food – Page 4 of 7 – Rasmenian Detritus

There & Back Again, Part 1 – Paris to Pennsylvania

January 13, 2010February 18, 2019 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

It's all quite blurry now, but what I remember of it all is full of various landscapes, faces and suitcases. There was eating, drinking, merriment and... mucous. Fucking holiday travel. It's always a lot of planning and stress, but we had a plan. A simple plan. There was no way it could fail. We had a direct flight from Paris to Pittsburgh, PA. We would rent a car, then drive 3 hours to a tiny, rural town just outside the middle-of-freaking-nowhere. After 1 week, we would board a Greyhound bus to Colorado. Another week there and we would fly from Denver back to Paris. There were various parties, reunions and get-togethers planned in several different locations with dozens of people. Okay, so it wasn't really such a simple plan. Maybe we'd hit a snag here or there; 1 or 2 little things could go wrong. Or... everything could go wrong. Olivier and I woke up at 4:30am on December 20th. I stared at the wall with...

Miles of Berlin Before We Sleep

August 20, 2009December 2, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

"Gotta go over the Berlin Wall I don't understand it.... I gotta go over the wall I don't understand this bit at all...." -Sex Pistols, Holiday in the Sun * * * The world is full of great cities, each of them considered "great" for reasons all their own. I haven't seen them all and there's a good chance that I never will, but I've seen a few. I've been rained on in London. I've stepped in Parisian doggie doo on my way to the Eiffel Tower. I've drunk sweet, sweet Guinness in Dublin. I've done a shitty Sean Connery imitation in Edinburgh. I have yet to argue with a NYC cab driver, but it's on my list of clichés to act out. Then there's Berlin. Sure, I consumed sausages, beer and sauerkraut in Berlin, so there's one more big city cliché checked off on the list, but there's so much more to it. I went crazy in Berlin. I walked around slack-jawed, laughed, learned, cried and shook my fist at Berlin while...

Camping in Sweden: Bork, Bork… Quack!

August 14, 2009December 2, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

Entering Sweden and making our way to Malmö was pretty uneventful. I was still battling the sickness I had acquired during the night that we had spent camping in Germany. We weren't planning on doing much of anything in Sweden, other than relaxing and spending a night in our tent before heading back to Germany. We didn't foresee any problems. We didn't foresee any weirdness. Rest. Dinner. Sleep. Breakfast. Should be easy. We arrived at the Malmö Camping & Ferie Center and went into the office. It was the usual thing: the guy showed us a map, pointed out places to pitch a tent and where to pee. Good enough. So, we were ready to pay. "You also have to buy the camping card," campground employee guy informed us. "A camping card? What's a camping card and why do we have to buy it?" He looked at the two of us as though we might be completely daft. We looked at him as though he might've been drunk....

Copenhagen, Part 1: Entering the Gene Pool

July 24, 2009December 2, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

It didn't take long for Olivier and I to make the drive from Hamburg to Copenhagen. That's one thing that I still get a kick out of when it comes to living in Europe - just drive for a couple of hours and instead of crossing state lines, you cross borders into another country, where the language changes and the road signs become meaningless, crazy looking words.In France, Olivier and I both understand the road signs. In Germany, I could make out a few while Olivier could make out the rest of them.In Denmark, we were both lost.Luckily, everyone there speaks such perfect English, that it doesn't really matter.Score: 1 for Denmark.We arrived at the place where we would be staying. We had made a reservation while we were still in France. We walked up to the front door and found a note with Olivier's name on it telling us to go inside.Then we found a path to our room...

24 Hours, 4 Meals, 2 Countries & 1 Pharmacy

July 17, 2009December 2, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

When Olivier and I woke up in our hotel room in Breda, we couldn't focus on much except for breakfast. Here's the thing about breakfast: each time I leave France, I get all worked up and dizzy about what this new place will be serving for the first meal of the day.I judge a country based on its breakfast. Sure, there are other small, less important factors that affect my opinion of a place: the booze, the people, the sights... but, these are all nothing compared to the importance of what food a country starts its day with.France, I love you, but a croissant and a cup of coffee just doesn't cut it for me. This is a snack. Fail.Holland, on the other hand... they have their shit together in this area. There was fruit, cereal, plates of meat and cheese... yogurt, juice, coffee, pastries and a variety of bread. A chubby woman with an absurdly sincere grin brought me...

The Food & Boring Bovine of Bruges

June 24, 2009December 2, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

"... at least in prison and at least in death, you know, I wouldn't be in fuckin' Bruges. But then, like a flash, it came to me. And I realized, fuck man, maybe that's what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in fuckin' Bruges. And I really really hoped I wouldn't die. I really really hoped I wouldn't die." - Ray, In Bruges * * * After Olivier and I had molded Play-Doh into poop, it was time to go with our friends to Bruges. I had been to Belgium before - briefly. A couple of years ago, we made a quick run there to eat some fries, buy some chocolate and grab a case of assorted Belgian beers. You know, important stuff. Why else would anyone go to Belgium?Oh... right. Sightseeing and other touristy shit. We hadn't done that, so it was time to go to the wild, loose, medieval city of Bruges.When we arrived, we found an enormous...