CHEWING THE FAT

                 I have been a fan of Tyler Florence for years.  There are no fewer than 11 of his recipes on Chewing the Fat.  His cookbook, “Tyler’s Ultimate” (Clarkson-Potter 2006) is among the most dog-eared in our collection.  When Chef Florence…

Above: Viking River Cruises Longship Tor docked in Passau Germany I admit it.  I cannot say enough good things about my recent “Romantic Danube” cruise aboard Viking River Cruises’ Longship “Tor”. I consider myself to be well-travelled. I’ve had the good fortune to visit 6 continents, many…

It may look Medieval but 90{4e4771bbe073b579fdd8e596ee487f65145483febbc8ba0a80525f62b26cad86} of Nuremberg was bombed out of existence in World War II.This copy was built to replace it.           As much as you know this day is coming, there’s a certain melancholy that sets in when you realize this wonderful…

Wiltenburg Monastery. My “Tor” Friend David Jackson got this shot in a most unusal way:It’s a postcard that he took a picture of! Way to go David and thanks!          As if the town of Regensburg itself wasn’t enough, the afternoon schedule for “Tor” Passengers…

Bronze Bas Relief of Regensburg showing the Medieval Wallssurrounding the City, as the Danube flows outside them          As I got deeper into the writing of this piece, it became all too apparent, that this particular day in Viking River’s Romantic Danube itinerary needed to…

Viking River Longship “Tor” and the Bishop’s Lair overlooking Passau, Bavaria  When I was looking at the itinerary for Viking River’s “Romantic Danube”,  I am now ashamed to admit, I knew something about every place on the list except for Passau.  I read of its…

Melk Abbey took my breath away          Today, we awoke the find the Longship Tor cruising the stretch of the Danube between the villages of Krems and Melk.  This beautiful stretch of the river, the Wachau Valley, is as far from the urban centers we’d…

Schoenbrunn, the Hapsburg’s Summer PlaceAnd I thought houses in the Hamptons were getting too big.             The first of 29 locks the Tor willpass through en route to Nuremberg As night fell, Viking River Tor passed through the first of a series of locks…

The Royal Palace on the Buda side of Budapest Despite having not slept since Wednesday, the city of Budapest beckoned and won over the comforts of the Tor, one of 29 Viking River longships that ply the Danube in both directions.  I finally arrived in…

Air France Flight 7 380 Airbus New York to Paris At least, there was wine. I think of myself as one of those travelers whose attention to detail leads to flawlessly executed travel plans.  But yesterday,  I forgot one very important detail.  I spent most…

The Daily Meal, that great food resource whose banner heads up every page of Chewing the Fat, is sending me on a great adventure.   I’m off today for Budapest, flying through Paris on Air France to arrive there in the early morning Friday. There, I will board…

         I could eat our local asparagus until it was coming out of my ears.  Thanks to growers in Mexico and Peru,  asparagus is now a 12 month a year vegetable in New York and almost everywhere else. However, nothing but nothing comes close…

Our New York City kitchen is only slightly larger than a bread box but certainly not large enough to store a slow cooker.  So I keep ours in Bridgehampton. Not that I am a particular fan of the slow cooker.  The idea of having to…

Gyros, ubiquitous in NYC A Gyro is a Greek dish of meat that’s been roasted on a vertical spit, folded into pita bread and then served with tomato, onion and tzatsiki sauce.  Gyros, pronounced “Heros”, are everywhere in New York City.  The website Yelp has…