Best of 2015

As usual, here are my favorite posts of this 2015 (I know I was a bad blogger, but one of my 2016 resolutions is to keep the blog updated - still so many posts to share about many cool places in Milan, Spain, USA, Mexico, etc.):

Cosme, NYC

Enrique Olvera's husk meringue really lives up to the hype

2014, what a year!

2014 was a busy but great year!
It was a year of lots of traveling:

• New York - every year must include a trip to the Big Apple, where we had the chance to go to a football game, ate dumplings in Chinatown's oldest tea house, had a pretentious dinner in the Meatpacking district, jumped on the tramway to Roosevelt Island and walked though the High Line in the cold.
  

• Shanghai - finally visited Asia! and it was a very interesting trip, cuturally and gastronomically, from beautiful temples to gardens, not forgetting the super modern skyscrapers and the ancient towns. We even had a coffee at a replica of Friends' Central Perk bar!
  

• Hong Kong - The second part of the Asian trip, and probably my new favorite city: dim sum, a beautiful skyline, dim sum, gardens, dim sum, temples, dim sum, boat rides, dim sum, etc - and a quick visit to Las Vegas of the East, Macau.
  

• Andalucia - a hot road trip in one of my favorite places in Spain after a stop in Cordoba to visit the breathtaking Mosque, we headed to Seville and found a nice shadow under the trees at the Real Alcazar gardens and the Plaza de España arches - and oh, the food!
  

• A quick stop in Copenhagen to finally visit the famous Carlsberg brewery
  

• A second visit to Budapest, where we discovered fantastic restaurants, bathed in thermal baths night and day and also visited some cultural and touching sights.. and drank lots of Tokaji :)
  

• I still have to write about a weekend we spent at the beach in Rimini, another one in Barcelona, Hamburg, our first visit to the Snails Festival in Cherasco and also about a Mexican Paradise... so stay tuned for 2015!

2014 was also a year with lots of food:

• Michelin-star restaurants, like the new location of Alice inside Eataly Smeraldo in Milan, the yummy (and cheap) dim sum from Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong and the newly appointed Borkonyha in Budapest.
  

• Street food and markets everywhere! From the Milanese taco bar experiment and the street food temple, the festive atmosphere at a Hong Kong market restaurant, the lobster rolls palce under the Plaza hotel in NYC, the food markets in Cordoba and Seville and the cool street food island in Copenhagen.
  

• also Bars, from the funky ones like Szimpla Kert in Budapest and Garlochi in Seville, to the cool views of Shanghai's Hyatt Vue Bar, not forgetting the fine wine bars like Cultivini in Budapest and N'Ombra de Vin in Milan
  

And lets not forget the hotels like the Buddha Bar in Budapest and the toilet we won't forget :), the views of Seville's rooftops from the Hotel Fontecruz,  the modern Eurostars Palace in Cordoba, the comfortable 99 Bonham in Hong Kong, the Swissotel Shanghai and the weird gas mask in the drawer and even the nearby (but great if you have an early flight) Sheraton Malpensa.

But mostly, I will remember 2014 because the blog has finally started to be featured in other websites, newspapers and guides, and I couldn't be happier about this! There were the interviews with ExpatsBlog and Cheryl Howard's blog, my tips on the Radisson Blu Milan's blog, the feature on Die Zeit's Milan guide and my first article published on Matador Network (also in Spanish)! 

Happy holidays and a great start of 2015 to you all!

Hugs,

M.

Campbell Apartment, NYC

A drink in an old-charm style, right in Grand Central Terminal.

Luke's Lobster, Plaza Food Hall, NYC

The Plaza hotel in New York City is a dream destination for many because of the luxury that comes with the name, but now there's another reason to go to the Plaza... lobster rolls!

TAO Downtown, NYC

It might have been described as "mindblowingly pretentious" by some, but their Glazed Thai BBQ Chicken is heavenly.

The High Line, NYC

Another New York favorite!

 It doesn't happen often that something obsolete like the elevated rail lines in the West side of New York City, become a super cool public park, instead of just getting rid of them.

Roosevelt Island Tramway

To get to Roosevelt Island you can take the subway (F train), drive through the Queensboro Bridge or try the coolest way: the aereal tramway.

Roosevelt Island

A quick tramway ride away, a cool place to stroll and enjoy excellent views of Manhattan.

Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant

Right under NYC's Grand Central Terminal, the best oysters in the city.

Nom Wah Tea Parlor, NYC

A visit to NYC's oldest dim sum place!

Football!

Since I was a child, I have enjoyed watching sports (rather than practising them), so when the opportunity came to visit the Metlife Stadium for a football game, we had to be there.

Foodstagram vs. Chefs

In the era of social networks and food blogging, where we are now used to sharing details of our everyday life with online communities like facebook, instagram, foursquare, etc., how would a foodie feel if s/he were told that s/he can't photograph his/her plate in a restaurant?

It is news of these days, both in New York City and Milan, that some chefs are forbidding their clients to take pictures of their food in their restaurants.
What are they afraid of? They say it's because they don't want to disturb the atmosphere of the restaurant with the flashes and that people standing up to take the pictures distract the other clients... c'mon... I've never stood up to take a picture in a restaurant and a flash would be the thing that would bother me less (what bothers me is other clients' loud voices but they don't do anything about it).
Why don't they realize that if a client is taking a picture of their dish it means that they appreciate its appearance, and they could even learn from that, to make their dishes nicer, and (since we're there) their portions a bit bigger...

Literary tourism

As I've mentioned, we'll be heading to Rome next month and I'm so excited! I've been to Rome tons of times but still the magic of the city remains a magnet to me so everytime we can, we jump on a train or plane and spend a weekend having carbonara, tripe, or whatever wonderful dishes Rome has to offer and try to discover a new part of the city. Since we'll be going next month, I started doing some research and while browsing for sights, I bumped into a website offering the Angels & Demons' tour.

Visiting the places where the books you've read took place has become a trend these years. The first one that comes into my mind is Sherlock Holmes' tour in London or Jack the Ripper's.

Sherlock Holmes' house and museum, Baker St., London (taken from this website)