Whole wheat pancakes

For brunch, we made these fairly healthy, but easy whole wheat pancakes:

2 cup organic whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp fine sea salt

2 eggs, well beaten

2 cup organic fat free milk

2 tsp canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp organic cane sugar

Reutte and Ehenbichl, Austria

Our visit to the small towns of Reutte and Ehenbichl (Austria) was another highlight of our trip to Europe last summer.

Reutte:


Ehenbichl (a 30-45 minute walk from Reutte):


From our balcony at Pension Hohenrainer, in Ehenbichl, we could see the ruins of Ehrenberg Castle.


We hiked Ehrenberg (Mountain of Honor) and were rewarded with spectacular views.


The Ehrenberg ruins are visible in the distance in this photo taken atop Schlosskopt, another ruined castle nearby.


The view of Ehenbichl, from the top of Schlosskopt.

(If you squint really hard, you can see our hotel, Pension Hohenrainer, in the bottom right hand corner.)

After a tiring day of hiking, we had dinner at the hotel. I started with the Tirolean soup -- ham and breaded meatball in a savory broth. The chives that garnished this soup were cut by Ms. Hohenrainer, the hotel's friendly owner and our cook, shortly before this soup was served. The rest of the meal was just as delicious as this soup looks.

Apple Strudel a la mode

We had a very pleasant stay at the Gutshof zum Schluxen, in the small town of Pinswang, Austria, on the German border. We hiked into Germany to visit the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles. For dessert that night, we had warm apple strudel and vanilla ice cream. (Can you spot the camera man in the spoon?)

A bohemian feast ...

... at the Krèma U dwau Maryí (Tavern of the Two Marys) in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. One of the best meals of our trip to Europe last summer.



Sadly, less than 12 hours after this photo was taken, we fell into the Vltava River during an ill-fated rafting trip. This photos was one of the last taken with the camera before it died.

I'm back ...

... from my 27 month hiatus and will be spilling some more digital ink for your reading pleasure. Stay tuned!

travels in India

This photo was taken at Jama Masjid of Delhi. It is suppose to be the largest mosque in Asia, but don't quote me on that. Although the image only shows a lone worshipper, the reality was that I only had a split second to snap this photo before crowds gathered around.


Native visitors wanted to see what we were up to with our cameras, while others just wanted to get a closer look at us as foreigners. Throughout our trip, we encountered extremely curious people who liked to have their photos taken by us or to take photos of us.


As we left Jama Masjid of Delhi, we picked up our shoes, headed down the red sandstone steps, and turned around to see this elderly man sitting on the high steps...waiting...watching...thinking.

...a test and a taste

It's official, this blog will become a food and travel blog based on our own experiences. For a preview, here is an image of a recently made fluffy scallion pancake (with half whole-wheat flour). We were inspired by the Chinese Muslim cuisine's scallion pancake. This photo is of our first attempt to duplicate the scrumptiously chewy crispy goodness.

new thoughts

It's been an awfully long time since I've posted to this site. I think we should start over with a different idea...a travel blog...a food blog...or both. Then again, it'll have to wait until I have more time on my hands:)