Duvel

"Betsy" - allegedly the first beer specifically brewed for being consumed during air travel. I had this some weeks ago in the Cathay lounge in Hong Kong and found it a bit flat. This time I ordered it as my pre-lunch drink on the flight from FRA back to HKG. At the reduced pressure in the cabin the carbonation was just right. It was kind of fruity, with a pronounced bitterness. Reminded me of a cross-over between a pale ale and a lambic. Overall a quite nice beer ...

When it comes to left-overs, nothing beats the humble "Breznknödel". Here together with cured pork neck and some Riesling. I do love left-overs (even when they were produced on purpose ) ...

"Kassler Kamm": Pork neck, dry-cured for two days, rubbed with a little gin & liquid smoke, then SV for 20h @ 60 oC. Will make terrific sandwiches, but most of it was char-grilled today. Yummy

"Laugenbrötchen", essentially little pretzl rolls. To be consumed during this years first BBQ (yes, I know I am late ...).

This was meant to be a small afternoon snack. In a bout of home sickness my wife requested Churros with heavy dipping chocolate - technically Catalan breakfast. I whipped up a (pretty large) batch and there were no leftovers... And no dinner

I didn't think of the hot & open faced version: that one would always come with a fried egg (sunny side up) on top and cornichons & home fries on the side ... "Strammer Max"

Sunday night is pizza night. Definitely a crowd-pleaser, especially when you have some 3-5 year old kids over that can put their favorite ingredients on "their" pizza. Amongst the usual "sweet corn & pork belly" and the "a lot of sweet corn & mortadella" pizzas, we also had the more grown up versions "Mushroom & spicy Salami", "grilled Eggplant & Olives" and "Surprise (aka leftovers) Calzone". Good times ...

Today is the big Dragon boat race in Central, Hong Kong. And for some reason I support the Japanese team (as my one does not compete in this race). Got up veeeeeery early to make miniature brezel bread rolls, followed by assembling them into sandwiches with cured pork belly with caraway, onion marmelade (with honey & mustard) and greens. It was well received ...

To be honest: I haven't tried either. It was just a triangulation - it works with drumettes, it works with lamb shanks, so it should work with thighs too.

For the "meatball" size/shape: could it be that they simply make an incision around the lower joint part of the thigh, severing all muscle and tendons. Then during cooking the meat would contract and for a type of ball with the bone sticking out (like a lollipop) ?

Have physically returned from Japan, but not mentally. Today Okonomiyaki, cold tofu w/ shogayaki-style beef, quick-pickled seafood and miso soup. Quick and satisfying lunch ...

@rotuts, yes. The Sake at second place (Nikai). We went to a nearby traditional bar that had an incredible selection of Sake. The owner took great pride in selecting Sake based on our preferences (in food) and tiniest bits of snacks (Otsumame) came with every one we tried. It was poured into the little ceramic cups (the two concentric rings are meant to help.you judge the clarity of the Sake) and said cups were then placed into the cedar wood box. Water slightly above at the ideal drinking temperature was poured into the box and you were supposed to "find" your sweet spot for the drinking temperature as the Sake slowly cooled down in the water bath. Mind you, we are talking about a few degrees centigrade. I think my ones never made it down even five degrees ... Smaller cedar wood boxes were available for drinking cold sake directly from them. For some reason that night we had only warm stuff.

After a slightly longer day of negotiations, finally dinner at a famous Teppanyaki place in Tokyo. While the preparation is deceptively simple, the quality of ingredients in these kind of places is simply amazing. And the master does not show off with gimmick moves or "sauce bottle through the air" kind of things - he just works precise and concentrated and produces your meal exactly how it can be enjoyed best. "Clam soup", "Early summer garden", Sashimi, mixed vegetables, shrimp, Wagyu, beef-fried rice, Sakura sherbet. A selection of very nice Sake. Followed by more Sake at second place. Followed by something at possibly third place (memories got a bit hazy) ... A very enjoyful evening.

Mixed sushi plate at Roppongi Hills. Costs about 25 USD ... excellent value for money. The Uni was great and the Negitoro (which I specified as the only "must have" item to the master) was the best I had in a long time ...

The (pork) tongue was partly cooked. Essentially, they have a large pot of simmering intestine stew going on the whole day and the keep dunking the tongue in a couple of times, each time followed by a dip into ice water. I think the result would be somewhat like a sous vide tongue, albeit with short cooking time. It still had quite a bite ... In these type of establishments it's common to accommodate smokers, as they do basically cater for the neighbors and salary men. Despite the fact that people smoke and they grill intestines on a charcoal grill in front of you, the ventilation system is top notch and as you leave you barely can notice any residual smell on you ...

Business trip to Tokyo. Went out with an old friend in Shinjuku to one of the back alley restaurants ... "Motsuyaki" - char-grilled intestines (pork), tongue sashimi, some grilled tofu and liver/kidney/tendon stir-fry. The drink of choice in said establishment was frozen shochu "ice", topped with lemon and some lemonade. Powerful stuff !

Doesn't sound half as good as "Woolly Hedgenettle" ...

Taught a bunch of local girls the basics of bread making on the weekend (at their request). Found out only after dinner and a significant amount of German wine that none of their apartments actually has an oven Brezel, wholewheat-rye-spelt bread with filling of their choices (ranging from fried onions over walnut/date to Wakame), lean white bread (here in Epi form) and Flammkuchen. Combined with homemade Kümmelbauch, sous-vide roast beef and compound butters as well as some cheeses (store bought). Everybody went home happily and packed with their own loaf of bread and enough leftovers to feed a family.

It's a regular Chicken McNugget, but they are more crispy here than the ones I had in Europe ...

It's Korean weeks again. Which means mostly oversized MgNugget packs and sauces. But you have to admit they do a good job with those: The Gochujang ("Korean chili sauce") was bold and spicy, the Bulgogi was tangy, garlicky and just sweet enough. The latter I would buy in a bottle. Lemon Herb was ok and Honey Mustard was fine as well. Korean fried chicken is big in Hong Kong, so naturally McD wants to participate. At around 45 HK$ (around 5.5 US$) for a menu with 18 nuggets, fries and iced lemon tea I won't complain (having a pre-dinner beer on the ferry home of course helps supressing the complaining and also promotes ordering an additional dessert afterwards) ...

Donkey sandwiches at Fatty Wang's in Beijing. Crusty and flaky bread, braised donkey meat, chili and cilantro. Had some sweet&sour peanuts and garlicky cucumbers. Unfortunately, they were out of the braised intestines, much to the delight of my wife. Beer, of course. Doesn't get much better than that (although the roasted duck from the night before wasn't bad either ...).

Koya-san is fantastic ... do you do a temple stay ? They sometimes offer hands on food preparation (zen-vegetarian, of course). I envy you !

Germans are known for their euphemisms...

I beg to differ ... sausage-wise and probably in most other instances as well

I know it's a bit gore, but I usually grab a few, decapitate them and put their heads on tip of shortened tooth picks for display in strategic parts of my flat. Scares them off every time ...