Vincent Lau Photography

Becht’s Oel

Vincent — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:00:29 +0000

Pigfest

Vincent — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:00:49 +0000

Every year, the small town of Wittlich, Germany celebrates the swine and all its porky goodness. Anthony Bourdain would have been proud!

The master pig roaster, basting away…

While the roast pig was the “grand finale,” the main event was the pork shoulder sandwich. Cauldrons of hot pig ready to be sliced.

The crazy assembly line…

And PAY DIRT!! (Sorry for including Justin’s foot… I was too hungry to notice at the time)

Sham-panya!

Vincent — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:27:18 +0000

Okay, so it’s actually Champagne for all you non-Christopher Walken fans. You know the bubbly stuff. No, not the “sparkling wine” you get at Wal-Mart, but the real stuff… the stuff grown and produced in the Champagne region of France. During one of our road trips to Paris, Janna and I stopped for an overnighter in Epernay, smack dab in the middle of the region. This being the pre-baby period of our lives, we had to indulge in the goot stuff!

The man, the legend…

Bubbly!

Rillettes de Porc au Foie Gras. Yummy, fatty ground pork belly with even fattier goose liver. Indulge!

Starting our tour of the famous Moet and Chandon cellars. Could you tell someone was excited?

Check out the bottom of the fermenting bottles, Dom Perignon… the best Moet has to offer.

Deep in their aging cellars… this place was underground and huge!

More aging Champagne, the sign has a secret code written on it by the vinter. Only a select few know how long the Champagne has been aging and what grapes have been used.

Janna and her Magnum sized Champagne bottles… no big deal, only €500 ($750) each!

Goodbye Epernay, until next time!

More Chinese in Europe

Vincent — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:47:55 +0000

It’s become quite a tradition for us to hunt out good, authentic Chinese food in Europe (not an easy task). This episode brought to you from London!

Buns, glorious buns!

They even had hot and fresh Chinese donuts, if only I had a big bowl of jook…

Janna was obviously excited (actually, she’s jumping for joy because we found a “real” American-style mall)

32 Weeks and Counting

Vincent — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:00:03 +0000

The Oldest Pub in London?

Vincent — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:00:30 +0000

Being the typical tourists that we are, Janna and I followed our empty bellies and handy guide book to a sketchy alley where Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was located. It claims to be one of (if not THE) oldest pub in London.

Not sure whether their claim to fame is true, but it sure had a ton of ambiance. Dark, moldy and woody… tiny inside too. I think there were a total of 6-7 tables inside the dining room. Lucky for us, we just beat out a group of Chinese tourists for the last open table… haha suckas!

To start, a nice cider… (rebuilt in 1667!)

You can barely make it out, but the magazine clipping is from 1886.

Scotch Roast Beef served with Horseradish Sauce, Roast Potatoes and Yorkshire Pudding:

Ye Famous Steak and Kidney Pudding served with Roast Potatoes:

And a nice Sticky Toffee Pudding to finish!

English Tea Time

Vincent — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:00:48 +0000

A nice pot of Lapsong Souchong and scones with clotted cream. Tasty, but BANK!

Full English Breakfast

Vincent — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:00:46 +0000

Get some, we did… in London.

Amsterdam – Part 2 (Keukenhof)

Vincent — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:00:21 +0000

As part of our second visit to Amsterdam (waaay back in May of ’10!), we took the opportunity to visit the Keukenhof Garden on the last weekend of its “open” season. Billed as the world’s largest garden, it is a beautiful place with thousands of tulips on display — their colors were so bright it made your eyes hurt!

Rollin’ deep in our wooden shoes!

What’s a post about Europe without food?! In this case, a Dutch favorite… pickled herring. YUCK! This is one case where Rick Steves totally did me wrong. Slimy, fishy, and pure NASTY. No amount of pickles and raw onions could save me.

Fancy a bite? BTW, that one little piece was all I could take. Janna was a trooper though and finished the lot. Good thing I carried chewing gum for her.

Amsterdam – Part 1.5

Vincent — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:50:29 +0000

So much tastier at the source!

I Was Bamboozled

Vincent — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:36:33 +0000

So not the first time, and probably not the last time, but I was tricked by Janna once again. See, when we moved to Germany she said, “Let’s start a blog about our European travels! It will be so much fun to document our experiences so all of our family and friends can see what we’re up to!”

Note the key word up there: “Let’s”

As in: “let US”

Which I foolishly thought meant she would help write posts and upload photos. If you look at the post count carefully you’ll notice huge gaps within the last year. Guess who didn’t help write posts?

No names, but thank goodness for some WordPress magic because I have officially shut down the “Lausy European Tour” blog and merged it with this one. Hopefully, those huge gaps in blog posting love won’t happen again.

ONE BLOG = GOODNESS.

…it’s been a while

Vincent — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 10:39:17 +0000

But we’ve been a little busy… if she’s even half as beautiful as her mama, the girl will do just fine.

Amsterdam – Part 1

Vincent — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:19:25 +0000

This was our second trip to Amsterdam. While most people who visit Amsterdam get all excited about the “cafes” (eh hem, pot bars) and Red Light district, Janna and I were on a different type of quest. We heard there was authentic Chinese food in Amsterdam! Did we find it? Judge for yourself…

This first picture is just to prove that we were in Amsterdam. Crappy bikes everywhere!

As we trekked through the heart of Amsterdam looking for Chinatown a familiar scent wafted into my nostrils. I said to Janna, “We are close to Chinatown, I can smell it!” We then turned the corner and saw this pile of trash. Yup, Chinatown was right next door. Some things don’t change I guess, no matter what country you’re in.

Look at that smile, so happy to have found Cantonese cuisine! We arrived just in time for Dim Sum… YES!!!

Siu Mai (Pork Dumplings)

Woo Kok (Taro Puffs)

Lo Bak Go (Turnip Cake)

Ngau Pak Yeep (Tripe with Black Beans)

Har Gow (Shrimp Dumplings)

Delirious with Dim Sum… Janna’s BBQ Pork Bun is saying, “EAT ME.”

Ah, the sign of a good round of Dim Sum… a dish filthy with soy sauce, chili sauce and GREASE.

Ouch 30 Euros!

Part II coming soon!

White Asparagus

Vincent — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:06:25 +0000

Back in May (I told you we were behind), Janna and I went to the Spargel (Asparagus) Festival. In Germany, asparagus is pure white and EXPENSIVE. Not many pictures of the festival itself (it was festival celebrating asparagus for gosh sake), but plenty of good food to drool over!

Did you know that they grew white asparagus buried in dirt?

I told you it was expensive, that’s about $6-7 a pound!

Some of the more expensive stuff. The larger the asparagus stalk, the more expensive it was. Kind of a waste really, since the larger stalks needed to be peeled anyway.

Ah, Spargel Tricolore. Roasted green and white asparagus with prosciutto and a healthy shaving of Parmigiano-Reggiano on top.

Keepin’ it real… unhealthy. Wurstsalat (pickled Spam salad) and day-glo french fries. Arteries… clogging…

German desserts… not as sweet as they look.

Flammkuchen! The tastiest, thinnest, pizza/crackers ever invented. Bacon and cheese = goot.

Gelato in style.

“Banana Split” spaghetti ice.

Whoops, I forgot to take a photo of mine before I destroyed it.

Bravo Vince, bravo!! You’ve posted three days in a row!!

Viva Le Tour!!

Vincent — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:54:02 +0000

I got to scratch another item off my bucket list: “See the Tour de France in person.” Janna and I debated whether we should choose a mountain top stage or the final stage in Paris. Hmmm, let’s see… wait for 4 hours to watch the riders ride by for 20 seconds or hang out in the City of Light and see those same 20 seconds? No brainer right? Well, actually it was bit more than 20 seconds watching them in Paris. If you didn’t know, the final stage of the Tour de France has the riders pedaling up and down the Champs-Élysées about six times before the finish line… BONUS!

Double BONUS: Justin was in Paris too. Really cool hanging out with him again for the weekend (it also doesn’t hurt to have a free tour guide that can speak French too). Good times, good times! Oh yeah, Contador still bites and Lance RULES (even if he’s old and slow)!!

Can you be in Paris and NOT be a tourist? Guess not…

Ah, what blog post would be complete without pics of food? In this case, a nice meal before we went to watch the race. This meal ended for me with the “Floating Island (Oeufs a la Neige).” Beautifully light meringue floating on creamy vanilla custard. Drool…

Janna fed her addiction to Crème Brûlée with this beauty. Thanks to Justin who taught us how to use the “correct” American pronunciation of it: “Creamy Broo-Lee.” The waiter was not impressed.

Can you point out the pick pockets?

Look, it’s Lance!! (Slighty blurry rider, front and center)

Paparazzi!

George Hincapie! (In the Stars and Stripes riding gear)

Boo, Contador!