Introduction to the ROAMies

Speaker 1 0:00

This transcript was automatically created and has not be read or edited by our team. Hi, I'm Alexa and I'm Rory, and together we are the ROAMies. We are married To each other. Right?, We are a touring musical duo.

Speaker 2 0:11

And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

Speaker 1 0:16

So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to keep all your plates spinning.

Speaker 2 0:22

And we hope, to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug. Hi everyone, welcome to the Romy's Podcast. I'm Alexa and I'm Rory.

Speaker 2 0:36

And we are in kind of a sort of series of talking about traveling healthy healthy travel, wellness travel. We're kind of trying to gear you up for some upcoming episodes we have and we talked about eating healthy on the go and we thought it would be kind of fun to share with you guys some of our food stories. Rory and I are really foodies Like that's one of the big things that teach you about the culture of an area and we just love food and we love good food and it's like Rory's the Cajun, I'm the vegan vegetarian. So it just we have very different experiences and very different tastes Quite a broad spectrum of food.

Speaker 2 1:25

Yes, because since Roy's married to me, he also has to eat weird things that I make him. So he he is like anything I would eat, like plus steroids. You know like he eats.

Speaker 1 1:36

I don't actually take steroids.

Speaker 2 1:38

Right, right.

Speaker 1 1:40

So it's really not plus steroids.

Speaker 2 1:41

Okay, so yeah, but you eat Just to be clear on that, so it's really not plus steroids. Okay, so yeah, but you eat Just to be clear on that.

Speaker 2 1:44

Right, you eat like way more variety of foods than I do. Not only am I like trying to like move my diet towards a whole food plant-based diet more and more, but also I'm a very picky little brat when it comes to food. You're not going to find me eating all the crazy foods. That's going to be more Rory's department, yeah, but I am going to be on the hunt for healthy foods. But all of this like thought about our experiences. We've shared some practical ways to find healthy eats on the road, and then we thought, well, hey, what have been the healthiest things for us on the road? Like, do we have anything that's memorable? That's like the healthiest foods? What's been the unhealthiest?

Speaker 1 2:30

foods. It's usually not the healthiest foods that are the most memorable.

Memorable Foods from Our Travels

Speaker 2 2:33

Right, let's talk about so. Speaking of memorable foods, let's just start there. We'll get into some of our healthy experiences, but I feel like our memorable foods aren't necessarily always the healthiest right, Because they're probably more higher in fat or higher in calories or whatever it is. Not that fat is bad, but I'm just saying. One of the very first things that came to mind for memorable foods for me is probably because we were most recently there at Murray Spaceside in Scotland.

Speaker 1 3:01

Murray Spaceside.

Speaker 2 3:03

Murray Murray.

Speaker 1 3:04

Spyside, murray, murray, speyside.

Speaker 2 3:06

We had this Speculoos muffin at one of the little snack cottages that we visited and I don't remember if we've talked about this on an episode, but I remember telling you.

Speaker 1 3:18

I think we did.

Speaker 2 3:18

Yeah, I think we talked about this already so I'll be fast, but I still remember the taste of the Speculoos muffin. Speculoos is a Belgian cookie and it had this like nice center, like a creamy center, some kind of filling in it inside of like Speculoos butter. You can buy this at Trader Joe's Speculoos butter. And so, instead of like peanut butter, it's made with the Speculoos cookies as butter, and it's like it is luscious, right at the top of the list of health foods Right.

Speaker 2 3:48

But you know it wasn't stellar but it was memorable and I like that's one thing I want to go back and get is super bizarre. Now, rory, I made a list of some of my memorable favorites and Rory made a list of some of his memorable foods and there's a couple things that kind of got on both of our list. The first thing that like is the most memorable.

Speaker 1 4:07

I haven't looked at our list together. You have right right rory's just on the fly here. I'm interested to see what you learned.

Speaker 2 4:13

I'm kind of a lot on the fly, but more rory's, more on the fly anyway. Cheese rushti, so rushti with cheese. So, yes, we both had this on our list of our most memorable foods, and it's because they become our favorite foods. Now you added raclette, which is also very memorable.

Speaker 1 4:31

Yeah, very memorable.

Speaker 2 4:32

I feel like raclette is memorable. Now let's explain what raclette is. If you have not yet been to Switzerland, this is a Swiss dish.

Speaker 1 4:41

Raclette is and cheese.

Speaker 2 4:42

Right, and with Swiss, you're going to all your meals. All your meals are going to be potato cheese and pork, right? I mean, that's kind of like it's going to be like a version of that, just like, if you have Cajun food, it's going to be rice and meat and you know some seasonings, right, cajun seasonings Usually rice is involved and you know some seasonings right Cajun seasonings Usually rice is involved.

Speaker 2 5:05

Mm-hmm, that's your thing, so like I'm super simplifying it, but the version of potatoes and cheese with raclette is that they make little. They use the little tiny potatoes that are super cute sometimes Like little new potato-sized things. And if not, they use, like you know, red, red potatoes as like that kind of no right. Yeah, they're more golden colored Like if you had to make it in the States, you might have to settle for a red potato.

Speaker 1 5:33

You got the little golden ones you can buy now. Yeah.

Speaker 2 5:35

Yeah, okay, so you do that.

Speaker 1 5:37

And the multicolored ones and those little.

Speaker 2 5:46

I love those me happy. Yeah, we haven't seen the multicolored in switzerland, but anyway, raclette has, for the most part, has not been something that you and I have enjoyed at a restaurant. It's been something that people make in their homes we had at that one time one time I think okay, remember, we watched them ski down the slopes.

Speaker 1 5:59

As we ate it in this restaurant, with these big glass windows looking out of those ski slopes, it was pretty awesome, yeah, and the cat came and laid on the windowsill next to us while we ate.

Speaker 2 6:08

You just gave me another memorable meal. When you said that, I'm saying I hope I remember to say my memorable meal.

Speaker 1 6:14

How many times does the owner have a cat in their restaurant that sits on the table while you're eating?

Speaker 2 6:17

True, I do remember the cat.

Speaker 1 6:22

That's memorable.

Speaker 2 6:23

what the cat hair okay, wait, I gotta make a note. I gotta make a note so we did have okay so we still haven't explained what roquette is. Roquette is those small potatoes, and then you have these little is the cheese. It's actually called roquette cheese, but when they say we're gonna have roquette.

Speaker 1 6:39

So they name the dish after the cheese yes, the.

Speaker 2 6:42

What they mean is that they're going to have these little.

Speaker 1 6:45

You have a little oven that sits at your table and you have little trays. Each of you gets your own little tray.

Speaker 2 6:50

It's like a spatula. Your tray's like a spatula.

Speaker 1 6:52

You cut off a thick piece of cheese and you lay a piece of cheese on the tray, you put it inside the oven and you watch the cheese melt and start to boil right, bubble up when up.

Speaker 1 7:00

When it starts to bubble up, you've got these little potatoes that you cut and put on your plate or mash or just have on your plate whatever you want and this is just the basic version and you put that cheese on the potatoes and there's usually a little seasoning or something you put on it and you eat it. Now, often that comes with pickles and different thinly sliced meats.

Speaker 2 7:17

Yes, and can I just say pickles and potatoes. I was like pickled potatoes with pickles with potatoes, but you know what it works.

Speaker 1 7:24

Yeah, it really works. Yeah, and I guess they make like dill pickle flavored potato chips. Oh, we had raclette last time we were in Switzerland.

Speaker 2 7:31

Yes, because it's with a family. Yeah, yeah so usually, if you're going to have like friends over and you're going to do a fancy dinner, you would probably do raclette.

Speaker 1 7:45

You'd pull out. You know most family homes would have a raclette machine. The fun thing about being in a family is egg on a dors. Let us eat all we wanted.

Speaker 2 7:50

Yes, it was awesome yeah, and the seasonings that you put on the cheese are really good. You can put on the melted cheese before you put on your potatoes, right? Um so like and then like. Just a case in point, another swiss dish is the fondue right. And so that's like your potatoes with your melted cheese and you dip your potato in the cheese right, and then there is rusti.

Speaker 2 8:10

But our memorable favorite thing that we both love is rusti. The closest thing we have to that in the States are shredded hash browns and they are nothing as good as like Rushdie because they're just cooked differently. But it is shredded potatoes. They're a little shredded, a little thicker pieces than what we are used to with hashbrowns.

Speaker 1 8:32

But it's the way they prep it. They boil them in a day in advance and then they refrigerate them for a day and they bury them in a chicken coop in a boot for another day.

Speaker 2 8:39

No, that's Samayaki. That's the finished king. Right, that's Samayaki. That's samayaki.

Speaker 1 8:42

That's the finished king Right that's samayaki.

Speaker 2 8:43

Sorry, my bad. Yep, that's samayaki, don't confuse, that's gross. We're talking about something good.

Speaker 1 8:46

Yeah, this is good stuff, but they have a process that they go through with it. So it's not just you take a potato, you grind it and you cook it. Right, it's not the same.

Speaker 2 8:58

Okay, and so that and then if and then when you're Rory and you add the meat, then you have a big old sausage with it. Then you go to Pochtenfall, right.

Speaker 1 9:06

And that's In Switzerland. Yes, and they have this wild boar sausage they make with it.

Speaker 2 9:11

It's like as long as a long plate and gravy dark gravy.

Speaker 1 9:14

Ooh, so you got cheese all over your rösti. You've got this big giant boar sausages and then this gravy, and then you're sick when you leave because you just eat so much.

Speaker 2 9:25

Is that the memorable part?

Speaker 1 9:26

No, it's wonderful, You're not sick, it's really, it's really wonderful yeah.

Speaker 2 9:30

So that's probably like our favorite dish that we've experienced. Probably to get like that we both enjoy on our travels. I just get it without the meat part, okay. And then another thing, rory, to me that was I don't think this was on your list, but to me is super memorable was the gingerbread waffles that we had in Oregon. We went to the Oceanside, oregon, yeah, and we went to a little nearby village and we got the gingerbread waffles.

Speaker 1 10:01

Yeah, those were really good. I think we've talked about that. We have talked about that. They had the pear slices all around the plate.

Speaker 2 10:05

So pretty. But like that was something I had to try come home to try to make A lot of this stuff like because it was memorable, it was easy to just come home and try to like duplicate it, make our own versions of it, all of that yeah we didn't do bad was the smoked mac, and cheese that was on the train.

Speaker 1 10:26

Oh yeah, that was awesome. Yeah, that was memorable train food their smoked mac and cheese on. It was a specific train, though on the one that uh, what did they call it? It was our overnight train yes the. It was called old scottish name yeah, the old name of scotland back when the romans were around yeah, so we have the pics around.

Speaker 2 10:49

Yeah, so we have the pics.

Speaker 1 10:50

They went to the pic tic pic tish fort.

Speaker 2 10:51

Yeah, no, and that was they were a version of scottish history. Scotland and then the it's like uh, they had a like a deer hey siri what are the romans called scotland yep caledonia?

Speaker 1 10:59

caledonian yes, railway, railway oh man, they're mac and cheese. I went to the dining car man their mac and cheese. I went to the dining car. She wasn't going to go. And then I went to the dining car and I ordered the mac and cheese and I was like, ah, and then I came out and I was like Homer Simpson with a donut.

Speaker 2 11:16

I was like, okay, I have to taste it. And then I was like, oh, it was smoked cheese.

Speaker 1 11:25

It. It was smoked cheese. It was so good. Yeah, that's memorable. Plus, you're on the train going through Scotland.

Speaker 2 11:28

Yeah, the.

Speaker 1 11:28

Highlands, it's you know, come on.

Speaker 2 11:30

This was our first time to sleep on a train in the sense that we had a sleeper cabin. I feel like we've slept on a train before in our very first backpack thing. Yeah, we did, but we didn't have like a cool little thing with its own like sink and it had bunk beds and it was super cute, or maybe you just don't remember it, maybe I just don't remember long ago to land 300 years ago.

Speaker 2 11:50

Okay, another memorable one is your favorite pizza that you talk non-stop about. When we were in naples that was not on your list, but it was like I remember you remembering that, yes, it was so amazing.

Speaker 1 12:02

I ate until I was sick and then I ate until I was dizzy. I've never done that since like ate until I was dizzy. I don't know what they had in that pizza, but whatever it was, maybe that's why I got dizzy.

Speaker 2 12:12

So that's in Naples.

Speaker 1 12:13

It was amazing A hole in the wall in Naples where they cook it. They have one oven, big brick oven, and they cook it in there.

Swiss Delights: Rösti and Raclette

Speaker 2 12:28

One of the absolutely ridiculously good yeah, in the line of or in the thought process of, italy, this also was both on both of our list of our. Most memorable for me, it was that you put the restaurant, but I think, but I put the tuscan bean soup. That is something that I have attempted to recreate at home and it makes me so happy, um, so I'll probably do a social post on that and just talking about that a little bit, but that was a montecatini alto in tuscany and I'm not a soup person.

Speaker 2 12:52

I mean, I don't mind soups, but it's not like oh, soup, ah, you know. And seinfeld says soup's not a meal. So I mean, I get that, yes, but this was like the setting wasn't bad.

Speaker 1 13:01

It's an historic Tuscan spa town, montecatini Alto. There's also Montecatini Terme, I think they call it, which is the main town down below. So you ride like a little train like a cog train or something, or maybe this one's pulled by a cable. I forget what they call those. Anyway, up the top of the hill and there's this town up there. It's really really cool yeah.

Speaker 2 13:25

Super cute up the top of the hill and there's this town up there. It's really, really cozy. Yeah, super cute we were with your parents and your aunt, uncle and godparents, and so that was also a wonderful experience so we had a wonderful experience but for me, especially the soup like was the actual part of the meal soup is not a meal.

Speaker 1 13:39

Everyone knows that I just said, part of the meal that was that was memorable that's from seinfeld, not just because of the company, but it was so delicious.

Speaker 2 13:47

Okay, another one on my list is when we went to Kauai and we had tater tot waffles. So they make a waffle with tater tots Right, brilliant, and then they put, like this, nacho cheese stuff on top. But it wasn't like gross cheese that you would have at the ballpark, right, it was like a very good, rich, like almost a white cheese.

Speaker 1 14:12

But because it was nacho seasoned it was kind of a pink, so more of a queso kind of like Mexican queso, white cheese kind of thing.

Speaker 2 14:19

Ish.

Speaker 1 14:19

Ish.

Speaker 2 14:19

And that was drizzled over your tater tot waffles.

Speaker 1 14:22

See, I wouldn't remember that and that was at a food truck in.

Speaker 2 14:25

Well, see, it's potatoes again. Yeah, that was at a food truck in Kauai, Hawaii, so that was really, really memorable and I have. That's another thing I've tried to do.

Speaker 1 14:34

It's a memorable island.

Speaker 2 14:35

I tried to do. Yes, there are a lot of good things. We'll talk about them again in a minute. Yeah, just walking around. You don't eat them, you just watch them walk around. All right, now we're going to go back, not really to Italy, give me a chance, I'll eat them. We'll go to our favorite that we can't go to anymore Italian restaurant in.

Speaker 1 14:53

Interlochen, oh Interlochen.

Speaker 2 14:55

So yeah.

Speaker 1 14:56

Yeah, when we first started going over there first time I took her to Switzerland we were in Interlochen and discovered this little, family-owned Italian restaurant, and it was so good it was called Del Rico.

Speaker 2 15:07

We got there Not too far from the train station.

Speaker 1 15:09

They're very simple Olive oil. And what was it? It was Basil. Oh, pesto Tomato, basil, no, whatever it was, no, that's your uncle's.

Speaker 2 15:19

We could say okay, our uncle made us tomato basil pasta. That was memorable.

Speaker 1 15:23

And we were on the road then too.

Speaker 2 15:27

This was a. This is just a garlic, so it's spaghetti noodles With garlic and red peppers Like red pepper flakes and whatever else. Magic and salt and pepper. That was it. Olive oil.

Speaker 1 15:39

No, I think there was magic involved.

Speaker 2 15:41

That's what's magic about Swiss food. It is so simple and their food is so fresh that it's just extra delicious.

Speaker 1 15:49

We went back there a number of times and then, years after that, we continued going back until they were no more. They were no more.

Speaker 2 15:56

And we were like, wow, we're in Switzerland. We and we were like, wow, we're in Switzerland, we're eating Italian food, but like Switzerland borders Italy, so it's like that's what's so great about it.

Speaker 1 16:03

One of the main languages, one of the national languages Switzerland is Italian, so they get Italian honest.

Speaker 2 16:09

Yep, yep. All right, roy, what do you have next on the list?

Speaker 1 16:14

Well, show me the list Memorable for you, right there, what do?

Speaker 2 16:15

I have next on the list.

Speaker 1 16:17

Right there on the list. Well, oh yeah, okay. Okay, we're going to switch continents. That's fine. Yeah, we're going to the dark continent, as it has been called.

Speaker 2 16:27

We're not stuck on one continent.

Speaker 1 16:29

Africa. First of all, love Africa. I mean, at least the times I've been, it's been really awesome and it makes me feel wild when I'm in Southern Africa or, at least you know, not in Egypt when you get further down and it's more what you would think of as an American when you think of Africa. Yeah, so I was in Zimbabwe at Vic Falls Victoria Falls and I was with a small group and a crazy elephant had just come through town and it looked like a tornado.

Speaker 2 16:56

Like a real live elephant.

Speaker 1 16:57

Yeah, real live elephant, it looked like a tornado had come real live elephant, yeah, real live elephant. Like a tornado had come through. So I was asking them did you guys have a tornado or something because trees were broken, I mean all kind of crazy stuff and they're like no, an elephant came through town on a rampage and I was like, okay, first of all, I wasn't with him on this trip.

Speaker 2 17:11

Yeah, I don't know this story.

Speaker 1 17:13

So this elephant came through on a rampage, and so then, so that's that's just when we drove in. It set the whole stage. We slept in um little places with the thatch roofs and all that you know, did you have to have a mosquito net?

Speaker 1 17:23

because it's like no, no, we didn't actually, but no, we didn't. Uh, vic falls there's. There's no fence around it. You could fall to your death. I mean, it was just, it was. It was amazing the whole thing. So african, where we ate breakfast, it was this, oh, it's just so hard to describe. It was like movie, and you're looking out over the savannah and stuff and you can see any of the big animals might come out there at any moment. This is wild, this is not a controlled environment, really, and so that night they took us to this place that you all can go to as well. It's called the Boma. Boma, apparently B-O-M-A. B-o-m-a Apparently apparently means the place of eating. I don't know if they speak in them Bel Air, cosa, one of those two, I think, but anyway, boma, the place of eating, and we go there and every imaginable wild animal steak that you can imagine that roams in.

Speaker 1 18:14

Africa, they had and they're all, they're just. And you go through the line and the guys back there at the grill and they've got them all in these different containers and you say, yeah, I want to try kudu. Yeah, I want to try a warthog. Yeah, I want to try impala. Yeah, I want to try that zebra or whatever it is. It's like you know all this stuff. Oh my gosh, the food was ridiculously good. I ate, no kidding, 13 steaks that night. I'm not even kidding you, just a few. Yeah, I mean, it's not like they were big, 12 ounce steaks, but I ate 13.

Speaker 2 18:43

Not American sized no.

Speaker 1 18:44

I ate 13 steaks that night and the warthog was so good, I mean, just imagine a pork steak, right.

Speaker 2 18:51

Right, that's some bacon. The warthog was so amazingly good.

Speaker 1 18:54

And then they also have a mathimbi. Amathimbi is their mopani worm.

Speaker 2 18:59

Okay, say that 10 times fast.

Speaker 1 19:01

Yeah, amathimbi, so they have these worms and it's a thing.

Speaker 2 19:06

They have words where they click their tongue. Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 19:09

They're the ones that go and things like that. So amathimbi is their word, so it's a backwards T Amathimbi, amathimbi, yeah, anyway, I don't really speak the language, but it's a Mopani worm and you go through their markets and they're like huge sacks full of them. So the people actually eat them.

Speaker 2 19:25

I don't go through those markets, yeah.

Speaker 1 19:27

And so they have Mopani worm and you could, you could eat the Mopani worm if you wanted. And then now I think, nowadays I think they Mopani worm. Here you go. Yeah, I don't think they gave it out when I was there, but you know, anyway. So, yeah, that is absolutely memorable and I would love to go there again.

Speaker 2 19:45

The market would be fun to see and the restaurant would be fun to see, but I probably would not have a lot of options there.

Speaker 1 19:52

Well, the market wasn't in Vic Falls either. That was another city. Okay, but Okay, what is that trip Eight hours away?

Speaker 2 19:57

Okay, but your story was memorable to me for when we went to Brazil and we ate at another, very similar restaurant. We had a trip that we did in Rio oh first I have to say this by the way, if you go to the Boma.

Speaker 1 20:12

They also have dancers. To where, to where? Boma, the Boma? Oh, okay, they also have dancers that'll come out and do dances and all this. So it's really I mean, it's they try and give you. They try and give you a, you know, an African experience, nice, southern African experience. It's very cool, super fun. So, anyway, yeah, so we were in Brazil.

Speaker 2 20:27

Yes.

Speaker 1 20:28

And we went to a Brazilian steakhouse.

Speaker 2 20:31

And wasn't it like same type of vibe, like when we were both there and I just remember you had, like you know, 30 options of all of these kinds of meats.

Speaker 1 20:40

They come by with these carts, with these meat on them, and they walked around like a Chinese restaurant would with the dim sum kind of thing, but this was like steaks. Yep Well all kinds of stuff from steaks to chicken hearts to just whatever. And then they had the salad bar, which was gigantic. It was probably what? 15 feet, it was a circle, probably 15 feet from edge to edge it. 15 feet, it was a circle, probably 15 feet from edge to edge. It was huge. The salad bar was so incredible.

Speaker 2 21:03

Yeah, I had plenty to eat that night.

Speaker 1 21:04

Oh yeah, oh man I could have just stayed on the salad bar, except they kept bringing steaks. So yeah, I remember I tried chicken heart for the first time and it was good. I mean, you know, you got to think you're eating a chicken heart, which is kind of weird, but I'm a Cajun guy so I decided to. They probably eat them somewhere in Louisiana, but anyway it was good. So, yeah, that was definitely a memorable. Wonderfully plus, we were in Brazil.

Speaker 2 21:26

So Right, right, yeah, okay, so now we're going to go back to Switzerland. Okay, one of our memorable things was Lausanne. Is that where you're going?

Speaker 1 21:36

Yeah, lausanne, switzerland. It was our first trip there together, yes, and we had just finished crossing over the little bridge there, walking across. It was so romantic and we're like well, we're hungry, Okay. And so we stopped at the little cafe there on the sidewalk alongside the water and we wanted a salad, something green. So we saw, oh, there's this thing called Salad Mixt. So we ordered that.

Speaker 2 21:58

Not really knowing what it was.

Speaker 1 22:00

I didn't know what it was, but it was awesome it was awesome All these different kinds of salads and little serving sizes on a singular plate.

Speaker 2 22:06

And they had it like. If you looked down at the salad mixt then it looked like either like pie or pizza slices, right Little triangles, a circled plate of salad.

Speaker 1 22:20

The presentation was nice yes, and so you had not triangles of green salad. Green salad with something else another all these kinds of slaws, or maybe it was a pasta kind of a thing, but they were all salad, all cold salad. And then there was a one with maybe like a beet salad or something like that. Yeah, and cucumber and tomato, and it was every salad was ridiculously good.

Speaker 2 22:43

It wasn't, like you mentioned, pasta salad, but I think most of them were like veggie salads, veggie-based salad, yeah, so that was super memorable.

Speaker 1 22:50

Surely there was some potato in there that we just don't remember. I'm sure there had to be potato salad. I don't know the potato in there. There's a German potato salad. They probably had it. I'm just saying it's Switzerland.

Speaker 2 22:58

That's the only kind of potatoes I don't like is potato salad, because I can't stand mayonnaise.

Speaker 1 23:02

Yeah, and so Well they do a version without it.

Speaker 2 23:05

Right, but if they had some kind of potato salad, I would have left that for you to eat probably.

Speaker 1 23:09

Yeah, well, I would have been glad, even in Switzerland, to eat it, but yeah.

African and Brazilian Food Adventures

Speaker 2 23:12

Yep. In Switzerland, favorite food country, switzerland, well and then the next one on your list was Rusty at the oh, the train station at Kleine Scheidegg, yes, Kleine Scheidegg Again, we were with my parents and my and taking the little gondola up the mountain.

Speaker 1 23:33

And my godparents. Yeah no, we took the train up. It's the same train you take to go up to Jungfraujoch, but we stopped in Kleinelan of shy because we didn't want to pay the hundreds of dollars to go up to the jungfrau york, and so we had lunch in the train station. So it was lunchtime and the view was amazing. You know, uh, gosh klan of shy, I think if you've never been there, you need to go there. It's, the view is ridiculous. And so we're in a train station restaurant. You're not expecting a lot. The food was so good.

Speaker 2 23:58

So good. Wow, it was. It was Pokedon Falls still wins our favorite Rösti but the Kleine Scheidegg train restaurant gets our second place best ever Rösti.

Speaker 1 24:08

Plus, as I mentioned, we were with people we love and the view it's, but it's hard to lose, really, yeah, yeah, you're not going to go wrong, man.

Speaker 2 24:15

Okay, this was on your list, but this is something I talk about often, yeah that's right. Is the croissants in Reykjavik.

Speaker 1 24:21

Yes.

Speaker 2 24:22

Iceland In. Iceland, they infuse the bread like the dough with tea.

Speaker 1 24:27

Green tea, I think. Are they green tea croissants or just tea croissants? No, it's just tea croissants, okay.

Speaker 2 24:31

So now that I've started a tea line, I can't wait to partner with a baker in some way. It's going to be so fun.

Speaker 1 24:39

Also a banker, as the saying goes. Oh yeah, that'd be good too.

Speaker 2 24:42

All right, what else? You've got some other things on the list.

Speaker 1 24:45

Yeah, sam's Southern Eatery. I think it's a chain restaurant, but I think at this particular one we were going through Shreveport and we stopped and got a Philly cheese steak at Sam's Southern Eatery.

Speaker 2 24:55

So so we're back in the US now.

Speaker 1 24:57

Yeah, the best Philly cheese I've had anywhere. We've had them in Philadelphia, whatever there's something about this one, they killed it. I've been to other Sam's eateries since and they didn't match it, but I'm just saying I think it was one in Shreveport. Absolutely ridiculously good Philly cheese.

Speaker 2 25:13

Well, stay along, kind of that Louisiana lane.

Speaker 1 25:17

Okay, french Quarter, ralph and Cacoose. Ralph and Cacoose again, is a chain that you can find in different places in Louisiana, even in Alabama. I think they have one in Mobile or Daphne, something like that. But the one specifically in New Orleans, there in the quarter, wonderful food like that. But the one specifically in New Orleans, there in the quarter, wonderful food. Every time I've been there they just they knock it out Really good, ralph and Cacoos. If you like seafood, really great stuff.

Speaker 2 25:35

And since Rory is a Cajun chef himself, Absolutely.

Speaker 1 25:38

He has high standards for what is considered Cajun and what's good Cajun? They make really good food. Okay, so just good food. It's got a New Orleans thing to it. Yeah, because with New Orleans.

Speaker 2 25:47

It's got a New Orleans thing to it.

Speaker 1 25:48

Yeah, because with New Orleans. You're not as Cajun right, you're more just Louisiana, but it's great food. The influences over that place, the food influences whoo good stuff.

Speaker 2 25:57

Good stuff.

Speaker 1 25:57

Yep, yep, here in Waco.

Speaker 2 25:59

Yeah, let's circle back to our home.

Speaker 1 26:01

Yeah, here in Waco I've got a favorite taco, the Barbacoa Tacos at Las Trancas. It's a food truck, basically, but it's permanent in their location and oh, their barbacoa tacos are so good. So if you're in Waco, you got to go to 26th and Waco Drive and Maria and her family her mom actually owns a truck or owns the business, but Maria and her family they're really wonderful people, Such great tacos. You got to try those, Yep.

Speaker 2 26:30

I have not had a taco from there at all. Right, well, I mean we're talking about meat. Right, I'm not sure they have. I think one time I asked for bean tacos, but I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 26:41

And they all laughed Right and then they realized she was serious and they were all like, huh Like frijoles, so I don't think I've eaten anything from there.

Speaker 2 26:50

They probably have chips and salsa that I could do Probably. I mean, I could do anything but I don't Okay.

Speaker 1 26:55

All right, oh another one Another fun one. I'm looking forward to that coming up this summer. Reindeer pizza in Helsinki, Finland.

Speaker 2 27:05

Yes.

Speaker 1 27:06

Oh my goodness. And this is a particular restaurant. We've had it a couple of times there and it's just really good.

Speaker 2 27:12

I'm going to jump on. The pizza that I got is very memorable because my pizza had a combination I had never put together, I had never heard of and I would never think to order. It is a beet pizza. Well, it's a normal like pizza, but the toppings are.

Speaker 1 27:30

What she means is beetroot, so people like a beet pizza. What does that mean?

Speaker 2 27:35

Yeah, beetroot pizza For those of you British folks listening our UK friends. So beets. So the toppings of this pizza are beets. Arugula Okay, I'm all about that, that's really great. Or pine nuts I think pine nuts.

Speaker 1 27:50

Yeah, pine nuts.

Speaker 2 27:51

And All about that. That's really great. Or pine nuts?

Speaker 1 27:54

I think pine nuts, yeah, pine nuts, and then they drizzle it with a little bit of honey, or was it like that? Not Italian, but what do they call it? Like a balsamic kind?

Speaker 2 28:00

of a reduction. No, they have honey on it. It has honey on it. Yeah, I mean it might also have the balsamic, I don't know I eat the reindeer pizza, so but it's like beets. You know beets are good but my dad grew up like we didn't eat them growing up. Because my dad has always said he hates beets and like I get it, because they do taste like dirt. You really have to like de-dirt them when you're making them at home, but the Finns know how to do beets.

Speaker 2 28:23

They know how to do beets, but they really do Like they love their fish and they love their beets, yeah.

Speaker 1 28:31

Beet pizza.

Speaker 2 28:32

Love their beets.

Speaker 1 28:32

Yeah, beet pizza was a very finished thing, and it was sounded so strange, and the pine nuts, it was just like really good, yeah, I don't.

Speaker 2 28:36

I haven't tried to recreate that um here at home yet, but maybe I'll have it again this summer and then get inspired.

Speaker 1 28:44

I mean there are all the obvious things like the bread and the cheese in france and switzerland.

Speaker 2 28:48

You just go to the grocery store and then you have your picnic for the day.

Speaker 1 28:51

Every meal super fresh and yum but there is one and another one in switzerland, like I said, we love swiss food there, uh, hotel brienzesse brienzesse, which our friend I think she still owns.

Speaker 2 29:03

Yes, sonja still owns and runs.

Speaker 1 29:04

She has great french fries there too she does have great french fries potatoes again, but the first thing that jumped out to my mind was their tomato soup right again with the soup yeah, what's up?

Speaker 2 29:15

with that. Okay, so what you made me remember or think of earlier a memorable breakfast is when we went to austria. Oh, my goodness, y'all will see our or hear our episode from Tirol Austria.

Speaker 1 29:29

Tirol Austria.

Speaker 2 29:31

They sent us to this super cool high up it's a ski jump Burgasil. Yeah yeah, ski jump. There's a restaurant at the top of the ski jump, and this is an. Olympic sport, which we were oblivious. I was oblivious too.

Speaker 1 29:47

Yeah, I was not oblivious, Thank you. Okay, I will claim that I had no idea this existed. She lived in oblivion.

Speaker 2 29:54

And you know these people ski. You don't even have to be on a mountain Like. These are just tracks for skiing, and so you could eat breakfast and watch the skiers.

Speaker 1 30:01

They've got turf so they can train you around.

Speaker 2 30:03

Super high and you had this on the list because you thought it was a healthy thing or just a memorable thing.

Speaker 1 30:18

I was just writing down memorable things, okay. But it would be a healthy thing too, okay.

Speaker 2 30:22

So we'll use that as our segue into some of our healthiest foods that we remember.

Speaker 1 30:28

Yeah, at the Souk in Cairo. It's right next to, I think it's the third most famous or largest mosque in the world, whatever, it's a really famous mosque. And so we were there and there was a little restaurant which are tons of restaurants just outside the souk, and they had this fresh what? Pureed mango? Yeah, mango drink Mango puree and it was cold and it was so good, because it's just like fresh, ripe mango drink Nothing in it but mango.

Speaker 2 30:58

We have video of you too, like it's drooling down your chin.

Speaker 1 31:00

Yeah, it was so good. You can't really put it all in your mouth. No, I tried to drink it and it's just hanging out of my mouth you know, like it was just oh so good. So yeah, that would have been healthy.

Speaker 2 31:11

Yeah, our other kind of like.

Speaker 1 31:13

I may have had an unhealthy amount, but because I've got more than one.

Speaker 2 31:17

And I have a feeling that they didn't add sugar. You know when you go and you go to a smoothie place or you're going to get a fruit, drink it could appear to be, they had that simple syrup or something. Right, it could appear to be healthy, but really not. But I do have on our list the acai bowls that we had in Kauai.

Speaker 2 31:35

I went to a health food restaurant a health food grocery store that had this little you know like a bar in their thing where you could order acai bowls and smoothies and other little wonderful goodies, and so our friend had said go there for the acai bowls. So that was a delicious, wonderful, healthy thing that you know they're not adding all of the sugar, let the fruit be the sweetener, you know, and so I love those. So that's something good to find when you're on the road and those are memorable to me especially when they're big ones In Riverside.

Speaker 2 32:06

my nieces have taken me to this place where you get giant acai bowls like they're this big waiting for a brain, can't you?

Speaker 1 32:14

see in the audio podcast how big but they're this big and I eat the whole thing. Yeah, no problem. Uh, a place where we had loads of food to choose from, and it was really great because it was all right there. We did an all-inclusive in cancun and they had all these like seven different different, seven or eight different restaurants there, and you could find really good, healthy stuff at every single one of them it was amazing yeah and it was all good like tasty, yes and everything felt fresh and, yeah, what was nice with this was our first time to do an all-inclusive, and so you only first and only we're.

Speaker 1 32:48

We're looking forward to more at some point other than than a cruise, which is different.

Speaker 2 32:53

Yeah, and so it's kind of like okay, it's all inclusive, so are we going to overeat or are we going to? You know, like it's unlimited right and you can just do whatever. Well, I think, because we had so many good options, it was just like we were able to just get like a little bit of each thing and really enjoy it and it was all fresh and good.

Speaker 1 33:13

We were there for a week, so we didn't feel like we had to gorge on any one thing just to get it in.

Speaker 2 33:17

Yeah, Right To taste it all.

Speaker 1 33:18

Yeah, it was really great.

Speaker 2 33:19

That was good. So we're talking about like fresh food, right, and when we went to Peru. I feel like the food there was fresh. It's just simple. Yeah, it was simple and fresh, like when you're trying to eat plant, whole food, plant-based you're really like you have to simplify, you have to cook your own meals, you have to like break it down and really not process stuff.

Speaker 1 33:49

And so when it's that clean and simple food and it's just like, hey, here's a nice big pot of beans, like you're going to cook it, and then nobody wants to be around you for the next couple of days, but still, well, that might be you, but yeah.

Speaker 2 33:55

Along the lines of beans. I love the Cuban food in Florida. After my sister passed, I spent some time with her kids in the Tampa area and I went to Cajun Cuban restaurants and got the black beans like the black beans and rice, and again something so simple. But how they season it it's like super yum and the seasonings are always super fresh, and we mentioned this earlier. But like just shopping at the grocery stores in Switzerland, finland.

Speaker 1 34:22

Swinderland, swindeland, no.

Speaker 2 34:26

Switzerland and Finland. We feel like their food, for some reason, is just like extra fresh, and so you feel very healthy, even if you are doing something like a rushti. You might have fried potatoes, but it still feels much cleaner because it's just fresh and not so processed. And then another kind of thing that I feel like was healthy was and also very memorable I had the vegan haggis when we were in Marais, speyside.

Speaker 1 34:56

I'm not sure that they're even allowed to call it haggis and say vegan before we're not allowed to say that I mean come on.

Speaker 2 35:02

He said don't admit that it's vegan. Yeah, no that you ate vegan haggis.

Speaker 1 35:06

Well the thing about it they use the same seasonings, right.

Speaker 2 35:11

So the taste is like very similar it was, so it was super good. It was just this little patty with the haggis seasonings, but it was healthy because of all of the seeds and the whole grains, yeah, and so it was a very like whole food, delicious little patty of goodness with this fun seasoning I personally enjoyed the goodness of the normal haggis that morning. We're talking about. This is our healthy section.

Speaker 1 35:33

Oh sorry. Well, I'm sure it's healthy Sure.

Speaker 2 35:36

It's good for the soul. Yeah, yeah, but that was really really yummy and fresh. So I think, just when things are fresh, that's when you feel like, yes, I'm feeling good, I'm eating well, these are my healthy experiences. And then you have, you feel good on your trip and you remember the trip because you had all these good things going. On the other side, we've had definitely our share of unhealthy food. I mean, we've some of our memorable foods pretty much would go under this list but I would think probably sadly in the US is probably some of our most unhealthy foods just eating fast food on the road or like Denny's and IHOP kind of stuff, like just the, the deep fried.

Speaker 1 36:11

Sometimes you just don't have a choice, depending on the time of the night or whatever, or where you are. Yeah for sure.

Speaker 2 36:17

Being careful of, like when you go to a restaurant, that, regardless of what the restaurant is, that you're making healthy choices, because a lot of them expand their menu and you just try to get what is the healthiest thing I could get here.

Speaker 1 36:32

You know, or you could feed your soul. I'm just saying they're not always mutually exclusive, right.

Speaker 2 36:39

And then you know, under probably some of our unhealthiest, I put, like all the cheese we put with the rushti yeah but it's a different kind of milk, so the cheese is really not that unhealthy. But surely we've had, like some super decadent desserts. Does anything stand out? I'm sure we've had some.

Speaker 1 36:54

Well, you know the first thing that popped in my mind was when we'd go to that vegan restaurant in LA and they'd make that chocolate volcano thing.

Speaker 2 37:00

Yeah, the lava cake. Yeah, the lava cake yeah.

Speaker 1 37:03

That to me, I mean, was like really decadent. It was all vegan and stuff, so it was all natural stuff, but it was so rich and like whoo yeah, but that doesn't mean it's unhealthy, it just means it's tasty. No, but you said decadent.

Speaker 2 37:15

No, okay, but I mean so in our unhealthy oh, unhealthy, decadent yeah surely we've had like loads of sweets and cookies.

Speaker 1 37:23

Like banana splits and things like that Ice cream and cookies and yeah, I cookies, and yeah, I mean surely, but I guess nothing stands out.

Speaker 2 37:33

that's like we don't make a regular habit of it.

Speaker 1 37:34

I guess that's why and I'm such a sweet tooth- so I'm really surprised that, like I don't remember, like those unhealthy things um well, I know something I had that it had to be unhealthy because the way it tasted and I don know. I'm just joking, but I wasn't a big fan of it. We've been to Wales, not Wales Wells, wells, how?

Speaker 2 37:55

do they say it?

Speaker 1 37:56

Wales, wales.

Speaker 2 37:58

W-A-L-E -S In England.

Healthy Food Experiences

Speaker 1 38:01

Actually Wells in the UK, not in England. Yeah, it's not in England, right, it's a different country. Anyway, beautiful, really cool. We showed up and it was so foggy you could hardly see. It was amazing. We got to the restaurant, it was kind of late. We'd taken the boat over, so it was a really cool vibe. You know, we stayed at this place the only place we could find to stay that night and the restaurant was open a little bit late, and so I ordered a steak pie because, man, that's okay. And then then I was thinking what is that taste? It was really strong. The second bite I realized what it was and then it really put me off of it. Uh, I'm not a big fan of like organ meat in my foods. Like generally, it has a very strong flavor, and this thing was I think it was a steak and kidney pie. I've never been a fan of liver and all that. So the taste of of a awful o-f-f-a-l I think it's how you spell it anyway of the or a-w-f organs.

Speaker 1 38:54

It was so strong that was that really kind of put me off and uh yeah something that put you off the other day was I brought home.

Speaker 2 39:02

So I just recently went to the expo. It's called expo west is the short way to say it, but it's the natural products expo, where it's like all of the better for you versions of you you know, the healthy potato chips, right? Or healthy sweet potato chips, so they're like better for you versions of what you might buy, and so it's this whole convention of health, food and natural products, and so I love going there every year. But one of the things that I brought home that was very strange so I think we're going to move into from unhealthy to just like strange is I brought home a spirulina raspberry oh gosh yes some kind of a jelly, oh my goodness, like that you might put on toast.

Speaker 1 39:41

No, you would not put it on toast, you'd put it on top of the trash. I mean that's where you want to spread. It is like you put it on top of the trash, you spread it over that and then you go, that's it so yeah, it was raspberry jelly with spirulina. Yeah, it was awful it was like you know, it was like a if you were to take vaseline and then, well, we'll just eat vaseline yeah, just kind of eat vaseline with a little spirulina taste in it.

Speaker 2 40:07

The texture wasn't even like fully. No, it was gross. Good okay. So what else is something strange? We've you know? Memorable, but also weird, like strange foods.

Speaker 1 40:17

Well, we've talked a lot about. Well, I mentioned the worms, the mopani worms.

Speaker 2 40:20

Yeah.

Speaker 1 40:21

That was strange. You know, we've had, I've had well, I say we, I've had crickets and ants and you know, all that kind of stuff, you know, and all the bugs that you have to eat. See that sounds like you're bragging, but like Because you're a guy and you have to eat those things sometimes.

Speaker 2 40:33

Right, right, you're so manly.

Speaker 1 40:35

Yeah, but one of the more memorable things we had was in Egypt, in the land of Goshen. We were having a picnic in one of the fields where they you know the land of Goshen was where the israeli israelis lived and they it was the most fertile land and so they still grow things there. We were in the middle of one of the fields where they were harvesting the crops with a family and having um lunch and they have their homemade cheese. We've talked about cheese, we love cheese and I was like homemade cheese, wow, can't wait to taste this. They had their young cheese and their old cheese and you know the old, of course, is the strongest and their favorite. So, um, yeah, we had the cheese and honey and curds.

Speaker 1 41:18

You know if the family that we had lunch with, who made the cheese, ever hear this, um, I'm sure it's really popular in Egypt and if we had grown up with they were very proud of it and, uh, I like popped it in my mouth and um, and I couldn't take it out Because they're sitting there watching him, yeah, and they're smiling and we were on camera. There was a film crew there, so I'm like smiling and it was really something. That's why God invented honey. They also had honey there with them with some bread. That the guy made Like they're on the fire.

Speaker 2 41:48

Yeah, the bread was good.

Speaker 1 41:50

So I crammed as much bread and honey in my mouth as I could and there and they're like oh yes, you should have, you try this, you have to, you can get a big enough piece, and whatever. And so then they would fold it into the bread with honey. And uh, it was. Oh, my goodness, I I don't even remember the flavor to describe to you what it was that it looked.

Speaker 2 42:09

Like those of you who are weird, like me, you would be familiar with what tofu looks like.

Speaker 1 42:14

Yeah, it looked like a tofu, so it looked like but it was turning black.

Speaker 2 42:17

Like a firm tofu that when you just rip it apart it's got that rough edges. So it looked like tofu with rough edges, okay, but it was much more pure white. Well, the old wasn't the young cheese was like a pure white, and then the old just looked like it had black ash like it just started turning black because it was not even gray ash, black yeah it was. Uh, it was through and through really special, tried it yeah but rory was the lucky one on camera who had to at least like swallow it.

Speaker 2 42:52

So yeah, that was interesting. Hey, and that reminds me, you know, sami Yucky is pretty kind of memorable. Our favorite chocolate in the world is from Finland. They have in our opinion they have the best chocolate, because Swiss is super sweet, I mean, if we're going to go extremes, right, and then the Belgian chocolate is super bitter, and so Finland is just like that, perfect in the middle.

Speaker 1 43:13

Yeah, I mean French chocolate's good too, but it's-.

Speaker 2 43:15

We love all of them but Finnish chocolate is our favorite.

Speaker 1 43:19

Patsa.

Speaker 2 43:20

So the same kind of, the same company of the chocolate that we love.

Speaker 1 43:24

They also make a version.

Speaker 2 43:26

You know many versions of Samyaki, which is a Finnish candy.

Speaker 1 43:30

Memorable. If you're ever in Finland, you have to get some pure Satomiaki candy and just go to town.

Speaker 2 43:35

You just really should, because that's so Finnish yes.

Speaker 1 43:38

You have to.

Speaker 2 43:40

If you like licorice, you could maybe.

Speaker 1 43:43

You could stomach the light stuff.

Speaker 2 43:46

They do make some with cover with chocolate. So just know that they do make some with cover with chocolate.

Strange and Unusual Food Encounters

Speaker 1 43:52

So just know that. That if you really need to like, force down some somiyaki. They do make some cover with chocolate.

Speaker 2 43:58

I actually had some chocolate somiyaki. That was good and they made some with ice cream?

Speaker 1 44:00

Yeah Right, their panteri is the for us newbies.

Speaker 2 44:03

Yeah, he actually likes that.

Speaker 1 44:04

Yeah, I actually like the panteri and it's somiyaki, but it's for babes like myself, yes.

Speaker 2 44:13

Well, but it's for for babes like myself. Yes, well, y'all. That sums up some of our. I'm sure we have other stories, but that's what we remember off the top of our heads of some of our memorable healthy, unhealthy and strange foods, and we would love to hear some of your stories as well. So, as we're posting about this on our socials, we'd love to know what are some of your experiences as well, because we all are on this journey together, but we hope that you can enjoy your healthy and strange and memorable foods on your next journey.

Speaker 1 44:43

As much as we have.

Speaker 2 44:47

We hope we've inspired you this episode, so join us next time. Please subscribe to rate and share our podcast with your friends or you know whomever. And please like and follow us on Instagram, youtube and Facebook.

Speaker 1 44:58

We're also on X and on all social platforms. We are at TheRomies, that's T-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S, and our main hub is our website.

Speaker 2 45:09

At wwwtheromyscom, that's right, that's. D-h-e-r-o-a-m-i-e-scom. We'll be there until next time. Yeah, thanks for listening. Bye.