BonVivant

Got a kilo bag each of razor and almond clams, but not for steaming and eating out of the shell. After steaming I cleaned every single clam and then added them to cooked freekeh with a spicy chilli sauce and tamari. Lots of raw garlic on the side. My version of Vietnamese clam rice. Chinese cheese, AKA bean curd in chilli sauce. I like to use it in cooking, as a condiment, and even spread it sparingly on bread.

Moroccan pistachio pastries. Turkish style is (very) finely ground, Moroccan is coarse or left whole. Turkish is buttery and overall quality is superior. Turkish black figs from Bursa are here again. On my second tray this week. Moroccan fried bread ("Msemmen") and home-made kumquat marmalade (tart, not sweet). Full-fat farmer's quark from the dairy farm Not Moroccan but from a country that's no less fascinating. One of the 4 all-important C's in the state of Oaxaca: corn, chilli, chocolate, and coffee. The most well known chocolate producer in Oaxaca state. I spent many happy chocolate drinking hours at Mayodomo shop in the Oaxacan capital. Pastries and fried bread are from a Moroccan bakery 10km away. The pastries survived the bumpy bike ride home on lousy bike paths that I paid for.

It's probably the last warm/hot weekend here. Carmenere and Austrian Riesling. Aubergines and portobello From my favourite Turkish shop. A young baker makes these tandor flatbread as I watch and wait. Garlicky dip for the bread Ribeye from a farm 2 1/2 hours away (I biked there the other day and timed it). I sliced the whole big chunk into smaller pieces to make it easier to turn on the Weber. Another meal in the sun. Chanterelle omelette Matjes with dairy Knas is a Danish cheese. Has a mild pungent, stableyard smell that reminds me of Alsatian Muenster. Chewy rye bread. A lot of concentration is needed to slice it thinly in one go. Pistachio baklava from the Turkish grocer again Got 2 big squashes the other day. Not sure what they are. I check the seed catalogue (from whom this farm buys seeds) and they look like either "Turkish mountain squash" or "Autumn beauty". Both types have dense and sweet flesh. The whole family at work. They harvest almost every day now.

What's life without cheese? Cold small potatoes and cured salmon Prawn salad Hungarian "Riesling" Bought 5 small squashes the other day. Only buy small ones now. I steam each whole, then put it on a plate or chopping board and slice like a wedge of cake as part of a meal. One of squashes on the bike. Steamed whole and ready to be sliced. Squash hummus Hummus with mince (spiced with commercial kebab spice mix and Turkish red pepper paste added). Strained yoghurt with passion fruit pulp Now I can get Syrian baklava at the weekly market but it's not this pistachio loaded. I love pistachios so the choice is easy. @Ann_T, thank you! It's super easy! Just make sure you can get Korean black bean paste (really not the same thing as Chinese black bean paste).

I have eaten it in Korea but this is my first time making it at home. I made a simple version using the recipe on the lid. Stir the sauce into the noodles when ready to eat. It’ll look nice and messy. (Already deep-fried) taukwa tofu (Unicurd - Singapore). I steamed the tofu with rehydrated dried shrimps and spicy soy sauce. Meal #2 Flatbread Tomatoes and Turkish pickles Other bits: Mettwurst, soft eggs, hummus, sardines. Dips: beetroot and spinach ones contain mixed nuts. Hummus. "Sugar baby gold" melon. Bought 3 the other day at a farm in my area

OK, dude. But I only miss the BOY!!! Joking! Glad you and the family are OK (again). Safe trip home! One down, 3 more to go (in the coming days).

Hellish temperatures half the week then muggy in the second half. Vietnamese “Wurst”/pork paste on mini sourdough seedy rolls. In Vietnam you can eat tinned sardines stuffed in baguette as a snack, just like Banh Mi. Baguette with runny fried eggs: another Vietnamese classic, often eaten as a breakfast dish. You tear the bread and mop up the yolks with it. Maggi sauce and pepper are a prerequisite. I don’t think this one is Vietnamese. Prawns with avocado and mixed nuts. The spread --- --- Another meal --- --- 35C/95F today. But hey, in a couple of months we'll be whinging about the snow or rain. Fruit spreads, pureed with some nuts: Long black/blue grapes Red apricots Eggs steamed in coffee cups Cold cut salat Bread brought back from Mosel Valley @Kim Shook @Duvel, are you OK, Man? I miss seeing the BOY!!!

Hot weather meals again. I don't deep fry and besides, it's too hot these days. Let the market fishmonger do it. Flaky hake Fish without chips Chilled potato noodle with crunchy vegetables. Mixed well with the lime juice, chillies, garlic and fish sauce. Greek-inspired salad with beans Shredded some leftover lamb shank. Seasoning is blended softened chipotle and dried tomatoes in oil. The first 10. Steamed them all and ate 2 straight away.

Cured salmon Young cheese, trout roe, North Sea shrimps. Smoked Matjes "tartare" Another meal... A "salad" of Cretan cheese, broad beans and tomatoes. Santorini lentil spread Broad beans and octopus with olive oil Ricotta with honey and pistachios The best black olives I've ever tasted. (The package) Fava and tomato paste (on Santorini). 2 recipes on the back of the package. Afterglow with Oia in the distance.

Hot weather meals (on different days). Nice (barrel-aged) feta with assorted Greek olives. Intensely mushroom-y chilled portobello and walnut puree. Air-dried Mettwurst. Similar to salami made with soft fat. Rye bread with pumpkin seeds (brought back from Middle Mosel). Marinated new-catch Matjes (sweet-sour Norweigian-style) A simple "sausage salad" (a salad with cold cuts). Super ripe cheese This net of razors used to cost eur8, this year it's eur12,50. Croatian beer Thanks!

Isn't it just the prettiest vegetable?! Perfection is attainable! It's been hot and getting much hotter starting tomorrow. Chilled romanesco soup with pan-roasted tomatoes. The heat and glorious sun reminds me of Greece so Cretan-style toast is on the lunch menu. Brought back from Cretan capital. Very nice cheese. Cheese specialist said this is the cheese for dakos. Grated tomatoes for the toast. I even used Cretan olive oil. From Santorini Fresh marjoram from the garden @blue_dolphin My elaborate lunches are mostly at weekends and I eat them a bit later. On such days I usually forgo dinner (or "dinner" is just wine or beer). Thanks!

The guide told us the only 2 things that are "cheap" there: geothermal energy and water. The tap water tastes the best I've ever had. It smells a bit as soon as you turn on the tap but it's natural. Guide also said it's the only country where he would drink from a stream.

Mihlo frito/fried polenta is served with almost everything on Madeira. They spread cooked polenta on a tray and bake in oven. Cut into cubes and fry till golden.

Summer means Greek(-inspired) food! Salad with samphire Octopus cooked in red wine. Hard to see on top of beetroot-chickpea mush. Real Santorini "fava"(Lathyrus clymenum), brought back from Santorini. Golden hour on Santorini back in September. It was glorious like this every day. SV roe sacs White slices are Cretan cheese Amateurish "Riesling" (not German)

Chilled buttermilk soup with "pesto" (chard leaves, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds etc). Butter from the sea (new-catch Matjes) Bread brought back from Middle Mosel A few things to put on bread Mashed broad beans and mozz "Potato cheese" (Austrian and south German mashed potato spread with soured cream) Iberico charcuterie and runny St Marcellin Strawberry spread (mashed with a fork, chia seeds added) and fruits. And lastly

@KennethT, Sorry, not much help for your trip re restaurant recs. It seems so long ago... I was in the capital for 5 days and only ate in restaurants a couple of times, I think. Had an apartment and wanted to buy local lamb and "exotic" (to us) meats, also seafood to cook and eat in the apartment. For sure you must try the lamb. I ate it in Japan the first time and went to Reykjavik the following year. Langoustines and prawns, too, of course. Don't have to try fermented shark and hot dog, really. (I did anyway). Whatever you eat it'll be nice. Enjoy your trip. One of the most incredible countries.

Brought back from recent holiday in Middle Mosel New season Matjes arrived last week. I have already ate them several times (plain and whole fish), but back to my favourite way, with dairy and some sour fruit (Pink Lady in this). A bit Swedish-style "Midsommar" (mid-summer) meal but without the singing and dancing. Claws of brown crab (Cancer pagurus) Do this once a year 551gr/1,2lbs from 2kg/4,4lbs. Steamed asparagus. Crispy fried Speck on top. Smoked Mettwurst (a type of sausage) cooked in the broth. Also boiled red potatoes. A meal back in Middle Mosel. Sparkling Riesling and Frikadellen (pork-beef mince patties).

A piece of a big skate wing. Steamed green asparagus Pork filets were pounded flat and thin. They curled up and looked thick here. Made in the style of Portuguese "bifana". Bolo de caco brought back from Madeira Real Mexican flour tortillas and prawns to make tacos. Oysters for slurping on the side. @Smithy, I love that bread (called tandoor bread in Turkish). My favourite Turkish supermarket makes it on premisses. They have a little room with 1 tandoors. The baker is a young man and he can't make it fast enough. It flies out the door on Saturdays.

Back in (food) hell now. Meals are from a couple of weeks and couple of days ago. Slow-cooked lamb shoulder in the oven. Round balls are actually dumplings from bread crumbs. Harvested all the lemon balm in the garden and made a thick sauce with them. Underneath the surface it's bright green like the leaves on the plates. Salmon poached in Riesling. A simple pasta with green asparagus "sauce". (In Traben-Trarbach the other day) Menu says "farmer- style" liver pate. It's supposed to be darker and coarse, and more importantly, must taste of liver. What I got was white and hardly had liver taste. Too much cream. It's for people who hate liver, surely. I love liver so this is not what it's supposed to be. I asked if it was "farmer-style" and they said yes. Classic Flammkuchen. Most winery tasting rooms are open in the second half of the week and only serve simple meals. To keep the glasses chilled just pour Riesling into them.

A giant, glazed Franzbrötchen (a type of pastry) filled with poppy seeds. Marzipan "snail" Red current "snail" Later at a simple restaurant in a village on my bike route. It was hard to make a photo of this boletus cream soup as there was no texture to focus on (I focused on the little black fleck). But it was good and the flavour of boletus was intense. Pork (usually stuffed with something) grilled over coals, traditionally. Or in the oven. - Germany, is one the the most forest-covered countries in Europe. - The village where I ate my meal above. - Official sign of Mosel Wine Route - The photo cannot convey the steep terrain these terraced vineyards are built on. Goats would love the height. - One can "sponsor" a grapevine plant. Get 3 bottles of wine each year for the sponsorship. Here you can see name, place of residence, and year on each slate sign. - What a lovely part of Germany. (Green) beauty in every direction. Tourists tend to only visit the big cities and miss out on some of the best experiences, like this valley. So thanks again, for going to France and Italy. Thanks, @blue_dolphinand @heidih! (Rare to see someone using a real camera these days, let alone a female. Photo was taken from up here yesterday.)

Don't enjoy to go to the supermarket in my food hell, but on holiday I look at every aisle, fridge and freezer! The wonderful German supermarkets are always fun to wander round. How fast the time passes when you are busy checking out what the inhabitants like to eat and have access to. In my food hell we are not clever enough, or interested in having frozen, ready to eat boletus and salsify. The horseradish cream blew my nostrils off. I overestimated myself. The 1 big (sliced in half) boletus takes up much of the package. Meat is Kasseler. A pork product that's been cured and smoked. Another day, another sparkling Riesling. Some "snacks" Bakery in the neighbourhood. Notice it's also open on Sundays and holidays, for 3 hours. Germans need their fantastic bread daily. Most things are closed on those days. On the way back from a 15km walk when I was passing by vineyards on the way down I stopped to watch a farmer work. There’s a built-in ramp on the side of the tractor that he drove his lawn mower like machine on it. I think the little machine is for clearing weeds between the vine rows. He drove all the way down to the end of each row, back to the top, then onto the ramp. And how did he move the tractor to the next row? By using a control panel within his reach. The process was repeated until every row was done. The vineyards here are so steep, most of the time you can't just stand on the ground. You must hold on to something. Here he came back up again from the bottom of the slope. When he drove onto the ramp he was lying half way flat. After watching the farmer I started walking again and saw this. Thanks for your hard work, farmers! Finally reaching the street level and admiring my twin village through the rows of vine. Next year or 2 they will be in bottles so that we could enjoy. Without the farmers, the bees and critters there would be no wine! Respect for (vineyard) farmers.

Mildly smoked Matjes I'm a bread eater in best (sourdough) bread paradise. Pentecost long weekend, most places were closed. On top of that it rained all day. Riesling Sekt (Champagne-style) comes in Brut and Trocken (dry) and I usually get both. This winery has a tasting garden and cellar just across the street from my lodging. I hadn't planned on doing any cooking. Forgot to get some herbs for this sauce so it's just soft eggs mixed in yogurt. - There's a container specifically for shoes. In some other places you can only drop stuff in containers at certain time of the day. The times are printed on the containers like in the photo. - The 2 carriage train to get around this area is called Mosel Wine Train, but locals call it "Guzzle Little Train". You can visit different villages and drink lots of Riesling there. Some people buy bottles and drink in parks, on benches, on pavement, anywhere really. - Sheltering under a big tree waiting for a big downpour to stop.

Neck/collar steak ("lumberjack style") Sausage salad A former monastery got converted into a brewery, in a beautiful and tranquil setting. The beers are very nice too boot. At another place: Onion soup with a heavy cheese toast Smoked trout on plate but it's more about the herbs and edible flowers they grow in their own garden. These leaves are so intensely aromatic I thought they were lovage. Wife/cook said celery. I eat celery leaves all the time but ours don't have this kind of intensity in smell and flavour. 4 Rieslings and 1 Sekt ("traditional method") Restaurant is in the basement and has 5 tables. We were the first to arrive, had only 2 tables to choose from. Owners are kind and cool. Man is the vineyard farmer himself, wife cooks in the restaurant when it's open - mostly in high season. They enjoy telling you about their wines and their food. The regulars arrived shortly after us who were on hugging-and-kissing terms with the owners. All the herbs and edible flowers come from their own garden and they all taste wonderful. - There are cookery books for Mosel region. (Unfortunately, I no longer buy cookery books or souvenirs.) - Wine is the soul of the Mosel valley. You can bring vine plants home. The mind-calming beauty of the Middle Mosel: - Endless quaint villages and camp grounds with vineyard slope backdrop. - One of the many quiet villages. - This lovely village where I ate a meal in photos above, is 30 minutes by bike from where I'm staying. "Nationally recognised holiday destination". Absolutely well deserved. - Riesling at every turn. Again. Sundial/clock on far left. A closer sundial. Everyone in the village could see the time. - You wait right there! My kids have priority! - Big wheel so you could see the vineyards from up there. - The last sun rays of the day. Then comes the blue hour.

Winery tasting room serving simple food is an easy 5 minute walk from my lodging. Local/regional game (I think most probably wild boar) plate. Coarse Leberwurst, salami, terrine, Game terrine. Need more gherkins (I eat them a lot at home). Coarse game Leberwurst Game Bratwurst with cripsy fried Speck and potatoes Slate is everywhere here. This is one of the reasons Mosel Riesling tastes so good and dry. In Riesling paradise Views from my table On the way back to the lodging 7 in a perfectly straight row I'm based in this twin village on the banks of the Mosel. The 2 villages are connected by a bridge. Local wildlife We sat here. Want to have a picnic at this very spot one of these days. Saw (female) locals watch sunset with beer in hands here which gave me the picnic idea.. The Mosel river. Thanks for going to France, Italy, Australia, NZ etc! One of the most beautiful vineyard valleys in the world and I'm here, again (last time I stayed in the impossibly pretty village called Bremm). See how the Mosel twists and turns much of the way. There are many twin villages and towns on both sides, connected by bridges. The most popular biking and hiking route is from either Trier or Koblenz. The Middle Mosel valley is extremely popular with domestic holidaymakers and tourists from neighbouring countries, and Brits. They all arrive from mid June and it's heaving until October. If you don't book accommodation way in advance then there's absolutely no chance in high season. It's the Santorini of Germany.

Bought from 3 different bakeries, eaten on a Luxembourgish train. I actually took 2 bites from each but ate much of one pretzel. Travelling companion hit the pastry jackpot. Views from the train window. Riesling vineyards all along the route. Been a long day, but at this very moment... Classical bottle conditioned fermentation, bottles are turned manually. AKA méthode champenoise. Riesling (Sekt) every day for a week. (Sorry but I don't know how to get rid of the quoted mess. Meant to reply below it.) Yes. I can get candlenuts but I only like macadamia. Re Oaxacan chocolate: dissolve in hot water and rub a molinillo/stirring stick vigorously between hands until froth forms. That's Oaxacan way. I just dissolve the chocolate in hot water, that's why you don't see any froth.