Our Honeymoon in the Mediterranean Pt 1

A few months ago, the wife and I spent some time over in the Mediterranean. It was our delayed honeymoon, and well worth the wait. I will try to stay on topic with the food, but everything was just so amazing, forgive me if I digress.

We started in Capri. Drove down the Amalfi Coast, visited Pompeii, and ate lunch at some rooftop terrace restaurant in Sorrento. It was OK. Nothing really exciting. Every little shop sold Limóncello, but we didn’t actually drink any there.

Next stop was Dubrovnik, Croatia. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this country. The port that we docked in was 10km from Bosnia. The countryside was beautiful and the old walled city was something out of a history book. We drove to a country home in Konavale where we ate lunch at a local family’s farmhouse. The meal started off with the 4th & 5th generations greeting us with home grown dates and schlivovitz (their version of brandy). It was “grape flavored”, but felt more like kerosene going down.

We were served lunch family style. The family came around to the long wooden tables we were seated and dropped off baskets of homemade bread, decanters of homemade wine, and bowls of fresh salad and potatoes. The potatoes were reminiscent of what we call “German potato salad”. They were boiled, chilled, and then lightly dressed with vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. The lettuce was prepared similarly. However, the sausage was amazing. I’m not the biggest sausage fan in the world, and I know it doesn’t look like much in the picture, but these little links of savory meat started to disappear off my plate before I even remembered to take a picture. I had to borrow one of the wife’s for this shot. Of course, during this time we had killed off three or four decanters of wine and I’m pretty sure one of the hosts called us alcoholics in their native tongue.

Introduction to the Average Food Guy's blog

My name is Rob. I’m an average guy living in New England who has a passion for food and a wife that shares my love of culinary adventure. My point of view may be different from yours as to what “good food” means. Just because a dish may have foie gras or truffles doesn’t mean it’s good. To me, good food is food that is prepared with fresh ingredients by people who love the idea of a good meal. And not just to eat, but everything about it. Eating food is the destination. But, as with life, food is more than that. Food is a journey.

Food to me is more than just sustenance. It is the life blood of society. It is what has been bringing humans together for thousands of years. Did you ever hear a story of a caveman eating around a fire by himself? Of course not, and there’s a good reason for that. Food is the defining factory of every society. Some say it may be language, but food is a unique language all its own.

So, here is my plan. I love to prepare healthy, fresh home cooked meals, but I also love to travel. When I travel, I do my best to stray off the beaten path away from the “touristy” areas to get a taste of what the locals eat. I do this for several reasons. First, I hate crowds filled with annoying vacationers trying to take pictures of EVERYTHING! Oh look, yet another old building. *click click*. Second, I believe that the best food is not necessarily what the natives serve to visitors, but what the natives themselves eat on a daily basis. And, like I said before, food to me is more than just what is served to me on my plate. It is the full experience of the surroundings, the people, and the sights and sounds of the area.

Having delved into my Bourdanian sounding rants, let me come back to reality. I don’t get paid to travel the world and eat crazy and exciting new foods. So, my writings will be more of the local nature. When the wife and I eat out, I will write about it. I will give you my thoughts on the food, the atmosphere, and the all around dining experience. I will also include some of our own personal recipes, which are, for the most part, modified recipes from cookbooks, restaurants, or the Internet, but nonetheless our own.

Why am I doing this? Since I was a little kid I have always loved cooking and food. I was two years old when I told my mother I wanted to be a chef when I grew up. After meeting my wife (and watching a lot of the Travel Channel), she convinced me that I had what it takes to write about food. She could see the enthusiasm in my eyes every time I cooked her dinner. She could hear the fervor in my voice when I told our friends and family about the amazing meals we ate when we traveled. She supports me in everything I do, so I do this for her. In the hopes that maybe, one day, I’ll actually get paid to do this. Imagine that, getting paid to travel the world, eat food, and write about it. Or, at the very least, score a free meal here and there.

Buon appetito.