Did you read Intelligent Travel’s post about ‘Foodie Museums’?

Their list of food museums around America sounds like just the thing for a food lover such as myself. Except, that is, for the Spam Museum. That’s a food that brings vivid childhood memories that I thought I’d blocked out. Spam was served with salad and mashed potatos every thursday. And every thursday, I tried to find new and creative ways of getting out of eating it. I simply did not like Spam. I still don’t like Spam. So I guess that’s one museum crossed off my food museum list. But not to worry, there are plenty of others out there to discover.

Such as the Jell-O Musuem in Le Roy, New York. Now that’s one food I have great childhood memories of. Or the Ice Cream Capital of the World in Le Mars, Iowa.

But why not look further afield to the rest of the world? There are plenty of food museums to choose from.

Here’s five that caught my eye…

The Museum of Bread Culture in Ulm, Germany.

The National Asparagus and Mushroom Museum in Limberg, Holland.

The National Museum of Pasta in Rome, Italy.

The Martini Museum in Chieri, Italy.

The Cured Ham Museum and Ibérico Pig Interpretation Center in Aracena, Spain.

Belgium is famous for great beer, mussels and Belgian chocolate (amongst many other delights) but which chocolate is the best?

Never mind the rather recent obsession over dark chocolate….I’m not really a connoisseur, apparently, since I prefer milk chocolate.

I’m not crazy enough to make any definitive brand declarations — as visitors stroll through Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp or Bruges, there are plenty of choices.

Goodness knows, you shouldn’t miss the chance for a chocolate tour, demonstration or tasting.

Godiva and Leonidas are easy to find across most of Europe; I’d rather try something lesser-known.

Neuhaus, Pierre Marcolini, Moeder Babelutte, Wittamer and Manon have their aficionados, and their shop displays are gorgeously imaginative, but for a less-expensive box “to go,” I like Guylian, particularly their sea shell-shaped milk chocolates.

Imagine my delight as I found a box last week at Central Market here in Austin. Obviously, the chocolates that are shipped for export won’t be as fresh as those purchased next to a Bruges canal, but I don’t care; I was just delighted to find one of my favorite Belgian indulgences only a few miles from my house.

Aren’t you proud of me? I didn’t eat any until I had time to take a photo for this post. :)

This week’s reading included two articles that featured some of my favorite things - coffee, walking, and writing.

USAToday’s article on 10 great places to take a literary hike had me wishing I could just put on my walking shoes and hit the trail. Created by Joni Rendon, author of Novel Destinations, the list highlighted literary places such as Bronte’s Yorkshire Moors, Thoreau’s Walden Pond, and Jack London’s Beauty Ranch Trail.

And then I came across a post at TripHow that focused on current day literary cafes in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as a brief look at the tradition of literary cafes in Europe. Turns out you can get a book, The Grand Literary Cafés of Europe by Noel Riley Fitch, profiling 40 historic literary cafes in Europe (all of which are still in business). Cafes such as Le Procope in Paris that first opened it’s doors in 1686. And Café De Oriente in Madrid where Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia Lorca would meet.

Coffee, walking, and writing - sounds like a perfect way to travel.

Folks can get pretty worked up about finding the best, most authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza; a quick search on the topic at foodie site CHOW.com brought 15 pages of feedback.

While in Chicago last weekend for the terrific SOBCon08 blogging conference, I had a good appetite from walking around the city and decided to dive into the deep dish at one of the two restaurants that most of my sources recommended - Lou Malnati’s.

It’s near the corner of Wells and Hubbard, just north of the Chicago River and the Loop.

(The other recommended Chicago pizza place seems to be Gino’s East; anyone out there tried them? Please let us know in the comments.)

The pizza’s fresh to order at Malnati’s, so they need 25 minutes or so to make it. If you’re ravenous upon arrival like I was, order their house specialty spinach bread appetizer, but don’t eat the whole thing (maybe split it with someone) because it’s an incredibly rich and cheesy little stuffed loaf and you won’t have any room for pizza.

Malnati’s deep dish pie sure ain’t Pizza Hut.

The crust is pulled up at the sides, like a little round walled garden for toppings, and it manages to be crunchy and soft at the same time thanks to a lot of oil and other calorie-laden magic that I’d rather not acknowledge.

You eat it with a knife and fork, not picking it up with yours hands the way that most Americans eat pizza.

The tomato topping is chunky, not smooth (I ordered a sausage and green pepper pie) and it’s not gooey cheesy at all. You’d better like tomatoes, which I do. The individual pizza is “only” two slices, but they are big ones, and after the spinach bread I was quite happy with a small pizza serving and the enormous bucket-sized glass of Coke that arrived when I ordered my drink.

Malnati’s has a hopping To Go business (1-800-Lou-To-Go) with a loaded freezer case right by the checkout register offering a variety of ready-made pies. They’re in foil containers so I don’t think the microwave is involved, which probably would make an icky, soggy crust anyway.

One guy came bouncing into the restaurant while I was eating and bought a stack of three frozen pies to take out; when I asked him which one was his favorite, he said, “Hmm, probably the sausage!”

The Malnati’s decor is exposed-brick homey and full of items on the walls to please sports-mad patrons: hockey sticks, Cubs photos, a program from the 1959 Chicago White Sox appearance in baseball’s World Series and one of the gold records of the Chicago Bears football team’s 1985 one-hit wonder “Super Bowl Shuffle.”

As a nod to sports teams outside of the Windy City, a pair of Shaquille O’Neal’s basketball shorts are also framed and hung on the wall (size 52 Long, thank you very much.)

That afternoon pizza meal was so filling that even after a lot more walking, I skipped dinner that night without blinking an eye.

My kinda town, Chicago is….

Related post (on my Family Travel blog) - Taste of Chicago: Garrett Popcorn

New Zealand really is wine country. From the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island, there are vineyards and wineries everywhere. Wine making is not new to New Zealand. The first grape vines were planted in Northland in 1819 and New Zealand’s first winery, Mission Estates, was established in 1851 and is still going strong.

With numerous wine regions, New Zealand is a true wine lovers paradise. There are over 500 wineries in New Zealand, most of which are open to the public and happy to provide tastings. You might even have the winemaker themselves serving you.

Some miscellaneous New Zealand wine facts…

* New Zealand is home to not only the world’s most easterly wine region (Gisborne) but also the world’s southernmost wine region (Otago)

* There are more wine festivals in New Zealand than there are wine regions. Top festivals (every February) include the Marlborough Wine Festival and the Hawke’s Bay Wine Festival.

* Move star Sam Neil of Jurassic Park fame owns Two Paddocks, a winery in Gibbston, Central Otago.

* New Zealand wine makers are always calling out for workers during harvest season, so why not help make the wine as well as taste the wine. Here’s the when, where, and how.

Anyone considering a trip to New Zealand Wine Country should pick up a copy of Classic New Zealand Wine Trail Guide to point you in the right direction. This free guide is available at all wine region information centers or you can order it online.