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Cologne won’t cover my gluwein breath!

by admin on December 4, 2011 in Travel with No comments
christmas market cologne 2011

Christmas Market 2011 in Cologne

6 out of 7 Christmas markets down, countless number of Gluwen cups, a billion homemade cookies and …I am TKO! (total knock out) or zzzzzz

chocolate tool shop

chocolate tool shop

I had such a lovely weekend thanks to an awesome school friend and of course the little dumpling that accompanied me :) Cologne is a town about 2.5 hrs by train from Amsterdam and is widely known for their Christmas markets. We’re talking serious Xmas market here.  Not so much of a hidden gem as you will find buses of tourists from The Netherlands, France and Belgium chatting it up all throughout the city.

[...More than 160 stalls offer a large scale of traditional goods and handcrafted gifts. Each one has its own flair. Their sparkling lights and peaceful atmosphere attract millions of visitors from all over the world every year...] Source and Further Reading: Cologne Tourism Christmas Market

Walking around the city for two days and 14 hours, we got a great look of the city. Pretty impressive shopping stores with lots of selection and things I’ve never seen before. By far, I saw the most pimpest camera ever. Holla at your paparazzi. flash!

pimp camera

pimp camera is too hot to take off the wall

 

I definitely had my satisfying intake of meat. The Christmas market was filled with so much meat: meat on a stick, meat on a bun, meat inside a blob of sauce…I had a ton of meat! and it was so good.  Beef, chicken, fish, pork….all tickling my stomach as I’m sitting on the train back to Amsterdam.  Something about over eating and washing it down with Gluwein, hot wine, makes these markets so much fun.  I also had my first Glubier (glow beer), which is basically hot beer.  After trying, I’m still sticking to the idea that beer should be only served ice cold.

meat everywhere

my preferred usage of an overgrown toothpick

The Cologne Cathedral, Kölner Dom, is one of the most impressive building that I’ve seen.  Especially after watching the series Pillars of the Earth and learning about how these churches took generations to build, I really find these structures quite remarkable.

upside down in from of Cologne Cathedral

upside down in from of Cologne Cathedral

Great Thai restaurant!

Ok so here comes the little business part of me who likes to comment on processes that I like. We ate at a Thai restuarant that was really tasty :) but what really stuck out was the way they were able to serve people with minimal amounts of staff. There was one person responsible for keeping all the tables clean, one person who took orders, and the rest was self-serve. You take your own forks,chopsticks and even serve your own drinks. But for less than 7 euros, you can eat like a champ with some authentic Thai…some more meat!

Spiting fancy wine in Lille like it’s my business

by admin on November 20, 2011 in Culture Curiosity, Out-of-office Lifestyle, Travel with No comments
masses

Say what??? Oh yeaaaa, I was spitting 20 euro bottles of wine and cognac from 1990….it felt so wrong, yet so righhh……..no, it was probably just dead wrong.

When a friend asked me last week if I wanted in on a weekend road trip to Lille, I didn’t hesitate for a second. I had the pleasure of being at one of France’s largest wine expos called the “Salons des vins des vignerons indépendants” (Independent winery exposition). Eight times a year held in a different cities throughout France, this event gathers several hundreds of wine producers to give them a chance to showcase their unique fermented grapes of oh la la la la! It’s freaking huge! There must have been something like 500 different wine brands, each carrying their own assortment of wines and other specialties (red, white, rose and champagne and cognac….and excuse me, need to spit…aperitif, chocolate made with wine, .etc) Where the heck do you begin?

Bottles up!

As any amateur drinking tourist, clearly shown by my drinking etiquette and accented French, I was thinking about how the heck am I going to try all these wines without getting a lil tipsy? And so I had the chance to do something that I never attempted before. I spit wine like I was spitting sunflower seeds at a baseball game, over and over again. Show me the bucket!

That’s right, I was spitting wines and liqueurs that were 50 euros a pop without any hesitation. This was my “goldie popping collar moment”, but man did it feel so wrong! I still can’t believe I was spitting out some of these out especially in the face of the producer. It felt like I was spitting someone’s present right in front of their face.

  • The wines that were too spicy…spit.
  • Not smooth, spit again.
  • Tingle in the mouth….just walk away and don’t look back.
  • Cognac please…need to cleanse my wine breath

I also learned two things!

I can spit out 50 types of some and not get too dizzy, although I was breaking out in little sweats.  Not sure if that’s b/c of my Asian gene or just because I was nervous spitting in front of the producer.  I also learned that the wetness (rain) of seasons truly impacts the taste contained within the grapes.  Drier temperatures help the wines taste extra delicious because the grapes are able to extract more flavor.  And so that same wines can taste so different when the only difference is production year.  I’m no wine connoisseur, but the difference was pretty shocking among some 2008s and 2009s of the same brand.  Another hint, 2008 wasn’t a great year for french red wines.  I’ll go for the 2009, a very hot year in France, and give my “pshhhh non merci” to the 2008s unless it’s a medal wine, which by the way, I am happily taking home.

A great event filled with laughs and very friendly people. I guess having people come tougher around to toast some wine makes a great social.

Vive le bon vin! and bottles up!

Off to find some mussels!!

Pyramid du Louvre Caught At Sunset

by admin on August 31, 2011 in Travel, Travel Trott with 2 Comments
pyramide du louvre

The sun started sinking from the skies.  I gazed around absorbing all the magnificent colors and reflections from the buildings while a man plays the violin.  The sunset, the violin…it seems as if they are teaming up to create an unforgettable show that will be a lasting memory for all passing by.  Finally the sun falls behind the Pyramid du Louvre.  The sun is captured in the glass.  And for a handful of minutes, you can’t help but stare, because you know that this is one of those moments that are rare.

What a beautiful site from one of the most well known spots in Europe, the Louvre.

Merci a Paris

High Resolution Pics

Restaurant Polidor of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris

by admin on August 29, 2011 in Travel, Travel Trott with 1 Comment
Restaurant Polidor

If you had to describe French food (or maybe use the word “cuisine” to appear sophisticated like the French as we touring around the Parisian streets), what would you say?  Would you talk about the French foods in a creepy way?  “Oh those freaky frog legs, the uncooked meat called tar-tar, which omg I need to zap in the microwave before eating…  Or would you talk about the elegance, the mouth watering steaks smoothed in savory oh la la sauce that melt ever so slowly in your mouth.  Or how about the tarte tintin (upside down apple pie) served at the perfect temperature for a perfect desert?

Well, I decided to go one step further than food and try to describe the Parisian French restaurant experience I enjoyed over the weekend.
I had the pleasure of touring Paris with a local Parisian.  Not only did I get the chance to see areas of Paris unknown to the average tourist, but I got to eat at a French restaurant and get a real local dining experience.   Named Restaurant Polidor, its story began in 1845 and to this day, they don’t accept credit cards, probably one of the cool reasons that Wooden Allen decided to shoot his last film here entitled “Midnight in Paris”.  I haven’t seen the film yet, but eating here has inspired me to hit up the video rentals.

If he makes it, the crowd shall come

Chaotic joy

You sit down.  It’s crowded.  Apparently Woody Allen’s film boosted recent business to the restaurant as people flock by the masses.  The tables are placed as they would be in a school cafeteria and so you share tables with strangers, but you won’t even care.
The service is amusingly chaotic.  The restaurant is packed with guests, but not with servers.  The waiters/waitresses will avoid eye contact when possible.  Our waiter disappeared and so we asked help from another.  Stress in the air.  Rather than assisting, the waiter lectured us about how we cannot expect help from other waiters because they are too busy.  It almost felt like we did something wrong by asking for service….btw, this lectured occurred twice by two different waiters.  And so you escape from the stressful and head for the toilet only to find that the toilet is a hole in the floor….old school.

But eventually you are served, and enjoy the “local French moment” with your friends.  About 50 euros per person will get you a 3 course meal  with pate, duck, delicious desert and a couple bottles of wine.  And after the first bottle of “vin” (French word for wine) you  forget the chaos.  You look to your friends and realize that this is one of those experiences that you don’t get anywhere, but one that you get in Paris.

…And after we went out in search of our next bar a vin to continue our special night way beyond a Midnight in Paris.

Photo Source:

http://parisfocus.blogspot.com/2010/03/cremerie-restaurant-polidor-after.html

Reality Hits and You are a Globetrotter

by admin on May 17, 2011 in Blog, Culture Curiosity, Featured, Out-of-office Lifestyle, Travel with No comments

Who’s a globetrotter?

If you’re sports fan from the States, you might refer the incredibly talents basketball stars “Harlem Globetrotters”  (btw…The city in New York, Harlem, actually originates from The Netherlands).

If you look on Google, then a globetrotter is someone traveling a lot to several locations.

If you ask students, some may refer to a cool person absorbing the various surrounding cultures to gain a better understanding of the world’s people and events.

Ask businessmen (or women), and you’ll probably hear something like being a front-line member of a company targeting global share or market domination.

Now the Funny Coincidence

I met a fellow American over the weekend while playing basketball.  We talked about how cool it is living in Europe because it’s so easy to travel to several countries.  Both of us are businessmen, but business aside, we were playing with people coming from Greece, China, Sweden, Spain and telling stories about each of our homelands….typically we would have at least 8 different countries representing our weekly games.

Just playing one single game of basketball, I was able to ask people from respective countries about:

  • How are the people of Greece handling the debt issue?
  • How is creativity and “breaking conventional wisdom” taught in China versus the Western World?
  • The public education system in Sweden, which has one of the best financial aid programs worldwide.  Did you know Sweden is one of the tops countries at exporting culture?  Music is a top 5 export of the entire country!

Smiling at each other, I looked at the fellow American and said, “You can’t get this at home.” The chance of playing a simple game with people from all over.

Btw…I had to throw this in after mentioning the Harlem Globetrotters

Raising Money for Japan Relief Efforts by Selling Shirts

by admin on May 12, 2011 in Featured, Out-of-office Lifestyle, Travel with No comments