Snacking in Switzerland

Pretzels are very common in Switzerland where they are usually sliced horizontally, slathered with butter, and sold under the name butterbrezel. I do love a good butterbrezel, especially when it also has salami on it. One of my favorite places in Luzern (Lucerne) Switzerland for a buttered pretzel with salami is Brezelkönig. They also sell pretzel baguettes with an assortment of meats, cheeses, and vegetables, and frankfurters sold on pretzel buns of course! Whenever I travel to Luzern, I usually buy a tomato, mozzarella and pesto baguette right when I get off the train from Zurich. For mid day and weekend snacks, I go for the butterbrezel with salami.

Brezelkönig's pretzels are soft and salty and the butter is fresh and sweet. The salty salami offers a nice contrast to the rich butter which is why I love this pretzel! If you speak any German, check out http://www.brezelkoenig.ch/ or just stop into one of their many locations in Luzern the next time you are there; I know I will.

Pan-Mass Challenge 2009 Recap

The hills of Sturbridge and Provincetown and the 2009 Pan-Mass Challenge might be behind me, but my fund raising continues along with the global fight against cancer. Will you join me in the fight and make a donation to The Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute? Every dollar of your donation will go directly cancer research and treatments, I promise. The PMC allocates 100% of all rider-raised donations directly to The Jimmy Fund, and I'm a rider!

Please visit http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 to make tax-deductible donation. If each unique visitor to my site visits http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 over the next 10 days and donates just $10, we would raise over $8,000 for the the fight against cancer! Ever dollar counts in this fight, please consider donating!

Now, for those of you who follow me on Twitter you got a little taste of what its like to ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown, Massachusetts (practically across the whole state!) In two days, I spent about 12 hours in the saddle of my bike riding 192 miles and burning approximately 14,000 calories along the way! I had to eat a lot to stay fueled up and full of energy to keep pedaling.

Here now is a Tweet-cap of the weekend for those of you who missed it on Twitter:

5:26 AM Aug 1st 6 minutes to the start of the 2009 Pan Mass Challenge!! Have you donated yet? http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 #PMC

5:30 AM Aug 1st PMC 2009 is on!! 192 miles in the fight against cancer! #PMC http://mypict.me/gcP1

7:10 AM Aug 1st Rest stop 1. First 25 miles were hilly, foggy and cool. Its warming up and so am I. #PMC

7:11 AM Aug 1st First rest stop fuel: 1/2 PBJ and banana. Filled a bottle with gatorade. #PMC

8:27 AM Aug 1st Water stop 2; mile 42. More hills, sun is out, rising temps. #PMC http://mypict.me/gf55

8:28 AM Aug 1st Water stop 2: whole fluffer nutter, an orange, and grape gatorade. Rolling on... #PMC

[@OishiiEats makes an online donation and I receive an email notification on my Blackberry]

8:29 AM Aug 1st @OishiiEats you're an all-star, thank you for your donation!!!

10:19 AM Aug 1st Lunch stop, mile 70; 4 hours on the bike so far, 5,353 calories burned. 42 to go, have you donated? http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 #PMC

10:20 AM Aug 1st PMC lunch stop: ate turkey sandwich, tortellini salad, 2 slices of watermelon, bag of yukon gold chip, and a oatmeal raisin cookie. #PMC

[I also drank 1 bottle of water and 1 bottle of Vitamin Water XXX with lunch, and filled my bike bottle with more Vitamin Water XXX.]

11:19 AM Aug 1st Water stop: mile 84 Lakeville. The ice couch to sooth some burning muscles...almost to Bourne! #PMC http://mypict.me/gi4D

11:20 AM Aug 1st Mile 84: slice of watermelon and two fig newtons. 1 more bottle of gatorade. #PMC

12:21 PM Aug 1st Last Saturday water stop: 100.5 miles!!!! 5h 45m on the bike so far!! Almost to Bourne, I can almost taste the @harpoon_brewery beer :)

12:22 PM Aug 1st Last Saturday water stop: 1/2 PBJ and a bottle of gatorade...almost there... Need to dig deep! #PMC

1:06 PM Aug 1st Day 1 PMC finished!! 109 miles, 6 hours 15 minutes! Time for food, shower, massage and beer! #PMC

2:28 PM Aug 1st 109 miles, 8,203 calories, and my reward: fresh @harpoon_brewery beer! #PMC http://mypict.me/gm3v


After 6+ hours of riding and 8,203 calories burned on Saturday, I was hungry and I earned the right to eat! While relaxing at the Mass Maritime Academy campus in Bourne, MA, I ate one grilled BBQ chicken sandwich, one cheeseburger with ketchup and mustard, two slices of pizza, a baked potato with butter, a second baked potato with butter and shredded cheese, some carrots and green peppers, and three small chocolate chocolate-chip cookies. I also drank a Harpoon IPA and several bottles of water.

Saturday caloric expenditure: 8,203 calories
Saturday caloric intake: Approx. 6,100 calories

After a 4am wake-up Sunday morning, I packed my bag, put on my shorts and shirt and headed off the ship, yes I slept in a bunk on a huge maritime training ship, and began day two of cycling, eating, and feeling great about what I was doing!

My friend Kristen wanted me to pretend I wasn't happy about being awake

5:10 AM Aug 2nd @KyNamDoan I'm awake, about to head out on day 2 of the #PMC, last 83 miles of a 192 mile charity ride raising money to fight cancer!

5:37 AM Aug 2nd @KyNamDoan absolutely! http://www.pmc.org & if you would like to donate http://www.pmc.org/profile/SD0131 The Jimmy Fund is the beneficiary

[@KyNamDoan makes a donation online and I receive an email notification on my Blackberry]

7:23 AM Aug 2nd @KyNamDoan you are awesome!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

7:24 AM Aug 2nd 23 miles down; rolling hill after rolling hill through sandwich and barnstable - 60 miles to P-town! #PMC

7:38 AM Aug 2nd Water stop 1; 23 miles: 3 raspberry Fruit & Grain bars and a bag of Terra yukon gold chips. 1 bottle of gatorade #PMC
[Every year during the PMC, campers and counselors from the Cape Cod Sea Camps in Brewster line the hedge at the edge of the camp's property and cheer for riders as they go by. 'Da Hedge is one of the highlights of Sunday's ride, the cheers are LOUD!]

8:38 AM Aug 2nd At 'Da Hedge in Brewster, mile 38 (147) #PMC http://mypict.me/gFe4

8:48 AM Aug 2nd Brewster water stop, Nickerson State Park, mile 39. #PMC http://mypict.me/gFes

8:50 AM Aug 2nd Brewster water stop, mile 39: PBJ sandwich, some fruit, and a bottle of gatorade. #PMC

10:02 AM Aug 2nd Wellfleet water stop, mile 57. Last stop before P-town! Ate some fruit and half a turkey sandwich. P-town here I come! #PMC

11:29 AM Aug 2nd PMC 2009 is finished!! 185 miles, 13,989 calories burned! ~12 hours in the saddle! Must eat and drink...recap to come! #PMC

What a day! Once I showered up I ate a cheeseburger and a hot dog and sucked down a tasty Harpoon IPA. I then went to lunch with my wife and her family and ate a large Cobb salad with ranch dressing. I also ate a whole 5oz. bag of Terra Dark Russet potato chips (that's the big bag) and drank a Vitamin10 water on the drive home. What an insatiable appetite! Burning 14,000 calories gives me carte blanche to eat whatever I want!

Sunday's Caloric Expenditure: 5,800 calories
Sunday's Caloric Intake: Approx. 4,750 calories

I'm already looking forward to the 2010 Pan-Mass Challenge. Want to join me?!

The Triumphant Return of Tuesday's Tastings - TJ's Butter Chicken Masala

After several months of dormancy, Tuesday's Tastings makes a triumphant return with my review of Trader Joe's Butter Chicken Masala. When I was at my local Trader Joe's about a month ago, I noticed a few new frozen Indian meals that looked like they had some promise. I took a look at the ingredients of this Butter Chicken Masala and saw fenugreek, an herb commonly used in much of India's native dishes including curry. The inclusion of this herb added some credibility to Trader Joe's claim on the box that this was an "Authentic Indian Recipe"so I thought for a few dollars I would give it a try.

After about 10 minutes in the microwave - 5 minutes on defrost, 4 minutes on high, and 1 minute to cool - I peeled back the cellophane cover and was greeted with a familiar smell, that of slow cooked, tender, spicy chicken masala. The basmati rice lacked much of any fragrance and with my first bite I was greeted with some slightly rubbery grains, but the chicken was very tender, very flavorful, and actually quite good. Like many Indian dishes, the chicken was spicy, but not hot spicy, just spices spicy. It tasted very close to some real butter chicken masalas that I've eaten in India and that's a big compliment to Trader Joe. I did find that when I mixed the chicken and gravy (what Indian's call sauce) with the rice, the whole meal was very good and certainly tasted like an authentic Indian recipe.

If you like Indian food, real Indian food, I recommend you pick up some of this Trader Joe's Butter Chicken Masala the next time you're at the market. Once you've had a taste, come back here and leave a comment; let me know what you think.

Happy eating.

Better than a Fast Food Burger

Two of my favorite burger joints are out west in California - The Counter and In-N-Out Burger. I'm waiting for the day that one of them opens an outpost in Boston but I'm not holding my breath. There are plenty of good burger joints in Boston though, and UBurger is one of them. Opened in 2006 to much fanfare and billed as the closest thing to In-N-Out Burger on the east coast, it took me two and a half years to finally walk through their doors. The date was April 19th, 2009 and I was on my way to an early season Red Sox game against the Baltimore Orioles. Looking for something quick in Kenmore Square, I ended up at UBurger with my friend Mike.

With an assortment of burgers, chicken, hot dogs and salads on their everyday menu, there is plenty to choose from. They also have a specials board with a nod to the local boys of summer. There is the Big Papi burger with cheddar cheese, guacamole, jalapenos and chipotle sauce - I wonder if the beef comes from cattle injected with steroids? There is also the All-Star burger with cheddar, swiss, grilled mushrooms, jalapenos and BBQ sauce. But I went for the UBecket, a 1/4 pound patty with pepper jack, grilled onions and mushrooms, and BBQ sauce. Mmm mmm good.

The bun on my UBecket was nice and soft and slightly grilled and the burger was nice and juicy. The grilled onions and mushrooms were cooked well and the pepperjack while peppery was not hot. The BBQ sauce was good, but nothing I would want to slather on a rack of ribs. I also split an order of french fries and onion rings with Mike. Both the fries and rings were crispy, salty, and cooked perfectly; UBurger knows how to make a great onion ring!

Although not quite In-N-Out Burger, UBurger did crank out some good burgers, fries, onion rings, and shakes. I ordered a mocha shake to wash everything down and it was thick and rich just like a good shake should be. The next time you find yourself in Kenmore Square and you're craving a burger, or onions rings, or a good shake, check out UBurger, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

UBurger
636 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 536-0448