Food and Drink | Fotoeins Fotografie

Posts from the ‘Food and Drink’ category

Uhlbach, Grabkapelle auf dem Württemberg, Württemberg, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday, Stuttgart: Uhlbacher Weingärten

From the top of Württemberg hill in Stuttgart, this east view faces the village of Uhlbach in the city district of Obertürkheim. The hills are covered in vineyards; among them are white-wine grape varieties Burgunder, Herold, Kerner, Müller Thurgau, Riesling, and Trollinger.

I made the image above on 20 Jul 2024 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: 1/500-sec, f/11, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wyN.

SF Mission: La Victoria Panadería & Pan de Muerto

Above: “La Victoria” mural painted in 2024 by Timewizard & Tressprays.

There’s something very familiar about a family-run bakery: the look, the warmth, the smell, the taste. As a product of Chinese immigrants and growing up next to (Vancouver’s) Chinatown, I have a very soft spot for their bakeries: every bite of the sweet and the savory are living memories of “home”.

On a wander through San Francisco’s Mission District on All Saints Day (2024), I find myself in front of the mural called “La Victoria” adjacent to the bakery with the same name. My eyes light up at “pan dulce” (pastries). Already aware of the “Día de Muertos” holiday, I turn the corner to see the stack of “sweet bread” in the window display, including the “pan de muerto” (bread for the dead) and the “cross of bones” on top of each “pan”. The holiday is a memorial and celebration of the dead. Small altars accompanied by golden brown pan de meurto and brilliant orange marigolds symbolize the connection between living and dead, allowing the dead to find their way back “home”.

To the amusement of the women behind the counter, I order and hold a pan de muerto in my hand, before digging into the slight crunch of the thin crust, delighting in the sugar sprinkle and orange tang in the glaze, and revelling in the soft interior of the bread. I’m grateful for a small glimpse of traditions in the Mexican-American community.

• November 1: Día de Todos los Santos, All Saints Day.
• November 2: Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead.
• I’d learn later about the bakery’s journey to its present location.
• I enjoyed reading about pan dulce and pan de muerto from The Other Side of the Tortilla.

La Victoria Panadería.

Pan dulce.

Pan de muerto with the “cross-bones” on top: glorious, delicious.

Location

• La Victoria: 3249 24th Street (at Capp), since 2019
• BART lines Blue, Green, Red, or Yellow to station “24th Street Mission”
• MUNI bus 14 or 14R to stop “Mission Street and 24th Street”
• MUNI bus 48 or 67 to stop “24th Street & South Van Ness Avenue”

( View this location on OpenStreetMap )

I received neither prior support or post-visit compensation for this content. I’m happy to pay for the pan, and I’m not asking for free pan; what am I: a dum’ colonizer?! I made all images above on 1 Nov 2024 with an iPhone15. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wl3.

25T61 Onto the third session (in Vienna)

E60, V08.

Travel day 61, Europe day 60, Vienna day 8.

No, I’m not “declaring”, nor am I “bowled all-out” 🏏

… and India scored over one-thousand runs against England at Edgbaston …

Two-thirds of my time in Europe has rapidly come and gone. By this point, I promise myself to take more time for self-reflection and express more appreciation into the universe. But what’ll happen is I’ll likely “rush” myself in the final 1/3rd with a more punishing pace.

Today’s weather was a little strange but welcoming. Steady rain-showers and cool-below-20C in the morning broke by mid-afternoon to sun and the temps back up to +23C, a far cry from the heat last week.

*Wien Museum Karlsplatz is closed Mondays, but on this Monday afternoon, the light is very good.*

*South entrance to the city’s Stadtpark.*

*U2 station Schottentor: on the right is a train departing south to Karlsplatz.*

U2 station Schottentor: what faces commuters going up and down the escalators is “Einen Augenblick Zeit” (just a moment), a 1994 installation by Austrian artist Hofstetter Kurt. Transmitting an eyeful also helpfully includes the current time.

*U2 station Schottentor, also known as Universität for the nearby University of Vienna. Wall adverts: “Listen to each Oida” / “I love you but don’t touch my pizza.”*

Passing through Wien-Mitte/Landstrasse in early-evening, I stopped off at Thalia, a chain of bookstores based in Germany. They also carry books in multiple languages, and their English-language section is very decent. These three titles grabbed my eyeball, thereby loosening the wallet. “Mapmatics” combines my love of maps and mathematics. “Nuclear War: A Scenario” is a what-if chain of events. “Prequel” is about how early 20th-century Nazism had crossed west over the Atlantic in their undisguised attempt to soften American public opinion and delay or stop any possible American military intervention.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 7 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T60 Otto Wagner’s magnificent Church at Steinhof

E59, V07.

The city bus drops off passengers in front of a building with the words “Otto Wagner Spital”, a legacy of early 20th-century construction for a hospital complex. Many of the former hospital buildings are now art-, music-, and cultural-spaces.

Keeping faith with the accuracy of signs, it’s a short but steep walk on graded gravel paths until a large dome pokes out into the open behind the canopy of trees. On a sunny day, the dome looks like a bright yellow lemon to the city below.

Completed in 1907 to serve patients in the surrounding hospital complex, the Church of St. Leopold at Steinhof by Otto Wagner is one of Vienna’s most important buildings, one of the finest examples of turn-of-the-century Vienna Modernism, and considered to be Europe’s 1st modernist church. Today, the Wien Museum maintains and opens the still-functional church for the public.

Otto Wagner’s architectural and design legacy from the early 20th-century is predominantly secular, remaining visible throughout the city today.

*Seated near the top of Lemoniberg hill (345m), the church’s yellow dome can be seen for miles around.*

*Interior space; the entire floor is slightly tilted from the entrance towards the chancel in front.*

*Eyeballs converge onto the high altar. The length of the pews are deliberately short.*

*The high altar, behind which is a 1913 mural by Leopold Forstner on the wall.*

*Free-standing high altar made with white marble; design by Otto Wagner.*

*Angels surround the canopy for the altar; at the top is a circular opening with a view maintained upwards.*

*0.5x image scaling. The large stained-glass windows on each side are by Koloman Moser. Sharp readers will have noticed a few people seated in the pews.*

The first Sunday of the month means that all Wien Museum properties are free admission for the day. I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 6 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T59 Tafelspitz: Vienna favourite at Plachutta Hietzing

E58, V06.

I’m in the mood for a slow sit-down meal of the highest order. Yeah, it’s gonna cost me, and it’ll be pasta and pesto or bread and cheese the next few nights, but it’s time here and now, that I say hello once again to Plachutta and their modern version of the imperial Tafelspitz.

There are many beef cuts to choose from the menu, but I’ll go what brought me here the first time: the Tafelspitz cut. I provided a longer and more flavourful description here, but here are today’s highlights.

*The Plachutta restaurant in Hietzing, Vienna’s 13th district. Take the U4 to Hietzing station and walk, or hop on tram 10 or 60 at Hietzing station for the 1 stop to Dommayergasse.*

“An-eighth” (0.125L) glass of Gemischter Satz (centre), a local specialty that’s grown in vineyards within and around the city of Vienna. I also have a big bottle of carbonated mineral water. Yes, drunk separately; I’m no heathen.

*Simple bread and rolls, with whipped garlic butter or regular butter.*

*The big pot, with side pots (top) with creamed spinach and fried potatoes; at lower right are chive cream sauce and apple horseradish sauce.*

*Hot savory beef broth ladled over a small bowl filled with ribbons of sliced pancake.*

*Beef marrow spread over toasted rye bread.*

*The slab of the slow-simmered rump-roast cut: simultaneously lean and fatty, moist, tender, not dry; cut root-vegetables; creamed spinach; fried potatoes; and big dollops of sauces.*

Against better judgement (which is the moment I walked in the door), I get caramel ice cream to cool off a big warm hearty meal on a warm summer day. (There’s outdoor patio seating, but they’ve got the A/C working hard inside.)

I received neither support nor compensation for this piece. I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 5 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.