Pastry travels
On my many trips overseas the one thing that seems to
highlight some of my travel blogs are that of me eating pies or some other
pastry goodness sometime during the day. I have sampled many delicacies on the
road. To me it is food and I will eat when hungry. The only unique thing I have
is the fact I have no smell and taste. This is something I have mentioned in my
other travel blogs so maker eating out unique and have to be careful at the
same time.
While on holidays I usually have my 3 meals a day and they
can be anything I lay my hands on. One of the reasons I don’t go out grocery
shopping for food and eating at the hostel is that I am usually on the move
every couple of days and having food left over would be a waste as I am on a
bus for hours and I would rather travel light. Some of the easiest food to find
is something from a bakery or even a dairy. Some supermarkets do sell hot pies
too especially in New Zealand. Some of the places I have been to can be listed
for the pastry goodness.
When going to Cornwall there is something that you cannot
try before leaving and that is the Cornish Pasty. Sure you can buy them
anywhere in the world and throughout London. I had my first one at the
Paddington Station in London where the train travels to Cornwall. When I was
staying in Cornwall I did try many different pasties and I liked the mint lamb
ones and there were even vegetable ones. I do want to go back one day to eat
some more. I know in Bendigo there was a bakery that sold Pasties and I headed
there after being given the tip while doing a mine tour at the Deborah Shaft. I
don’t usually go looking for them in Australia, but I think I got my fill when
I was in the UK.
Pies are the most common thing you can find. I am talking about
the meat pie and not the other pie that seems to be directed towards a pizza
type thing. Pies come in many different flavours and I have had some good ones.
I really do like potato topped pies and that gives me really good memories of
school being a senior student where I could walk in and buy things without
waiting for the hordes of kiddies after food. There was a pie shop in Tweed
city where I used to annoy people by eating a steak and garlic pie or even a
steak and kidney pie. I have not seen a steak and garlic pie since that pie
shop had closed. In New Zealand I have found several supermarkets that do sell
heated pies and even when hungry I have gotten a bacon and egg pie directly
from the deli. Christchurch was the most difficult place to find food and I
found some stuff to eat in the supermarket as I had that pegged as a last
resort. The only reason was that the location was still a disaster zone due to
the earthquake and I was hungry. I did hear about a café on the South Island
while on the bus called the Roadkill café that sold all sorts of pies. I think
they were joking when they said there were possum pie as I never seen any and
was wanting one.
Pastry shops or bakeries are those special places where you
can eat all your pastry goodness and actual pastry shops seem to be very
popular in Europe. I was lost in Nuremburg and was looking for food. One place
I found was a bakery type place that you could select what you wanted and had
tongs with paper bags. I never found that shop again and there was another in
Berlin I ended up at for coffee with several other bakery products at
Checkpoint Charlie for lunch. There was a MacDonald’s next door too, but this
place I preferred and the server thought I was German until I spoke English. He
did say sorry, but I wasn’t too worried about it. I don’t know what you would
call these sorts of bakeries in airports like Kuala Lumpur, but I have had a
fondness for black bean buns and several strange oddities that I have smuggled
onto the plane for very long flight to Europe or even Australia. I don’t really
like the pork bun type things with the white pastry stuff around them as I cant
explain why, but there are others that are wrapped in a banana type leaf that
you eat whatever is on the inside. Makes a mess, but isnt too bad. Not really a
bakery item, but a hotdog stand in Paris sold me a hotdog with a firm piece of
bread that seemed to be stale, but could just be French.
One bakery type store that was similar to the ones I had
visited in Germany was recently in Melbourne across the road from Flinders
Station. It was the busy lunch hour and I had grabbed several things including
the strange hotdog type pastries that I think are yummy. New Zealand has them
too, but they are actual bakeries with things like hedgehog slices and many
other little slices. I could just about have a location guide to pastries of
all sorts that is if I really wanted to. Waipu Bakery was one such place that
had really nice bakery goods and being a small town near Whangarei as well.
Once in Copenhagen I went to enjoy a donut I had bought with a drink and got
annoyed by some lady I think was speaking Russian and wanted money. It did
annoy me as I wasn’t local and just wanted to sit and eat.
Where would we be without mentioning the humble fingerbun? I
should mention that a fingerbun you can find in just about any bakery, but some
don’t seem to have them unless they have been very popular. People get worried
when I don’t have fingerbuns or don’t mention them for a while. It seems you
can find them at Bakers Delight, which is an Australian bakery although many
small town bakeries would have them. I cant remember if I had found them in New
Zealand, but I always end up with a pie with some bakery goodie. There are some
buns that are more fruit sticky bun with the icing on top, but more often than
not they are a plain roll. I do have a liking for cinnamon, but will take the
other toppings though smarties and chocolate are the different toppings that I
have had in the last couple of years. Coconut icing is the most popular too and
I wonder if I should actually go looking for fingerbuns overseas. I do like
them soft instead of being very crispy.
Until I can think of more pastry type delights I think this
would make a little travel blog on my stomach. They are quicker and faster than
waiting at a place called Maccas or even KFC. The best way to eat a pie is to
suck the insides out especially when it’s a potato pie. You may make a mess,
but it will be around your mouth. It is personal preference if you want a
little sauce with the pie and some places have mashed peas too again
preferences. One thing not bakery that I should find is a squid on a stick.
