed for florence, almost no one in the city could afford to puchase this basic seasoning. the result: a new bread weapon...um, recipe, that was salt-free. ha! take that pisa!

i don't like olives. argh! i can practically hear you judging me. i do like olive oil if that makes you feel any better. no, these olives were not the typical olives you'd find at the corner store in edmonton. they were fresh, and done in a simple brine to keep as much of their fresh flavouring in. it also made them more meaty than other olives i've tried. tuscany is brimming with olive trees, and you'll find their fruit and their oil in almost everything. we were also educated in what to look for in a good olive oil. 1) make sure it's cold pressed, and 2) the freshest olive oils will be a murky green. the longer they sit, the clearer, and paler in colour (towards the yellow many here are used to) they become.

what would italian cuisine be without a little garlic? i ate these. raw. well, pickled. and surprise, surprise, i did not create a 10-foot barrier around me with my breath. sweet with almost no after taste, these suckers were probably my biggest surprise on this tour.

i also don't like sun-dried tomatoes. calm down, calm down! if i WERE to like any though, it would definitely be these. packed in good olive oil to be carefully preserved with love, these ruby jewels were crammed with enough flavour to work over your tastebuds as you chewed. only the best plum tomatoes are to be used - use the tomato-flavoured olive oil with salads!

20 year aged balsamic vinegar. you know all those trendy restaurants that started serving strawberries decked out in balsamic? yeah...they're doing it wrong. good balsamic vinegar should be sweet and almost syrup-like in consistency. anything less is just gross fwhen you're using it for dessert or appetizer toppings. try drizzling the good stuff over strawberries, ice-cream (really.) or, like we did, freshly shaved parmesan.

barry reflects on gelati in all it's glory.

and oh how glorious it is!

i'm sure, just like anything, there must be bad gelati in italy, but i'm guessing it's really difficult to find. instead of having the good, the bad and the ugly while sampling my way through the frozen concoctions presented to me, i experienced the good, the better and the oh-my-god! varieties of gelati.


i tried the traditional milk gelati, the sorbetti, new-fangled soy and even a granita or two. all were created using the best ingredients, and all delighted the senses in ways that should not be legal without a prescription.

the great thing about gelati that we get less and less of in north america, is that it tastes real: peach gelato tastes like fresh peaches, not like some chemical compound created to mimic what a peach tastes like. unlike those of us who live in a world where mad science experiments such as the grapple exist and are for sale, italians are sticking to fresh ingredients and some places, like perche no!, even follow the slow food regulations, exponentially increasing their deliciousness factor.

even better than freshness - the flavours are RIDICULOUS. sure there's peach or the ever-present national obsession of nutella, but how about pine nut or toasted sesame and honey or even ricotta and fig (thank snoopy's in cortona for that gem of a flavour)?

so for your next gelati summit meeting, might i suggest firenze's:

vivoli for some really good gelati, such as their peach

perche no! for some truly outstanding delights (the tiramisu flavour will make you want to weep)

and after a quick road trip to the south, gelateria snoopy in cortona for mind blowing tastes where the ricotta and fig is just the beginning.

barry gives you a sneak peek...

...of strange and often wonderful european delights.

one month, five countries, and some might say too much wine (but not me, because that is crazy talk). stay tuned for more shortly, but here are a few pics to whet your appetite.