European Travels

Spud-licious

I feel like such a blogger today as I sit in an empty coffee shop... oh wait it's a spud shop munching away at my £2 starchy goodness. The first half of my time here in the UK was all about getting myself acclimated to UK and European life. Having never been outside of North America before now, it was certainly an adjustment. Nonetheless, I am pretty proud of myself so far. I've explored Paris, London and the midlands of England.

2014 is all about Europe, starting with Western Europe and moving to the grand finale in the Mediterranean - Spain and Italy. If you haven't noticed my style already, it's all about the epic gastronomic ventures across the best of the best in this great continent. Many culinary gods of the modern day originate from Europe, and now Spain and Italy are in the food scene more than ever.

I first met this article on the world's 50 best restaurants from my brother-in-law's facebook post. If you think I am a foodie, I do not even scratch the surface compared to him. I don't even know how many Michelin-rated restaurants he's been to in the past 5 years, and have ventured to places like Japan (tentatively my next adventure for 2014!). He knows the food scene in New York City like the back of his hand. Shout out to none other than Scrumphsus!

Edinburgh, Scotland

January entails of another 3 week long visit from my beloved husband, so that means we'll be busy traveling the weekends. Currently, we have Edinburgh, Scotland and Brussels, Belgium planned. Our final weekend will be possibly Switzerland or the Netherlands. Any preference from any readers who have been to either or both? Despite it being in the dead of winter, we are pretty excited anyway to be able to visit these places.

Prague, Czech Republic

February will be Prague, Czech Republic and Budapest, Hungary. I really look forward to the awesome historical architecture and cityscapes. From the photos alone, Prague and Budapest look amazingly beautiful. So amazing! I am also hoping to squeeze in
some trips to Ireland and Turkey through work. Fingers crossed!

Budapest Parliament

Noma

Back to the best 50 list, I put it on my personal list of big things in 2014 to do is to visit the top 5 or as much as I can.

1. El Celler De Can Roca in Girona, Spain
2. Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy
4. Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain
5. Eleven Madison Park in New York City

Reservations are close to impossible to book for many of these places, but luckily we have managed to book at least 2 so far and have been wait listed on a couple others. 

It's only December 1, but there is a lot to look forward to. First thing's first, it's almost Christmas!!! Boy, I cannot wait to go home and travel onwards from there all around the US to visit family. 

18 day countdown, here we go! Cheers. :)