BonVivant

The plane was on time but we took off 25 minutes later than scheduled. Luckily we didn't miss our bus to our final destination. I was so dead tired and about to doze off then partner pointed at something big and black above a sea of clouds. Finally, we saw Mount Fuji! We did try on the very first trip to Japan but it was quite far away (in Hakone). Yep, that's Mt. Fujji poking its top through the puffy, cottony clouds. Almost there. Amami-Oshima island. Plane was about to make a turn. The runway is a man-made extension, like many islands, there's no real, totally flat surface that's naturally big enough for a commercial airport's runway. The flight was gentle and the landing was smooth (the 14 hour one to Tokyo was the same). I had a fright of my life flying from Guadalajara to La Paz (Baja Sur). I think the suicidal pilots busted the landing gear on touchdown, too. As soon as I exited the aircraft I was blown away by high heat. Thought Tokyo was hot (27C), on Amami it's boiling hot 31+. Immediately round the corner was a display of Amami island's shochu, one of its specialities. 2 more hours going through many very long tunnels in an old (70's?) bus to the other end of the island to reach my lodging. Bus got full very soon as it was time young students got out of school. Only saw students and elderly islanders use the bus. Everyone else uses own cars here. Staying at a "minshuku" (family-run small guesthouse with home-cooked meals) in rural Amami where public bus service is limited and no taxis. 15 minutes after our arrival dinner was served. OMG, rice 3 times a day. I don't eat rice at home but will make an exception for Japan. The owner cooks everything himself and presents it so beautifully, too! Tuna sashimi. Always begin with sashimi. Tuna is a speciality in this part of the island. There's a big tuna statue at the ferry port. Fried fish. Fatty fish just like salmon but flesh is completely white. This piece is the collar. Thought it was a type of melon, until I saw the inside, which was young aubergine. Tender and mellow Seaweed Soft tofu topped with crunchy, savoury seaweed. Strawberry conch. A common starter in the Amami archipelago. Fried fish paste next to the conch Miso soup with clams A piece of coral as chopstick rest and my first Amami shochu (made from sugarcanes, Amami-Oshima is the biggest producer, other Amami islands have their own versions, also made from sugarcanes.) More about this Amamian shochu. 3 days ago I was eating "Oktoberfest food" at home and now I'm eating home-cooked food on a tropical island far away. Where exactly is Amami archipelago? This is where the name of the thread comes from. In full it should be "The Other Japan - Strawberry conch, shochu and snorkeling". Japan's southernmost islands have their own cultures and languages. Their kingdom is now a part of Japan. If you listen to islanders when they speak with each other you'll notice it's not exactly Japanese. They speak own languages with each other, but of course Japanese is the administrative and commercial language. Map of languages spoken in the archipelagos. I always look forward to returning to this fascinating, complex, ENTHRALLING island nation. National Geographic Traveller magazine April 2023 issue. This is Japan's announcement of the official reopening of the country. Previous travel restrictions have been lifted. The unofficial number one on my list. One that never ceases to surprise and delight. Everywhere I go Everything I go Everyone I know There's no one like you In Tokyo.

London yesterday's morning, moments before touchdown. From here it's another 14 hour flight... Flying over Germany Good morning, Tokyo! Watching the sunrise from my comfortable seat (JAL/Japan Airlines). Long bridge that enters an underwater tunnel Konnichiwa, Tokyo! Have 4 hours to kill waiting for my connecting flight. I left home on the 27th and sill haven't reached my final destination. That'll be 7 hours from now, if I'm lucky. There's this thing at HND/Haneda airport that looks like a robo-mobility scooter. It goes round the terminal flashing its lights and making noises. Some children get on one for a ride. They all look so happy afterwards.

------------ #1 ------------ Plain Leberkäse with sharp mustard Liver dumpling in a creamy soup with chard A simple "Wurstsalat" ("sausage" salad) ------------ #2 ------------ Offal cold cuts with pickled silverskin onions Grated horseradish, pungent Styrian mountain cheese and a salad. ------------ #3 ------------ Roast chicken is one of Oktoberfest classics (at the fest you get half a bird). Red sauce is mojo picon from Lanzarote. Boiled or steamed bread dumplings in a creamy mushroom ragout is a typical Bavarian dish. This version is a not typical at all... mushrooms and sweetcorn cooked with a bit of cream, and the bread dumplings (previously cooked) are fried cuz I like a crispy crust sometimes. And now the beers, in my private "Wies'n" (="field")! 2 packs of Oktoberfest beer styles from different breweries. (Can you imagine yourself taking a pack of these home on the back of your bicycle? It's quite normal for us here to bring most things home on our bikes.) I enjoy checking out different beers each day FYI, this is the site of Oktoberfest the year it was cancelled. The world's biggest beer drinking event was cancelled due to Corona. Not once, but twice! Have been to the pumpkin farm 3 times now. 11 kilometres/6,8 miles from my house, first half of the way biking on country roads through a village, second half right through the woods, then exit to this country road to reach the farm (50m/55 yards) behind me). Second haul.

Thanks, @Duvel! Prost! Konstanz, 2014. No, I didn't do a bike tour.

It's time for Oktoberfest, but on a much smaller scale than Duvel's. Don't want to eat only "Oktoberfest food" every day for the next 2 weeks so there will be my normal food in between, too. Fried sliced bread dumpling with eggs. One of the ways Bavarians use up leftover dumplings. Peeling off the casing Raw red cabbage with cream. Sweet mustard for someone else and coarsely grated horseradish in cream for myself as I can't abide sweet mustard (I know it's "traditional"). Much better lighting when I ate this lunch, it was a warm and sunny day. Fried Leberkäse Matjes, masago (capelin roe) and apple mixed with quark. Liver dumpling in broth Potato salad. I cooked the potatoes together with a bunch of lovage stalks and then steeped them in a vegetable broth that's been boiled with lovage stalks in it so yeah, it's very lovage/Maggi intense in flavour. (Again, not very "traditional" kind of potato salad.) My last chunk of heavy Lithuanian black bread. (There's a small loaf of another type of Lithuanian black bread still in the freezer then it's really finished.) Oktoberfest in my private Biergarten. First box of Oktoberfest beer. And my first "haul" of the new pumpkin (and squash) season! In a row on the ground. (There are more pumpkins and squashes in the yard behind me). FYI, how to properly enjoy Weisswurst (the illustrations are easy enough to understand):

Summer decides to come back, who am I to say no?! It's very hot, though, but I'm not going to whinge. (Several meals in this post.) Matjes with pickled beetroot and quark. Lithuanian black bread and the rest of the spread. Smoked mackerel, boiled small waxy potatoes and salad (buffalo mozz). Cold beetroot pasta Broke the burrata when I tipped it over. Some snacks. Peanut flips from Polish supermarket. "Mexican style" here means a bit spicy. Oktoberfest is coming... (next weekend)

Always notice how people shop in certain places, in this case it's one of my regular Turkish grocers. Many Turkish shoppers picked out the best ones, and I followed. Turns out these figs are sweet, even though they are a bit pale inside. I said to the owner's daughter that one day I would go to Bursa in September just to eat figs. She went "oh wow, really? You know about Bursa figs?!". (FYI, Bursa, about 1 and 1/2 hours from Istanbul, is a big black fig producer. The town produces figs for about 75% of Turkey, and also exports to quite a few countries.) And this is Bursa black figs I buy by the tray (?) every week when in season. Bursian government announced last week the fig season officially started and exports would begin the following day. They are probably in the lorries on the way here! --------- #2 Scrambled eggs, North Sea shrimp (Crangon crangon) and Roma tomatoes. Shrimp shell broth, pumpernickel and butter lettuce. ------- #3 "Cold water prawns". Probably Pandalus borealis. Razor clams. Pumpernickel (German) and horseradish from Styria, Austria. Made a spread with grated horseradish and crème fraîche. The reddish version has beetroot added to it.

Also, soaking reduces oligosaccharides (so that it's easier to digest). You can also do a "hot soak".

It's good to have your own maggi plant (AKA lovage). Tear the leaves into smaller pieces and add to anything. Such an intense herb/plant. - - - I call this thing Vietnamese "Leberkäse". Steamed pork paste with tendons (I didn't make it myself, the product is imported from France and is readily available in Asian supermarkets where I live). I usually use a crusty bread but these days I also like these airy and pillowy Polish steamed buns. And speaking of Maggi... I have here 3 to compare. French version is a bit salty. The other 2 taste almost similar. Both good. Hmm, next time I shall bring back a Mexican version. Look at it on the shelf every time. - - - (Beetroot-) cured salmon belly Potatoes with quark and gherkins On the right is Matjes Also, pumpernickel and quark with chopped dill and blow-my-head off grated horseradish.

(Several meals) The rain lasted 2,5 weeks! Hello again, sun! Santorinian lentils/"fava" (Lathyrus clymenum) with spicy mince. Totally inauthentic "dakos" (toast with tomatoes and feta, plus summer savoury from the garden). Photo of the "fava" taken on the day before leaving Santorini to return to Crete. (Down to 2 fava and 2 tomato paste now.) - - - First 10. Got another 10 yesterday. Simply boiled til done. I snack on a cob any time, also when biking to/from somewhere. Another type of Lithuanian black bread And of course, my favourite, new Matjes. Avocado-beetroot spread is for the black bread. It spreads just like butter. - - - 1/3 of a kilo of razor clams. Steamed and dressed with a chopped Greek salad, and lemon juice. And a beer _ _ _ A common species of whelks round these parts

The last time I saw the sun or felt its warmth on my skin was on July 18. The day after this photo was taken the rain started and it's been raining buckets every single day since. Summer savoury from the garden. Mushrooms (half chanterelle, half king trumpet). More cream was added to the lentils before eating. ----#2------ Gooseberries, quark, Iranian red pistachios (also in coarsely ground form on left), Cretan honey, chocolate and matcha tea. ----#3--------- Smokey aubergine pulp and "tzatziki" (quark, chopped capers and garlic, lemon juice, cucumber). Turkish tandoor bread (bigger than a dinner plate) Fish without chips. Hake fillets from the market fishmonger (the same one I always get oysters from every weekend). Dreaming of Greece. Mediterranean-style food makes me forget this endless rain for a while. Sometimes I shuck 1 or 2 but usually don't touch them until after the photos are done. Once opened they release lots of liquid and it just keeps dripping on the table the whole time. Yesterday. Box of 25, bladderwrack to keep it moist.

Yeah, seems anyone can use the swing. The water is cold. I don't know why they don't saw off the extra wood. Not just 1 stool but all of them are like that.

Last lunch in Vilnius was at this legendary Soviet-era canteen (far from the centre but we enjoyed the walk and photo ops). Had a hard time finding it but we did, eventually, with help from a pensioner in his flat on the first floor. He saw us in the little mirror and poked his head out the window asking what we were trying to find. We looked up the Lithuanian word for "canteen" and told him. He pointed enthusiastically in the direction we had just come from (but we couldn't find the canteen there, obviously). He kept pointing at the other direction said "go back that way, it's right there" so vehemently that we had to try again to find it. We had been inside this building twice, also round the back twice. But it's where the canteen is located. Looks like a school or government building (complete with 70's/80's font). Round the back. Only now we had realised this was the way to the canteen because... "valgykla" means canteen (*slap forehead*). Also saw this twice. A long, dark corridor. The door was closed both times. There was already a small queue. As we moved closer to the counter I asked someone in the queue what the dishes were on a printed sheet (they serve different typical Lithuanian dishes every day). The boss at the counter called someone from the kitchen to help me with the ordering. We were lucky a table for 2 had just become available. The place is small and plain, (office) workers and students, also people who live nearby come for lunch (the only time the canteen is open) so you eat and leave when you are done, bring your plates and cutlery to the little hatch door on the way out. Nobody cleans the table (I used napkins) and remember someone is waiting for your table so get going as soon as you are done eating. Beetroot soup, one is cold and one is hot. Zeppelins (potato dumplings filled with minced pork). Cabbage rolls A kind of fried dough. Not too sweet, nice and airy. I ordered the meal by pointing randomly at the menu. Everything tasted better than all other places I ate the whole week. And it was ridiculously cheap! Kind staff, also. A good local experience. The place was packed as soon as we sat down at our table. When we left the queue was half way down the corridor. They serve the same food like back in the Soviet days and the quality remains the same, plus the prices are still affordable that's why it's packed every day. The rest of the last day we did more walking and beer drinking. When I was making this photo an employee approached me and gave me a card with name of the teahouse "can you tag us?". I took the card and said sure. (I am not on "socials", not a part of any of this platform.) Furniture abstract. It's not a B&W photo. We went to a favourite pub several times, this swing was on the same street. Popular with the local teenagers. Many more beers at this nice local pub The regulars let us try this insane-proof spirit. Even they could barely drink it. We each had a tiny sip. Later, here at home... Artisanal black bread. Hand-made loaves, weighing about 3 kilos each. And smaller loaves from a different shop. I portioned the big loaves and put them in the freezer. Have gone through half the bread so far. I bought the same charcuterie at different market stalls, this is some of it. The Speck here looks very lean. They are not usually this lean. Smoked pig's ears (in strips for easy snacking) and more Speck on the left. Air-dried sausages Beef jerky (plus more beef jerky in vac pack underneath) Pork jerky All the charcuterie is good and of high quality. Unfortunately, the Latvian smoked sprats didn't pass Lithuanian customs clearance. They confiscated all the tins. We paid for extra cabin bags to bring all this home. Next time 1 bag would go in the hold. No other way to bring honey and tinned fish back. We were still eating Lithuanian tomatoes and fruits for a couple of weeks later. The capital left a good impression on us. Next time we would like to visit smaller towns and the coast for more amazing black bread, beer and whatever else I'm sure we'd enjoy. Thanks for your patience. This was my impression of the Lithuanian capital and I hope to return and visit other places in the country some day, for the black bread and beer alone is already enough.

(Very nice) NEIPA and an OK local lager at a random restaurant that has taps. Went back to a favourite "Spunka" (a type of local pub that serves only local brews). Friendly staff and regulars, not to mention English-speaking. This one would be my local pub if I lived here. Tiny place. Pretty much the same regulars we saw on each visit, they came at different times. And almost every single stool is like this... On the way to the Spunka/pub... beer shop? And on the way back from the pub... It's a beer bar that didn't make my list. Many next time. Yes, please. No, thanks. After all, why not. Egotistical *holes exist everywhere. This one still tried to drive through with all the pedestrians in the middle of crossing at the same time.

This is the new/modern commercial centre they are developing. Not going at an insane speed like I saw in the Albanian capital (which is trying their best to erase the whole town and turning it into something ugly modern). Below the footbridge where I took the photo above. The younger generations don't know what it's like to endure hardship under communism. Now they like to play and and spend money. 2 streets away is the neighbourhood where I made a bunch of photos of traditional wooden houses. This very road used to be a dirt road until 2 years ago. Found another Soviet-era manhole cover. Hard to find them and no older than 1987. Old frying pan. Spunka is a typical local pub serving local beers. There are a few locations in the capital. Throngs of (packaged) tourists in the centre and touristy sites it's nice to find an empty lane. The bus station is far from the centre, we walked all the way there to pick up black bread sent by the bakery in another town. Came across this (wine) restaurant on the way to the bus station... menu is on the old door. (And the name of the place) Another old door, much older and a lot more beautiful, also massive. Typical entrance and doorway Swing under a bridge