2012 will be remembered by me for many reasons. Certainly the travel I did in 2012 ranks up there as do the many fun memories with family and friends. But another memorable aspect of 2012 will be the food and wine! Here is a small tour of the most memorable ones… mostly food…
BBQ anyone?
At Salt Lick, outside of Austin, Texas, the year started with some phenomenal BBQ!
Wine, wine, wine
A few wine tastings with friends and some touring allowed me to cover a lot of ground here! Virginia and Moldova stand out as unexpected wine places for me. While I was not able to bring a lot of wine from Moldova, Virginia was a different story!
Deliciousness from Moldavia
As far as I understand, northeastern Romania and Moldova are known as Moldavia. The region was an independent/autonomous state between the 14th century and the 19th. I could see quite a few similarities between the two modern areas when I visited Iasi (Romania) and Moldova. One of the similarities I saw was in the food. My favorite dish was pork and mamaliga (a sort of polenta). And my favorite dessert papanași (papanash; a fried pastry stuffed with jam and soft cheese). I could eat these every day (an almost did!).
A homestyle wine tasting
One of my favorite events is the quarterly wine tasting with friends. Our Frog’s Leap wine tasting (normally, we do not focus on one winery in these tastings) was outstanding and the food was a large part of that. After looking at the following pictures, could you disagree?
Chocolate bomb anyone?
I got to try one mean chocolate dessert at The Oval Room, across Lafayette Square from the White House (which I also got to tour this year!). This picture -no- no picture, can ever do this magnificent monument to desserts justice…
Mofongo from Puerto Rico – in Tampa!
I have written about having great Cuban food in Tampa but over Thanksgiving weekend, I went for my favorite Puerto Rican dish: mofongo with fried pork chunks!! MMM!!!
Paris, oh, Paris
Forget the fancy restaurants and all that frou-frou stuff. Paris has awesome small “mere-et-pere” type of places with deliciousness galore. I am lucky to be an eternal Paris visitor and past resident. This allows me and my friends to enjoy these little-known places whenever I visit. However, I still enjoy discovering a new unpolished jewel, like the place in Montmartre where I had this delicious potato-and-egg-topped salad (along with a mini carafe of red wine!).
Of course, Paris’ chocolate houses are a must – and a tour of them should be de rigeur unless you are allergic to the stuff! I always stop by to enjoy some of Paris’ finest chocolate crafts.
Italy. What can I say?
No words are needed when it comes to Italy and food. Here are some of the images from my visit there in April (discovering new and re-visiting old places).
Year end: always a time for food!
For Christmas eve (Nochebuena), I cook the traditional Cuban meal. Instead of showing a beautiful serving plate or bowl with the end result, I decided to leave the end result to the imagination and show you the work in progress. I love making my black beans and Cuban pernil!
Now good food didn’t end on Nochebuena. On our day trip to the charming southern towns of Newnan and Senoia, we had some really good southern food (always comfort food!) right at the square in Newnan. Those sweet potatoes were outstanding!
The year ends
The year went away like the dessert from this plate – it leaves me wanting more. What a year it was!
