Caprese Salads

Jenn made this wonderful caprese salad the other day, a perfect for a warm summer evening. And here's another one from a few days ago — Yes the tomatoes really were orange, but tasted sweet and delicious. Simple, healthy — a little work of art.

Sliders In Berkeley

Jenn discovered this new grass-fed burger place in downtown Berkeley. Phils Sliders — really tiny burgers that are pretty darn tasty. You need about three to equal a traditional burger, and we're not sure of the advantages, other than the novelty factor. The tater tots are their signature dish — more like very crispy hash browns in more of a block shape. Very good, but we couldn't help thinking that this place would be even better if they served full size burgers instead.

Japanese Small Plates

Our standby everytime we go to Tanto is the Sashimi Salad.Refreshing, healthy and delicious. We've varied the other dishes with each visit, and most are very good. Quite a cosy place to be as well — Here's Jenn sitting at the counter.

Scarlet Feast

Spotted this delectable platter of bright red lobsters on a sidewalk serving cart in London last summer. Not sure if the restaurant/catering establishment was merely using it as a lure for business or if it was being delivered somewhere. I'm pretty sure they weren't free samples for public use though!

Chicken Curry Fest at home

A pukkha Sri Lankan style Chicken Curry feast laid out in my breakfast nook. I made the very spicy chicken curry while Jenn expertly whipped up a cucumber and tomato salad the perfect complement. She had prepared the savory cabbage stir fry earlier, that was also excellent.

Whipped Cream

It doesn't take much to whip up your own cream - just a lot of wrist action. And since you're in control, you can add less sugar than the pre-made stuff, for a delectable and slightly more healthy desert topping.

Sweet Sipping

Fresh cup of tea, at home. Nothing takes me back to the feeling of being back in Sri Lanka like the aroma and taste of Ceylon tea, prepared in the native style - Loose leaf tea, very strong, with sugar and sweetened condensed milk added.

Can't Fail Cafe is Right!

This place consistently serves up some of the greatest breakfasts in the Bay Area. Across the street from Pixar, Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Emeryville serves a range of diner fare but especially excells at Breakfasts. Lately I always order the Eggs Blackstone, a variation of the familiar Eggs Benedict but with regular bacon substituted. A wonderfully light Hollandaise sauce, with just a hint of lemon and chopped chives on top. What a combination of flavors and textures - the crunch of bacon, the perfectly poached eggs, the slight sour notes of the tomato slices, all on a crisp foccia bread foundation. Marvelous - Five stars! There's a dominant Heavy Metal theme in their typographical treatment, decor, and their staff, with hard pounding music blaring all the time, so be prepared. Try to get an outdoor table!

Full English Breakfast — Gentrified

Walked to this little neighborhood sidewalk bistro close to where we were staying in Wimbledon — a place called "The Butcher and Grill" right on the High street. I ordered the Full English breakfast and it turned out to be a very refined, upscale version of the standard fare — delicious without being too heavy. Carol ordered Bangers and Mash which was served with dark gravy and was on the heavy side.

Dutch Modernism

We were quite exhausted by the time we drove back to Amsterdam, and decided that instead of braving the chaos of the city center we would stay on the more sedate outskirts somewhere. We found this massive modern edifice — The Novotel — and it served the purpose very well. I guess we werent the only ones with that plan - a lot of families and tourist used this ads their home base for the convienient trms line into the city. We appreciated its stimulating modern styling, and also the high quality, well-prepared food. A little expensive for what it was though.

Bavarian Bread Bounty

Walked by this window laden with baked goods in the German town of Fussen right near the Austrian border.

A Little Italian in Bavaria

Most of the restaurant food we had in Germany was hit-and-miss — the meals tended to be meatier, saucier, and and generally heavier than we'd experienced elsewhere in Europe. But we struck gold in Bavarian town of Fussen. La Perla, an italian restaurant that happened to be the only place open late, was spectacular. Wonderful, flavorful food, in bounteous proportions. Being from the San Francisco bay area, we pride ourselves on knowing good Italian food, and La Perla delivered. So good we came back for dinner the following night!

Highly recommend visiting the charming town of Fussen, most famously known for the Neuschwanstein castle nearby. Curiously, in spite of it being a tourist town they don't have laundromats anywhere near there (and boy did we try).

Curry Worse!

Somewhere in Germany we were hungry. And this is what we got — my plate was loaded with something called Curry-Wurst — a very long Bratwurst with some strange, sweet sauce slathered over it. I was too hungry to quibble and ate it all. Carol's meal looked a lot more appealing.

Bread Basket in Cortina

We raced up the Italian Alps to escape the searing, humid heat of Venice and ended up in the stunningly beautiful area around the town of Cortina. While kicking back at a shaded outdoor table in town, I was struck by the eclectic variety of of breads they brought out to accompany the meal. Several cuts above the standard dried out table slices. Pretty soon it started to drizzle so we had to rush inside. I don't recall what the rest of the meal was like — I suspect pretty germanic generic.

The Color of Venice

A confectioners window in Venice. One of the many vividly colorful sights you see in passing through the tight passages between the buildings.

Italian Food, Finally!

We eagerly crossed over the border from France today, more than ready for some good Italian cuisine. We were looking forward to a break from the rather heavy French cuisine from the last week (enough duck already!) and this restaurant did not disappoint. It was one of the few places still serving lunch after 2 pm when we pulled up to the Ligurian coastal town of Santa Margherita - one of the prettiest places in all of Italy, in my opinion. (We often seem to be running late for meals on this trip — I thought the Europeans were supposed to eat on the late side?) Lunch turned out great, even though it consisted of relatively standard dishes. Topped off with a massively oversized carafe of white wine, this afternoon turned out to be one of the most pleasant of the whole vacation.

Salade D"Avignon

Another hot day of siteseeing in France — the castle compound at Avignon. I guess one has to make the effort to check it out, but I much preferred the cool, crisp salad we had afterwards. A great way to recover from the heat and relax afterwards.

Pumped Up Tomato

An explosively ribbed tomato I bought from a village market in the Dordogne this morning.

Rural France

Driving through rural France we started wondering were we could find a decent restaurant for a late lunch. Stumbled across the Cheval Blanc (White Horse) and ended up having a spectacular meal. We didn't realize what a feast we were in for - a lot more food than we expecting.


They had a fixed menu that sounded rather good — to start we were each served a duck and bacon "salad" which was delicious but was so rich and filling to should have been a main course. The salads were followed up with excellent entrees that we had to really struggle to consume.


When we felt we were on the edge of bursting, the desserts arrived. Well we couldn't just leave them there, going to waste. FInally expresso coffees were served — a welcome stimulant. We staggered outside, and forced ourselves to walk about town for a stretch, hoping the huge feast would work it's way through the system. Maybe we skip dinner tonight!

Light lunch in the Château de Chantilly

After an wonderful tour of the grounds and galleries of this elaborate palace a short distance outside Paris, we descending to the lower floor and had a pleasantly simple fixed menu lunch. Such fresh simple flavors — Another one of our best meals ever in France.