BonVivant

Back in food hell now. Kelp Rösti, and fresh roe with chilli sauce. Cooked SV then very briefly browned In Sicily:

Thought I would get a break from eating Sicilian/Italian food when I got home but then I remember all this stuff I brought back... That's only half of the cheese and lemons in the photo above. Mostly double smoked ricotta, which is a speciality in eastern Sicily. Sepia/cuttlefish ink between book and pistachio. DIY pasta: In Sicily:

I'm in "heaven", it is located in Sicily. A cheese shop where one can sit down and have a meal. They made a mistake of giving me this good oil. I think half is gone now. A mixed plate of all things Sicilian Marvellous!

Dinner was not much but hey, I got to see Etna today. Where I got the "wild" asparagus Sicily's most iconic natural beauty and is the island's top tourist attraction. At sunset, seen from the Greek theatre. This is the Greek theatre. Like Sardinia and Corsica, anyone who has an army or navy has been here.

Indoor picnic dinner. Olive, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes. Wine from this island

Pasta with aubergine Steamed aubergine on the side Carbonara with Speck Me: I don't want to buy another cookery book. Also me: Bottle next to the book is Sicilian garum.

At home yesterday I look forward to lovely leftovers And earlier today Flight was delayed then of course I missed the bus to my final destination. With 2 hours to kill I decided to eat my first arancini and pizza (on a bench outside the airport). Hate half eaten food photos but I had no knife this time.

Spicy Iberico blood sausage with roasted potatoes and salad. Today I got to my lodging at 8pm and not really hungry after 2 huge rice croquettes and garlicky pizza earlier. Sicilian beers, Bavarian Lebkuchen.

"Good afternoon"? We don't have afternoon in the winter! Evening begins at lunch time! To be sliced for the shredded raw vegs and rice noodles. Vietnamese-style fish sauce alongside.

Half kilo Mont d'Or This is one of the two meals I like in the whole world. (The other one is very much the same but with a savoury broth) Steamed vegs (mushrooms, 2 sorts of beetroot, purple carrots), sourdough rye bread, gherkins, and spicy Iberico morcilla/blood sausage.

"Otto" and "Max" I didn't see it coming when I took the fall. Now I know... nothing breaks like a Neufchâtel heart. Für Elise -------- In Sevilla: Grilled tuna steak "Presa" For the same price in the Sierra you get 100% Iberico (see chart)

Smoked halibut from north Germany. In Sevilla: Tuna has been marinated in an acidic brine Mixed Iberico charcuterie My (paper) plate above being prepared Jaaaa!

Çilbir: poached eggs, garlicky yogurt, melted butter with paprika and chilli flakes Jack beans and octopus In Sevilla: montaditos are served at most tapas bars. They are especially popular in Sevilla. With leftover stewed pork and blood sausage Cod Hake roe Yes. I pulsed raw beetroot and chickpeas together for an even texture. Thanks!

Not a curry. Kabocha, parsnips and jack beans. Some kabocha was cooked first to make a thick sauce, then the cream was added later. Dark stuff is actually fresh basil mixed with olive oil. I ate the first half with Spätzle. Second half I ate with my own kelp pici (hand-rolled pasta). And what became of the second half of the pici.

Prawn roe covered avocado, freekeh with spinach and seared salmon. I was not careful when trying to remove the avocado pit.

Had lunch in the big city Düsseldorf on Saturday. First time returning to this brewery's restaurant in a long time. The whole town and restaurants or cafes were absolutely full of partying football supporters. It was insanely crowded and loud everywhere. Plate of different sausages and Speck, Sauerkraut and creamy mash. It baffles me when someone says they have leftover mashed potatoes. Put enough cream and butter in mine and watch it disappear from my plate! The meats: boiled Speck (quite salty), ball of liver, Kochwurst (a type of sausage), Blutwurst (blood sausage), Leberwurst (liver sausage) and Mettwurst (a type of sausage). Not one photo of this dish on review sites anywhere. Creamy broad beans with Speck is home-style food. One of the reasons I prefer eating at brewery-restaurants in Germany. It's where you can eat typical, home-style food (not to mention the prices are usually agreeable). The bill This was outside the restaurant. The same inside but people were sitting and eating, and drinking of course. My own lunch was oven baked beetroot falafel and tortillas.

It's an Andalusian classic, with Moorish/Arab and Sephadic roots. I have never made it but it's probably not hard. There are many recipes out there (look up "Espinacas con Garbanzos " or English equivalent).

How to get me to eat tasteless vegs: put lots of cheese in it! I used both Emmental and Gruyère in this. Unfortunately, the cauliflower is yellow so you can't really see much here. In Sevilla: lightly seasoned flour-dusted deep fried cuttlefish and dogfish.

Austrian-style beetroot dumplings (with melted butter and deep fried shallots) Tapas lunch in Sevilla: Assorted Iberico charcuterie Spinach and chickpeas Tiny broad beans with scrambled eggs and bits of jamon

Austria and north Germany. Hash is one of Austria's national dishes. Peeling North Sea shrimp takes some time. They are often full of roe and the shells make a fantastic stock. ----------- First lunch in Sevilla, here at one of the market bars. The same meal I had in the Algarve, Portugal cost half the price. If you arrive from Portugal you will feel it in the wallet straight away.

The quality of ingredients can make a simple meal taste good. This is one.

If you have never seen a Japanese train station from above... Arrived in the evening and got only a couple of hours of sleep on my first night so I had a lot of time to make photos. Osaka main train station at sunrise: From breakfast room on the top floor. Elevated roads between buildings. Fancy or expensive food never satisfies me. The simplest meals do. First udon soup on my first evening in Japan remains a great all-time favourite. I hope to see a smoking ban in a near future, only then will Japan take its number one spot on my list.

Pasta with fresh crab meat Meat from the claws. 1kg of claws yields 300 grams of meat. Turn on the radio and have some patience. Picnics in the room (in Sevilla)

Little tapas at Mi Casita. Rendered Iberico fat with greaves. In Spain you get bits of Jamon in this tapa dish. That's how they use the very last bits of the Jamon leg, in soups and other dishes. Sourdough rye toast and 2 last Spanish tomatoes grated for pan con tomate. Last day in Aracena. Cheese tasting at a cheese shop, also owned by the cheesemaker herself. All cheeses come from here in the Sierra. Lunch restaurant is near the bus station (off to Sevilla shortly). We ate here only the other day. They do eat green tomatoes. This small plate was brought to us as soon as we ordered the beer. Top notch Jamon again, of course. A piece of crispy fried Iberico fat on top of the meat. The same fat I used to make Schmalz in photo above. Looks like beef but tastes like 100% Iberico acorn-fed pork. Thanks, Paul. Spain is currently the second most visited country in.the.world. Not only that, Spain also overtakes France in gastro tourism!

I brought Spain home with me. Grated Raf tomatoes for the toast. Unfiltered olive oil also brought back from Spain. We each carried 3 kilos of tomatoes in our carry-on. Only a few got bruised. Have been eating tomatoes and unfiltered olive oil every day since I got home. Rosa de la Reina is grown in the Sierra, where I stayed during my hiking holiday. The tomatoes on this plate weigh 3kg. They are very dense and heavy. Lunch in Aracena. Nice cider from Asturia, good sourdough bread, and a small plate of Rosa tomatoes was brought to us shortly after we sat down. Freshly cooked chips. On to second bottle of cider by now. Ripe and juicy Rosa. Just like most villages in the Sierra, Aracena is known for Jamon. Black label, 100% Iberico de Bellota. Last Pluma here. It's not a common Iberico cut 1.5hrs away in big city Sevilla.