Corsican food porn.

Good lord. I am sorry. How could I have forgotten to include all the food porn from our recent trip to Corsica in my last post? Good reason: whipping out the DSLR in the middle of a meal in a fancy restaurant is so very...gauche. So I opted for the iPhone instead. Those photos didn't get uploaded to the same folder as all my other Corsica photos in iPhoto, and then I had to combine and try and edit some of them and then... 

Still there? Ah, technology. If this is the future trend of my travel food photography, maybe I need this. Okay, maybe just this instead. :-)

So, a word about food on Corsica: it's very Italian influenced. I stopped counting the number of pizzerias we saw on the island after the first ten minutes. It's certainly not all pizza, though I have to admit if you have a chance to travel anywhere in France and order a four cheese pizza, do it. You won't regret it. I may or may not have done this more than once on our trip.

Aside from pizza, the Italian influence extends to pasta, risotto, tapenade, olives, etc. The more traditionally Corsican food is a treat too. Inland, they serve a lot of wild boar, goat, and other meats. G's eyes rolled back in his head when he tried his first bite of chestnut-encrusted lamb shanks. We also had a lot of great seafood along the coast. You can find very good charcuterie, wine and liquor made from myrtle (we brought a bottle home), and Brocciu, a local goat cheese which they use in many dishes. One thing we really appreciated was the fresh, locally sourced food, something I was so happy to have access to for a couple of weeks!

I've posted quite a few photos so you can see the variety. I apologize for the poor quality of some of the images. What can I say: the iPhone 4 isn't a fan of low light. Anyway, enjoy!

First night in Ajaccio we ate traditional Corsican at U Pampasgiolu. What you see here is just my food, the sea platter (note to self, ignore any menu item in the future that includes the word 'platter') which came highly recommended. G had his own ginormous platter to deal with. The food was very unique: squid in black squid ink, eggplant, local cheeses, a couple of different fish pots, and a fish soup. I think it was a bit too adventurous for my first Corsican meal, especially at 10:30 at night. 

From the street market in Ajaccio, beignets stuffed with either Brocciu cheese or sweet apple filling. You can guess which one was mine (cheese, of course). 

Those aren't mushrooms, but rather stuffed eggplant. I saw it often on the menus in the Bonifacio area of Corsica. It added a nice element to this salad.

Brocciu-stuffed zucchini flowers on a bed of puréed goodness at Tamaricciu, an excellent beachside restaurant in Palombaggia.

Stuffed squid, also at Tamaricciu. G said this was the best dish of the trip.

Seared tuna with quinoa greens. Winner.

Tuna again, this time at Table de Mina, the restaurant at our hotel. Great food.

Lucky for me, G is not a big banana fan, so I had the chocolate-
banana layer cake all to myself! Also at Table de Mina.

As poor quality as this photo is, I had to show you the scampi risotto. I was not expecting this. I was expecting largish shrimp. But I guess on Corsica, when they say scampi, they really mean scampi.

G loved these cheese-filled beignets, which we saw a lot in central and southeast Corsica. They were light and airy. These we found at Le 24 in Corte.

Hopefully you are used to the poor photo quality by now.
This is millefeuille d'aubergine. Find a place that serves it near you.
Preferably a French restaurant. You will thank me later. It is heaven.

Go to Corsica. Enjoy some liquor de myrte (myrtle liquor). You will be happy.
We were later told that the liquor is a digestif instead of an aperitif as it was first served to us here with green olives. Food rules be damned! Enjoy it with olives. Trust me on this one.

I gave up caffeine four years ago...except French and Italian espresso when served in either France or Italy. Because I'm not a fool. 

G's lunch at A Volta in Cargese, a small town with a Greek Orthodox community and stunning views. Delicious.

My lunch at A Volta, vegetable risotto, the first of many risottos on our trip.
I could have licked the bowl.

My typical breakfast regardless of where we stayed: 20% bread, 80% really good fruit. Oh how I miss you vine/plant-ripened, tasty fruit. Someday we will be reunited.

Of course we picnicked. With Corsican rosé (divine). And cheese. And fig spread. And charcuterie. (Pay no attention to the Swedish crackers or Norwegian water.
Or the fact that we were in our hotel room.)

Now that's more like it: an appropriate picnic location, at the top of Cap Rosso.

Of course, sometimes you just need a nice strong drink by the pool. Corsica, you certainly do justice to the caipirinha. Merci beaucoup!

Ladies and gentlemen, Act 2. And Corsica.

Well hello there. Yes, I've been gone a while. Actually, a long while. Sorry about that. I had good intentions of being quite a regular blogger but then, you know, life happened.

Today I return to regular-ish posting. Maybe it has something to do with a few people that have been nudging me lately saying they miss the blog. Maybe it has to do with wanting to reconnect with recording life. Regardless, I am ready to write and share and engage again. So here we go.

So, how are we doing? Just fine, thank you.

Act 2 finds us feeling quite at home in our little apartment in the city. I would say we are used to living here now. Being in Norway feels much more normal than when we first moved in 2010. We have a group of friends that we spend time with. We have some favorite haunts and a few traditions we've developed over time, like taking friends and family here or here for lunch when they come to visit. We have filled up the apartment with good, useful furniture and a few things we really love that we've found along the way. However, we both still struggle with the language, the dark winters (but the snow sure is nice!), and the less-than-stellar food (although I finally found kale, thankfully). We occasionally think of our plans for the future but for the most part are living in the moment. Let's see, what else?

I took a third semester of intensive Norwegian language courses.

We've had a few visits from friends and family this year. A few more to come.

I started volunteering a bit with Lilløyplassen Naturhus this summer, a wetland center just outside of Oslo.

G and I agreed to sign on for another product release at his work, which puts us here until at least the end of 2013.

Since I last posted, we have traveled to Ankara, Maryland, Tromsø, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Kristiansand, Amsterdam, Bergen (yes, again), Seattle, Århus, Rondane National Park, London, and most recently Corsica. We are slowly fulfilling our goal to travel, travel, travel. It has all been lovely. Well, except for the horrible bout of norovirus we both succumbed to in Copenhagen. I will share some photos from our past travels soon (skipping the norovirus adventure).

Oh yeah, and I got a job. No, not a glorious, rewarding job in my field of expertise (wetland science). But a job nonetheless. One that gets me out of the house. One where I speak Norwegian on a daily basis.

But enough about work! Let's get to the important things, like food and travel and interesting cultural quirks! Let's begin with Corsica.

Clockwise from Ajaccio, s'il vous plait!

We went to Corsica for two weeks at the beginning of September. An island in the Mediterranean sandwiched between France and Italy, technically French but not to some, it is very unique in both culture and ecology. It marked the first time we took such a wonderfully long trip for the sole intent of vacation since our honeymoon. We rented a car and explored a fair amount of the island. We traveled from the town of Ajaccio to the rocky western coast with its two UNESCO World Heritage Sights. From there we drove cross-island to the mountainous region surrounding Corti for a bit of hiking, and then finished the trip on the southern coast in the très fancy beach area around Porto Vecchio and Bonifacio. Here is a smattering of the 800+ photos I took. Enjoy. And, vi sees snart.

The view from our hotel room in Piana: the Gulf of Porto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Porto, where we caught a boat tour to see the Gulf of Porto including the rock formations of La Scandola (another UNESCO site).

Halfway through our wild, stormy boat tour, we took refuge in a local village for a well-needed beer.

Cows on the beach. Of course. Totally normal.

Sunset trek through Les Calanques on the south side of the Gulf of Porto.

More at Les Calanques. I took WAY too many photos here, but it was fun to play with my new DSLR.

Pre-Cap Rosso trek. Cap Rosso rises in the background with an old Genoese tower on the top. Our goal for the day.

Success! Top of Cap Rosso after a bit of a scramble (literally) getting to the top. 

The secret to wonderful Corsican charcuterie? These guys. Wild boar that wander the forest eating chestnuts all day. We just thought they were cute.

Halfway through our drive to Corte we topped out at 1900 meters, 12 degrees Celsius, and this view.

Corte and its funky citadel. The town was the capital of Corsica during its short run as an independent nation (1755-1769). 

Lac du Capitellu in the lovely vallée de la Restonica. If you look really closely, you can see the two dark specks on the flat rock face in the center of the photo. Climbers.

No one said it was it was easy to get to that pretty lake! - on the way back down from Lac du Capitellu.

Canyoning, baby! Essentially involves dressing up in a wetsuit, harness, and helmet and then proceeding to throw yourself down a river valley.

See? Not kidding about the throwing. G was impressively brave. Me, not so much.

Frequent activity during our last week of vacation, spent at Les Bergeries de Palombaggia outside Porto Vecchio.

iPad + wifi + Corsican wood-fired pizza + Sunday Night Football = happy G. 

Hopped a boat from Bonifacio to Îles Lavezzi for some sun, sand, and snorkeling.

Fishes! Tons of fishes!

Stunning cliffs around Bonifacio.

Spent a day exploring Bonifacio on our way back to Ajaccio. Escalier du roi d'Aragon - super steep staircase carved into the cliff face. 

Cemeterie Marin, Bonifaccio. According to Lonely Planet, this is the second most beautiful cemetery in the Mediterranean.

Not as prevalent in Bonifacio as in Corte, you will occasionally see graffiti demanding the liberation of Corsica from France.

Weekend market in Ajaccio. Corsican olives and tapenade? Yes, please.

Our last day on Corsica we gave up on doing city stuff and went to A Cupulatta, a turtle refuge of over 3000 turtles from all around the world. 

Galapagos tortoise. She came over to the fence for a visit and eyed us up.

Seriously, what is not to love about turtles?

The citadel our last night in Ajaccio.

Which way towards home? Ajaccio.