Travelsmartplanet

In Hungary, paprika cream is a condiment on the table – they use it like we would use ketchup or mustard. It’s quite spicy. Locals like to call it  Hungarian Viagra. Why?  If you eat it, the heartburn will keep you up. Since you can’t sleep, you have to do something  to keep  busy, soooo….

 www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

Tags: busy, condiment, cream, heartburn, Hungarian, Hungary, ketchup, mustard, paprika, sleep, spicy, Viagra

On the Cosmos Tour to Prague, Vienna and Budapest, the first optional excursion was a typical Slavic evening in the well-known U Marčanů restaurant, and included folk music with Bohemian, Moravian and Slovakian singing and dancing, plus gypsy music and dancing. The performers were fabulous at getting the audience involved, and great fun ensued. A musical instrument called a cimbalon was played; it’s a large, trapezoidal box with metal strings stretched across, and is played by striking two hammers against the strings.

Here’s a short video of the cimbalon in action:

The  3-course meal accompanied by unlimited drinks (wine/ beer/soft drinks) started with my favorite food of the whole trip – halushka , little dumpling bits topped with cheese and  fried bacon (probably called bryndza) which is one of the the Slovak national dishes. Now we know why. The main course was pork on a skewer with delicate Lyonnaise potatoes, green beans and roasted potatoes.

Everyone ate and laughed and enjoyed the evening.

www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

Tags: audience, bacon, beer, Bohemian, Budapest, cabbage, cheese, cimbalon, Cosmos, dancing, dish, drink, duck, folk, fun, gypsy, halushka bryndza, hammer, instrument, meal, metal, Moravian, music, musical, perform, pork, Prague, Red, Restaurant, salad, sing, Slavic, Slovakian, soft, string, trapezoid, Vienna, white, wine

Hungarian paprika, served often as a paprika cream to add to food as we might add ketchup, is considered Hungarian viagra. Why? Because after you eat it, it keeps you up all night. Since you can’t sleep, you have to do……something.

http://www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

The Hotel Bayerischer Hof was opened in 1841 because King Ludwig I wished to have a comfortable place for his guests to stay. (What – no extra rooms in his gi-normous palace?). Today it is still a gorgeous 5-star hotel, but we think the best places are on the roof and in the basement.

Palais Keller, situated in the old salt cellar from the Middle Ages, is an inexpensive but delicious place to dine on traditional Bavarian food. Go down the stone steps to this bustling restaurant with waitresses sporting frilly aprons, carrying big mugs of Lowenbrau beer and wearing big smiles. The folkloric atmosphere only adds to the taste of the veal in cream sauce with spaetzle, potato salad, sauerkraut, bread dumplings, weiswursts and cheese wursts, along with pretzels with mustard.

After you’ve dined head for the roof, to the Blue Spa Bar & Lounge. Have a drink in the sky and take in the birds-eye view of all of Munich before you.

In 1897 Herrmann Volkhardt bought the hotel, and today Innegrit Volkhardt, the fourth generation, is the General Manager.  It was bombed in WWII; Falk Volkhardt, the son of Hermann  made an amazing discovery under the ruins of the destroyed hotel – the Spiegelsaal (Mirror Hall) had survived almost intact.  In October 1945, this was where he opened the first restaurant in the centre of Munich after the war.

http://www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

Tags: apron, ball, basement, Bavarian, Bayerischer Hof, beer, birds, blue, cellar, cream, dine, discovery, eye, Falk, food, Germany, guest, Hall, Hermann, horseradish, hotel, Innegrit, Keller, King, Lowenbrau, Ludwig I, Middle Age, mirror, mug, Munich, mustard, palace, Palais, pretzel, Restaurant, roof, room, salt, sky, smile, spa, Spiegelsaal, step, stone, veal, Volkhardt, waitress, weisswurst, WWII

Oktoberfest began as a wedding party.

On October 12, 1810, when Crown Prince Ludwig, who later became King Ludwig I, married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen,  all the citizens of Munich were invited to the wedding!

The festivities were held in the fields in front of the city gates. The fields were named Theresienwiese (“Theresa’s meadow”) in honor of the Crown Princess, and have kept that name ever since. Locals have since abbreviated the name simply to  “Wiesn” which is what locals call the festival.

Oktoberfest is not a German national event. It is a local Bavarian festival, held in Munich.

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

Tags: Bavarian, Budapest, citizen, city, Cosmos, Crown, festivities, field, gate, German, King, Ludwig, Munich, Octoberfest, Prague, Prince, Princess, Saxe-Hildburghausen, Theresa, Therese, Theresienwiesse, tour, Vienna, wedding, Weisn

The first included meal in the Cosmos: Prague Vienna Budapest tour was an entree into the hearty meals to come. It started off with a beef broth with thin noodles and small tidbits of beef.

The main course was roasted pork  in a flavorful beer gravy with a side of  red cabbage and bread “dumplings”. These were new to most of the travelers. Rather than a round doughy ball which we expected, these were more like slices of rye bread sitting in the gravy – so easy to lap it up.

Dessert was a light tiramisu served in a tumbler. Good start!

www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

Tags: ball, beef, beer, bread, broth, Budapest, cabbage, course, Czech Republic, dessert, dough, dumpling, gravy, meal, noodles, pork, Prague, Red, roasted, rye, tiramisu, tour, traveler, tumbler, Vienna

Budweiser beer was developed  in the Czech Republic. It was originally called Budvar (and still goes by that name in some countries). Beer has been brewed in Budweis since 1245. It tastes different here than the one in the US.

The two cities most associated with Czech beer are Pilsen and Budweis which both had breweries in the 13th century. The 2 most famously exported Czech beer brands are Pilsner Urquell, which was the world’s first pilsner (pale lager) and Budweiser Budvar. Pilsners have a clear golden colour, a light flavor and lots of foam.

In 2012, for the 20th consecutive year, the Czech Republic had the highest beer consumption per capita in the world –  170 litres per person.

 www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

Tags: beer, brew, Budvar, Budweis, Budweiser, capita, colour, consumption, countries, Czech, flavor, foam, gold, lager, Pilsen, pilsner, Republic, Urquell

An international idea celebrated in 50 countries, Restaurant Day is a food carnival created by food-loving people setting up one-day restaurants. The idea of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and meet others in our community. People offer their family cuisine, favorite recipes, desserts or whatever in their backyard or a park.  Prices are very inexpensive.

Check the maps to see if there is one in your city.

Date: Sunday, August 17
http://www.restaurantday.org/

Tags: carnival, city, countries, cuisine, dessert, family, food, map, people, recipe, Restaurant

Michelin listed Ghent restaurant t’Pakhuis (www.pakhuis.be) takes the concept of farm right to table so seriously that they bought the farm – in Bresse, France. So now they breed and serve famous and flavourful Bresse chickens, guinea fowl, Hampshire down lambs, and Bayeux pigs. From home in Belgium, they get special tomatoes, their herbs, and even “lost and forgotten” vegetables

Located in a former ironworks factory with painted cast-iron pillars and a soaring wrought-iron balcony now filled with light from the huge roof skylight, the noisy chattering happy diners, both inside and out might be enjoying the beers and fancy cocktails at the bar or on the large terrace. In keeping with it’s slick metallic theme, it has the coolest bathroom lock I’ve ever encountered and I challenge you to try to turn on the tap without having to ask!

And the food – my liver screamed for mercy but my mouth was bathed in smiles. Though you could start with  a lighter lobster soup or beef carpaccio, if you dare, the foie gras plate had the most generous hunk of silky foie we have ever encountered accompanied by sage apple cream and dates. Had I stopped there, it would have been a perfect dinner.

But yet we ventured on to the grilled duck breast in pea cream with baby veggies and mashies that were so smoothly whipped that they could have been served for a dessert sorbet. The asparagus risotto with lemon butter was so yummy, it alone could turn me into a vegetarian.

We could have ended the meal with a locally favorite flavor, gingerbread, in cheesecake with vanilla sauce or gone lightly with some sorbets, but we took it to the max with a silky creme brûlée. Sigh.

Tags: apple, asparagus, balcony, bar, Bayeux, beef, beer, breast, Bresse, butter, Carpaccio, cheesecake, chicken, cocktail, cream, creme, date, dessert, diner, dinner, duck, factory, farm, foie, food, fowl, France, Ghent, gingerbread, gras, guinea, Hampshire, iron, lamb, lemon, liver, lobster, mashies, Michelin, pea, pig, pillar, Restaurant, risotto, sage, skylight, sorbet, soup, t'Pakhuis, terrace, tomato, vanilla, vegetable, vegetarian, veggies, wrought

Next door to the oldest vegetarian restaurant, Haus Hiltl, Switzerland’s very first vegetarian butcher’s shop, the Hiltl shop has opened.

On sale are vegetarian and vegan delicatessen products, wines and cooking accessories. At the “butcher’s counter”, customers can purchase meat substitutes such as tofu, seitan, paneer or soy sausages, as well as Hiltl tartare, the traditional local specialty, Züri-Geschnetzeltes, and home-made cordon bleus.

Even the wines are vegetarian or vegan, so do not contain fish bladders or bone gelatin.

Location: Sihlstrasse 28, 8001 Zürich
Neighborhood: Kreis 1
Tel: 044 227 70 00
www.hiltl.ch

Tags: bladder, bone, butcher, cooking, cordon bleu, delicatessan, Europe, fish, gelatin, Hans Hiltl, meat, Restaurant, sausage, seitan, soy, substitute, Switzerland, tartare, tofu, vegan, vegetarian, wine