Food

One of the most important aspects of travel is the food. What is typical, fresh and local? What is over-priced? What is made just for tourists and not for the people? A rule of thumb that I go by is don't eat in a restaurant where the menu is mostly in pictures. Of course, while I was living in Zagreb I had a kitchen: I cooked mostly for myself and ate pretty much as I would at home. Here is a typical breakfast, for instance:

And then there are restaurant meals, some of which I've already posted on this blog. Here's another selection.

At an Agro-Tourism restaurant on the way to Krapina, north of Zagreb, I ate an amazing veal steak with mushrooms in a wine, paprika and sage sauce with gorgeous new potatoes, fried but crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and divinely delicious.

My last (but one) night in Zagreb I ate cabbage rolls at a Bosnian restaurant.

In the company of these lovely people.

In Porec, we ate at the hotel restaurant because it seemed to be the best in town. On the menu for me that first evening was a cold plate of fish terrine and smoked tuna, then pan fried sea bass on a bed of green apple and arugula risotto.

The following night it was pork tenderloin with a honey and sage marinade, served with carrots and parsnips.

Arlequino had steak and polenta (the menu called the latter "corn mush")

The best part, though, was the company. Oh, and our waiter Edi, who was pretty cool. He always made us wait for the "presentation," and he took this nice photo of us. We are drinking Malvazija, an Istrian white wine.

In a small town outside of Plitvice National Park (about which I will have more to say in another post), we stayed in a simple guest house. Down the road was a restaurant that served simple fare that was good and also plentiful. I ordered a salad of pickled things.

And then grilled veal chops, which came with pretty good french fries and overcooked wax beans. The veal was superb. They eat a lot of veal here, and it's much better than the beef, which can be tough. Besides, it is hard to beat Canadian beef. When I eat beef in Europe I'm often disappointed; it makes me long for Alberta--and trust me, that takes some doing!

An afternoon snack in Split, Dalmatia (we are working our way down the coast). Exotic blends of ice creams.

And on the island of Hvar, the best grilled fish supper ever: we ordered a John Dory and a Red Snapper, accompanied (as is traditional) with boiled potatoes and swiss chard.
Before:

And after!