Thanks!

Well, I’m back from this trip (11/21-11/30). Short version is we had an incredible time and love the two cities we visited. We thought we really enjoyed CPH when we went in March but there is no question that we would go back to Budapest before Copenhagen, and Tokyo is a must do again.

Longer Version:
Part 1 – Prep:
The trip was trouble from the time of booking. I locked in the tickets at that crazy price but the routing was terrible: LAX-BOS-FCO-BUD-AMS-NRT (on Delta, Alitalia, and KLM), leaving LAX at 9am when we’re based out of SFO. I used some southwest points to get us SFO-LAX at 6am and used some united points to book us NRT-ICN-SFO for the return. GF and I got Hyatt credit cards so between us we had 4 free nights at any Hyatt in the world and intended to use them at the Park Hyatt Tokyo (from Lost In Translation). This was all in May.

Honestly, the itinerary was really ****ty and just asking for trouble with the multiple connections and multiple airlines but what could I do? It’s not every day you get to go to Japan via Europe from the west coast for $400. But a few months later, problems started to pop up. Alitalia had a schedule change out of BOS that completely ****ed everything up, and when I called priceline to fix it they said there was nothing they could do and they recommended I cancel for a full refund. Over the next 2 weeks it took probably 20 calls to Priceline / Delta to massage the itinerary to the point where it seemed doable. In fact it got better as I got rebooked with fewer connections and on a single airline AND out of SFO (SFO-AMS-BUD-AMS-NRT)! We also got great seats on the way to AMS – two aisle seats across the aisle from each other (Like this: |_ _ x || x _ _|)

About a week out, though, there was an equipment change on the SFO-AMS leg to a much bigger plane, and our two aisle seats turned into two middle seats ( |_ _ _ || _ x x _ || _ _ _| ) which sucked for a 12hr flight and all the seats were booked so we couldn’t fix it. In the meantime, I changed our departing flight from NRT-ICN-SFO on Sunday afternoon, which got us back Sunday evening, to a direct HND-SFO flight leaving Saturday night at 1am. Essentially this was the same thing for us because Narita is 90 minutes from Tokyo anyway, so our Sunday would have been: wake up, pack, breakfast, train, airport. Instead we were able to still have a full night Saturday, not have to use another hotel night, and make the short trip to Haneda and fly out when we were already tired. As a bonus, we would also go backwards in time, arriving Saturday at 5pm with time to recuperate Sunday. And the deal seeker in me was psyched we’d be back in the US in time for small business Saturday.

The days leading up to our trip were uneventful, and we packed and repacked to get all of our stuff into carryons, because 1) It was risky checking baggage with the transfers 2) We didn’t need to much and 3) I’ve found Europe to be a pain with big wheeled luggage. We both have pretty nice carryons that are wearable (as huge backpacks [do not pay $99 please]) which makes changing hotels and public transportation a lot easier.

TBC…

congrats on getting engaged JL!:hear t:

Man that trip report is going to be huge and dumb. Basically, Budapest is awesome, go if you can. Tokyo is also awesome, but in a different way. I got engaged in Tokyo, I proposed in the middle of the Shibuya Crossing during rush hour.

Now that we have that out of the way, here are two things I did this weekend:

1) Made butter. Had no clue you could make butter from just heavy cream. I added salt and garlic powder to the butter and it's delicious and super fresh.



2) Made pull apart pepperoni garlic knots. OH my GOD. These were absolutely delicious and I love my cast iron skillet - what a great purchase! I suppose it's the #1 skillet on amazon for a reason...

but what do they look like when they are pulled apart?

pretty much what you'd expect but better

BAGELS

Here are some more things I've made recently:

Waffle fried gouda:



More bagels:


Cheddar, bacon, scallion scones:


Hopefully bialies tomorrow!

+1

Wow! you're a great cook. Send me your best recipe. Better yet, teach me! ($)

I don't know about great, but I'm learning. It's pretty easy to find some recipes online for things that you might like to try. I've made some awesome stews and chilis lately in my new pressure cooker, and I've made some really great peanut butter desserts using homemade peanut butter.

Here are a few of my favorites recently:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2...zo-recipe.html

http://nationalpeanutboard.org/recip...-for-bakerita/

http://www.chow.com/recipes/30669-sp...ker-beef-chili

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/09/c...lic-knots.html (these were posted earlier in this thread)

Also, here is a picture of a bialy I made last night:

Bought a picnic shoulder from smart and final for $9. Followed Kenji's post here: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2...er-recipe.html

wow the final product looks great.

Thanks Bryce!

Made flour tortillas from scratch and some carnitas from it today. NOM NOM

My fiance and I have eaten so much pork in the last few days...
Tonight was Quesadillas with freshly made tortillas

Rolling out the tortillas:


Cooking tortillas:


Jack & Cheddar melting:


Some seasoned pork and browned onions on top:


Topped and flipped:


Nom nom nom:

3 routers (~$600)
6 camera cards (~$800)
5 nintendo DS ($1k)
1 ipad ($350)

On the way to amazon for fulfillment

Have you still been making your jerky ? iirc you had a thread about your home made jerkey in the MP ? Was pretty cool to follow .

That thread is here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...jerky-1286379/

I haven't made any jerky in a while because when I moved to SF I left my dehydrator at my parents house. I haven't brought it to SF yet. Everything is much more expensive in SF including (or maybe especially) meat. Also, the dehydrator takes up a lot of room and in my studio apt, I'm taking a minimalist approach to appliances.

Spent 5 days in Mexico for a Memorial Day weekend vacation, and remembered how much I love the flavors in Mexican cooking. Decided to make some huevos rancheros with soft bendy crispy cheese. Would have loved to have beans with this but my better half prefers breakfast potatoes.

Here are some quick shots of my fiance's plate

Crispy cheese on the tortillas ready for eggs:


Finished product:



In the name of science, I documented mine a little more thoroughly

Eggs frying up nice and pillowy:


Eggs in their spot:


Avocado, cilantro, chedder, pico de gallo, accouterments:


Cheesy Layer pics:


Extreme rancheros closeup: