Five Best Meals In The World

Danielle Alvarez is a globetrotter, at least that's what the world of blogging foodies knows her as. In June of 2008, the multiethnic Lost Girl departed for a year abroad, (one semester in Santiago de Chile, another in Strasbourg, France) in hopes of becoming trilingual and finding her true self. While traveling/eating her way through South America and Europe, she sought out traditional flavors, whole ingredients, and a balanced lifestyle... and has the many pictures to prove it. Now, back in the United States, she is readjusting to the thrills of everyday life as a magazine journalism and modern foreign languages senior at Syracuse University. With a deeper appreciation of culture and diversity, she hopes to travel again soon but until then, occupies her free time with the friends she'd missed, channeling her inner-yogi, reading and, enjoying one of life's greatest pleasures, food. Check out what she's currently up to on her personal food, health and travel blog: Around the World in 340 Days.
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Studying abroad for an entire year is daunting, and yet fulfilling in more ways than I ever thought possible. An exposure of diversity (be it in culture, language, or… food) is an unavoidable and wonderful part of the daily challenges of life in a foreign country. It's beautiful, really, those differences that bring about such exciting flavors and creative presentations of ethnic dishes and this past year I have been lucky enough to have a thorough taste of many of them.

When asked by the Lost Girls to share my five favorite meals of a nearly a year of traveling… I was flabbergasted, to say the least. I’ve eaten some of the best breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, than I probably ever will be able to again, and have the documented memories of nearly every single one. How could I possibly choose?

As it turns out, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had expected. Living as a temporary expat, I was able to sample every local specialty and as such, these exotic meals became a part of my familiar routine. I’ve decided to reserve the “home-cooking” for future posts and instead highlight the most wonderful, once in–a-lifetime eating experiences from my weekend trips and daily excursions. (And, just so you know, I’ve organized them by date of consumption.)

The country of Ecuador blew my away by their array of fruits and vegetables, many of which I had never seen before, and as a result, have no direct translation into the English language. It was exciting to work my way through their bountiful produce but my most memorable plate turned out to be rather simple in the plant food respect.

Being that I was only there for a month and my weekends were all booked with class trips… except for one. Noticing that I was feeling a bit homesick at that point, my family took me on a trip outside the charming city of Cuenca to the El Chorro waterfall.

It was absolutely breathtaking, to say the least, and my 15-year-old host sister and I took the strenuous hike to the top. Needless to say, by the time we got back down to the bottom we were exhausted, and famished. We all went to a small family-run restaurant nearby for the biggest meal of the day, lunch, and that is where I had my first fresh river trout. It was not quite as photogenic as most fish are served in the US but as mild and flavorful as the best of them, marinated in a lemon butter sauce and grilled. On the side, a simpler variety of llapingachos, or potato cheese patties, and eggs mixed with hominy (corn without the germ).
The second meal comes from Santiago, Chile, where I spent the majority of my South American study abroad experience. Despite the modernity of the evolving Chilean culture and food industries I found that my favorites were far more traditional, some plates tracing as far back as to that of the Mapuches, one of the largest native populations in Chile.

With my abroad program I was able to visit a Mapuche community that's kept their cultural roots. In addition to an explanation of their religion, music, and customs we were served a fantastic lunch.

The Sopa de Porotos, was perhaps the best lentil soup I have ever and will ever try again, satisfying, and beyond tasty. To scoop it up we each had a sopapilla, a particular fried pastry that’s similar to bread. The final part of the meal, the piñones, really won me over. They’re delectable roasted nuts of the pinon pine tree and are comparable to chestnuts.






My home base for the next four months was Strasbourg, France, a city directly east of Paris on the border of Germany. During that time I traveled often, and as a result one of most memorable trips was not outside of France but just a few hours away in the Champagne region.

What I loved most about living in France were the multi-plate dinners, especially at restaurants where the le Menu, a dining option of an appetizer, main course, and dessert, was oftentimes affordable. While in Rheims, my friends and I dined at the Bristol Café. Saying that we ate well, is an understatement.

I claim to be a healthy eater and for the majority of the time, I am, but certain times call for certain indulgences. My split-pea vegetable soup, and salmon and spinach dish were balanced enough, so for dessert my foodie friends and I chose the profiterole au chocolat. Otherwise known as a puff pastry filled with ice cream and garnished with chocolate syrup and whipped cream it was, beyond, divine.

As I’m talking about sweets, I’d also like to highlight those of Hungary. Over my spring break I stayed with family friends in Budapest and was showered with utmost hospitality. I enjoyed plate after plate of Hungarian classics, usually focused on meat, but as a former complete vegetarian, I found myself fonder of what came after and in between.

Although a self-proclaimed chocolate lover, I am usually not that keen on sugary things, so this was big. I found that Hungarian sweets and fine pastries were hardly that sweet at all and instead played up on natural flavors such as fruit. My traveling companion and I were enamored with these peach krémes, homemade by our hosts, and ate them as an afternoon snack during one of our city excursions.

Finally, last but certainly not least, a meal to highlight my new cuisine infatuation. Strasbourg, among other European cities, boasts many Lebanese restaurants, one of which was situated a block from my French host family’s apartment. I had been eyeing it all semester and then, on my final weekend abroad, I had the opportunity to dine there and have my first, though hopefully not last, glass of Lebanese wine.


For my meal, my friend and I split the Mezzés Végetariens. Between the hummus, eggplant caviar, labná, falafel, spinach turnover, mashed peppers and walnuts with olive oil, my mouth and I were beyond ecstatic. Although casseroles and one-dish meals have their place in the world, eating many small plates brings an extra dimension of fun to a meal, especially if they all taste good, and they did. I’ve officially added Lebanon to the Places to Visit list.

There aren’t words to describe how eating my way around the world, in 340 days, was, but I look forward to reflecting on it with you in the future. In the mean time I invite to try something new, taste something unique, explore my own blog if you’d like, and discover the incredible kitchen that we live in, in addition to the special groups of people within it.

Bring Me That Horizon

by Jessica Goldstein
LG Adventure Editor

Here is something you may have noticed: It’s a big, big world out there. Shining, shimmering, splendid, etc. There’s home, and then there’s everywhere else. What is it exactly that makes us want to bolt from our roots and go someplace completely foreign?

I am a traveling junky and I blame Oregon Trail. For those of you who weren’t born into that late ‘80s, too-young-for-Cabbage-Patch-Dolls-and-a-little-too-old-for-Beanie-Babies generation, Oregon Trail was a computer game for elementary school kids about the great American road trip circa 1848: a Conestoga wagon trek from Independence, Missouri to — you guessed it — Oregon. My childhood dreams of reaching Willamette Valley were always thwarted; every time I tried to ford the river, my oxen died (I died shortly thereafter from dysentery, naturally). I never reached that glorious pixilated destination and I guess I never got over it. Reading lots of Kerouac and watching all those Mary Kate and Ashley travel around the globe movies as an adolescent probably did not help.

That’s just my story, but the truth is it’s not shocking I caught adventure fever. That’s what Americans do: we move. We couldn’t wait to jump on ships to get here, and ever since we arrived, we’ve been fixated on getting someplace else. We ventured west into the wilderness until we hit water and then, still unsatisfied, switched gears and rocketed off to the moon. The surprising thing would be if we all decided to stay put.

And now, London! I’ve been here a month, which feels like so much time and also no time at all. For my semester abroad, I’m studying English (England seemed like a good place to do that), exploring the city and using the UK as a launching pad for other European misadventures.

Expat Guides, Vol. 1: Getting around

For the first four days, I got lost everywhere I went. Imagine a drunk toddler. Give said toddler a crayon. Ask him to draw straight lines on a piece of paper. Then imagine the City Planner of London seeing those squiggles and saying, “These would make PERFECT roads!” Assign someone with a cruel sense of humor to name these streets. Roads here are anything but gridlike, and they often change names for no reason at all. So if you come here, buy a London A-Z and never go outside without it. And when in doubt, take the Tube, which is actually as pretty and easy to use as they say. It’s not lick-the-floor clean or anything, but we’re talking a giant stride forward from the touching-anything-might-give-you-tetanus feel of the New York subway.

MORE TO COME. Get excited…

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Sydney Series: My Wine Odyssey in Oz

Sydney was our last stop on our round-the-world trip, and we have plenty of amazing memories from living "Down Under." Now 'til mid-November, we're going to be recalling our favorite Sydney moments. At the end of each post, you'll find out how to get the chance to make your own memories in Oz by entering to win a trip to Sydney (the organizers extended the deadline for entry!)

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ADP: I can't believe that I'm admitting this now, but I wasn't much of a wine drinker before Holly, Jen and I did our yearlong adventure around the world. In fact, I hardly drank the stuff at all, unless it was the only thing being offered at a wedding or forced upon me at a fancy dinner. I just couldn't understand what all the fuss was about--I mean, wasn't wine just an alcoholic version of grape juice?

I officially saw the light of day—and truly experienced an awakening of the taste buds—when my fellow LGs and I began touring the wineries in New Zealand's Marlborough region and Australia's Hunter Valley. As experienced guides took us through vineyards located in impossibly beautiful settings, showed us the vast, spotless warehouses where the grapes are crushed and then led us to the tasting rooms, I found myself enchanted with the whole process of coaxing a delicious but often temperamental fruit into the jewel toned liquid swirling at the bottom of my glass.

For the first time, as the winemakers clued me in to the various scents and notes and flavors of the wine, I actually began to taste the distinctions and developed a near instant connection to certain varietals. And as we traveled from one winery to the next, I suddenly realized: I actually liked wine. No, I loved it!

I couldn't be sure, of course, until I departed from those enchanted valleys and went back to my regularly scheduled life. But, to my happy surprise, I found myself missing those Australian wines almost the second I returned to the US—and determined to keep tasting glasses from all over to find varietals and vineyards I liked just as much.

Earlier this year, I got the incredible opportunity to visit New South Wales again to report on the Vivid Sydney festival for National Geographic Traveler and PeterGreenberg.com. While I wasn't able to get back to the Hunter Valley, I discovered an incredible new wine bar and restaurant called Wine Odyssey during my return to Sydney.

Located in a gorgeously restored historic building in The Rocks neighborhood (the oldest part of the city) Wine Odyssey offers guests a chance to sample as little as much as they'd like from a selection of more than 40 Australian wines. Rather than served in bottles, the wines are housed in an innovative Italian-developed vending station that dispenses either a taste (25 mL), a half glasss (75 mL) or a full glass (150 mL), each kept fresh via temperature control and nifty decanting devices, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. When you arrive, you simple load up the amount you'd like to spend on a plastic "smart card," insert it into the machine and get tasting.

Once you've got your filled glass in hand, you can either get cozy in one of plushly decorated, vintage style drawing rooms or head upstairs to the aroma room and tasting theater, where you'll be virtually versed in what you're sipping.

I've been waiting for such a mecca of vino to appear here in New York City, but thus far, I've only experienced a true Wine Odyssey in Sydney. Rather than wait 'til the powers that be install one in my city, I might just have to return to Oz.

Wine Odyssey
39-43 Argyle Street, The Rocks, 1300 136 498
http://www.wineodyssey.com.au/

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Want to join us in Australia? The folks at Tourism New South Wales are offering two winners a trip to Sydney for themselves and a friend including airfare on V Australia, seven nights accommodation and an exclusive ticket to experience at least five of the most “life enhancing” activities that the city has to offer, such as:

• Learning to Surf at Bondi Beach
• Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge
• Sailing on Sydney Harbour
• Going behind the scenes at Sydney Opera House

To enter, simply click here or go to http://www.facebook.com/seesydney?v=app_17037175766 and follow these steps:

1. Click on the "Win a Dream Sydney Vacation" button
2. Enter your contact info
3. Become a fan of Sydney, Australia on Facebook
4. On the Sydney, Australia Facebook Wall write in 30 words or less about a Sydney experience you've had, or would want to have.

The organizers have extended the deadline and the contest will now be running from now through November 15th! Get your entries in now, and we'll see you Down Under!

The LG Weekly News Roundup: 11.5.09

by Molly Fergus
LG Travel News Editor

Missed the big travel stories of the week? And the weird, wacky and insignificant ones? We've got your round-up right here....

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Smokes on the Plane
We like to call this the Mad Men trend gone too far. Ryan Air, the dirt-cheap European budget airline, will start allowing smoking on its planes — as long as customers purchase the house brand. Ryan Air’s smokeless cigs will cost about $9, supposedly don’t contain any toxins, and are harmless to other passengers. This transparent money-making scheme might seem surprising if it weren’t for the company’s other absurd fees, like a mandatory online check-in charge and a potential pay-to-pee policy.
Source: Jaunted.com

Round-the-world wellness
One more reason to visit the doc before hitting the road: a new study by the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network says that long-term travelers are at risk for different maladies than vacationers. Nomads who set out for at least six months are more likely to pick up parasites — including the buggers that cause diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome. They’re also more prone to chronic fatigue. Sounds like we already knew this, so pack some Cipro and bring a pillow!
Source: Reuters

Glimpse your next byline
Want to write for National Geographic? The Glimpse Program, managed by the legendary travel publication, is now accepting applications from 18-34 year olds who are living abroad for at least 10 weeks. Winning correspondents will write and take photos of their experiences abroad, take home a $600 stipend and land a chance to be featured in an issue of the magazine. Send off two references and a writing sample by Nov. 8 to score the gig.
Source: Gadling

That’s not your name
It might be time to schedule a DMV visit. A new federal policy called Secure Flight requires that names on plane tickets and identification match exactly. That means, if “Jane H. Brown” booked a flight to Buenos Aires but her passport lists her as “Jane Brown,” she can say adios to that Malbec and parillada dinner. Just try to avoid any Kayak typos.
Source: New York Times

Lost in Spain: Best Tapas in Madrid

By Molly Gallagher

LG International Correspondent

At any time of the day in Madrid you can find cafes, restaurants and bars open and serving tapas. Madrilenos (people of Madrid) have a schedule unlike anything I have ever experienced. The nightlife goes on until six, seven, even eight in the morning. Lunch is usually between two and four and dinner can be as late as ten. In fact, most restaurants do not even open for dinner until ten. Tapas fit in perfectly with this lifestyle. Tapas are small dishes that are shared. These allow Madrilenos to eat smaller portions throughout the day or have a bite to eat between the long periods of time between meals. Bars will also often give you a small tapa when you order a drink and some will give you lots of tapas. A side note, Ham is a HUGE part of Spanish food, so expect lots of it. Here are some of my favorite tapas and some suggestions on where to eat if you are planning a trip to Madrid.

Salmorejo- This dish originated in Córdoba, a city in Southern Spain. It is similar to gazpacho, but a much creamier, tomato based dip. It is usually made with pieces boiled egg and ham. It is delicious to dip bread into.

Patatas Bravas- These are potatoes, similar to home fries. Bravas sauce is a spicy tomato sauce, like hot sauce.

Huevos Rueveltos- Is an egg dish that is prepared many ways. This literal translation is scrambled eggs. It is often made with potatos or French fries and Chorizo (sausage) or bacon and sometimes vegetables.

Chorizo- This is pork sausage. It is very different from the sausage we are used to in the States. Chorizo is spicier and tastes more like salami. It is most commonly eaten with bread.

Jamón Serrano- Is dry cured ham. It is most similar to Italian prosciutto. It is served with melon (like prosciutto), on a plate, or with bread.

Croquetas- These are small fried balls filled with a ham, oil, cheese and egg mixture. While they may not sound delicious…they are. Try them at El Tigre.

Tortilla Española- This is a Spanish Omlette. It is made with potatoes and eggs. It is usually served as a pincho, or piece either hot or cold. Many Spaniards eat this dish in the morning.

My Three Favorite Places to Get Tapas

The best area to go for tapas is in La Latina. This area is right near Sol (the center of Madrid). If you walk down Cava Baja Alta, you will find over 30 tapas bars.

La Rosa- My cousin who lived in Madrid for three years introduced to this tapas bar. They have traditional Spanish tapas like, Salmorejo, but you can also get salads, chicken dishes, and more interesting tapas. Calle de Oriente, 4.

El Tigre- This bar is ALWAYS packed. Why? Because when you buy one caña (a small beer) for €1.50 you get a free plate of tapas filled with patatas bravas, croquetas, tortilla Española, and Jamón (Ham). When you get a more expensive drink, for example their €6 mojito, which comes in a large plastic cups, you get two free plates of food. This is the best bargain, especially when you are on a budget. Go around 9:00 p.m. and by the time you make your way to the bar it will be time for dinner. Calle de las Infantas, 30.

New Hiring: An LG Public Relations Intern

Are you a social networking guru? Spend more time chatting with your friends on Facebook then you do in person? Then we have the internship for you!

We're on the hunt for a fabulous online PR and marketing intern for the remainder of Fall 2009 through Spring 2010 semester. The ideal candidate will be a detail oriented, web-savvy self-starter who can commit 5 to 10 hours per week to the position. While prior PR or office experience isn’t required, work with magazines or websites is a plus. We’re looking for someone who’s a whiz at spreadsheets (and loves them!), has excellent writing skills and a love of all things travel.

Check out the rest of this site before you apply to get a sense of what we’re all about, then drop us a line at lostgirlsworld@gmail.com. Please put “PR Internship” in the subject line and send us any writing samples or attachments you think will be helpful for us when making a decision. Oh, and if you;re past the days of interning, feel free to forward this to any young whippersnappers who might be interested. Thanks!

Lost Girls Spa Review: Skana

HCC: I usually equate casinos more with the smell of cigarettes and flashing lights than with the smell of sage and bubbling mineral baths, but I experienced both at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York. Run by the Oneida Indian Nation, their spa named Skana (which is the Oneida word for "peace"), offers the total experience: sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, mineral bath, and treatments that use natural elements such as the Sage and White Pine Hot Towel Massage. Another thing that sets them apart from other spas is their sweat lodge built with willow and draped with buffalo hides. Sweat lodges have long been used as a way to detox the body and purify the spirit.

I didn't try the sweat lodge, and my favorite thing about the spa wasn't actually the treatments, but the relaxation area. Anyone who books a treatment gets to use it for the entire day, and can try the DIY "Balancing Waters Ritual." This basically means jumping in and out of cool and hot water, as well as the steam room and sauna, to boost your circulatory and nervous systems.

First, you sit in the steam room for five to 1o minutes to help sweat out toxins. Then you jump in a cool shower for one minute to increase your circualtion (this is not comfortable, but it feels refreshing in the end). Then you hop into the sauna for another five to 10 minutes to clear out your sinuses and relax your muscles. After that, it's a cold shower again before soaking in the luke-warm mineral pool (the 18-plus different kinds of minerals are said to be restorative). When you're all done, you can lounge in the low-lit relaxation area with fruit water to wait for your therapist. It's believed that getting rid of stress and increasing circulation like this before a treatment preps your body to better receive the benefits of your massage or facial. All I know is that my body felt so relaxed from doing this, I felt like I had a treatment even before I went in for my facial. That all ended, of course, when I met my grandmother in the casino connected to the spa's lodge, and lost all my money with her playing Bingo.

Book Review: Title: The New Age of Adventure: Ten Years of Great Writing

by Lisa Katzenberger
Special to Lost Girls World

National Geographic Adventure is the magazine for readers who prefer to climb around the wild outdoors versus just glance at the pictures from the safety of their couch. Their new anthology, The New Age of Adventure: Ten Years of Great Writing, strikes the same chord as their down-in-the-dirt-details magazine.

Sure, they may sound a little confident with their claim of “ten years of great writing,” but the book really delivers. The anthology is filled with flawless writing and stunning stories pulled from the award-winning magazine’s ten-year life. Story after story reels you in and instantly transports you through lush language to another part of the world.

The anthology breaks the stories up into four sections. "Reporting From the Edge" provides a journalistic approach to discovering different cultures of the world. The section starts off with Sebastian Junger’s “The Lion in Winter,” a startling look at Afghanistan guerrilla war warrior Ahmad Shah Massoud that was originally published in the spring of 2001. And in “Off the Face of the Earth” Peter Lane Taylor crawls around a complex system of underground caves where the Stermers family hid from the Nazis for nearly a full year in 1942. He shares details of how the surviving members of the family – young children at the time – look back on this experience with heart-breaking strength.

"Sexy Beasts" covers stories about how our animal friends survive in this world. In “Place of Darkness,” Kira Salak shares her encounters with mountain gorillas trying to survive the war in Congo and contemplates who the more humane animal is: man or gorilla. “Stomping Grounds” by Paul Kvinta investigates the culture of “human-elephant conflict” where elephant stampedes in India have caused deaths in the thousands over the past two decades.

"Personal Journeys" includes personal narratives, such as friends surviving a 21-day kayaking through the Aleutian Islands, and a Vietnam vet surviving his emotional journey back to the ghost-filled battlefields of his youth. In "The Outer Limits" writers venture to the farthest reaches of the world – from travelling alongside Siberian reindeer farmers to exploring the blank Sahara where the even the map labels the area as “nothing” – Tenere.

Every story in The New Age of Adventure carries the potential for self-discovery. How does your life feel when you examine it from inside the still void of Siberia’s Tenere? What do you do when, in the middle of a 22-day canoe trip in the Grand Canyon, where contact with others is rare and random, you place a call home from a pay phone on September 11, 2001? Do you continue on your scheduled trip, and hang out among America’s nooks and crannies or head home to hunker down in front of its 24-hour ticker-filled news channels? The story of elephants finding a place to call home among India’s skyrocketing population begs the question: who’s closing in on whose turf? These stories share the underlying theme that seeing the world is also about seeing ourselves and learning more about the human race in the name of adventure.

Overall, the stories are moving and inspiring and stirring, although The Sexy Beasts section wasn’t as immediately engaging as others. And, Lost Girls readers, it’s worth pointing out to this crowd that out of twenty-five beautiful travel stories only three were authored by women. (Kira Salak also has “Hell and Back” and Gretel Ehrlich’s contributes “The Vanishing Breed.”)

The stories in The New Age of Adventure pull you along like a quick and smooth zip line tour. Happy to watch the world move by, to observe it from a different perspective, not really noticing time pass, not really wanting the journey to end. And then the instant you complete one story, breathless, pondering what you just experienced, you’re anxious to clip on to the next line, to jump into the next story, and discover what lies ahead.

The New Age of Adventure: Ten Years of Great Writing
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Release Date: Now available (released September 15, 2009)
$16.95
LG Rating: * * * * (out of 5)

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Lisa Katzenberger lives in Chicago and is working on her second novel. Her short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Quality Women's Fiction, Foliate Oak, Cooler by the Lake, and PoemMemoirStory. She blogs about writing at Fictioncity.blogspot.com.