10 things to tickle your tastebuds: Mediterranean edition

Recently returned from two weeks visiting the European countries along the Mediterranean. Beautiful seafood, everything so fresh. We ate in lots of markets, restaurants, bars, and on the street. Of course, wine and coffee are amazing practically anywhere so I don't touch on those but here are a few food highlights and suggestions in no particular order!

1. Lemon-based foods in southern Italy. The lemons that grow in Sicily, Naples, Sorrento and other areas in the south of Italy are just amazing. Even had a dish of meatballs wrapped in the leaves of lemon trees that was out of this world. But a real standout was a candy store  called Confettie e Agrumetti that we happened on in Sorrento that makes in-house “confetti alla crema lemoncedro,” which is basically a beautiful little sweet that is lemon cream wrapped in lemon candy shell. OMG!

2. Something with squid ink, just because black teeth at the table are sexy! And those who live in seaport actuallly know what to do with squid ink. In Valetta, Malta, there’s a little family run spot that serves a wicked tagliatelle neri agli scampi. It was super seafoody and definitely a unique flavour. In Barcelona, squid ink risotto was much the same but with a lot less chance of getting squid ink all over your shirt when you’re eating it.

3. Cured meats: I am sure for all time there will be a debate over whether prosciutto di Parma ham, or jamon Iberico is better. I’m putting my vote in for the Spanish version. Every time I ate the jamon, it melted in the mouth. In Italy, it was a lot more varied and often quite tough. Spanish salami also won the day for me over its Italian counterparts although to be fair I probably only tried a dozen or so of the hundreds of types of salami available in Italy.

4. Fresh cheese: ricotta, mozarella, buratta. Some are made with cow’s milk and some with the milk from water buffalos. Either way, fresh cheese anywhere in Italy is spectacular. One of the best was a little pat of ricotta that we were given as the amuse bouche before lunch at a Roscioli in Rome. But it doesn’t matter where you get it from if it’s made fresh because it will be simply amazing.

 
5. Calissons in Aix-en-Provence. Marzipan is a beautiful thing and the confectioners of Aix have been making these traditional sweets since the 15th century. The method for making them, like champagne, has been made “official” since 1991. The almond-shaped sweet has a base of almond-and-dried fruit paste topped with a layer of royal icing. A one-bite wonder that is surprisingly not too sweet.

6. Olive oil: Every country along the Mediterranean makes its own olive oil and claims its is the best. Again, I vote for Spanish olive oil over most of the others European nations but it’s worth trying some of the local organic olive oil no matter where you are. They are all different and you never know when you’ll hit on a spectacular one as we did in a small little shop in Arles, France where we found one from the Vallée des Baux de Provence that was made with mature black olives and had a very unique and deep flavour. Oh yeah, also just eat lots of olives.

7. Shrimp/scampi: Particularly in the tapas bars of Barcelona, you can have these gifts of the sea prepared many ways. One tapas bar served  whole fried spicy red shrimp. Now they were a bit finicky because they were deep fried with the head and shell on but the flavour was out of this world. A good tapas place will likely offer up a whole lot of shrimp options. Likely none will disappoint.

8. Ocotopus. The more tentacles the better my friend Michael always says. Often when you order octopus, it ends up being very rubbery but when the experts who live by the sea make it, you won’t be disappointed. Char grilled with just a bit of lemon and garlic sauce is my favourite.

9. Gelato. It’s good almost anywhere in Italy, where there are also a whole lot of artisinal gelaterias that have popped up. In Rome, there was one worth a long, long walk in the rain: Romana, which is quite near the Termini Station but not near to much else! Perhaps the best pistachio gelato I’ve ever had, and I have had a lot. Amorino Gelato in Valetta serves its gelato in the shape of a flower, which is darn cool.

10.  Gyro sandwiches, or as we like to call them, french-fry sandwiches. Beautiful, herby lamb or chicken cooked on the upright spit, sliced off, and made into a pita sandwich with tomatoes, garlicky tzatziki, and, of course, a few french fries. They’re available from street side vendors all over Athens. Follow it up with a bit of luscious baklava from a local bakery. It’s just better because you’re buying it in Greece.

Dia de los muertos

While everyone knows I came to Oaxaca in large part for the food, the timing was expressly to ensure I was here for Dia de los meurtos. While I didn't go to everything or see probably even a tiny bit of what was going on in and around Oaxaca, I was fortunate enough to go on a few trips with the school to some cemeteries.

Crazy school kids on a wild night field trip.

I sort of knew what to expect but also didn't. I made a point of not looking at travel blogs or anything like that so when I got there, it would all be new and amazing. And it was! So spoiler alert if you're coming down to Oaxaca for the celebrations and don't want to see what it's all about, then stop reading.

Dia de los meurtos is actually more than one day. It kind of stretches from Oct 31 to Nov 2 but in reality celebrations stretch through more than a week. At least in the city, there's a parade of kids, marching bands, and even dressed up pets at least once a day for the whole week. It was a rare day to not hear the subtle sounds of a tuba nearby.

But for now, here's a bit about the cemeteries.  We went to two, one in Oaxaca and one in a small town nearby called Atzompa.

The cemetery in Atzompa is well known for having quite a raucous all-night event on Oct 31-Nov 1.  The whole gang of us from the school arrived and found the walkway toward the cemetery packed with people and vendors selling food, drink, and more with loud live music blaring from a stage up ahead. But once we walked through the gates, we were greeted with an awesome sight of hundreds of candles and the scent of thousands of flowers. There was a big stage set up on the one end of the cemetery but the live music stopped shortly after we got there and was replaced with some really odd Mex-pop that provided the soundtrack to our one hour visit.

Atzompa

The Atzompa cemetery is quite old and also quite small. The graves are somewhat of a disorganized mess but almost all had new soil piled on top and decorations of marigolds and other flowers as well as candles. We arrived about 10 pm just when it was getting busy with families arriving to spruce up the graves, light candles, or sit together and pray, eat, drink, sing, and laugh.  It was quite a wonderous sight.

The celebrations go on all night there and many families, and tourists, stay through the night, but I opted not to since there was really no connection to any of the families.

The next night we started off watching a parade in central Oaxaca, that was punctuated by a wedding celebration outside one of the city's large churches that we happened to be standing nearby. The couple had set up what is known as a cathedral, but is basically a huge fireworks structure that they set off and it ends with their names being all lit up at the top. Totally off the charts here with the fireworks.

Oaxaca's main cemetery. 

Anyway, after that the school gang walked over to the main Oaxaca city cemetery, which was substantially larger and more formal than the one in Atzompa. The owner of our language school and her husband both have parents buried there and we visited and decorated their graves and showed our respects.  

So there is a very serious side to Dia de los meurtos but there is also just total craziness as well. Especially in Oaxaca, it was like a cross between Halloween and I don't know what with tons of people in the graveyards all dressed up and taking pictures with each other. There was live music and bands wandering around and just outside the walls of the Oaxaca cemetery there was a carnival, complete with rides, games, food, and flower sellers.

It was a party for sure in Oaxaca.

It was total pandemonium and complete sensory overload. I'm not sure these pics do it justice but it gives you a bit of a taste of it.

Dia Uno

The  The first day of this trip was a travel day. The morning was incredibly smooth, or felt that way, with it taking only 10 minutes to check my bags, get new boarding passes and go through security. It took longer to find the Aeromexico counter hidden in the far back end of Terminal 3 than the whole rest of the process. While going through security, there was one tiny hiccup when they checked my boarding pass, with the security person asking if I'd already gone through. I said 'no,' she then shrugged her shoulders and sent me through.

Limes and grapefruits growing outside my window. Smells heavenly.

I didn't think much of it but noticed when I went to board the plane that I had been moved well up to the front of the plane from my seat back in row 20 but I settled in. Then a man came and told me I was sitting in his seat, 6C, but that was on my boarding pass as well. So a fair bit of confusion ensued. I got a call from the airline on my cell asking if I had boarded, then someone came looking for me. It was all a bit hearstopping. I'm not entirely sure what went wrong but for a minute there I was Manuel and I was sitting in 6C. Obviously it turns out I was not Manuel, but no one actually knew who he was or why I ended up with his boarding pass, and the other dude in 6C got relocated across the aisle in 6D and we got the flying party started.

Flying on Aeromexico was like the old days. The plane wasn't old or anything but there was only the drop down screens, they actually fed you a decentish hot meal, and you could get alcohol at no charge — even on my short hop from Mexico City to Oaxaca.  In case you're wondering, travellers, the Mexico City airport has crap WiFi and not such great cell coverage either. So I'm looking forward to spending eight hours there in a few weeks.

Arrived in Oaxaca, on a somewhat delayed flight, and had a super-tiny panic about not being met by my host family at the airport, but all was fine and the lovely Marianna and her mother Eunice picked me up and put my Spanish to the test as soon as we were in the car!

I've travelled a fair bit and find that arriving places at night, for the most part, is really disconcerting. Unless it's somewhere like New York or some other city that makes sense to me (don't ask what that means exactly but my sister-in-law who arrived in the darkest night to Iquitos, Peru with me knows exactly what I mean) I get very discombobulated.  And although I am staying with a family, the communication on this first night were not that great and I was not feeling brave enough to hit the dark streets to find a bite to eat. So I just unpacked in my big room with teeny tine ensuite bathroom and kicked back and relaxed. I needed to rest up for my first day of Spanish class and I'm glad I did.