Maybe one of the best meals...ever.

First off, let me just say that I obviously love food.  I enjoy spending money on food more than I do on clothes, shoes, etc.  I also love a nice glass of wine every now and then.  Before I let you all in, I want to fill you in on what we did on our last day in Germany before heading to our house in Italy (see, I am slowly catching up).

The day started out with a trip to Friedrechshafen, Germany.  This is about a 20 minute drive from Lindau.  We spent part of the day at the Zeppelin Museum.  That was very impressive to see.  They have a replica of what one of the blimps looked like on the inside.  It took 12 days to get from Germany to Rio de Janiero.  They were called floating luxury ships, and you weren't crowded on board with 1,200 of your closest friends like you are with a regular cruise ship.  However, the Hindenburg disaster and World War II brought an end to their use.  They have recently started producing them again as use for tourist trips around a set area...think a ride over a national park, etc.

After our trip the museum, we went out for a quick bite at Brot and Kaffee.  I had a crepe with cheese, prosciutto and sour cream.  Sounds odd, but it was so good.  We didn't want to eat a whole lot since we were going to eat dinner at 6 pm.

We headed back to the hotel and packed.  Then, all we had to do was to traipse down the stairs to the restaurant.  The meal began with a tuna bite and bacon-flavored dashi.  I know, I know-it sounds odd.  But let me tell you, it was so good.  I don't like the flavor of dashi by itself.  This could be because fish is not one of my favorite foods.  This though, this was a grown up lollipop.  The tuna was so fresh and the dashi tasted like liquefied bacon.  How can you say no?

This was followed by what I can only call the wine that Jesus would have turned water into.  Sorry John and Frs. L, Thu and Jude.  It's just a true shame that I can never find this anywhere but in Germany.  Maybe if I promise to pay Spec's tons of money, they may import it.  I can only hope.  Just as a side note, we told ourselves before dinner that we were going to each have a glass of wine with dinner and then take the rest of the bottle with us to Italy.  That didn't happen.

I decided not to get an appetizer, but my aunt did.  She got the scallops.  They were wrapped in a potato crust and sauteed.  They looked amazing.

Maybe my presentation is what got me a C in Art Culinare.  Since I KNOW my plating never, ever looked like this.  It also could have been the fact that I lacked patience to sous vide anything and never grasped why I needed to make tomato water for one dish.  Ok, back to the food.  I ordered the duck with curry jus.  My aunt got the perch with sauteed treviso.

My duck was served with a "special kind of potato" that was mashed and potato dumplings that were filled. And what were they filled with?  Why, more duck.  It gave new meaning to meat and potatoes.  Seeing these pictures again makes me want the duck.  I am not to sure what the special kind of potato was that was mashed, all I know is that they were the most drool-inducing mashed potatoes that I have ever eaten.

The meal was finished with a selection of mini-deserts from the kitchen.  How can I say no to little French Macaroons and white chocolate and vanilla truffles?

It's obvious that I can't say no to mini-deserts and so I didn't.  Thankfully, after the meal, we didn't have that far to go to get back to our room and lapse into food-induced comas.

Next:  Welcome to Italy.

Lindau, Germany

Left Salzburg early enough in the morning and headed to our final stop in Germany before we headed to Italy.  We stayed at the Hotel Villino.  The Villino is actually located outside of Lindau, as Lindau is actually an island on the shores of Lake Constance.  Lake Constance is bordered by Germany, Austria and Switzerland and as such you can take a boat all around the lake and go to the various countries.  If you are so inclined, you can also take the time to visit Lichtenstein.  That is only if you feel the need to set up a tax-free corporation, which I wasn't so inclined to do on this trip.  Maybe next time.

We arrived in time for lunch.  We decided to drive from our hotel to Lindau Insel, about 15 minutes away via car.  We ate at Da Corti, an Italian restaurant in the city center.  I choose the Veal Saltimbocca.  It was served with fries on the side.  It was just ok, but the sauce was fantastic.  The veal had way to much sage on it.  I do like sage, but this tasted like eating grass.  We followed up our meal with large chocolate ice cream sundaes- topped with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and chocolate sauce.  I think they did ice cream better than the veal saltimbocca.  Now that was fantastic.

After lunch, we walked down to the harbor area and decided to have some tea since it had gotten chilly.

Look at me, trying to get all artsy.  The harbor area of Lindau was fantastic.  Actually, the whole island is fantastic.  It's just peaceful.  On the way back, we walked back past the old town hall and a fountain all decked out for Easter.  I really like the tradition of decorating things with painted eggs for Easter...and not garishly painted with glitter glue and crayons.

Next up:  One of the best meals and wines that I have ever had.