BonVivant

Garlic butter filled flatbread from a market snack shop, eating standing at the counter. On an excursion to inland Madeira, Santo Antonio de Serra town's Sunday market. The bread is size of a dinner plate. But in a restaurant it's much smaller as it's a starter or side. Bolo de caco cooking rig. In the old days the bread used to be cooked on a big slab of basalt stone. The bread can be filled with anything savoury or sweet but the most common filling is garlic butter. Gas pipes under the iron surface can be controlled individually. Bolo the caco is the most popular snack on Madeira and it can be found absolutely everywhere. So far I only see male bakers. The baker can't make the bolo fast enough. Not many people order the Pão com Chouriço, which is also sliced open and filled with garlic butter. Tried some chestnut pastries in a village known for its chestnut specialities. I liked this one the best. Contained big chunks of chestnut and tasted the most chestnut-y. Chestnut flour is used in this cake. The chestnut flavour is too mild to detect. Had to try the most popular drink on the island. Poncha (pon-SHA) is a sailors'/fishermen's kind of drink but now everyone else drinks it, too. In the most traditional recipe poncha has mostly local rum, a pinch of sugar and tangerine. Nowadays other fruits are also used. Not for me as I don't like any mixed drinks, but glad I gave it a go. Had not planned on doing any cooking then I saw perceves... Madeiran watercress looks a bit different from what I get at home but tastes exactly the same. I abhor cooked watercress and rucola/rocket. This time the clams cost even more than the perceves. Shingle beach Madeira is a tourist magnet, especially popular with northern Europeans, and of course also the pensioners (who have moved here for the good weather all year round). The pebbles used on the roof are from the beach. FYI, the first direct flight from New York landed here at the end of November. Do your research and make plans soon!

Cloud number 9! Best seat on the plane... is next to an empty one! From one volcanic island to another... A simple meal before going to bed (normal dinner time here): No alcohol with your meal in this world's 4th wine producing and wine consuming country? Impossible! Luckily I love both. Runway has been extended. One of the most challenging airports to land due to constant gutsy winds that change so quickly. You can clearly see the extension of the runway in this photo. I think they extended it after a plane plunged into the sea. I've been here for 2 days now. So green and clean my mind is blown. Our national decorations at home are rubbish and dog crap, my eyes hurt seeing so much greenery and so many flowers at every turn! Madeira's place in the travel world: "top island destination"! The highest possible honour that is bestowed on an insignificant archipelago in the middle of the ocean! Dude, I would be so happy, too, if I got a fantastic deal on oysters! Me! (only thing missing here is a crate of craft beer!)

Quark with grated beetroot Rollmops Straight out of the fish's cavity (done by "my" regular market fishmonger). You need the best butter and best bread for this. Wish I could share this with @chefmd However, I draw the line when it comes to raw oysters, which only need lime/lemon juice.

Found a jar of fat, sweet cherries preserved in booze I made 2 years back. Ate the cherries with SV liver. Other vegs are red kuri mash, and in the background are steamed Brussels, red cabbage, kale.

No dinner after this One lunch back on Santorini A salad with some local cheese. "Chlorotyri" production on Santorini is so small it's limited to mostly home use. Made from goat's milk, creamy and is a bit sour. Sardines and "fava" Octopus, and "fava" again, in place of rice or something else.

From Setubal, just south of lovely Lisbon. Love Portugal! Would go there every year if I could! Pasta with cuttlefish ink 1 of these 2 big cuttlefish had the ink sac intact, which I saved for the pasta. All gone now. My new favourite squash is lakota. Orange with splashes of green. Orange flesh, dense and very sweet.

Rollmops with dairy Didn't cut up the herring and add to the quark because I wanted to spread it on the bread and top with sliced roe (which was cooked SV). For afters "Snails" filled with pure chocolate, chia seeds (only because I'm out of poppy) and Lebkuchen spice mix. Beer for yours truly

Beef shin And 2 beef ribs. Photos made when just finished cooking but ate the meal the next day. Hope Franci is OK. Used to make it from scratch but now... Woke up on Saturday to the first snow. Thankfully it was all gone in the evening.

2 lesser known Greek dips: aubergine pulp and yogurt Yogurt and roasted sweet peppers Cold prawns A bit later in the afternoon... Turkish pistachio/walnut baklava. I dislike sweet things but there are a couple of things I like and eat in excess such as these and flans. Notice I'm partial to pistachios. In the background are kaki/persimmons from Andalucia, sweet grapes from Turkey. The briki/cezve (copper coffee pot) is also Turkish. Photos from my trip in September: a simple lunch at Knossos, close to the incredible ruins. This organic restaurant serves Minoan and typical Cretan dishes. Cretan salad is a bit more substantial than the typical "village salad", AKA "Greek salad. Cretan salad has hard-boiled eggs and chunks of barley rusk. Souvlaki with mixed grain In the open under big olive trees And hanging grapes

My favourite of all flatfish is brill. I scoff at turbot (in same family) and sole (Solea solea), much of both are now farm-raised . Simple pizzas/pizze with tomato sauce and mozz. Dinner picnic in my room on Santorini And speaking of Santorini, apparently it's not expensive enough and who cares about the views. Same food on both plates but the food and water remained untouched for a long time.

Creamed spinach. Ate with boiled potatoes (not pictured). Late lunches happen sometimes. Dinner is either beer or wine. Chilean surf clam with rice and pan-fried taukwa tofu Korean-made Udon and same taukwa tofu

Greek-inspired meal. This beetroot dish is common in Greece but almost no tourist orders it. Boiled beetroots, a generous amount of olive oil and raw garlic. Too healthful and too lowly for the tourists. Shoulder of lamb and wheat "berries". Chilean

Croatian coppa Iberico aged sheep's milk hard cheese and camembert Cod's liver in own oil (middle), fig spread, pumpkin bread, chocolate paste (Lindt 99% + macadamia nuts) First autumn photos this year. In one of the woods I go for walks.

Steamed eggs, with fresh roe sacs, mince and chopped salted mustard/turnips (the kind that's preserved whole in salt and turns brown, typical in Hakka cuisine). North Sea shrimp are added before eating. Earthen pots are Cretan yogurt pots, holds 500ml of yogurt each. The pots are glazed on the inside only. Squash simmered in kelp and dashi. In Okinawa they put spam in it but I don't like spam. The squash I used in photo below. Not sure what it's called. Dense flesh, very sweet. Only like dense fleshed and sweet with depth winter squashes. The kale that I portioned and vacuum sealed releases an intense smell when the bag is cut open. To me it's a sweet smell. Also Urbock, @Duvel Presents to myself had arrived yesterday. My love for Bamberg is deep and unconditional. Drinking the Schnapps now

Not sure. Probably not strong enough and I'm highly sensitive to smells. Just smelled the kale in the fridge. No smell. Also, the farmer says the variety he grows has a constant level of sugar regardless of the weather. His kale is sweet and tasty, unlike supermarket kale. The perspective makes the farm look big but it's quite small.

Found Moroccan fried flatbread in Turkish supermarket (made by a Moroccan, just a small stack). Moroccan-inspired breakfast for lunch. Green drinks are melon puree and matcha tea (separately). Savoury bread rolls with red kuri, Speck, grated goat's cheese and garlic. And some Turkish medlars

My favourite meals are usually the simplest ones. Home-made Riesling mustard Kale and squashes from a farm in the area Kale and squash every day

Garlic, fish sauce from Phu Quoc (I've been and won't use non Phu Quoc), chillies, lime juice, sugar etc. Simply steamed razors. I know everyone likes to eat their shellfish with pasta, chips, bread or whatever. I only need a beer and lime juice. One kilo of razor clams Some of the last things from the seas round these parts that are still wild-caught.

I like skate." Spicy sauce" is Sichuan broad bean paste. Greens

I shall describe how I made the "pretzels" and rolls: I didn't use a recipe, had some last bits of different types of flour to use up so I chucked them all in to make a dough. Standard flour, whole wheat and fine semolina. A tea spoon of yeast, some sugar, fat (rendered Speck). I used a lot of squash puree and was afraid the dough wouldn't rise so good but it turned out well. Next batch will contain Speck bits and garlic!

Not quite "pretzel" and certainly not Oktoberfest. Just home-made bread with loads of red kuri squash puree. And veal sausages Red kuri soup, chopped kale and garlicky sausage. Red kuri rolls to go with the soup

I rarely eat swordfish (here at home), but once in a blue moon I see a good looking chunk... I also have a HK poster! Bought it in 2008. Returned for the 4th time in 2018. Hope I can go back, even if it's going to be a different HK (unless I have to endure mainland Chinese style entry requirements.)

First tray of Bursa black figs. Quark on toast More figs Even more A little feast of figs Kale and squash every day... Farm (next to the woods where I go for walks every week) Have tried almost all the squashes the farm grows but this year I only want to eat red kuri, then I saw a new one, blue banana. 10km bikling from the farm.. Thanks. Immediately after posting I was informed by someone on another site it was indeed purslane. The cultivated purslane we have here shares the name but bears no resemblance.

Before roasting First meal with red kuri ("Hokkaido") "sauce" and pasta. Grated cheese is Sicilian double-smoked ricotta. Finally, a Gewürztraminer I can drink. I have an unpleasant reaction to Alsatian Gewürztraminer, which tastes strongly of soap ("perfume" to everyone else. But I also have a violent reaction to perfumes...). Had to stop drinking it for a long time.

Last Cretan lunch. Red wine-olive oil braised cuttlefish Whilst waiting for the next earthquake... last Assyrtikco, brought with me from Santorini. Lastsunset in the Cretan capital. My flight was at 1pm the next day, there was another earthquake at 2pm. I'm just so relieved the walls I'm looking at right now are not moving. Lunch at home, in peace. Fresh Turkish dates. Dip with pistachios Another one with walnuts, roasted peppers, tomatoes and pom molasses. "Muhammara" without following a recipe. I just blitzed a few things in a blender. Other bits are salad, roasted aubergine pulp, beetroot puree, and a type of air-dried sausage.