Another Food Blog

On a Friday evening I often have pizza, as I rarely feel like cooking anything more extravagant. Last Friday I made my own for the first time, and was surprised by how easy it was and how good it tasted.

Admittedly I bought a ready-made base, but on top put a tomato and basil sauce, grated cheese, salami, oak-smoked ham torn into pieces and a bit more cheese. Into the oven it went on 200C for about 20 minutes, and it was done. It was certainly a lot less salty than the frozen pizzas I have had in the past, and overall probably quite healthy. Next time I’ll add more interesting toppings for example peppers and red onion, but for a first go it was fine.

It went well with a 2007 oak aged Malbec from the Mendoza region of Argentina (13%), and Bruce Lee’s “Way of the Dragon” on DVD.  

It was my second marathon of the year, this time in Frankfurt where I am currently based with work. I’m getting quite used to preparing for these now, and like previous times I bulked up my diet with carbohydrates in the couple of weeks leading up to the run.

Breakfast was normally cereal and toast, or scrambled egg. For lunch I often had schnitzel with salad or pasta with a tomato and basil sauce. Dinner was pork or chicken with rice, homemade lasagne or pizza, all good sources of energy. Coffee and alcohol were off limits, but I made up for this afterwards.

On race day itself I carried two bananas which I ate at the 10 and 20 mile marks. At the various refreshment stands I took on water and sports drinks, as well as dried peaches which I don’t normally like but on this occasion ate gladly.   

All the preparation seemed to work as I finished in a personal best time of 3h45, which I believe is about the same time as Gordon Ramsay covers the 26.2 miles. I’d be interested to know how the great man prepares for his marathons, as indeed the Kenyan Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot who won Frankfurt in a mere 2h07!  

I spent the past week in Moscow with work, and was amazed at how expensive it was. If you think a small coffee and croissant in Starbucks cost £8, you get the idea how much a three-course dinner with wine might be. As I result, somewhat reluctantly, I tended to eat in Italian or Japanese restaurants on the Arbat Str. which leads from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs up towards Red Square. Even in these places I was paying considerably more than I would in London!

I made up for the absence of Russian cuisine however by a trip to a Russian supermarket. In addition to some rather strong chocolates with vodka in, I came away with some decent caviar. I enjoyed some last night, firstly on toasted brown bread and then just by itself. I could tell it was good stuff as soon as I opened the tin, as the smell wasn’t at all strong. The caviar itself was pleasantly moist, not too salty, and the eggs separate and generally unbroken.

The last time I had good caviar, I washed it down with neat vodka. Without any of that on hand this time, I opted for a couple of glasses of a very reasonable KWV South African chardonnay at 13.5%.

I was in Leipzig with work last week. My schedule was very light as we only have one client there, which left plenty of free time for sightseeing and enjoying the hotel’s pool and sauna. My colleague had done some research on restaurants and suggested “Auerbachs Keller” in the Mädlerpassage, the second oldest (but best known) restaurant in the city.

I recognised the name from Goethe’s play Faust, as this is one of the places Mephistopheles takes Faust on their travels. It’s also said to have been one of Goethe’s favourite wine bars when he was a student.

Enough of literature though, and to the food. The local dishes of roast meat and potatoes looked a bit on the heavy side, so I went for perch filet which came with a grape sauce, cabbage and rice. My colleague had medallions of deer which came with cabbage, mushrooms and fried potato dumplings. We both drank the local pilsner Ur-Krostitzer Premium, admired the various figures from Goethe’s Faust on the walls, and noted we were considerably younger than everyone else in the restaurant!

Next week I’m off to Moscow, and shall report back on what I find….. 

It was my first marathon of the year, and took place in Darmstadt a short train ride south of Frankfurt. As per normal I changed my diet in the days leading up to the race to include lots of carbohydrates, and ate more than I normally would do.

The day before I started with a first breakfast of muesli, and a second breakfast of pain au chocolat. For lunch was pork schnitzel with side salad, followed by a mid-afternoon chicken and basil sandwich. Dinner was in the Maritim hotel in Darmstadt, and was a chicken fajita with fries and salad. I limited myself to a bottle of Clausthaler, an alcohol-free lager, which didn’t taste of much but at least looked the part.

On the day of the race I ate muesli again for breakfast followed by a crispy white roll with jam. During the run I got through several bananas, cereal bars and sports drinks – all provided by the organisers at regular refreshment points. All this food helped me finish in 3h 55, which for a fairly hilly course I was pleased with.

An hour or so after the race I broke all the rules of gastronomy, and tucked into a well-deserved Big Mac meal….     

The evening started well, sipping beer in the old town square of Leipzig and watching a recording of one of Jean-Michel Jarre’s concerts in China. After a stroll around the sights I came across a restaurant called “Goldene Kugel” on the Richard-Wagner Strasse near the main station. It advertised as-much-as-you-can-eat Vietnamese and Japanese cuisine for a very reasonable 17 Euros. I went in.

It started with a plate of sushi….

then came steamed dumplings with cauliflower and greens, with various dipping sauces….

then shrimp, chicken, pork and grilled dumplings….

  

by which time I was full. I washed it all down with a few glasses of dry Riesling, which I find one of the best wines to drink with Asian cuisine. The food was excellent and the service very efficient, so I left a generous tip. 

I was in Vienna last week with work, a perfect opportunity to have schnitzel as it should be done. I ended up in the restaurant of the Hotel Kaiserin Elisabeth, as it was fairly informal and not packed with tourists.

I chose veal schnitzel, as I understand that is the traditional recipe rather than chicken or pork. The first thing I noticed was how thin it was, compared to the chunky schnitzels I have eaten in Germany. The taste was also far better than anything I have had before, with crisp breadcrumbs and the veal almost melting in the mouth. It came with a slice of lemon, and a salad rather than chips.

On the way back to the hotel I called in at the Hotel Sacher, best known for its chocolate cake “Sachertorte”. I gave the cake a miss as I was fairly full, but could manage a small Ottakringer pilsener which is brewed locally in Vienna. 

As an alternative to chilled wine or beer on a summer evening, I quite enjoy Apfelwein which is the German form of cider. It’s the state beverage of Hesse, and Frankfurt has many traditional Apfelwein bars in the Sachsenhausen district (just south of the river) which are worth a visit.

The brand I buy to enjoy on my balcony is Possmann, which comes in at a reasonable 5.5%. It’s a lot less gassey than ciders I have had in the UK such as Magners, and somewhat on the sour side. As a result, it’s perfect for summer and very refreshing. It’s fine by itself of course, but I find it goes well with schnitzel or sausage as well.

At a very modest 2 Euros for a 1 litre bottle, it’s also very light on the pocket!

I was visiting clients in Dresden, and had a couple of hours to look round the city and eat lunch. After visiting the opera house (Semperoper), the Zwinger and the superbly refurbished Frauenkirche (pictured), I started looking for a place to eat. I came across Vapiano on the St Petersburger Str. near the main station, and being a chain I knew but had never tried, decided to check it out.

On walking in I was given a card which I presented at one of the counters when ordering. There was salad, antipasta and pasta to choose from, but I went for pizza. The most expensive was barbecue chicken, but at a modest 8.50 Euros, I thought it worth trying. After a few minutes my beeper started beeping, indicating the pizza was ready.

It had a very thin base, just as I like it, and was generously topped with tender chicken, red onion, smoked cheese and a large quantity of barbecue sauce. Work commitments meant I had to settle for a coca cola to drink, but it was a very good meal nevertheless. In fact it’s the best pizza that I can remember eating, so I must return….

Furthermore I didn’t have to wait for the bill. Instead when I was ready I simply presented the card at the till, paid the balance, took a large handful of jelly babies, and was on my way.

I am intrigued by the wines you can buy in a country itself, and the wines from that country that UK supermarkets choose to stock. Most striking perhaps is German wine, and wines from the Moselle in particular. In the UK supermarkets, these wines are generally acid-dry or sugar-sweet, with little in between. The few good ones cost upwards of £8.

This called for a trip to the Moselle Valley. After an overnight stop in the Roman city of Trier, I travelled north via Cochem to Koblenz. As I was travelling by train, I was able to stop off in various places to try the local wines.

I always chose dry (trocken) as opposed to semi-sweet (halbtrocken), and on the grading system either Kabinett or Spätlese (late harvest) rather than the generic table wine. Whilst they didn’t have the depth or fruitiness of a good New Zealand sauvignon blanc or Australian Chardonnay, they were refreshingly dry, light and crisp. At a very modest 11% alcohol or so, they were ideal for a pleasant summer afternoon.

If the wine buyers for UK supermarkets were to undertake a similar trip, it might encourage them to improve the quality of German wines they stock. In addition to the Moselle, there are plenty of good value wines from Baden and the Rhine Valley they could import, rather than the deplorable Blue Nun and the like that they import instead.