A Summer to Remember

This summer was incredible. There's really no other way to describe it. I visited 8 different countries in 6 weeks. But I'll make it brief. Here's the list of places we visited (in chronological order):

Newport, OR, USA

Portland, OR, USA

Denver, CO, USA

Reykjavik, Iceland

London, England

Lille, France

Bruge, Belgium

Lille, France (again)

Tournai, Belgium

Brussels, Belgium

Rumes, Belgium

Lille, France (once more)

Avignon, France

Montpelier, France

Avignon, France (again)

Port Bou, Spain

Barcelona, Spain

San Sebastian, Spain

Hendaye, France

San Sebastian, Spain (again)

Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France

San Sebastian, Spain (even more)

Hendaye, France (again)

Paris, France

Frankfurt, Germany

Tacoma, WA, USA

Seattle, WA, USA

Victoria, BC, Canada

So, basically, it was an exhausting summer, but oh so much fun. I will remember this summer for the rest of my life.

You haven't been to London until you've taken
a photo in a telephone booth. 

Eating a delicious meat and cheese stuffed waffle
in Brussels, Belgium. Nobody else enjoyed them.

Our lovely hosts in Lille, Cyrielle and Celine. 

Our beautiful host in San Sebastian, Irene.

The incredible beach in San Sebastian, Spain.
Can you imagine living here?

The Eiffel Tower and the Seine, in Paris, France

So, what does this have to do with food?
Well, other than the fact that this is my blog and I get to do whatever I want with it, there is an actual connection between this incredible trip and this awesome blog. You see, food is approached differently in different cultures. Everything tasted just slightly different in each location. And the types of food were different, too.
In London, for example, I enjoyed a British breakfast: toast, eggs, ham, sausage, beans, and stewed tomatoes (ok, I didn't eat the tomatoes, but I ate everything else). And on our first day in San Sebastian, our Spanish breakfasts included: churros, granola with chocolate pieces and unpasteurized milk, cookies, orange juice, and Nesquik. Meanwhile, in Paris, our French breakfast was a croissant and either a very small and very strong hot chocolate or an even smaller and stronger coffee with milk and sugar (not sugar cubes, but sugar rectangular prisms).
Other things were different, too. Meats were fresher, dinner flavors were savory instead of sweet, and desserts were made with actual sugar. Ice cream was fruit flavored, but didn't taste like sorbet. And sausages were actually flavorful.


I tried so many foods that inspired me to attempt to create, myself. And it's probably a good thing that I have an actual kitchen in an actual house this year.
Which reminds me! You may have noticed that the name of this blog has changed. As I am no longer in the dorms, my new blog title is "The College Food Blog". This means some of the recipes will be a bit more complicated than dorm food. However, I will be sure to clearly identify the differences and, whenever possible, post dorm-friendly alternatives for you to use yourself.