Kerala

I had 2 slices of toast for breakfast. The first was spread with butter and marmalade, then topped with a good grind of pepper and a tiny pinch of grey sea salt. Not pictured. For the second slice, I splashed a little of the tadka from last night, sunflower oil in which I'd fried some curry leaves and cardamom. Prosciutto on top. So shoot me for my sins, but I'll die happy!

Chicken curry and rice.

M Mackarel, I think. Rocket, sun-dried tomatoes, pecorino Romano, some honey drizzled over the leaves. I'm trying to introduce some healthy dietary traits after a couple of weeks of holiday excesses.

Starting with the Paiola. Sliver by sliver but it's going down fast!

Ha, ha, @blue_dolphin I literally did ponder the Victoria's Secret shop to mitigate the damage, but there are so many ways that could have gone wrong!

In non-tinned-fish news:

OK, I went a bit nuts in duty-free, some explaining to do when I got home. There are worse things married men have to account for on returning from a trip to Portugal, right?

One tin for breakfast, the other given to my mate, the small anchovies in hand luggage. Hmmm, I've got an hour to kill in duty-free. I wonder if someone stocks sardines?

She's just jealous!

Well that sucks! I'm flying back to the UK tomorrow. I picked up the Petingas tin, which is 90g, and without too much thought picked up the 2 tins of Cavala. The mackerel tins turned out to be 125g, drained weight 90g. The tins are subtly different in size. Airport security will not allow >100mls liquid, so the two mackerel tins would be chucked. I'll have to leave them with a friend who, much as I love him, doesn't really care a great deal about the subtleties of taste. Ah well, he does like fish.

I'm on a mini-break with friends in Praia de Gale near Albufeira. Lunch was at beach shack bar. Big bowl of mussels for starters. Shared with the little boy. I ordered the grilled sardines. Not available. The octopus? Finished. Cod fish!? Also unavailable. The sea bass was available, and they brought the last 2 sardines as well! Perfectly grilled and seasoned. Both the mussels and the fish were excellent, but a huge meal, washed down with a carafe of vinho verde. And a Pinhais-worthy view.

Playing the game.

Pinhais 90g cans for €3.99 at the local supermarket. Will they allow this as carry-on luggage on Ryanair? The important questions.

OK I'm in Portugal next week, so I will go in for the tinned fish! And Lannzarote has moved up on the list of places to visit!

Obvs not Mrs K's first alcohol in Cologne, as she had the Aperol spritz already. Excuse: not my first drink in Cologne! Talking of drinking culture, do other cities in Germany have the 200ml keep-'em-coming drinking habit of Cologne? I really liked it rather than facing a huge Stein to get through.

The online menu just says pork fillet in orange and rosemary sauce. The texture of the pork was quite firm and chewey, which we liked, but it was the sauce which was the star. The combination of orange, rosemary and pork here would be a good start. Thanks for the reminder, @Smithy

My pleasure, @kayb The fish came with a side plate of small round pasta i haven't had before, a lovely way to soak up the sauce.

Our final lunch in Colone, at maiBeck, on the river near the Dom. Bread with lightly salted butter. Octopus, pumpkins, figs and dessicated (whisper it) corn. Ravioli with potato, rabbit, chantarelle mushrooms. Fish which was like sea bass, with mussels, celery, tomatoes. Pear and parsley sorbet, stewed pear, an oat sponge, pickled zucchini (that's what they called it) - or was that the previous dish? Mrs K's pork belly. The "crackling" was sprinkled on top like crumble. I was too full by this point to try any, which is remarkable. She finished it all, also remarkable. Tiramisu for her dessert. Excellent, I hear. We had a glass of sparkling German wine each, a rose and a white, and I had a glass of dry white local wine during the meal, all very good, reasonably priced. maiBeck has a Michelin star, and I don't have a great deal of experience with such places. I don't always enjoy them, but I very much enjoyed this.

Lunch at Schweine Janes in Dusseldorf. Rotisseried ham knuckle, roast potatoes and sauerkraut. You can see the ham on the rotisserie behind the counter as you walk in. This was accompanied by a couple of tall glasses of Altbier. Dusseldorf seems a few degrees colder than Cologne, so this was welcome.

Dinner was at Tapeo & Co, Tripadvisor's #1 tapas restaurant in Koln. Fabulously crispy and tasty patatas bravas with aioli but no tomato/chilli sauce. Fried fish combo, sadly the fish was not the freshest. Pork in a rosemary and grilled orange sauce that was quite simply stupendous. I've never tasted this before and I can't wait to try it again. Gambas pil pil was fine, it arrived sizzling with plenty of garlic but needed more chilli and paprika. Chicken rellenos stuffed with dates in a white sauce, again excellent. The service was helpful and smooth. Staff spoke English, and in fact our lovely waitress who had arrived from Argentina only a month ago spoke only a few words of German but perfect English! Mrs K loved her meal, and her glass of sangria, actually her first alcoholic drink in Cologne. The drink you see in the photo above is a Zombie. I've never had one before. Wow! So delicious!

Thanks for the tip, @BonVivant We went to Paffgen in Friesenstrasse for lunch. On a Monday lunchtime, it was fairly empty. The usual brusque greeting then slowly warmer interaction with another sturdy waiter in rhe traditional apron and belt. He spoke a bit of English and seemed pleased we ventured a bit of German. They have an English language menu too! Kasseler, "boiled smoked pork chop" was the description, like boiled gammon, served with sauerkraut. Kolsch, of course, to accompany. Very satisfactory. Mrs K's fish and chips was about OK. We were not expecting much, and it would be unreasonable to judge this strictly. We were pleased to have the option, and most of it went.

Em Kolsche Boor was tonight's Brauhaus. Mrs K had currywurst, bless her for doing her bit to let me try what i wanted. It was currywurst, what it is, nothing terrible happened. The chips were good. The coleslaw was tasty. I had pork knuckle, mash, sauerkraut. It was unsatisfactory. The pork had obviously been cooked then reheated, as it was very tender throughout, the fat and gelatin warm and unctious on the outside but rather cool and gloopy inside. I understand you have to make compromises when running a commercial activity, but this just made me feel a bit unhappy. Incidentally service was very attentive compared to recent experience.

After that, Mrs K deserved a treat so off to the Lindt chocolate museum. We nipped into the cafe without going through the exhibition. We ate inside as it was late afternoon and the outside seating area was in shade. It would be lovely outside in the summer, as the Museum sits on a mini island on the Rhine. Hot chocolate with Apfelkuche and a chocolate mousse. Now, I like a bit of chocolate but rarely indulge as a grown man, saving my calories for excess meat and alcohol. Today I thought, what the heck I'm on holiday! I couldn't finish my portion as it was just too much chocolaty goodness, but Mrs K assures me it was excellent.

There is a brilliant German Expressionist collection in Leicester, where I first came across Kathe Kollwitz when I was a student. We went to the Kathe Kollwitz museum in Koln today. What an amazing body of work! The first time I've seen her sculpture in the metal. Here's a work on paper. "Seed for sowing should not be milled."

@liuzhou I can see why that reputation exists, but I think it's to do with expectations. @Duvel 's description is one I can recognise. Fruh was busy. There was one waiter serving a large room, including 2 big parties. He was a big, muscular, jovial bald man with a loud voice and a large smile. He looked splendid in his apron secured at the waist wirh a beautifully aged leather belt. Service was slow. The usual raised eyebrow and half-smile wasn't going to bring him scuttling across to our table to see what would make our dining experience more fulfilling and meaningful. Our reluctance to call out "Entschuldigung" because of language shyness didn't help. When Mrs K's order of meatballs was unavailable and she couldn't find another option straight away, he left us again for a while. The beers did keep coming on a fairly regular basis though, and he would chat as he worked. Throughout, he kept the atmosphere jaunty, boistrously engaging with whoever was next. The room we went to for a nightcap was similarly run by a sturdy young Madchen. She offered us the choices from the drinks menu (in German only) and when I hesitated, recommended "the local beer." Again, the Kolsch arrived regularly. I enjoyed the no nonsense approach. It's in keeping with the function of these places. The limited, almost identical menu choices suited me fine, and they will suit anyone who likes pork and sauerkraut. I could happily order half the items on these menus, Mrs K could get along with meatballs, and if unavailable as above, Fruh had goulash. I found the limited drinks choice in keeping with the function of the room. The Aperol spritzer was advertised on a glossy card with 3 or 4 Aperol drinks. The description of one if these included 3 other ingredients, crossed out with marker pen and replaced with a hand written, "Orange Juice," possibly indicating that only English speakers looked at this card. So that's what the service was like. No nonsense, friendly without being fake friends, certainly not obsequious. No fake refinement. No one offering a waffer-thin mint to complement the meal. A bit slow. Probably need to speak up! Anyway, we're here for a few more days, and it won't all be Brauhauser and Kebab shops.