Playing Frogger in Hanoi

This time a year ago, we went on a blissful trip to Asia for a few weeks.  Our arrival to Vietnam wasn't the smoothest.  Despite being a huge planner and researcher before any trip, I somehow missed the fact that Vietnam requires a visa to enter the country.  While everyone else was getting out their organised folders and  visa photos as our flight descended into Hanoi, we began calmly breaking a sweat and pondering the delicacies of Vietnamese prison food.  Thankfully, the airport mercifully offers an "expedited visa," with a very formal process of looking you up and down and naming their price... I'll call this the idiot tax - if you're that stupid to get to the airport without a visa, you rightfully owe the idiot tax.

Crisis expensively averted, we held on for dear life in the taxi to our hotel.  Despite a mild mention of the swarms of motorcycles, Lonely Planet couldn't have prepared me for the chaos that was Hanoi.  Stepping out of the hotel was like a very advanced game of Frogger for people with a death-wish.  We were advised to walk confidently at a constant but slow pace and cars / motorcycles would drive around you. Here's some demonstrations - none performed by me or my now-husband as we never quite mastered the art of crossing a street in Hanoi.   An estimated 30 people die per day in Hanoi due to road accidents.  This video we took explains why (watch the various people take a leisurely stroll across!):

Street chaos aside, Hanoi was an enjoyable place to begin our exploration of Vietnam.  The food and nightlife were excellent - with some very memorable meals.

In search of the highly-reputed street food of Hanoi, we sought out Bun Bo Nam Bo - famous for the one dish on offer - Bun Bo, a bowl of rice noodles, beef, lots of fresh herbs, bean sprouts, fried onions, crushed peanuts and a small amount of beef broth.  Locals and tourists lined up for this dish and sat side by side at long tables.  You wait your turn, order (one? two? five?), then sit at the table until a hot bowl of Bun Bo is placed before you.  There's no atmosphere to soak up - just a functional cafe to feed hungry, busy people as they buzz through the day.  But that doesn't mean there isn't time to sit there and savour every morsel of the Bun Bo and wash it down with a Bia Hanoi - the local brew.

Haven't yet tried to replicate this dish yet - but I think it's high-time I did! 

Cheesterdam

Last month, my husband and I had a weekender in Amsterdam.  While we'd both been there before, we'd never been there together and thought it'd be a fun little getaway.  It was a really nice trip and we managed to take in lots of great sights, meandering among the beautiful canals and wandering through some museums...

 

Tilting our heads at all the slanted buildings and interesting creative license used in architecture and street art...

 

And tasting the delicious cheeses the Dutch have to offer - YUM!  Bring on the aged Gouda!
We came across the mother of all cheese shops - De Kaaskamer van Amsterdam.
If I ever own a cheese-shop, this is the template!!

 Amsterdam is a lovely place for a relaxing weekend - until next time, Proost!!

 

Alto Adige - Exploring the Italian Dolomites

I only first heard of the Dolomites in north-eastern Italy in 2009 when a travel program happened to be on tv in the US while I was visiting my family in Dallas, Texas.  Stunning jagged mountains caught my eye and I had to stop and watch the rest of the program to find out where this dramatic landscape was.  I mentally put them on my list of places to go, noncommittally, someday.  But then, 6 months later, my eye was again caught by a picture on the cover of Food and Travel – an old church atop a hill, with a breathtaking view of mountains in the background.  “Gourmet travels in the Dolomites,” it read.  

I indulgently popped a copy in my trolley and savoured every word I read about the Alto Adige region in Italy.  It turns out that the scenery isn’t the only draw for this region.  With 4 Michelin stars in an area spanning 20km, this mountainous region in northeast Italy has become a hotbed of culinary acumen.

The Trentino-Alto Adige region was originally part of the Austrian Empire, only turned over to Italy as of 1919.  As you drive around, you don’t feel you’re in Italy as much of the Austrian influence has remained.  Often, signs are posted in three languages – Italian, German, and Ladin, a local language of the autonomous region.  Alta Badia, the valley in which we stayed, consists of 6 small villages, all linked by a very large network of hiking trails.  The towns are Corvara, Colfosco, La Villa, San Cassiano, Badia (Pedraces), and La Valle.  Our hotel (Hotel Ustaria Posta - my review here) was in Badia (also known as Pedraces), perfectly located in between quite a few other towns of Alta Badia and right next to the La Crusc/Santa Croce lift.  By happy coincidence, this lift took us up to that lovely church atop the hill I’d originally seen on the Food and Travel cover.  Here's our own pic of it:

As far as I could see, there are few well-written guides on this region, so much of our understanding of it happened in real-time.  On the plus side, it made for lots of adventurous trailblazing and spontaneous discoveries.  However, we did sometimes feel quite blind, and quite a few of the things we sought out landed us at a dead-end.  We learned a ton about the region and already plan to go back, but I’m happy to share a few helpful tips we sure wish we’d known prior to booking our trip. 

1)  If you’re going for hiking AND the food, go anytime from last week of June through to early/mid-September (the driest month for hiking is September).  Alto Adige essentially shuts down between its ski season and summer hiking season.  We went the first week of June which is within this “in-between” period.  What was great about this time of year was that there were very few tourists there – at times, we felt we had the mountains and lakes all to ourselves!  However, this also meant that:

a.       Most of the chair lifts were still closed (this limited the hikes we could elect to do). Thankfully the Santa Croce lift was one of the few that had just opened.

b.      A majority of the mountain refuges (which are speckled all over the mountains as excellent places to stop and rest during a long day hike or overnight hike) were closed

c.       Most restaurants were also closed, including all three restaurants that have Michelin Stars (they all opened June 24^th), so our gourmet experience was a little more of a mission than we’d expected it to be. 

d.      The weather was fairly temperamental – every day it rained, though it typically had sunny spells as well so we managed a hike every day of the week

2)     Be prepared for rain.  Even if you go in August/September, it’s likely you’ll have rain at least some days.  We didn’t bring truly waterproof hiking clothes and ended up spending a small fortune on proper, good quality waterproofs

3)     You’ll need to buy hiking maps when you get there… most trails are not well marked, especially if it’s not one of the most popular hikes.  You can find these in places like sports supplies shops.  Tobacco maps are renowned as the most up to date and you can buy different ones for the various mountain networks you are interested in hiking.  

4)     Buses and Taxis – Badia/Pedraces was the smallest of the villages in terms of restaurants/shops and we therefore liked to explore some of the other towns as well, especially for dining in the evening.  We took a few buses as well as taxis (since we both fancy wine with our dinner and didn’t want to drive).  The buses only ran once an hour and stopped running around 19:30 (they might operate more frequently during the official summer season though).  We could take a bus to one of the other villages in the early evening, but then we had to take taxis back to our hotel.  As Alto-Adige valley is quite small and there aren’t so many tourists to warrant countless taxis servicing the area, it does mean that taxis can charge quite a premium.  A taxi from La Villa to Badia (3.5km) was €25… ouch!

Despite coming at a “wrong” time, like I said, the upside was that we felt like we were the only ones there.  We discovered some incredible foods (speck and gorgonzola pizza is my new favourite), 

had countless memorable picnics (some dry, some not so dry) with gorgeous views, 

and were spoiled for choice of hikes around emerald lakes (Lago di Braies, our favourite lake, below), 

 

(Lago di Braies - with a lovely place right at the start/finish to have a bratwurst and bier... yes, we're still in Italy!)

We fell in love with this beautiful, delicious, and relatively less-discovered region in Italy.

I think a repeat visit will have to be in the not-too-distant future.

Digging in the Dirt... in Piedmont

Truffle hunting has been on my mental “must do while living in Europe” list for quite a few years… which is why I was ecstatic when I finally found a set of friends who wanted to give it a go?

What’s not to love about the concept of following a pig or a dog around in the woods all day and digging in dirt.

We found a lovely house for the 7 of us atop a small hill in a very small town in Piedmont where we stayed for 4 glorious nights in October, prime-time truffle season.

We met our truffle hunter and translator at 7am in Alba, where we then followed him by car to his top secret truffle hunting grounds.  Shhhhh

                                       

A few in our group had researched truffle hunting prior to our trip and were slightly worried by some people who’d said that it was obvious that the hunter simply “planted” a few truffles for his dog to find, but that it was more of a “theory” based hunt versus an actual, found-for-the-first-time-fresh truffle hunt.   So we were a little deflated upon hearing our guide, after a few steps out of the car, say that it was a little late in the day for truffle hunting and that you typically will have more success very early (4 or 5am) in the morning.  He therefore warned that we may not find any truffles on our hunt and he had planted 2 truffles to make a simulation just in case we didn’t come across any during our time together.  Hmmm

So seven eager, slightly anxious wellington-clad people followed the translator, the truffle hunter, and his trusted canine, Lila (renamed Truffie by our group) into a hazelnut grove.

Truffie was off running between the trees... every once in a while, the truffle hunter whistling or chanting to her in Italian (Perhaps, "Psstt - I planted it just over there!!").

Soon after we arrived in the grove, she was digging in one spot.  Before most of us could run over to where she was, the truffle hunter was pushing her away and enticing her with a treat so that he could then show us the next step – digging up the truffle.

 I hadn’t counted on how delicate the digging process is – but if you dig too close to the actual truffle, you could easily damage it.  So you dig around it, slowly and patiently, with a small tool until the soil around it is loosened enough to pull the truffle out.  The truffle hunter taught us how to dig up the first one and we were all quite merry to have seen the whole process.  

                                       

One of the crew had brought a flask filled with sloe gin, and poured some for our new-found hero, the truffle hunter, and the man who helped us to understand him, his translator.

Amazing how sloe gin can inspire a far more prolific truffle hunt!  Within minutes, we were following the three of them to another hazelnut grove – most likely his REAL hunting turf.  There we found endless truffles.  Each one of us had the pleasure to dig up one of our own!  An incredible experience – quite fun to be so hands-on and learn so much about one of my favourite indulgences.

Smells like truffle!

 How can something that looks like this taste so delicious??

Once we all had had a turn in digging up a truffle that Truffie had found for us (just by simply sniffing around the grove), we said our grazies and arrivedercis... but not before purchasing a handful of our day’s work (well, two hours' work to be fair) in the grove.  We later found a lovely shop in Alba with homemade pastas and enjoyed the feasts of our labour later that night, accompanied by a spot or three of Barbera d'Alba.  Mmmmm

Food Discovery from Italia

On a quick weekend away to Rome, we had a lovely dinner in the Trastavere district.  An antipasti plate came with the typical fare of meats, olives and cheeses - but there was one unique combination I'd never tried before.
   

Pecorino with truffle honey - it's a revelation!  Such an incredible combination of flavours - the Pecorino, a hard, salty, ewe's milk cheese ... mixed with the sweet (yet savoury) taste of truffle honey.  We picked up a jar of truffle honey while in Rome now serve this winning combo as a nice starter for dinner parties.   The best part is that such a small amount of effort (chopping up some cheese and spooning honey from a jar) can deliver such a big wow factor!
It's the first time we've successfully replicated the exact food we've had while on holiday.  Enjoy!

When in France...

Some good friends who are planning their honeymoon just asked for some tips on France.  I figured I might as well pop it up on the newly formed blog!:

For a short driving holiday in France, there's nothing better than taking in two of the best regions for both wine and cheese..... Champagne and Burgundy.  Take the car ferry from Dover to Calais and first take in some sights and imbibe some local potions from Champagne.

While I can't highly recommend the hotel where we stayed for its romantic atmosphere or memorable views, I can recommend it for its location right next to a champagne house, its ode to frugality, and its Spartan decor.
This Hotel Porte Mars was in a walkable location to the centre of Reims and offered parking close-by so we could keep an eye on all the wine stored in the boot!  We didn't have the chance to stay in Epernay (everything was fully booked when we were headed there) but I have heard that it's quite a nice place to stay - and walking distance to some of the big champagne houses.... we made a trip there to Moet et Chandon... it was nice to see the caves underneath Epernay and any of the big champagne houses would give you this chance.

Here's two champagne makers we really liked:
Henry Bourdelat - not to be confused with the other Bourdelat just across the road from this one.  This is a small family-owned business, as most of them are... We knocked on the door and it a took a while for anyone to come as Henry and his mother and father were in the middle of labelling  bottles downstairs in the basement.  Henry junior walked us all around explaining how they make champagne - thankfully my partner speaks French but I think Henry can speak a little bit of English (enough to give you a tasting!).... he ages his champagne for far longer than the legal minimum most big champagne houses use....  his champagne's delicious and we left with many cases.
Here is their website which might help find them.
They were sweet enough to pose for a photo:

Also Waris Larmandier - not only do they have excellent champagne (including a nice blanc de blancs - made from 100% Chardonnay grapes) - but their bottles are hand painted and each one is like a piece of art!  Sadly the husband of this family business passed away about a year ago - he was the mastermind behind the champagne-making and now his brother (also very knowledgeable) has been pitching in to continue to business... The wife is an artist and this is why there are such beautiful bottles.  Here is their site


While in Champagne, you're really close to the home of Epoisses cheese - a glorious wash-rind cheese.... buy some, leave it at room temperature for 2 hours, cut the lid of it off and dip in with bread, veg or fingers - delicious, fondue-like cheese. The St Marcelin was also a standout.  Both are terrific for picnics.

Cheese Glorious Cheese!!!
                                                  

Making sure to buy our cheeses, meats and breads before the shops closed, we had quite a few picnics - it was easy enough to find a hilltop and a view.  We also hired bikes one day in Cluny and had a great time biking along a flat green path.

 (We cycled from Cluny to Cormatin - our curiosity somehow took us on some wrong turns and we ended up cycling through a big industrial bakery!... looking at the map every now and again probably would be helpful)

Next head down to Burgundy... Beaune is a lovely town to stay in.. if you decide to stay overnight - definitely dine at Cheval Noir - my review here.

The vineyards in Burgundy are plentiful as are the various regions - it can be pretty intimidating due to how many little regions there are.  A book that really helped us to know which regions sounded good for our tastes was: French Wines by Robert Joseph (Eyewitness Companions). We also used it when we came back with all our wine - as it tells you how many years wine from various regions should be put down before you drink it.... some regions are drinkable quite young but some really need 3-10 years before they are at their best. We enjoyed wines from Cote de Nuits Villages, Nuits St Georges, Macon, Meursault for whites, Morgon for reds, Pommard, Saint Amour, Volnay, Vosne Romanee... and the whites on the Aloxe Corton are quite good - though we could only afford a few of those! - These were the regions that worked for our taste, but again - the book explains what each small region offers and then you can choose which places are best for you.

As you continue further South, you likely will pass through an unassuming big town called Tournus.  One of the best meals we had in France was at an off-the-beaten-track resto across the river there.
First explore the town, but then definitely drive across the river and enjoy an incredible lunch here.

But for le grand finale of your trip, I'd recommend staying in St Amour at the Auberge du Paradis - a bit of a splurge but worth it!

It's just lovely and you must book one night, if not two, at their restaurant which is memorably delicious.



Bon appetit et Bon Voyage!