New York: The Food

Flying over the Italian Alps on the way to Italy for my transfer to New York was well worth the 4 am wake-up I had to endure that morning. There was still enough snow on the Alps that they were well-defined from above. Beautiful!
I had a work conference in New York for two days and then three days off to go around the city with my brother, Oren, who lives there. Since I’d already been to New York with the family, I’d done all the classic tourist stuff. On this trip, I wanted to get lost in New York a bit, walk around a lot and eat a lot of good food. Especially good food I can’t get in Munich – Mexican and Asian!

The work conference went very well and was over before I knew it. Oren and I managed to meet for dinner on Tuesday night when we walked around Hell's Kitchen and found a Brazilian place that was yummy. And we also met for dinner on Thursday night when he took me to a fabulous vegetarian place where we both got sandwiches. Mine was a vegetarian chicken parm sandwich and it was massive! Good ol' America with its huge amounts of food. Thankfully, Oren could take it home with him.

My German colleague commented on the fact that so many people ordered these meals and then didn't eat a lot of the food so it went back wasted. In Germany, they do have big amounts of food, but there isn't the level of food waste that there is in the US.

Oren and I also went to a Mexican place in Spanish Harlem, which I'm happy we went to because the food was delicious, but also because it felt like a part of New York that most tourists wouldn't go to. And for good reason, no one on their vacation wants to see posters on a Harlem school pleading for funding to keep their teachers or parents cursing at their children or the streets littered with trash. But it's a real part of New York; it's a place where people live everyday.

I never did have Asian food in New York, but the places we did go were fantastic!

Tollwood, the Alternative Chriskindlmarkt

A weekend or two ago, Greg and I headed to Tollwood to check out the Chriskindlmarkt on the grounds of Oktoberfest. This time, we took the metro together so we wouldn't get lost (for the backstory, see our separate versions of Oktoberfest here and here).

Tollwood encompasses an outdoor food area packed with groups enjoying their gluehwein and other alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks; ethnic food tent with food from Thailand, India, Africa and the Middle East; indoor bazaar filled with handmade and non-handmade gifts; and a music tent. We unfortunately decided to go when it was super-crowded, a Saturday night, so the lines were long. But we eventually enjoyed some falafel and couscous, lychee juice, crepes with cinnamon and sugar, fragrant gluehwein and swing music. We even have a commemorative cup that made its way home with us. ;-)

Shana Tovah!

Happy Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) to my Jewish peeps out there! If you want to learn more about the holiday, click here. Our family isn't religious so we generally just celebrate with food and family: apples with honey, challah bread dipped in sugar, pomegranites, fried spinach patties, honey cake ... such a wonderful holiday! We're celebrating with my aunt's family, something we've never done before so it'll be interesting what customs they recognize. This is by far one of my favorite Jewish holidays.

Welcome into year 5770!