Maintaining a travel and food blog can be quite difficult when the demands of a full time job prevent you from actually doing much traveling. So instead I let others bring the culture to me by way of Milwaukee's ethnic festivals. This weekend's offering was Irish Fest, billed as the "World's Largest Celebration of Irish Music and Culture". Take that Ireland!
I should probably disclose that in reality I have a fairly skeptical view of "cultural festivals", especially the major ones like Irish, Italian and German. It's hard to imagine boiling down these diverse cultures and historical landscapes into about 5 or 6 main ideas. I can only imagine what an American Festival abroad would look like. Everyone would be walking around wearing baseball caps, eating hamburgers, listening to big band music and dancing the electric slide. And then after doing that you really feel like you know and appreciate the real America. On second thought perhaps that's a bad example cause after doing all those things you more or less do know the real America.
But my complaints aside, they do make a pretty big deal of Irish Fest here in Milwaukee. I was pretty impressed that every stage on the Summerfest grounds was occupied, most but not entirely were populated with traditional Irish dance groups featuring about a dozen young girls and sometimes one lone awkward young boy. There were also some Irish folk musicians, and we even managed to catch a set from a group from Ireland. The friend I was there with and I both agreed that while Irish music might not be something you would want to listen to everyday, it sure does make for some great background music over a pint or five.
I didn't actually try any of the food there, but once again if you really want to experience the true food from a culture, a festival or fair is not the place to do it. I saw some Shepherds Pie from one of the stands but there didn't seem to be a whole lot else. In fact a lot of the food available seems to be there regardless of which ethnic festival was in town. I even witnessed a couple ordering from the Chinese stand, which seemed almost as ridiculous as wearing an IRA hat to Irish Fest. Then again I would've worn my Al Qaeda to Arab Fest but it was dirty.
We wandered around for a couple hours seeing some of the performances, looking at the kitschy festival trinkets you can purchase and laughing at all the people in stupid green T-shirts. I did enjoy a couple of delicious Irish Stouts while there (brewed by the traditional Irish-Wisconsin brewer O'Leinenkugel's, which is a big compliment considering I am not much of a fan of stouts.At the end of the day it was a nice experience to check out one of the festivals for which Milwaukee has become known. They are without a doubt hugely popular and by and large do about as good a job of promoting the culture as possible given the restraints. The main restraint being that as Americans we tend to prefer our culture nicely packaged in easy to digest portions and limited to areas we can comprehend and qualify. Wear green, play the fiddle, eat potatoes and dance without moving your arms. Throw in some booze and bam! You're in Ireland.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Taco Bell goes south of the border?
I made a startling discovery the other day during a stop at Taco Bell during lunch (and you thought this blog was all about expensive seafood and getting drunk on sailboats). They're actually serving something that resembles a real taco these days. Now, I'm not saying Taco Bell doesn't make excellent cheap food that tastes even better after a night punishing your liver, but by now I'm sure most of us are well aware that the Tex-Mex style tacos from Taco Bell are quite different from the tacos one would find in Mexico or taqueria in the States.
And yet there I was staring at the "cantina" style taco I had just unwrapped from Taco Bell. It was a carnitas taco topped with onions and cilantro....on a corn tortilla.....and even served with a little wedge of lime! I swear it looked like someone who worked at Taco Bell had actually been to Mexico! I couldn't believe it, they were actually trying to make real Mexican food. But while they get points for effort, the grade for execution remained disappointingly low. Someone apparently forgot to tell the Taco Bell employees that you have to cook corn tortillas, not just serve them straight out of the package. This meant my taco was served on a rubbery corn tortilla that promptly broke in half as soon as I tried to curl it up for consumption. While the meat was flavored decently, the onions, cilantro and lime were far from the freshest.
I'm not quite sure what is driving this product offering from Taco Bell. My guess would be an appeal to the growing Mexican and more importantly Mexican-American demographic in the US? Then again it could be a clever attempt to cut cheese out of the cost equation (always a pricey ingredient). Either way I was fairly shocked to see a major US restaurant chain move towards something more authentic.
They don't look like this at the restaurant
And yet there I was staring at the "cantina" style taco I had just unwrapped from Taco Bell. It was a carnitas taco topped with onions and cilantro....on a corn tortilla.....and even served with a little wedge of lime! I swear it looked like someone who worked at Taco Bell had actually been to Mexico! I couldn't believe it, they were actually trying to make real Mexican food. But while they get points for effort, the grade for execution remained disappointingly low. Someone apparently forgot to tell the Taco Bell employees that you have to cook corn tortillas, not just serve them straight out of the package. This meant my taco was served on a rubbery corn tortilla that promptly broke in half as soon as I tried to curl it up for consumption. While the meat was flavored decently, the onions, cilantro and lime were far from the freshest.
I'm not quite sure what is driving this product offering from Taco Bell. My guess would be an appeal to the growing Mexican and more importantly Mexican-American demographic in the US? Then again it could be a clever attempt to cut cheese out of the cost equation (always a pricey ingredient). Either way I was fairly shocked to see a major US restaurant chain move towards something more authentic.
They don't look like this at the restaurantFriday, August 13, 2010
Dark 'n Stormy
Mike, a closer friend and adviser to Third Coastin', was insistent that the trip to Boston be filled with plenty of Dark 'n Stormys (ed note: stormies or stormys?), a drink he said he always had while vacationing in New England with his family. I had never heard of this drink before but if this was what the locals drink then I said I was all for it. So what is a Dark 'n Stormy? The recipe goes more or less as such:
8 oz Ginger Beer
1 oz Dark Rum
lime wedge
A simple drink no doubt. Now, you might ask yourself "ginger beer, dark rum and limes? How are those in any way New England drink ingredients?" And for the most part your instinct would be correct, it's actually a drink that traces its roots to Bermuda, and is more or less considered the official drink of the island territory. So how did it end up in New England? The answer more or less lies in the sailing culture that exists up and down the east coast, and the drink has spread to sailing hot spots along the coast. Even parts of the east coast of Canada are known to enjoy the tropical goodness that is a Dark and Stormy. Seeing as how I grew up in Iowa, it suddenly made perfect sense why I had never heard of a drink that is traditionally tied to the sailing and coastal cultures of the eastern seaboard.
But while it might be a native New England drink, it surely has been adopted by the region. We ordered them at the bar as well as picked up some ingredients to make during a day of sailing as well (check! I have now been sailing). Now try doing this in Chicago and see if they have Ginger beer at the bar or your local grocery store.
On that topic, this was the first time I had ever tried ginger beer. Not Ginger Ale (which I still only drink on flights), though the two both have misleading names considering neither has any alcoholic content. Ginger beer is exactly what it sounds like, it is a sweet carbonated beverage with a strong taste of ginger. Like I said, this isn't Ginger Ale. This tastes like you just took a big bite of the ginger at the sushi restaurant. I would have to assume its a somewhat acquired taste, cause one would have to have a true love of the ginger flavor to be able to take down an entire bottle. But as an ingredient in a drink, with the rum to balance the flavor and the lime to cut the sweetness, you actually have something you can sit back and enjoy.
Overall it's a solid drink, and in fact fit the mood perfectly after our group of travelers gave up on sightseeing after an hour and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon drinking on the deck of bar next to the harbor. Would I order it regularly? Probably not, but much like Mike it will probably be a drink I find myself for in the mood whenever I'm in New England, Bermuda, or on a sailboat.
8 oz Ginger Beer
1 oz Dark Rum
lime wedge
A simple drink no doubt. Now, you might ask yourself "ginger beer, dark rum and limes? How are those in any way New England drink ingredients?" And for the most part your instinct would be correct, it's actually a drink that traces its roots to Bermuda, and is more or less considered the official drink of the island territory. So how did it end up in New England? The answer more or less lies in the sailing culture that exists up and down the east coast, and the drink has spread to sailing hot spots along the coast. Even parts of the east coast of Canada are known to enjoy the tropical goodness that is a Dark and Stormy. Seeing as how I grew up in Iowa, it suddenly made perfect sense why I had never heard of a drink that is traditionally tied to the sailing and coastal cultures of the eastern seaboard.
But while it might be a native New England drink, it surely has been adopted by the region. We ordered them at the bar as well as picked up some ingredients to make during a day of sailing as well (check! I have now been sailing). Now try doing this in Chicago and see if they have Ginger beer at the bar or your local grocery store.
On that topic, this was the first time I had ever tried ginger beer. Not Ginger Ale (which I still only drink on flights), though the two both have misleading names considering neither has any alcoholic content. Ginger beer is exactly what it sounds like, it is a sweet carbonated beverage with a strong taste of ginger. Like I said, this isn't Ginger Ale. This tastes like you just took a big bite of the ginger at the sushi restaurant. I would have to assume its a somewhat acquired taste, cause one would have to have a true love of the ginger flavor to be able to take down an entire bottle. But as an ingredient in a drink, with the rum to balance the flavor and the lime to cut the sweetness, you actually have something you can sit back and enjoy.
Overall it's a solid drink, and in fact fit the mood perfectly after our group of travelers gave up on sightseeing after an hour and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon drinking on the deck of bar next to the harbor. Would I order it regularly? Probably not, but much like Mike it will probably be a drink I find myself for in the mood whenever I'm in New England, Bermuda, or on a sailboat.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Alive and Kicking Lobsters
As I wrote before, there was much seafood consumed in Boston. Mission Accomplished. I'm not going to write about every detail, but one of the best experiences was lunch at Alive & Kicking Lobsters in Cambridge. We hadn't actually sought the place out as much as decided on it because it was the closest place that the internet said we could go to get a sandwich. The fact that this place has been rated as one of the top places to get a lobster roll in Boston was a welcomed coincidence.
And by lobster roll I mean lobster sa
ndwich, because that's how they do it at A&K. And they do it well, which they should seeing as its the only thing on the menu. This is not a sandwich shop, or restaurant, just a place where people come to buy lobsters and other fresh seafood. At first glance not where you would expect to head for a good meal, but somehow this is how it has evolved. My guess is that years back, someone told the owner Louie that his homemade lobster sandwiches kicked some serious ass, and that he could make some money by selling them. So Louie, ever the entrepreneurial lobster fisherman, started whipping them up right there in the shop and selling them to hungry passersby. Whether this is the truth or not I have no idea, but to visit the actual building the story I created seems entirely plausible.The key to the lobster sandwich at A&K is all in the ratio. Heavy on the lobster, easy on the mayo. Its a light and fresh take on serving that can at times become bogged down with other gooey, soggy ingredients that do nothing more than dilute the flavor of the lobster and ruin the texture of the bread. As I said, lobster is beautiful in its simplicity. After whipping up the lobster salad they put it between two pieces of toasted scali bread and you have your sandwich. It's served with a bag of Cape Cod potato chips and you can pick up a bottle of their own brand of soda to wash it all down. Of course at almost $15 this is by no means a cheap lunch, but for what you get its worth the money.
I loved the fact that the guys working behind the counter looked like people who made their lives catching seafood, and that the sandwiches just seemed like a good way to make some extra beer money. In a way I'm sure the surroundings probably influenced my opinion of the food a bit, but at the end of the day it was still a damn good sandwich.
The one downside? They didn't shuck oysters there (couldn't tell if this was by law or by choice) so we couldn't get a half dozen to compliment the meal, but if that's your biggest problem in life then you're doing alright.
(ed note: I just lifted the pictures from the internet since I still can't get to mine. But you can pretend I took them if it helps you respect me more)
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Back to Boston
The launch time of Third Coastin' was set more or less around a long weekend's trip to Boston, as it seemed a great opportunity to begin the whole thing off with fresh material. So this past weekend I set out to Bean town with a group of friends, this time making sure I paid really good attention to everything I did there so I could write about it when I got home. Or something along those lines. I had been to Boston before, but this was the first time both in the summer and as an adult, arguably the best way to see the city.
What struck me this time was how small the city feels, something I heard both as a compliment and a criticism. It may be a major metropolitan city, but walking around I felt at times that I was just strolling through small New England towns, ones that happened to all be located adjacent to each other to form the city. Not only the size and scope of the neighborhoods, but the architecture, the simple colonial style housing found in many parts of the city bears a sharp contrast to the stone and brick row houses and apartments that dominate so much of Chicago (the Third Coastin' city of reference for pretty much everything).
We spent some time in Cambridge as well as the North End of Boston, but I think my favorite part of the city was South Boston. Nothing against downtown Boston and the more touristy areas of town (in fact I think Boston does a great job of embracing this and that the Freedom Trail is wonderfully done) but at the end of the day I go looking for neighborhoods. Now South Boston is nowhere near the middle class Irish stronghold it once was, and the signs of gentrification were clearly visible as we strolled along Broadway. But at the same time it felt pretty authentic. We were less than a mile from downtown Boston, but with much of the neighborhood located away from the 'T' we found the streets devoid of other tourists. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in South Boston and everyone seemed to be moving at a relaxed pace. We even managed to stumble across an international pick up softball game (it was Venezuela vs Boston Irish with Venezuela coming out on top). It was a great afternoon of exploring and almost immediately I started to picture what it would be like to live there.
Long story short, I've always liked Boston and this trip only helped reinforce that idea. It's one of the few true cities in America and has a strong identity well known around the country. Sure I got screwed over by the T multiple times and prices made me miss Milwaukee already but it's a simple reminder that things are more crowded and cost more when you are somewhere people want to be.
Speaking of prices, wow did Third Coastin' drop some cash on food and drink "research". I will be going in depth into this more in some other posts but suffice it to say I boarded the plane home with my craving for fresh seafood fully satisfied. I will say this though after gorging myself on the gifts of the sea for the first time in a while. It is amazing how little must be done to seafood to achieve great taste. In the heartland we spend hours and hours marinating, seasoning and slow cooking our meats to achieve perfection, but yet these ugly, unappetizing creatures plucked from the murky depths need nothing more than to be boiled and dipped in butter or even better just shucked, hit with a squirt of lemon juice and hot sauce before shoving it in.
Unfortunately no pictures to share as of right now due to issues with camera gear still being located in Chicago, but going forward there should be more visual accompaniment with the posts. Bear with me as I get this thing up to speed.
What struck me this time was how small the city feels, something I heard both as a compliment and a criticism. It may be a major metropolitan city, but walking around I felt at times that I was just strolling through small New England towns, ones that happened to all be located adjacent to each other to form the city. Not only the size and scope of the neighborhoods, but the architecture, the simple colonial style housing found in many parts of the city bears a sharp contrast to the stone and brick row houses and apartments that dominate so much of Chicago (the Third Coastin' city of reference for pretty much everything).
We spent some time in Cambridge as well as the North End of Boston, but I think my favorite part of the city was South Boston. Nothing against downtown Boston and the more touristy areas of town (in fact I think Boston does a great job of embracing this and that the Freedom Trail is wonderfully done) but at the end of the day I go looking for neighborhoods. Now South Boston is nowhere near the middle class Irish stronghold it once was, and the signs of gentrification were clearly visible as we strolled along Broadway. But at the same time it felt pretty authentic. We were less than a mile from downtown Boston, but with much of the neighborhood located away from the 'T' we found the streets devoid of other tourists. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon in South Boston and everyone seemed to be moving at a relaxed pace. We even managed to stumble across an international pick up softball game (it was Venezuela vs Boston Irish with Venezuela coming out on top). It was a great afternoon of exploring and almost immediately I started to picture what it would be like to live there.
Long story short, I've always liked Boston and this trip only helped reinforce that idea. It's one of the few true cities in America and has a strong identity well known around the country. Sure I got screwed over by the T multiple times and prices made me miss Milwaukee already but it's a simple reminder that things are more crowded and cost more when you are somewhere people want to be.
Speaking of prices, wow did Third Coastin' drop some cash on food and drink "research". I will be going in depth into this more in some other posts but suffice it to say I boarded the plane home with my craving for fresh seafood fully satisfied. I will say this though after gorging myself on the gifts of the sea for the first time in a while. It is amazing how little must be done to seafood to achieve great taste. In the heartland we spend hours and hours marinating, seasoning and slow cooking our meats to achieve perfection, but yet these ugly, unappetizing creatures plucked from the murky depths need nothing more than to be boiled and dipped in butter or even better just shucked, hit with a squirt of lemon juice and hot sauce before shoving it in.
Unfortunately no pictures to share as of right now due to issues with camera gear still being located in Chicago, but going forward there should be more visual accompaniment with the posts. Bear with me as I get this thing up to speed.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Ladies and Gentlemen
Hello and Welcome to Third Coastin'
My name is Alec, and I am back. And by back I mean back to the world of blogging. I've done some writing before, most notably co-authoring a music blog with my buddy Kyle for a few years, and even managed to get my words into print some time ago (where I was told by a reader that I hate fun). After being away for awhile I've decided that I missed writing and sharing my experiences. And, having now moved to another new city, I am also in need of a way to connect with friends I have made across the country and around the globe.
This time I've decided to cover a couple subjects that have become increasingly interesting and important to me: food and travel. Yes I realize these are extremely trendy topics these days, and I am not claiming to be starting anything revolutionary here. Really, I am just attempting to document my experiences as I try to see and experience as much of the globe as I can.
Traveling, especially internationally, has been a passion of mine ever since a high school trip through Europe, and already at the age of 25 I consider myself lucky to have visited over 15 countries. It is something that I think about constantly, and aside from putting food on the plate and a roof over my head, it is the number one reason why I work hard for the money.
But a travel blog is, in my opinion, a little thin of an idea. Everyone has a different version of how they like to travel, and where they like to go. And this is in addition to the fact that when you work a 9 to 5 job in the city it's hard to get away to enough places to make the blog worthwhile.
Towards my senior year of college I also began to take a little more interest in cooking and started paying attention to the things I was making. It was at first just a desire to learn how to cook more things, but since then it has become something that I really enjoy doing and talking and learning about.
Several years later, I began to realize the amazing connection that exists between the various peoples of the world and the cuisines that define them. As I attempted to venture further and further off the beaten path, I found in food (and drink!) a perfect medium to learn and understand the cultures of the places I traveled.
So what is Third Coastin'? I guess I would answer that first by what it's not. It is not a foodie blog. I don't claim to have a great palate, and I am not an expert by any means in preparing and eating the highest quality food. Nor is it a travel blog. You don't care about my trip to the Uffizi and the great Botticellis I saw there, and I don't have any desire to write about it either.
Third Coastin' is my attempt to fill the space in between these two areas. It is my attempt to learn about the myriad of places and people that fill this planet, to figure out why they eat what they do, and to discover how they make it so much better than I do. If you want, you could probably use Anthony Bourdain's award winning show "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel as a template, but I hope to carve out and identity that is distinct from his show. That and I'm not a self-proclaimed asshole.
And why call it Third Coastin'? Well first off I really struggled to think of any name, and more or less had to pick one if I wanted to get going. Having just moved to Milwaukee, and with frequently planned trips back to Chicago, this blog will probably feature quite heavily on these two great cities on the Third Coast of America: Lake Michigan. I cleverly thought that by using the word Coastin', I could make use of coast as a homonym while lightly referencing the traveling aspect of the blog. Did I succeed? Nobody cares, the name is just a name.
So bookmark Third Coastin' and use it to kill time at work. Please follow along and be sure to share your thoughts, critiques, experiences and recommendations!
My name is Alec, and I am back. And by back I mean back to the world of blogging. I've done some writing before, most notably co-authoring a music blog with my buddy Kyle for a few years, and even managed to get my words into print some time ago (where I was told by a reader that I hate fun). After being away for awhile I've decided that I missed writing and sharing my experiences. And, having now moved to another new city, I am also in need of a way to connect with friends I have made across the country and around the globe.
This time I've decided to cover a couple subjects that have become increasingly interesting and important to me: food and travel. Yes I realize these are extremely trendy topics these days, and I am not claiming to be starting anything revolutionary here. Really, I am just attempting to document my experiences as I try to see and experience as much of the globe as I can.
Traveling, especially internationally, has been a passion of mine ever since a high school trip through Europe, and already at the age of 25 I consider myself lucky to have visited over 15 countries. It is something that I think about constantly, and aside from putting food on the plate and a roof over my head, it is the number one reason why I work hard for the money.
But a travel blog is, in my opinion, a little thin of an idea. Everyone has a different version of how they like to travel, and where they like to go. And this is in addition to the fact that when you work a 9 to 5 job in the city it's hard to get away to enough places to make the blog worthwhile.
Towards my senior year of college I also began to take a little more interest in cooking and started paying attention to the things I was making. It was at first just a desire to learn how to cook more things, but since then it has become something that I really enjoy doing and talking and learning about.
Several years later, I began to realize the amazing connection that exists between the various peoples of the world and the cuisines that define them. As I attempted to venture further and further off the beaten path, I found in food (and drink!) a perfect medium to learn and understand the cultures of the places I traveled.
So what is Third Coastin'? I guess I would answer that first by what it's not. It is not a foodie blog. I don't claim to have a great palate, and I am not an expert by any means in preparing and eating the highest quality food. Nor is it a travel blog. You don't care about my trip to the Uffizi and the great Botticellis I saw there, and I don't have any desire to write about it either.
Third Coastin' is my attempt to fill the space in between these two areas. It is my attempt to learn about the myriad of places and people that fill this planet, to figure out why they eat what they do, and to discover how they make it so much better than I do. If you want, you could probably use Anthony Bourdain's award winning show "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel as a template, but I hope to carve out and identity that is distinct from his show. That and I'm not a self-proclaimed asshole.
And why call it Third Coastin'? Well first off I really struggled to think of any name, and more or less had to pick one if I wanted to get going. Having just moved to Milwaukee, and with frequently planned trips back to Chicago, this blog will probably feature quite heavily on these two great cities on the Third Coast of America: Lake Michigan. I cleverly thought that by using the word Coastin', I could make use of coast as a homonym while lightly referencing the traveling aspect of the blog. Did I succeed? Nobody cares, the name is just a name.
So bookmark Third Coastin' and use it to kill time at work. Please follow along and be sure to share your thoughts, critiques, experiences and recommendations!
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