Around the world in 14 days.....

* This post is going to have a strong theme of food, reminiscent of everyday life in the Schoen household.

Atlanta:

Our recent trip back to Atlanta turned out to be a bit more like an around-the-world trip with a stopover in Atlanta. Mark entered the U.S. via Park City for a 3-day business meeting, and I completed the 24-hour trek via L.A. and Dallas. The stay in Atlanta gave us enough time to visit friends and family, take in a concert by Sharon Jones, eat at a newly-chosen, Schoen Atlanta Top 10, Tamarind Seed, and dine at unfaltering beloveds Sotto Sotto and Six Feet Under.

New York:

Then it was off to New York with Carrie for Julie to visit Kajal for her birthday. New York, being the mecca for all things related to eating and drinking wine, was the perfect venue. Friday night saw Carrie and me trying a new restaurant, Insieme, near Times Square and surprising not touristy at all. The choice for the evening, since we like to act like high-rollers sometimes, was the five-course tasting menu. The food was good, but the highlight was the matched wines. That and the fact that we only requested the half-glass matches but were poured the full-glasses just for our southern charm. Here are the wines:

Riesling, Donhoff, 2006, Nahe (served with a scallop dish)
Blanc Des Rosis, Schiopetto, 2005, Friuli (served with a black olive oil hamachi - yummy)
Dedalo, Fiorre, 2004, Sicily (favorite wine- served with a pasta dish)
Bardol, La Bastide Blanche, 2004, Provence (served with brasata al barolo, a braised beef dish - tasty)
Samling 88 TBA, Sonnenmulde, 2002, Brugenland (served with apple confit)

Now, don't think we are drunks.....You are only in NYC once (a year). We finished the evening with a little Paul Hobbs Cab at Park Blue on W. 58th St.

Oh, the eating didn't stop there. In fact, it went right on through the entire next day. With the kick-off at Fanelli's Cafe (Mercer and Prince) in Soho, we stuffed our pieholes full of homemade french fries, chicken salad, and crab cakes. After meeting up with Kajal, we put our faith in her that she would come through with a mid-afternoon snack. After wandering around a bit, as Kaj is not so good with directions sometimes, we sat down to a tasting flight of New York State Cabs and Blends (not Kaj since she is about to have a baby) and a cheese plate at Vintage New York Wine Bar.

In celebration of Kaj's birthday, Carrie and I met her and friends that night at Sala on the Lower East Side for stuffed dates, spanish tortilla, and paella.

Just so that we could rightfully say that we would not be able to button our pants for at least a week, we topped off the weekend with brunch at Norma's at the Le Parker Meridien on Sunday morning. As if we had not eaten enough at that point, Carrie and I were about to eat our toes upon arrival and were not too happy with the wait or slow service. All was redeemed when they brought us the banana, macadamia nut pancakes with brown sugar butter, and eggs benedict made with pancakes instead of english muffins. Dear lord, I wish that I could have borrowed Kajal's maternity jeans at that point.

London:

After NYC I met back up with Mark in London, as he had some business there for a few days.

When I lived in England for a summer back in 1998, London was not particularly known for its culinary prowess but more for its food poisoning-inducing dining and greasy pub food. The evolution of the culinary scene over the past 5-8 years could quite possibly be attributed to super-chefs like Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver, but the reason is no matter. How pleasantly surprised I was to have several great meals during our stay this time.

Ladbroke Arms in Notting Hill was a great deviation from the British pubs and fish and chips you often associate with London. I was even able to order a goat cheese salad and saffron risotto! The clientele (think Hugh Grant in his film Notting Hill) was also a pleasant departure from the typical pub crowd.

Senor Sassi's in Kensington was a bit blah and a bit of a disappointment, but it was good to catch up with our friend Paul Grayling.

Singapore:

Evidently planes are mechanically unable to fly directly from London to Australia, so we made a 14-hour stop in Singapore just in time for the the Chinese New Year celebration of "The Year of the Rat".

It always helps to gain the perspective of a local, and one of Mark's colleagues, Sin Hin, was an excellent ambassador for the celebration and traditional Singaporean cuisine. When in Singapore, you must eat Chili Crab and Black Pepper Crab. But, due to Chinese New Year we also added a traditional dish, Yusheng. Yusheng implies "abundance of wealth and long life" and is tossed high in the air by all diners at the table to promote "a rise" specifically in business.

(This is Yusheng.)

The dish comprises the following ingredients:

-Some sort of raw fish (usually salmon these days), symbolizing abundance throughout the coming year.

-Pomelo sprinkled over the fish for good luck and value

-Pepper sprinkled over the dish for prosperity in wealth and worldly items.

- Oil poured in a circle to increase profits 10,000 times

-Carrots added to the dish for further blessings of good luck

-Green radish is piled on top of the fish to grant eternal youth.

-White radish is added for prosperity in business and promotions.

- Condiments are added including peanut crumbs (households filled with gold and silver), sesame seeds (successful business), and deep-friend flour crisps (the floor should be filled with gold)

-Everything is then tossed 7 times by the entire table

I'm still waiting on my floor full of gold!