Flying Time Intermezzo: Philadelphia

Apologies for lightposting (again)! I hope I can make it up by starting this blog post with wonderful Chinese food.



Last weekend was time for our biweekly get together, this time in Philadelphia. Our only goal for this weekend was to have good food. We succeeded with flying colors. On Saturday evening we went to Barbuzzo (no pics), where inspired Mediterranean food was prepared with balls and love. We had wonderful trout, meatballs, acorn squash and bread pudding.

Then for breakfast the next morning, we went to Chinatown, specifically Heung Fa Chun Sweet House. We asked what was good, and got a soft tofu and a noodle dish. The soft tofu dish (first pic) was out of this world!



Then it was time for some mind food, so we visited the Rodin museum.

One more food pic: we then went to Bud & Marilyn, which is advertised as retro-American. This fried chicken was another big hit.



Another biweekly get together that worked out terrifically!

Day 1: To Edmund-Graf Hütte

So, after arriving by train...



... eating the usual Austrian breakfast with Semmeln...



... and a Kochei...



... we finally started hiking...



... ending the day with the usual Kuchen and beer.

In numbers: 3:42h, 7.6 km, 1247 m ascent, 117 m descent.

Perfect Weekend

This weekend we managed to combine everything we like into one trip. We went to "Little" Washington in Virginia, where Michelin has given one of the local restaurants two stars. We did not go to that restaurant, but somehow this means that there is a amalgamation of good restaurants in that neighborhood. We had some incredibly good food, with interesting wine pairings.



We slept in a friendly bed and breakfast, serving good breakfast.

And then we went on a serious hike (that we have done before): Old Rag Mountain.

After Cuban food in Richmond, we then went to a concert where Philip Glass and four other pianists played Philip Glass's Etudes. A really perfect weekend.

The end is in sight

No, not the end of this road, dummy! Only two more weeks, and then our time of separation is over. 

During this time, I have learnt to make my own breakfast...
 

... and Tiroler Gröstl...



 I was in charge of the yard...

 
and in charge of photography...

 



(yes, that is my finger that you see on the top right.)

So far, this semester has been busy so I was never bored, but this weekend was kind of quiet work-wise, so I went for a bike ride.

  It turns out, it is only 25 minutes to here:
 

Although you do have to pass this:

 
 ... and this
 

All these crosses have always freaked me out (and to be honest, the three crosses have always reminded me of the KKK).

 

Today's bike ride was informative as well as quite gorgeous, and I found out that the land-and-farm-with-too-many-crosses are in fact part of the National Memorial to the Progress of the Colored Race in America founded by Lightfoot Solomon Michaux.

 That just goes to show that I still don't understand s**t about this part of the world.

Breakfast in Amsterdam

While we were in Amsterdam, Ellen and Christiaan came to hang out with us. Even Willem joined us for an incredible breakfast at restaurant Gartine.



Hmmmm, pancakes....

Healthy Waffle

Blackberries for vitamin C, and cream for vitamin D. Another balanced breakfast!

YAW (Yet Another Waffle)

Cheese Waffle today. (Can you tell it is spring break?)

Williamsburg Waffling

Whatever you do, do not do a Google image search for "Blue Waffle".

Waffle Breakfast

We copied what we learned in The Pig and made a waffle with egg and bacon, and some maple syrup.

Blackwater Falls

Forgot to post these pictures from our trip to West Virginia.



Ellen has already returned home. Here you can find some blog posts about her visit on her excellent blog.



This was the energy bomb we enjoyed for breakfast in the park: a baked apple pancake, which must have been covered in sugar before it was put in the oven. Surprisingly good!

The Pig

Tuncay knew that we needed to have brunch at The Pig before moving on to West Virginia.

After the amazing Little Pig Platter, consisting of three types of cold cuts (two of which are pictured above), bread, dates and olives, both A and I were very much looking forward to the waffle with charred pork belly, as we could not imagine what that would be like.



It was awesome.



Ellen had another favorite: eggs Benedict; and Tuncay had the amazingly tasty pork cheeks. I just had dinner, but am getting hungry just thinking about all this.

Breakfast of Hikers

And so it begins... in a beautiful pension in Neustift, where we ate Semmeln to gain strength for the next couple of days.

Tibetan Food

The more interesting food we had in Xiahe, we ate in Nomad Restaurant, which served nomad and Tibetan food. Pictured above was the pinnacle of nomad food: Tsirzin. It is made of yak cheese, butter and sugar. Yak cheese has a very distinct flavor that you either love or hate. On further reflection, I actually wonder whether there exist people who love it.



This yak meat, on the other hand, was very delicious.



You cannot go wrong with oliebollen...



... or cucumber.



I heard you wondering aloud where the momos were, after I announced Tibetan food. Here they are.



Another dish with yak.



Also, Tibetan breakfast.



The ingredients of momo combined in a different way.



I really loved this rice dish, both for lunch and dinner.