Marijke Blazer's blog

Since today it is possible to add pictures to activities. Yey! So I am kind of practicing with adding pictures to the Chocolate Museum in Barcelona, with the use of the amazing Flickr community creative commons collection.

In the caption with the pictures on the site, I can only add short texts, so here you find the full reference to the pictures I have used:

MX chocolate museum in El Borne by Oh-Barcelona.com, on Flickr

Chocolate Museum by marcoPapale.com, on Flick

Barcelona Chocolate Museum by marcoPapale.com, on Flickr

Barcelona Chocolate Museum by marcoPapale.com, on Flickr - "Ben Hur almost melting away"

Yes, there you have it. I have entered over 2500 museum addresses into the Curious Food Lover’s culinary travel guide and I keep on noticing way to often I have to spend way too much time on locating the actual visitors address of a museum.

In general I use the museum’s website to find the address details, assuming that the museum actually has a website and/or that the website can be found (both issues far from being self-evident).

So all you museum representatives out there, please visit your own website and pretend you are a potential visitor wanting to plan a visit to your museum. Yes, in some cases you do have a “how to get there” description, even when you are lacking an actual straight forward mention of street, street nr and sometimes even the place where you are located. Please make sure to have this data easily available at the most logical page on your website (“contact”, “visit details”, or even “about”).

Many thanks on behalf of all your willing but at times unable visitors!

Right now I am updating the keyword indexing system with the extreme food example as published in the extreme cuisine travel guide to of the Lonely Planet travel guide series. When that0s done, I will enter the addresses and hope some of you will have a go at these culinary challenges and are willing to share your story about that experience.

Let’s go through a few highlights of the extreme food collection to wake-up your appetite. I made a generous selection out of the items of the travel guide, omitting the items I could actually imagine myself eating without – ehm – feeling the bottom of my stomach by simply thinking about consuming these local delicacies.

Alligator cheesecake, beef tendon, blood, brain, prickly pear cactus, head cheese, maggot cheese, chicha, chicken knee, raw chicken, cobra, cockscomb, corn smut, cow udder, duck embryo, duck web, fish sperm, frog, fugu, geoduck (??), grasshopper, guinea pig, fermented herring, horse, jellyfish, kangaroo, kopi luwak, live lobster sashimi, lutefisk, menudo, natto, nutria, live octopus tentacles, oxtail, penis, pig ear, pig face, pig intestines, pure pork fat, scorpion, sea cucumber, sea horse, sea star, sea worm, fermented shark meat, stingray, body sushi, sweetbreads, tarantula, testicle, tofu hell, live urchin, withchetty grub.

Yum!

ps I have no clue why this picture displays twice.

I just had a look at the travel related links directory at www.mystartguide.com. Simple and practical set-up with a lot of links to inspiring sources of information. Not so much food-related but containing a broad range of ideas.

(credits: Ray_go)

While browsing around on the wiki commons website, looking for right-free pictures of gherkins (different story), I ran into this amazing picture. What you see, according to the photographer, is “Producing black vinegar using ceramic pots at Fukuyama, Kagoshima”

Until somebody actually visits this place and shares his/her story on the CFL site, we have to do with some general background info to put this overwhelming sight into perspective.

It appears that we are looking at the production of Japanese rice vinegar, possibly produced by the Sakamoto Kurozu company (have a look at the website for more amazing pictures).

In short, “Kurozu, or black vinegar, is a product made from top-grade water, koji, and quality steamed rice that has been fermented over a long period of time outdoors in long rows of vases. The darker amber color of kurozu compared to regular vinegar is a defining characteristic. In the town of Fukuyama, Kirishima City, kurozu has been manufactured according to traditional methods ever since the Edo period [early 1800's]. Kurozu is distinguished by its high nutritional value due to the amino acids and acetic acids that it contains, as well as its mellow flavor and unique fragrance. The undeniable health properties of kurozu have helped to make this black vinegar very popular throughout Japan.” (source)

Early mornings and short night make me long for the real Italian espresso’s, like two years ago in Turin, where you could get great espressos on every street corner. Sip and go, for 70 Euro cents!