Category: Been there – places

The gift of surprise in Bergen

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Been there - places, Food and drink, Restaurants, Trips and travel11 Comments

The good traveler has the gift of surprise. W. Somerset Maugham

On Thursday in Bergen discovery was the entree, surprise the piece de resistance.

We started the day by discovering that there is amazing beauty in the fiords of Norway. Our travel in the far north was a stark arctic desert beauty, Oslo did not inspire me, but Bergen and the fiords we sailed were stunning.

Off the boat, a bit chilled and hungry, lunch was our priority – pasta puttanesca for me and risotto for Tricia at a snug restaurant seated by the window to watch the parade of people enjoying the cold sunny day. Sated, we wandered the waterfront a bit, shopped for a friend or two, then took a break at our hotel. We were staying at the Magic Hotel Kloverhuset.

The sun was hovering over the rooftops as we headed out, but where to go? Our hotel had a beautiful lobby bar, we looked at each other and said why not? So we settled in to one of the overstuffed leather couches at Sjø, it means “sea” in Norwegian. Soon, Sandra, the bar manager, set glasses of dry white wine and nuts on the heavy wooden table – the ambience was perfect. The next two hours were magical.

Thanks Tricia for the photo

We were enjoying the time and chatting about the day on the water when Sandra returned with two small coups of bubbles to try, they were a delightful surprise. It was Saint Martin de la Garrigue, a label of the hotel, which also owns the vineyard.

Bubbles are the perfect accompaniment for caviar, which I remembered seeing on their menu. I went up to the bar to place an order. Sandra was chatting with Gabby, the head server, who would become our new best friend. She was not sure if they had caviar at the moment as they were out the day before, so she headed off to talk to the chef.

When she returned she moved us to a table in the restaurant, explaining that the chef was going to do something special.

Thanks Tricia for the photo

After a few more sips and a bit more conversation Gabby returned with a plate of Antonius Cavair, a Siberian cavair from Poland. It was accompanied by smoked sour cream, chives, pickled red onions, and of course bilini – nous étions très contents. Tricia discovered that she loves caviar, bien sûr.

The only thing as good as caviar with bubbles is oysters, which of course Gabby recommended, and we accepted. She said the chef was doing something special for us, we were quite curious. The next plate she brought is best shown in a photo:

Each oyster was topped with a dollop of foam made from oysters and edible flowers. I love oysters but have never had anything like these, the foam gave it a slightly sweet flavor – a magical surprise.

Next we met Chef Mateusz. He came to the table to see how we liked the oysters. We realize now that we have most likely met a future Michelin Star chef.

We chatted a bit, thankfully the restaurant was not busy. He asked if we liked scallops, which of course we did, then he headed off to create the next bit of magic. Through all of this Gabby stopped by to chat and keep the bubbles from running out.

The uncooked scallop was topped with trout caviar, and mayonnaise made from the liver of the scallop. It was a taste of the sea, Tricia said “it had a taste like rose petals.” In a lifetime of experiencing impressive food this scallop pretty much tops the list.

What a day! We discovered that there actually was some green beauty in Norway, we discovered the best restaurant in Bergen, and we discovered an amazing chef. We hope to taste his food again one day.

Thank you Sandra, Gabby, and Chef Mateusz. You gave us the gift of surprise from the time we walked in at 5:00pm until we left two hours later. Most of all, your smiles and kindness will be one of the best memories of our time in Norway, thank you again.

Basel Ticked All the Boxes

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Been there - places, Trips and travel6 Comments

Basel was our first introduction to Switzerland, and what a pleasant place to start. Stereotypes of mountside cottages with goats and cows ringing their bells would have to wait, Basel is a big city.

Bicycles and pedestrians rule, crossing and swerving with no rhyme nor reason. Driving our car was a two person job – I watched the street and listened to the GPS directions, Tricia watched for pedestrians ready to step out in front of the car with no warning, or cyclists coming up on my right as I was starting to turn. Once our Dacia was tucked safely away in the underground City Parking we joined the chaos on foot.

My mornings started at the Confiserie Bachmann on Blumenrain street, next to the Rhine River. One lesson from our European travels is how coffee differs from region to region. I know how to order in France – un cafe, un double, un café crème, une noisette. In other countries it is not always the same.

My first morning I ordered a latte with an extra shot, I dislike most American lattes because all you get is coffee flavored hot milk, so at Starbucks I always add an extra shot or two of espresso so as to be able to taste the coffee – thankfully caffeine has never had any effect on me. Look at what the server brought me in Basel – on a tray, nice serviette, small glass of water, a small baked nibble, and the coffee beautifully layered in a tall clear glass. This is why I like coffee in Europe, no paper cup with a plastic lid.

The next morning I asked for a cappuccino. Thankfully many of the better coffee shops in Seattle serve them just as well, though, with the exception of one shop I know of in Mill Creek, the water and the tray are missing.

Tricia is the travel photographer in the family, she posts her enticing work on her blog site, Travels Through My Lens. However, while in Basel, I was drawn to people in doorways and on the streets that got me to wondering what they were thinking or feeling.

The food in Basel was equally impressive. One meal that stands out was this spicy steak tartar at ONO Deli Café Bar. It tasted just as good as it looks; when it is done right, food can be such a joy.

Our Brit friends have a phrase, “It ticked all the boxes.” Basel ticked all of my boxes: morning coffee while observing the city and sketching, people to watch, and excellent food to share with Tricia en plein air. As Bob Hope sang, “Thanks for the memories…”

Perth, Peace in Western Australia

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Been there - places, On the roadLeave a comment

Sunday 3 April 2011. First a two hour flight from Seattle to Los Angeles, a layover that was usually a couple of hours, then a 14 hour flight to Brisbane, Australia. I lost a day in the process, thanks to time zones and the International Date Line, so it was now Tuesday, 5 April. After another layover a five hour flight to Perth on the western side of Australia. It was late afternoon when I landed, over 21 hours in the air, plus a few hours of layover. Note: Many folks don’t realize that Australia is about the same size as the United States, it’s really big. 

A taxi ride took me to the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel on Wellington Street, by 2011 I had already stayed at this hotel multiple times, and held a number of seminars in their meeting rooms. Thankfully my room was ready so I dropped off my things, changed my shirt, and headed out for Murray Street, the part of Perth that I am most familiar with. 

Walking east On Murray Street the familiarity of Perth did its magic and the effect of the long plane rides faded away. In Perth the first landmark I look for is the Belgian Beer Garden, as Belgian as any pub you will find in Brugge with a nice selection of Belgian beers. I was in Perth for a few days so mussels and frites would have to wait. Right now I had another pub in mind, a few blocks down Murray street, in the area where Murray becomes a walking mall.

The name escapes me, but I have been there many times. It is a comfortable place, with outside tables, and I remember a large tree trunk wrapped in lights. I was in the mood for a pint.

When I landed in Brisbane I called home, from a pay phone using a calling card. (Hard to believe just nine years ago international calls on cellphones were rare.) Tricia answered, confirmed quickly that my flights went well, then told me to brace myself. My mind raced, was something wrong with the house, something financial; our minds go through a checklist of possibilities. 

“Jay died.”

I am rarely speechless, but this did it. Jay was a good friend from church, he was the contractor that had remodeled our kitchen into a beautiful place to cook and eat. Big E Brewery was our meeting point to discuss the world, challenges, and food, which Jay loved as much as we do. Jay was in his 50’s, too young to die, but heart problems do not always check in with birthdays.

I needed to get to a place that Jay and I would have frequented if we lived in Perth. Picking a table in a corner with a view of the street traffic I ordered a pint of James Bogle and a bag of Salt and Vinegar Crisps. When it arrived I made a toast to my friend, “Jay, this ones for you. Will miss you but see you in glory.” Then I did a sketch.

Perth is one of my favorite places in OZ. It is a major city, yet is isolated from the rest of the country by four or five hour flights, with thousands of miles of outback in between. Yet with all of that it is one of the most fashionable of the cities, it is noticeable in how people dress. The buildings and parks are clean and well maintained. It is expensive, over the years I would pay about 2ASD more for a pint in Perth than I would in Darwin, which is one of the less expensive places.

On my trips to Australia I always looked forward to Perth, the seminars were good, as Australian audiences are great. And my rambles along Murray street and Hay street are still vivid in my mind.

I do believe that it was on this trip that I met a friend, Miranda. She had recently arrived from South Africa and helped with registration and organization at the seminars. We had a couple of wonderful chats after the seminars about the state of things in the world and in South Africa, another place that has a soft spot in my heart. We have stayed in touch thanks to Facebook and emails, with all of my complaints about social media it does help us keep in contact with distant friends.

Reality says I will most likely never get back to Perth, nor take the train out to Fremantle where the Americas Cup was held so many years ago. I will probably have to settle on mussels and Frites in Belgium instead of at the pub on Murray street. But I will always remember the many pleasant times I had in Perth, they bring back smiles every time.

Meandering – Darwin, Australia

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Been there - places, On the roadLeave a comment

5F1CD7A8-8221-406F-8AB2-A9F294437E6E

All this time in Le Confinement has me thinking back to all the years I spent traveling the world as a seminar speaker, I am passing on some of those memories.

If I ever just wanted to disappear you just might find me in Darwin, Australia. Darwin holds some kind of attraction I have never been able to explain. In the list of Australian tourist destinations I imagine it is pretty low on the list, yet for me it is one of my favorite places in OZ for no definable reason.

Thanks to the heat and incredibly high humidity you don’t see people in long pants much, shorts are the de rigueur.It is so hot that the pubs serve cans of beer in insulated sleeves.

Darwin is the kind of place where people don’t ask a lot of questions, seems most everyone is pretty much left alone. Thanks to the lower prices of everything it attracts backpackers, the main drag of Mitchell street is lined with hostels. Athletic young folks and shaggy gray beards seem to coexist quite comfortably.

It does cost less. On one of my many Australian trips my first stop was Perth, another of my favorite places down under, my second stop was Darwin. More on Perth another time, but it is everything Darwin is not, Perth is expensive and stylish. A pint in Perth was about 6A$ (about US$8 at the time). After checking in to the Darwin  Hotel, just off of Mitchell,  I walked the two blocks to Monsoons, my favorite place in Darwin, ordered a pint, it was 3A$, nice.

Of course I did a sketch, sitting on the deck with a view of the street and the people. Inside the air conditioning had it down to Antarctic temperatures, me, I love the heat and humidity; rugby or cricket on the TV – life is good. Monsoons at night is quit different, it is a party bar, big time – not my kind of place at all. In the evening I would often wander down to the other end of Mitchell Street to a restaurant on the bottom floor of an office building with a huge deck wrapped around a banyan tree. 

9F1F6333-55F1-4EA0-A594-6D6842B6BC27

The Hog’s Breath Pub, down Mittchel street a few blocks, was always a good place to drop in – more of a sports bar.  Just around the corner from Monsoons there is a Turkish restaurant, outside seating under a banyan tree eating lamb is pretty hard to beat.

A lesser know fact about Darwin is that it was the only place attacked by the Japanese during WW2. Not long after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the same air squadron bombed Darwin, on the bluff overlooking the ocean there are informative memorials that tell the story.

Yes, for some reason I do like Darwin. The white hat that I wear while sketching in the summer came from a hat shop just a block from Monsoons. Reflecting on Darwin brings back good memories. As always I am so gratful for the opportunities the being a seminar speaker afforded me.

A day of Spanish missions, sketching and prayer 

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Been there - places, On the road, Trips and travelLeave a comment

A whole day and all I needed todo was drive 40 miles, so I opted to visit three old missions and spend the day sketching and praying.

First stop was the famous San Juan Capistrano, I would love to see the swallows return but I fear it would be crowded, today it was full of school children yet I found some solace nonetheless.


This is the tiny chapel for Saint Peragrinus. It was the perfect place to read the Morning Prayers.


Here are more from San Juan Capistrano, including the old chapel, and the living quarters for the priest.


Then I went to San Luis Rey, much smaller with  seminary and retreat center, nice place for Noontime prayers.


Last stop was in the foothills of Palomar Mountains, famous for the observatory. Mission San Antonio de Pala is much smaller but so enticing to set and do a mid day devotion.

Travel – tear down the walls

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Been there - places, Hotels, Trips and travel, Why travelLeave a comment

tower-of-londonYears ago we were staying at The Tower Hotel in London. As the name suggests it is next to The Tower of London, which is a Medieval Fortress that housed the Royal Armory and still houses  the Crown Jewels of England. It was built for protection, a place for the Monarch to retreat and defend themselves if they were attacked.

One morning, as usual, I was up early and went out for a walk. The Tower sits next to the River Thames, it is surrounded by a park – a perfect place for a walk. It was early enough that the London traffic was not yet awake, nor were there many other people out. As I walked around the walls, I considered what it must have been like to live inside the Tower. Though the Tower was used as a prison as late as 1952, its original purpose was a Royal residence, and a lavish one at that.

As I thought of what life would have been like in the parklike setting of moats and stone buildings, gardens and trees, as well as security from all dangers, eventually my mind began to focus more on the walls. Walls to protect you, walls that kept you safe from the enemies outside, walls that gave you security – walls that kept you in. Then it hit me, “the very walls that we build to protect us become the walls that in-prison us.” Fear builds walls, we find safety behind them, those on the other side of our walls become the adversary; outside the wall is a scary place, better to be incarcerated within our walls than to risk the perceived dangers beyond the wall. Walls may protect but they are a barrier to freedom.

This is one reason I like to travel, it breaks down walls. Prejudice is based on ignorance which leads to fear, and our fears build up walls for protection. When we travel and meet people that are different we discover that most folks in this world are pretty much the same. We all want to just do our jobs, have a place to live and food to eat, raise our kids, and have some fun along the way.

I remember that morning often, and am reminded that to really live life to the fullest you can’t hide from it. We live in a crazy world, with politics that frighten, yet I refuse to stop traveling, in fact I am motivated to travel all the more and I encourage others to travel as well. Relationships and understanding tear down walls, we need that these days.

Sunriver, trying to remember how to ski

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Been there - places, Outdoors, Trips and travelLeave a comment

img_2634Day 3 in Sunriver, Oregon. Yesterday we went cross-country skiing at Swampy Lakes Sno-Park. When I was young (20’s) I gave up downhill skiing because the lines were too long, and I was either too hot or too cold: hot while skiing, cold on the lifts – not to mention that lift tickets were expensive. So I switched to cross-country: no lines, always warm, and less money.

My son’s family are here with us, they are snowboarders, so they went to Bachelor. Well I hear the lines are longer than ever, of course since it is  Christmas Break there were record numbers of people at Bachelor, so they spent a lot of time waiting in lines; I guess nothing has changed. And those lift tickets have just gone up in price.

My cross-country skills are pretty rusty, the last time we went skiing was a few years ago at Mt. Bachelor, and before that it was at least 30 years since I had been on skis. My mind remembers what to do, but my body and balance have forgotten how.

img_2637It was a beautiful day, we did the beginners loop; for once I overcame overconfidence with practicality. Yet it was still quite a challenge getting back into the flow. All went well until I jinxed the day by proclaiming, “Its been 30 minutes and no one has fallen.” Well shortly after that we both fell, and followed that up with a few more. Snow is cold, and the deep un-groomed snow offers little support, so getting back to standing proved a challenge. Yet we prevailed and finished the 2 ½ mile loop without much incident.

Today we are skiing the golf courses here at Sunriver, they are better groomed so most likely more conducive and forgiving as I attempt to reclaiming some long lost skills. My mantra today, “Bend your knees, keep your weight forward.”

A morning of skiing, then I am sure we will be on the hunt for a good lunch and some time to recoup.

 

Saturday morning tea, reflections on Sonoma – Part 1

On By Terry ChristophersonIn Been there - places, Food and drink, Trips and travelLeave a comment

Sonoma and Crater Lake, both beautiful, both potentially intoxicating, one in a not-so-good way the other most desirably good. We try to take one trip a year, yet we have not been there for three years so we enthusiastically anticipated this trip. First off – Sonoma and food.

We visit Sonoma for great food and exploring wineries, seldom are we disappointed, this trip was one of theimg_2463 best. We discovered that some things are changing in the Napa-Sonoma world. In the past we gravitated toward the less presumptuous Sonoma, and less expensive. Well, Sonoma has become more like Napa, and Napa has become a bit less stuffy

Thursday night we started the gastronomical part of our trip at John Ash & Company, part of the
Vintners Inn at Windsor. A new place and definitely on our list of places to revisit.

Friday lunch we headed for Brix, near Yountville. Plein aire dining with a view of the gardens has always been a must on our trips of the past; not sure about the future though. The food was good, but not as stellar as in the past. My flatbread was soggy. The roasted, thin red peppers were so good, they could have been my meal. The service that makes you feel tended to but comfortable was right on. A good meal.

So why the uncertainty about the future? We noticed it in the food, good but not as great as in the past. We learned that there was a new manager. Making conversation with one of the servers I asked how long she had worked there. She said she came over with the new manager, from a restaurant we were not familiar with (she seemed slightly put off that we did not recognize it, apparently it has prestige). She explained that the new manager brought some of his old staff in so they could raise the standard of the restaurant up. When I said I liked Brix better than Thomas Kellar’s  famous French Laundry or Bouchon it was clear she did not agree. So I am concerned that Brix is changing, sad for us, but we pretty much agreed that on our next trip we might just skip it.

img_2462We had reservations for dinner Saturday at Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg, CA, another fixture for us on our trips to Sonoma. Nothing but good things to say. I had the Spicy Crusted Liberty Duck, duck is right up there with flatbreads in my food addiction collection. It came with roasted peach, duck confit ravioli, and Swiss chard. I find my limitations as a food writer surface when I have an extraordinary meal, I focus more on the experience and it all becomes a kaleidoscope of flavors, all good but my vocabulary is just too limited, and metaphors elude me. “Deliciousness” is the pop term, but it sounds goofy to me, Tony Bourdain and others use the term “food porn” but that offends me. So just think of wonderful tastes, a bit of spice, but not chili or Thai, crispy crust, and perfectly pink meat. I smile just trying to write about it.

Sunday we tried a new place, Brava Tapas, in Healdsburg. We love anything with small-plates, and of course the Spanish invented the premier small-plate, tapas. In Barcelona, one of our favorites was tomato bread, it is so simple that it has evaded reproduction in our own kitchen, just toasted bread rubbed and topped with tomato; of course we started with that. We paired the bread with roasted potatoes and sautéed mushrooms. While we ate we watched a chef prepare Paella over an open fire, in a paella that was about six feet in diameter, great entertainment.

I finished off with Spanish Sardines, another Barcelona memory. Do not even think of the canned sardines available in the stores, check the photo.

img_2461

Completing the food part of the Sonoma leg of our trip were a few picnics, procured at the Oakville Market, the oldest continuing operating grocery store in California, opened 1881. It is an iconic place in Healdsburg. We ate well, and shock of shocks, did not gain any weight.