First day in Madrid

After checking into our Air BnB place and got a full on map from Moses with lots of awesome stuff for us to see we were off. When I say off I mean straight to the market to eat mini tapas. I have really learned to love Spanish food. 

Ohh the originals, from some famous place in Madrid. 

Madrid is a very pretty place. :)

Jenny Makes her 1st Travel Video (POLAND)

 'Poland' 

by Jenny and Monika 

A lot of you have probably already watched the video Monika and I made of Poland. Needless to say that I have to make sure it gets a spot on my blog. After hours of editing I recalled my fear that previously haunted me about creating video content. It is time consuming and well, not the most easily of tasks for someone that isn't skilled in this department. Making the videos though, were bundles of fun and I think I am getting slightly better at it.

It is really nice to be able to enjoy meals with someone and have a partner to travel around a country. Let alone a native to the country. We all know that I love learning languages and eating food. Let's see if I can continue to find people along the way that will assist in my video ventures.

I'm happy to take any advice in regards to making better quality videos but until then I am just going to have fun and see if I can get my friends to laugh with me along the way. I hope you found the video as funny and entertaining as it was to make.

<3  

P.S. If I am able to make videos during this Eurotrip the blog posts will most likely be less frequent. Maybe it is easier for some of you to watch or read. Let me know :) I would like to stay connected until I return home to Canada-land.

Sapporo

Well we got some time, let's see what Sapporo has to offer:

A Rope way, it was really cold and snowy when I made my way up there. I was all by myself but all in all it was a lovely time that reminded me of Canada.

All you can eat crab is really expensive and to be honest it turned out to be a lot more work that I had hoped. Either way from 2500-4000yen you can stuff yourself silly. There are many places in Hokkaido that you could get kani tabehodai, I would recommend doing a bit of research first to find the place that you want.

Fish market: We went there during the day and everything was closed unlike most fish markets which are booming in the morning. I would openly make the assumption that the market is only catered to restaurants for the evening rush.

The shrine is just next to the zoo surround by a large park, if the weather was nicer it would have been a great time to just wander around. Why was Sapporo soo chilly?

Zoo: Now I remember why I don't want to go to zoos. it was quite sad to see the animals in captivity and maybe I am feeling a little more sensitive than usual. 

Finally time to head back to Tokyo. 

Hakodate Food

Thee famous food here is squid, sashimi ika where they happily serve you one on a plate whilst it is still moving. I was wrong when I previously stated that wankosoba was intimidating. This had me stunned and squirming in my seat, the head was detached and most of all the tentacles still thriving in the normal life like way. The skin changed colours as time passed and my mind couldn't shake the humanity of it all, though when in Rome.

In the morning we headed to the fish market which was chalk full of crabs かに  being the most famous or should I say well known in Hokkaido. We ended up having a keisen don (sashimi rice bowls) for breakfast while wandering by more than enough live produce to make one appreciate sea life.

Though as I walked through this chilly place I had a momentary lapse to tsukiji in Tokyo where I had honestly believed that the ocean would be fished emptied in less than a year by the Japanese alone. 

After that, we ventured to the rope bridge. I had a suspicion that it would be closed due to the rainy and windy weather. It was. 

Well looks like next stop is Sapporo. 

Wanko Soba

I have been looking forward to this since I found out that Morioka had this thing called わんこそば, soba served in bite size wooden bowls until you're full. 

We all know that all you can eat establishments are scattered all across Japan since Japanese people love the fact that they can eat until satisfied and be able to leave a little bit of good behind on the table. This also rings true when it comes to alcohol especially sake, though the end results are quite the opposite. 

After arriving in Morioka I found two chains that serve Wankosoba. The one we went to was Azumaya which has a couple locations one being next to the station. 

(FYI: Wan = bowl ko=sounds cute soba 'buckwheat' =type of noodles) 

Since in the Nambu region it's quite mountainous making it hard to grow grains the people here adapted by making noodles. They made it a tradition to keep serving you food until you say 'matta' and even then keep serving you more. 

Served with side dishes, specifically shaved radish and mushrooms, raw tuna (sashimi) and shredded chicken. Soon it turned into a game/contest of how many bowls one could eat, it became popular among tourists. Which brings us to today :P

When we showed up at the restaurant we were given a traditional soba eating apron (that's right they exist) and settled on the normal set. ¥2700, this way you count your own bowls 3 bowls = 1 toothpick. 

(sorry I used the cheesy song for all the videos on this trip, they should really give me more options. Or you can watch all of them when I make an even cheeser after-movie ha ha) 

Although, you had the option to pay ¥3700 where you would get to stack the bowls on your table instead of them being sent back to the kitchen and of course photos of your soba success. 

This was the most intimidating meal I have ever experienced. I was nervous making me less hungry and even my hands weren't so steady when we started. You were unable to take long breaks and it had to be more or less a consistent waterfall of noodle refills. 

Goodbye Morioka and 48 bowls of soba, oh last but not least a lovely public indoor onsen :) 

I the average woman can eat 30-40 bowls and the average man is 50-60...

Balinese cooking class

The driver came and picked us up at 7:45am and drove us to the morning market in Ubud. 

This is where we learned about the ingredients used for today's cooking class. Afterwards we went to a traditional Balinese house where we learned how to make offerings to the gods. 

Let the cooking begin! There were so many dishes and recipes! All the ingredients were very fresh and wonderfully tantalizing to the eyes. 

There was about 12 of us cooking together, the staff cleaned and organized everything for us. They divided us into groups and gave us all little jobs as we created each dish. 

We made all our own sauces, our host was very eccentric and did a lovely job keeping us entertained. 

The finished product had us all stuffed to the brim. 

Not to forget dessert, which was a sweet potato dish that was boiled in sugar cane syrup and coconut milk. 

They even adjusted it to the three vegetarians. :) 

A lovely class!  I would highly recommend attending one when you get the chance. 

Hiroshima Food!

I feel like I enjoyed the food enough to write a short post on it or better yet just post some photos!  :P

Tsukimen- awesome cold noodles usually served with cabbage next to a spicy sesame and miso like dipping sauce. When I was looking at the menu I instantly noticed that there are 30 degrees of hotness you can choose from. Not knowing how spicy each level was I was like...ummm 5. FYI 5 is like nothing. I tried my friend's 15 still alright. Next time 25... teehe. 

Hiroshima specializes in oysters you can get this in an assortment of dishes but we decided to order it on a bed of sauteed spinach. I can't remember why spinach is so rare here but damn it is yummy! 

Of course you can't go to Hiroshima without hitting up an okonomiyaki restaurant. This is a 'pancake' that is layered with many things and squeezed down to size. There is a pile of cabbage, pork slices, an egg and a piece of dough that one can say is the shape setter of the whole deal. Before WWII it was just made like a dough and eaten very much like a pancake but with sauce on top. (the sauce is savory btw) Only after the war was the noodles and even rice was thrown into the mixture, now with how popular it has become you can put any kinds of toppings on it. ex cheese, mochi, shrimp, veggies, etc. 

I threw in this picture because this was homemade food from my friend's mom just outside of Hiroshima. Lovely food and real matcha, my fav! 

age-momiji! Momiji is shaped like a maple leaf and is originally filled with sweet bean called anko, which I love. Only here on the island of Miyajima where they serve it deep fried with tea. I wouldn't eat it often but it was good! Again there are many falvours that you could get inside like custard cream. 

A close up of a negi (green onion) rice and soba okonomiyaki. Don't forget you can get Udon in it instead.

Happy drooling. Time to eat. Itadakimasu!!  いただきます!!!

Learning about Taipei

Again I slept in really late and got up in the early afternoon hours. I got ready and picked up a bubble tea. (Green tea with passion fruit and no sugar) I loved how many options they have and I am sure that I will buying more of them during my stay through out Taiwan.

From there we headed off to find some lunch,  we picked up freshly made green onion cakes and then straight to a dumpling restaurant. We got 15 dumplings for only 90TWD = $3.60 split three ways :) 

We decided yesterday that we would take the cable car up to the tea house and then maybe head to a traditional Taiwanese play. 

First stop the subway station, after figuring out the Tokyo subway station the one in Taipei one was super simple to navigate! We bought a subway card for 100TWD and topped it up. We're all ready to start exploring! 

I love how we can use our subway cards for the gondola. At the cable cars they have the option for crystal cars (see through floors) for the same price but the wait was immense.

We decided against going to the show and hit up another night market (shilin) to see what they have. There are lot more people and stalls here and I found that you can get hustled very easily. Got to learn how to haggle better. Lesson for the day: Watch out for fruit ladies that are faster than you. 

Expensive tea houses at the top of the mountain. 

Jenny In Taipei

I woke up after an epic sleep of 11 hours. talk about insomniac making up for lots time. Either way my old roommate the Korean girl moved out before I could even say good bye. Two new people moved into the room and they are both here to stay for a couple of days. We all instantly hit it off and became friends I was really pleased that I could converse with both of them in different languages.

The girl is from Shenzhen and I could speak in Cantonese with her and the boy is from Kyoto, I can keep using my Japanese. From there we decided to head on out to grab lunch and they were able to pick up prepaid internet sim cards which go for really cheap here. 300TWD for a week or 800TWD for 15 days unlimited. I would have liked to take advantage of this but I cannot since I don't have a sim card slot on my ipod. It just means I spend less time on the internet and that I can just wander and get lost a little easier.

We walked all the way to the tower 101, where we found out that you would have to pay 800TWD which is about $24CAD I think that is a lot. So we opted out and I dragged them to the shopping market next door. After we made it in I couldn't believe how boring this shopping mall was. Though there was an upside that is there was a rooftop that we could have some photo opts on!

Yay roof top! 

We hopped back into the taxi which only costed us 

$3 split three ways, this really is nothing. I am super impressed that all taxis in Asia are so cheap excluding Japan.


I hit up the night market and even made a video!

From there I went to a couch surfers event where no one greeted us and the drinks were super expensive. Earlier today I was invited to a club called Hive in Taipei, Thursday nights is ladies night and girls drink for free. As long as you keep your cup with you, you can just stand in the line and get a refill. Over and Over again. Either way, I have quite a bit of sight seeing tomorrow so we wandered home and grabbed more street food before the night was over. Until tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening everyone. It is time for this kitty to get some rest. If you want to see more food pictures you can find it on facebook, click here!

Arrival in Taipei

I can't believe I was even worried about coming into the country, after my 3 hour flight I was able to just stroll up to immigration. The man at the counter didn't ask me a single question let alone speak to me. Maybe because it was my first time in Taiwan but hey I have my a 90 day tourist visa!

I managed to decipher the convoluted instructions to the hostel, I don't usually stay in hostels but I have been feeling a little lonely. Of course this is a wonderful way to meet some new faces. I was instantly greeted by a Taiwanese girl named 'Rice' with lots of energy and knowledge about Taipei. She was so welcoming from the instant I stepped in the door that I didn't feel like a foreigner at all. I am really happy she was the one who greeted me at the door, had it been anyone else I would have thought maybe a hostel would have been a bad idea.

She literally overloaded my brain with places to visit, things to eat and stuff to buy and look at. I cannot imagine having enough time to see and do everything she has told me about today. Now that I think about it, I must make sure that I return and get the full effect of Taiwan. Maybe I have found my new little food haven, the weather is nice, the people are too...what am I missing? Maybe a job.  

Not only do I live in the midst of the night market, everything is reasonably priced as well. I already know that I love the food and the streets are clean but not in that sterile kind of way. It reminds me of all the good times I had in China but with a Japanese twist to it.

I instantly made some friends here (the two girls from Chicago) whom invited me out for dinner, a place recommended by Anthony Bordain. I am very thankful that I met these ladies, it was a wonderful start to my time in Taipei. Sad that they are leaving for Bangkok tomorrow, we had one epic talk about taking advantage of the time we have been given and not wasting what is most important to us life. This conversation is definitely going to spore another post. I found an episode about Taipei if anyone is interested in watching. I know I'm going to watch it a couple of times to make sure I try lots of food! (not saying I wasn't going to anyways)

Japanese Food Videos

This is going to be an awesome compilation of videos. 

I hope you enjoy watching these as much as I enjoyed making and eating them...that's right I ate the videos. >.<

Nevis Range Gondola

I had a pretty slow start today after a huge vegetarian omelet (and French toast with bananas and mango slices yesterday) at the hotel,  following a bit of digestions we walked into town next to Lock Linnhe the whole way.

A photo of the High street in Fort William.

While we were waiting for our bus up to Nevis range. 

We asked the lady that was manning the CityLink desk for directions to go Nevis Range since I fancied riding in a gondola or what I would call a tramcar. She gave us the time table for the next bus out and the return times. We were thinking about climbing Ben Nevis when we first arrived but spent the day taking a break from travelling, working and saying good bye to everyone with a nice relaxing evening in.

Knowing that you have to be real prepared to climb the mountain we choose to do the easy route and walk around when we get to the top.

On the bus out to the range.

The bus only costed us £5 for two return tickets, which was half as much as I thought it would be.

 Approximately 20 minutes later we were at a Pinemarten cafe and bar and a ticket booth to head on up. £11.25 for a return adult ticket we hopped right on the next available gondola. In 15 minutes an a nice conversation with a couple of friendly elderly travellers about what happened to the people at the top since we saw no passengers coming back down. They were a riot to ride up with. You started to notice the top when the fog got closer and we were above cloud level. The mist was thick and very cool, we bundled up just the right amount. After our yummy Morrison lunch - aromatic duck with salad and ho sin sauce in a wrap it was time to climb.

The restaurant at the top. 

There is a ski lift that isn't active yet and a the ramp for the Mountain Bike World Cup in the UK  they say that it take 5 minutes to get down on a mountain bike [WARNING, only for experienced riders only] it is extremely steep. There were two view points one that takes 20 minutes or 30 minutes each way. Taking the left path we walked towards the place where the panoramic photo perfect point would be if it wasn't entirely impeded by fog, mist and clouds. Below is the map of the full mountain range, the gondolas only take us to the little spot in the bottom right hand corner.

The trip back down was very short in comparison to the uphill ride, even when we heading down at 4pm people were still going up. Grabbed a coffee and waited for the bus, when it was time to board the bus it didn't come. Checking the bus timetable we realized that the lady at the CityLink reception desk has given us the wrong time. The waitress said that we would have to pay for a £10 taxi back into town even though we both held a return ticket back into town. 

Time for some quick thinking we asked some people coming off of the tram if we could catch a ride with them, a couple from outside of London were happy yo help. No questions asked they were really accommodating and even offered us a ride back to our hotel. We learned that they were scoping out the area for their big climb all the way to Ben Nevis, with a guide and tonnes of supplies it would only take them 9 hours!! They dropped us off at their hotel and we meandered back into town to grab the one thing we forgot - toothpaste (you never think about it until it is gone) and some dinner. 

I decided that today was the day that I was going to try the infamous haggis. Haggis- Containing sheep's heart, liver, lungs minced with onions, oatmeal, spices, salt and stock. Traditionally encased in the animals stomach, now they are prepared in a sausage casing. There was the common dish where haggis is served with neeps and tatties (turnip and potatoes) I didn't know if I could do haggis by itself so I went for the double burger.

Haggis, if you do not think about how it is made or what it is made up of too much it tastes like another version of meat. I don't know what I was so afraid of but I would have it again. Maybe I will even try it the traditional way. 

Scottish Food

I have been here in Scotland for just over a month and I wanted to say something about the food here, now Scottish cuisine has a lot of European influences but still have their own method of preparation.

Scottish Smoked Salmon, ready to eat right out of the package. Now I myself didn't know about this until earlier this week but when introduced to it I bought a package of my own. It is so delicious!!! 

The Smoked Salmon is from the Uig Lodge, I have yet to go there myself but had a friend pick it up for me. 

Cranachan a Scottish dessert. Whipped cream, whiskey honey , raspberries and  toasted oatmeal. I have seen some with a shortbread base but they seem to vary from place to place. 

As for breakfast it is pretty much exactly the same as an English breakfast (Sausages, bacon, eggs, black pudding, beans, roasted tomatoes, fried mushrooms and a tattie scone) 

The Tattie Scone is what I wanted to talk about since the name in my mine would make me think of an English Scone. Instead it is actually a potato pancake/scone. It is mashed potatoes and butter minus the milk and then salted, after that they add flour to the mixture and make it into a dough. Then it is rolled out and put on a pan or baked in the oven. They can be pizza shaped or little circles.

I really like potato scones, then again I really like potato pancakes! One day I hope I can travel around Europe and try the many different kinds of potato pancakes. Lastly, I have to mention Irn Bru since it is the Scottish beverage that has made its way around the world. The only reason that I mention this drink since I don't drink a lot of pop/fizzy/caffeinated are the adverts. I think they are all quite amusing. 

Blackpool Easter

A place that was mentioned to me by quite a few people, since it is a very touristy place with amusement parks on every corner. Luckily for us Danny's parents wanted to go, suggestive idea. Also on top of that forgetting that it was Easter weekend and not purchasing our train tickets in time prices sky rocketed.

Either way, it was an Easter day miracle!

Driving through a somewhat desolate array of streets, slowing driving closer to the large roller coaster. I was very excited to see the beach, the whole day was grey skies and windy but it felt calming to be by the seaside no matter the weather.

Just one street lined up of attractions, trams, horse carriages, then a beach. Swimming there would have been dangerous in unclear water crashing into the steps that lead to the sand at high tide.

We went into an arcade filled with what almost seemed to be old timely machines from something you could see in a western bar. There was one thing I found very peculiar about this place, there was a slight obsession with these 2pence machines. Where it very slowly accumulate pounds full of copper pieces and mini prizes to drop at their lesiure. since the best things to get in there are what you get at every arcade, ticket exchange for grander prizes.

 Piers where mini amusement zones have docked permanently having stories of their own to tell.

Ballroom dancing, ,fun for everyone. Free viewing at the blackpool tower .

From the balcony, we could see people walking on words.

Donkey rides on the beach. This seems, incorrect. 

Old Tram.

The first walk down a coast, bless little Oscar for making it ,all the way there without getting uberly ill.

I fell asleep both ways, *tips the hat* to the driver.

Good old chocolate to start an entry, I love Maltesers but the egg is just plain chocolate.

On Easter Sunday we went to Blackpool and I didn`t write a single thing about celebrating Easter. The first thing that I learned was about eating hot cross buns and boiled eggs for breakfast. 

Roast Lamb with mint sauce and vegetables is the standard traditional dinner for Easter.

A pastry case filling with egg custard flavoured with vanilla and dusted with nutmeg. Now I thought this sounded really good but in the end when I tried it tasted bland I didn't think that it would be quite as flavourless as it turned out to be. At least I tried it.  Read more. 

This really reminds me of Chinese egg tarts, one of my favourites. I`m going to head out to the super market since all the Easter food with be price slashed. Need to find out if they taste the same. (I would very much like to go around the world tasting every countries version of egg custard tarts)

On to some more bizarre traditions `cheese rolling` when I heard of this my eyes widened a bit. People who throw a roll of cheese down a steep hill and waves of people chasing after it, leading in nothing but disastrous endings. The crowds seems to be quite boisterous and enthusiastic watching this unnatural event take place. I can`t wait until June, if I can land the time off work I can see some live action cheese rolling.

Happy Easter.