Good-bye 2012, Hello 2013!

At the beginning of this year, I listed off some 2012 goals for Fifth Floor Kitchen- and looking back I think we did pretty good!  I’m so humbled and proud of this little space we have created, and since I’m feeling a little nostalgic about 2012, I wanted to share a handful of favorite highlights from this past year.

2012 Top 3 Recipe Posts:
1. Indian Chicken Soup

2. Vegetable Coq au Vin

3. Seasoned Popcorn 2 Ways

2012 Top 3 Travel Posts:
1. Bonn, Germany
2. Boston: Sam Adams Brewery Tour
3. Warsaw, Poland

Other 2012 Highlights:
1. We got married!  We had a wonderful wedding near Charlottesville, VA (check out our posts about this great city here and here) and we spent an amazing honeymoon in Phuket, Thailand (blog posts: Pt 1, Pt 2)!

2. Where else did we travel? Boston (Posts: 1, 2, 3), Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

3. Food-wise some of our personal favorites were: Cowgirl Creamery Cheese Pairing, Lobster Mac ‘n Cheese, Birthday Fruit Tart, Crunchy Fish Tacos with Chimichurri Sauce, Brazilian Fish & Shrimp Stew, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, S’more Cookie, and Buckwheat Crêpes with Corn Salsa.  If you haven’t tried these, definitely add them to your “to-do” list for 2013!

3. Other fun stuff: Eat Write Retreat Blogger Conference, Slave-free Tomato Day, Holiday White House Tour, An Edible Mosaic Book Launch, and being part of the Food Matters Project.

4. We also started a series “Monthly Reviews”, a great way to see some of our iPhone photos and adventures we might not write about: May, June, July, August, and November.  A December one is coming up soon!

Over the course of 2012 we have had 116 posts- that’s a lot of words, photographs and recipes!

But I do love the feeling of a New Year- a fresh start, being able to look ahead towards all the new opportunities this year will bring.  We are looking forward to 2013 to continue sharing our culinary and travel adventures with you all- remember to keep up with us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram!

We wish you all a happy and healthy New Year!  Thank you so much for reading, commenting and being part of Fifth Floor Kitchen!

Warm wishes for a happy new year!

Many hugs,
Evi & Sam

*Our wedding photos were taken by our friend Meaghin Kennedy- check out some of her photos here, or her blog: These Salty Oats

Travel Photos- Warsaw, Poland

I know, I’ve been back for almost a week and I’m only putting these up now!  Slightly delayed, but I haven’t forgotten.

Some factoids to start off the post: Warsaw (in Polish, it’s Warszawa) is the capital of Poland and the largest city in the country.  During World War II, Warsaw was destroyed and had to be rebuilt, so many of the architecture is much younger than other cities in Poland (ex: Krakow).  Some of the historical buildings have been reconstructed, however, many structures are from the Cold War era.

This was the view from my hotel room, but here’s a better picture of the tallest building in the city:

This is the Palace of Culture and Science, the Soviet Union built this building in the mid-1950’s.  Currently, it’s a convention center, and holds offices, cinemas, theaters and museums.

This is Warsaw’s Old Town, which has been reconstructed after WWII.  The orange building is the Royal Castle and the tower to the left is the Sigismund’s Column.

This is the Market Square, which looks very bare without the Christmas Market- when I was here about a year ago!  The current buildings were reconstructed during the late 40’s and early 50’s, as they looked in the 17th century.

I also took a longer (and much colder) walk to the Royal Baths Park (Łazienki Park).

Walked past the Chopin Monument to Łazienki Palace.

It was wonderful, although very cold!  While I was there, it was -8ºC!  Brrr!  In the summer, this park will have wonderful green colors- perfect for a nice run.  Next time?

To end my trip to Warsaw, I stopped by the Warsaw Uprising Museum.  It’s a historical museum (opened in 2004) dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.  In the fall of 1944 the Polish Resistance Army was fighting to liberate Warsaw from German occupation.  If any of you ever get a chance to stop by, please do.  Although the topic is not particularly happy, it does show a part of history which many of us don’t hear about.

I did get a chance to see a 3D movie which is shown there, illustrating Warsaw after the uprising, and bombing, of the city.  Check out this video.

This is a food blog, so if you’d like to know what kind of food I had it Warsaw, check out this post.

Travel & food- Warsaw

I’m currently on a work trip, and still have a couple more days to go until I can sleep in my own bed.  Until then, I’m living off restaurant dinners, airport snacks and cafes.  Just thought I’d show you guys what I’ve been up to ’till now!

During my layover in Munich, I had this great sandwich from Dallmayr Cafe.  It’s a family-owned company which began as a small grocery store.  The bread was delicious- very fresh, and I loved the flax and sunflower seeds.

It was simple sandwich, but very tasty.

Of course after a long flight, a cappuccino was needed!

I’ve spent the last couple of days in Warsaw.  Remember when I was here in December 2010?  Well, I’m visiting this city again.  Between some work appointments, I did get out to try some places in the city:

Some espresso is definitely needed for the jet lag!

I stopped at a cafe for some tea and tiramisu.  It was great to enjoy some time while warming myself up- today it was -8ºC!  Brrrrr!

Although this beef tartar wasn’t as cute looking as the one we got in Vienna, it was just as delicious!  It came with onions, pickles and pickled mushrooms.  My favorite was the alfalfa with the tartar, a great addition.

Lastly, I had this fantastic, and gorgeous, soup at La Bodega.  It was a creamy potato and vegetable soup, with a piece of fresh salmon (the pinkish little blob in the middle).  The soup was hot, and cooked the raw salmon.  It’s also a wine bar, with some tasty Spanish wines, so if you pass it- stop in.

I wish I could have taken more pictures of the food that I have eaten.  But when you meet new co-workers, especially on the other side of the world, I’m not sure if they’d feel the same about the photo-taking!  =)

More to follow in a couple of days…