posted on November 2, 2000 01:37:27 AM new
17 years ago a friend & I were visiting the UK and one of the places we went to was Hay-on-Wye, just over the Welsh border. Nicknamed the "City of Books." We stayed at a little B&B and ate dinner down the road at a hotel restaurant. It was there I sampled something heavenly...something scrumptious...something I have dreamed about for the past 17 years with pleasure...
Raspberry Pie. Pie? Ambrosia! This piece of pie (& perhaps all pies in UK for all I know) was not at thick as pies here in the U.S. About 1/3 as thick. It was served with fresh clotted cream poured over it. Each bite was heaven! I've never tasted a pie as glorious as that one. Or indeed any other raspberry pie I really even liked all that much.
posted on November 2, 2000 04:00:36 AM new
pain au chocolate, the kosher Chinese resturant, spaghetti eis, pates(whole wheat and veggies), johnny cakes, rotis, gelato...
posted on November 2, 2000 04:15:07 AM new
I worked at a manor house/farm B&B on the Devon coast, and used to bake 15 dozen scones a week in the house's big Aga. Didn't take the recipe with me when I left (duh), and haven't found anything similar. We used to serve them in the rose garden with clotted cream and jam from our neighbor's farm. Nothing comes closer to heaven, unless it's the Peshawari nan, palak paneer and sweet lassi I used to get at one place near the Old Vic.
posted on November 2, 2000 04:50:58 AM new
Soupe du Pistou while smelling the sea breeze of the mediterranean, fois gras anywhere in Paris,
buying any and all pastries at Gerard Mulot and then eating them in the nearby Jardin de Luxemborg, Chocolate du Maison, hot croisants and steaming cafe at Cafe de Flore.
{{{{{sigh}}}}}
posted on November 2, 2000 05:12:27 AM new
Mystery meat on a stick. Grilled to perfection on sidewalk hibachis by Panamanian street urchins and sold to knee-walking drunk GI's at 3AM outside sleazy off-limits soldier bars.
Best accompanied by Seco con Squirt, a refreshing local concoction vaguely reminiscent of sweetened rubbing alcohol with just a hint of turpentine.
.....to die for!!!!!!
A post-prandial session of driving the porcelain bus was an inevitable consequence of such gourmet indulgence but it did wonders to refresh the palate for another go.
posted on November 2, 2000 05:48:14 AM new
Calamari in Gibralter,
Spagetti Carbonara in Sicily, and
Tacos on the street corner in Tijuana (Don't know what was in them and didn't ask but they were excellent)
posted on November 2, 2000 06:17:57 AM new
Not exactly a food, but
Guiness in Ireland. It just doesn't taste the same anywhere else.
I also miss the dunkel weizenbier in Germany.
posted on November 2, 2000 07:39:44 AM new
mhodge99 - You're a very brave soul. ("Tacos on the street corner in Tijuana (Don't know what was in them and didn't ask but they were excellent". In our early married years we went to TJ several times, but would never eat or drink while down there. Too many friends had and were 'unavailable' for the next few days.
posted on November 2, 2000 02:26:30 PM new
Mmmm yeah, definately agree, since it's a 'meal in itself', it counts as food.. guinness in a irish pub. {insert lip smacking sound here}
Also, welsh tea cakes, warm with the clotted cream and raisins. Yum.
posted on November 2, 2000 03:33:40 PM new
Xardon,I walked the same walk,Had the same meat on stick.It was good!Want to know what most of it was?
In London,Breakfast in the hotel was terrible,Everything boiled.I will never get
Over pork and beans for breakfast.A gastorus
start of the day Im guessing.
posted on November 2, 2000 03:47:59 PM new
From Turkey-
Tava
Borek(any and all)
Baklava
Fresh-baked ekmek(bread). There was a bakery outside the base and if the wind was right, we could smell the bread baking. That meant the tom had to go buy a loaf. Had to eat it all in one day, though. No preservatives were used so whatever was left over transformed from bread to a rock.
The Netherlands-
Pannekoeken
Marc's BBQ(the tom, the lucky stiff, is eating there this week)
posted on November 2, 2000 06:46:51 PM new
Oh gosh. Where to start.
cornish pasties and fish and chips and mushy peas from when I was in Ireland. And Murphy's Stout (better than Guinness!! It's Cork's claim to fame!)
crepes bought from a stand off the street in Avignon in southern France with drippy chocolate and powdered sugar
lemon gelato on a 105 degree day in Venice
some kind of amazing blueberry and crust and whipped cream dessert eaten at a Vienna restaurant on the Elizabethstrasse, served by a woman in traditional Viennese costume and costing something like 17 dollars for reasons that escape me now, but it WAS worth it
REAL Hungarian goulash (gulyas)from a restaurant in Budapest called the the Royal Crown and eaten during the 1998 World Cup Finals---my ears rang for days afterwards
tarte tatin hurriedly ordered in bad French and eaten most unpolitely with my fingers in a restaurant in Brittany while waiting for my boat back to Dublin
I could go on and on, but all I have for dinner are Swanson's chicken pot pies and it's making me depressed.
posted on November 2, 2000 06:47:01 PM newjunquemama,
At the time we did no small amount of speculating as to the origin of that meat. I don't recall that we much cared. The more horrible the source, in fact, the more we savored the experience. Monkey, Coati Mundi,
peccary, cat, dog, and rat were all suspect. It was probably nothing but the local brahma beef or maybe all of the above at one time or another.
It's likely the nostalgia is more for the time than for the food.
posted on November 2, 2000 09:09:27 PM new
Xardon,Im kidding,Did not have a clue to what
I ate on the stick.The cabbie talked me into having a couple,And he was a trust worthy
fella.He just wouldnt tell me what the meat was.However in old Mexico,I avoided the stick meats.Greek food is interesting,Some of it is
down right tastey.Ahhhhhh The old days.
posted on November 2, 2000 10:38:56 PM new
This is easy for me....every single bite of a seven course meal eaten at Sybylla, in Tivoli, just outside Rome (the REAL Tivoli, as the Italians say).
Best view I've had while eating, too. We were outside on the patio, sitting next to a Wisteria whose trunk was so large that we didn't recognise it as something other than a tree for an hour...over to the right was a waterfall with a lovely bridge, and to the left was a 2,000 year old temple that you could walk through.
It's supposed to be the oldest continuously running restaraunt; don't think it's changed hands for a good 350 years. It's cool..they have plaques on the wall that were signed by some of the more famous people that have eaten there: a couple of Napoleon Bonaparte's siblings, etc.
Oh, gotta agree about eating mystery tacos on streetcorners in Mexico, both Tijuana and Ensenada. Never got sick either....they were SO good!
Worst city for food: Copenhagen gets my vote. Ugh! If anyone offers you Smorrelbrod (sp?), run. Open face sandwiches with raw egg and pickled fish. You'd think they would at least put the second piece of bread on to hide what's in there.
posted on November 3, 2000 01:17:39 AM new
When we went to Mexico City, we had these dishes that were simple, but heavenly. I forget what they were called, but it was basically refied beans and white cheese on a french type bread. I never have been able to reproduce it, but have been close!
We also fell in love with pan dulce. It's kind of a generic term for pastries, like our danishes. They were so light and not too sweet. To die for! I can get it here in Phoenix, but they just aren't the same
posted on November 3, 2000 04:04:56 PM newLinda_K:
In our early married years we went to TJ several times, but would never eat or drink while down there.
That's a widely spread misconception. It's just not right to stereotype all Mexican food and/or water as diarrhea-inducing.
If you like to eat mystery tacos in a downtown corner, good luck, as even the locals can get sick on them, but if you go to a clean locale, where all regular people attend, theres no way to think that by eating there you'll get sick.
I would most likely get sick eating at Taco-Bell (who, by the way, there isn't an even slight similarity between Taco-Bell and real Mexican cusine) than eating on a regular Mexican restaurant.
posted on November 5, 2000 01:29:58 PM new
Bunnicula,
Toured Europe about 30 years ago and all I remember was (now this is stupid) the hard rolls and bread with butter. You could really get your teeth into it. I was in heaven. Other people on the tour loved the fish in Portugal but I hated fish then so I refrained. It would probably be a different story now.
posted on November 5, 2000 02:22:53 PM new
Darn it HCQ: you had to go and mention Indian food ! I've searched for lassi too over here , to no avail . Kefir doesn't come close ! Fjilmolk (sp) from Sweden 's on a par , but doesn't have any seasonings.
Everyone's so absorbed with chili spice in the U.S. that good curries are hard to find . I may even know the restaurant you mean ..terrible decor , full of glaring strip lights and formica , upstairs , where the silverware echoes etc. Not even a trace of fuzzy wallpaper and cheap carpeting like most U.K . Indian eateries . Near the Edgeware Rd. if I recall , after about 20 yrs !
And I know just what you mean about the Devonshire /Cornish clotted cream too ! When I was young , you could send it through the mail in little tin cylinders, unrefrigerated , and it was still good for a few days after that , stiff and yellow and perfect on scones with home made strawberry or damson jam. In fact , people wouldn't eat it too fresh , kind of like letting venison hang ! You'll never get the scones to taste the same here , by the way . The shortening's all wrong , although if you use non-fresh milk , just the hint of a tang , it'll help . Did you like yours with currants , or sultanas ? Ever try Eccles cakes , a very flaky short-pastry from Yorkshire stuffed with currants and liberally dusted with both coarse and powdered sugar ?
posted on November 5, 2000 02:51:50 PM new
Other things I miss:
From U.K.
Redcurrant crumble , gooseberry fool , gooseberry jam , ginger marmalade , Christmas pudding , Yorkshire pudding , Ribena (blackcurrant cordial ) Lucozade , good Indian food.
Sweden :
crayfish , smorgasbords , open-faced seafood sandwiches on coarse rye for breakfast , shrimp w/creamcheese in squeezeable tubes , bread and pastries baked with cardomomm , and snaps ( aquavit ) with all the above ; Ramlosa sparkling mineral water the day after .
Switzerland : Dark-chocolate flavored Swiss Roll soaked in kirsch , Ribella ( sparkling herbal soda ) real swiss cheese.
posted on November 5, 2000 03:38:58 PM new
Well, Toronto doesn't exactly count as "abroad", but it will have to do for the time being.
There is a hamburger joint in Toronto called "Licks". They make the best hamburgers I have ever had. We always make it a point to go there when in Toronto. We haven't been there is 3 years though, . They make a garlic mayonnaise that is to die for.
I can't remember the name of the street, but it is on the same side of the street as the Pantages Theater, just a block or two down, across from Eaton Place (before they folded). We usually stay at the Delta Chesea (sp) hotel, so Licks is close by. When hubby and I went to the Falls for our 19th anniversary in 1996, we drove up to Toronto just for lunch. When we took the kids to see Phantom in the summer of 1996, we introduced them to burgers at Licks as well.
I should say, the first time I went to Toronto with a friend of mine, it was 1991 I think. We found Licks by "smell". Coming out of the hotel, we smelled this wonderful aroma, then followed our noses 'til we found Licks. Mmmmmmmm!
posted on November 5, 2000 04:00:54 PM new
Everyone sez Irish food is terrible, you know....7 course meal =6 pack and baked potato. But we had wonderful food everywhere. Everything was fresh and not made in large quantities. I dream about it all, But the 2 things you absolutely can't duplicate here are the tea and Cadburys chocolate. And the one thing you probably don't want to duplicate here is their version of pizza.
cariad
Noah's last words: "damn woodpeckers"
posted on November 6, 2000 07:52:37 AM newpreacher4u Just now saw your post: "That's a widely spread misconception. It's just not right to stereotype all Mexican food and/or water as diarrhea-inducing."
I don't believe I stereotyped ALL Mexican food. I said how I felt about food served that is served on a street corner. I shared our friends personal experiences. My aunt and uncle, who lived in Brownsville, TX and crossed the boarder often, also experienced diarrhea different times when they had eaten in restaurants there. So please don't tell me it's a misconception.....or that it's not fair....it was reality for them.
[ edited by Linda_K on Nov 6, 2000 07:56 AM ]
posted on November 6, 2000 12:05:34 PM newpreacher4u - My initial post said, "In our early married years we went to TJ several times, but would never eat or drink while down there. Too many friends had and were 'unavailable' for the next few days."
Don't know why you're reading so much more into my short statement.
I referenced TJ, not the whole of Mexico. Although I would not eat or drink anything from any boarder town because of the experience of family and friends....my choice.
posted on November 10, 2000 06:36:39 PM new
I spent the summer in China while I was in college. What I miss:
canteloupe ice cream
honeydew ice cream
mango icecream (anything mango for that matter!)
fried wantons
Tiny Teddies (an Austrailian version of Teddy Grahms, but much tastier!)
I certainly do not miss fried spaghetti (which I ate entirely too much of because I was scared of mystery meat!) and I do not miss duck's blood (looked like grey jello!)
In college I lived next to a student from Algeria, and after Ramadan he had us all sample Algerian food. Man, that was good.
Also, I tutored a student from Slovikia. His family immigrated here. I loved Slovikian food -- I would have to say its my favorite ethnic food! His mother was a wonderful cook, and since I tutored him for free, I tried to schedule our sessions near dinner time!
I'm on the hunt of mango flavored jello in the us but have yet to find any.
. In our early married years we went to TJ several times, but would never eat or drink while down there. Too many friends had and were 'unavailable' for the next few days. 
