Cooking on Vacation

[Candy]

I have friends who always rent a flat on vacation. The only shopping her DH likes is food shopping. We finally rented a flat in London last fall. It was fully equipped, 4 rooms, full kitchen etc. She thinks what was the point of renting a flat instead of juet staying in a hotel if we were not going to take full advantage of the kitchen. Well in London we could rent a room in a hotel for a lot more per day where we only had room to sit on a bed. Only one person could be up and moving around at a time in the hotel rooms we have had in the past and it was a similar amount of money or more. In the flat we could put some cheese in the fridge from Neal's Yard to have with oatcakes with cocktails, we could boil water in the electric kettle for tea, make toast but I did not go to London to eat food I could make in Bloomington, IN in my own kitchen. We are only there a week and while we went to Borough Mkt. and had the wonderful Spanish sausage sandwiches and we bought bread at M&S, we were out all day and were ready for someone else to cook dinner. There was far too much good food and dining to eat my own cooking or my DH's and I was tired. So what do you do if you have a kitchen? Yes, in the US where we have stayed in FL etc. and could get really fresh fish we have been known to cook in, so what? We do dine out too but out of the country when there are so many opportunities and so many wonderful cuisines and restaurants to try do you want to go to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Florence, Rome, Singapore,Bombay etc. etc.etc. and eat your own cooking?

[Scrapironchef]

I'm the type that walks through marets looking for something to cook that night, my wife & I usually take a trip with both sets of parents and we all get involved in making the meals.

Some nights we eat out, others in. We all have duties, my FIL takes a walk every morning and it's his job to find the local bakery, my dad is the seafood expert and oyster shucker, mom can make a meal out of anything as well as haggle or sweet talk anything out of a vendor no matter what the language, my MIL just wants to try anything new. All this makes for a great time and a lot more memorable than resto roulette.

I've run into some less than equipped kitchens, and ended up bringing back home fresh spices and herbs that I herbs "overbought". I've "had" to buy a decent knife while overseas to be able to cook a meal, but these are all better souveniers than any knick knack.

Breakfast is the most expensive least cost efficient meal you can eat on the road. A cup of good coffee and some fresh bread/rolls/pastries from the local bakery are such a treat.

I've cooked memorable meals on houseboats in France where you can barely turn around in the galley. I've had farmers give me a pound of roquefort and a half dozen bottles of wine while staying on their vineyard. Italian bakery ladies flirt with my FIL, (that made his year). Little old French ladies have chased me down the street because I forgot the pearl onions to go with my peas.

You don't get a country til you play with their food.

[Anne]

Wherever we travel to, we always stay in a place with a kichen/kitchenette. We like to be able to brew our own coffee (often a local variety) before we get dressed for the day. The 'fridge is for wonderful cheeses and other local specialties. Don't use the oven much, unless it's to heat up something bought at a local bakery---like a sausage roll or quiche.
Most importantly, when visiting the Caribbean, the place MUST have a microwave oven. Not for cooking in, but to use as a bread box---BUGS and lizards generally can't get in :o
More often than not, we'll have our "big meal" at lunchtime in a restaurant (less expensive that way, and we usually don't have to worry about reservations). Dinner is then "al fresco" back at our base---bread & cheese or a heated-up local treat.

[ali patts]

I love to have a kitchen when I'm on holiday - it means you can eat in or out! I love to cook so it's a non-issue anyway as I find it fun and relaxing. I find it often gets a bit too much to eat out for lunch and dinner, it's nice to just have nibbles (meats cheese etc) to have a break from all that. Also, if you're not staying in a decent sized city then there's always the issue of how to get 'home' or someone not drinking which is a pain. It also means you can get your hands on really good ingredients and not make them too fancy/overcook them etc etc. I have lost track of the number of pieces of overcooked beautifully fresh fish I have eaten on holiday.

[NovoCuisine]

I've been thinking about this recently, because the SO and I are planning a trip to Portugal (Faro) this year. My vision is to rent a villa with a kitchen and do some serious market shopping and cooking, but I know what will probably happen is a good balance; half the time eating out, and then supplementing those meals with smaller eats that I'll shop for and make myself.

Of course it will save some money, but I just know myself and whenever I go on vacation, as much as I am of the attitude "I won't have to cook for an entire week!!", a couple days in I am itching to make my own meals.

SO speaks the language, so he'll help me out at the markets. I can't wait!

[Carrie 218]

Last summer we rented a boat in Belize and I was surprised how often we used the galley. The first day or two, the "fridge" was used to house the left-overs from local restaurants, but my BF thought ahead and (before the fluid ban on airplanes) brought all the necessary accoutrements for sushi. We had local fisherman bringing us their catch. It was really cool as these guys were used to eating ceviche and sharing with them the concept of sushi (we brought rice, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, fresh wasabi, and seaweed for rolling) was fabulous! They would pull up beside on on a pongo and filet the fish -- I would eat it immediately as sashimi and got a lot of weird looks. They were concerned about the crazy white woman who was eating their fish entirely raw. Once they tried it all rolled up with the ginger and wasabi, they were complete converts. I now have orders from some of the locals to ship them sushi ingredients!

[julesrules]

Great story! I also think Belize is a good example of a place with great raw ingredients, but not necessarily a lot of great restaurants. Until one of those fisherman opens his own sushi place that is :)

[janetofreno]

Just got back from a week in Paris, staying at an apartment. Hubby found himself craving Indian food, and even went against his own vow to never try Indian food in Paris again (after a disaster several years ago). At least the restaurant we went to this time was edible, if not great (Kashmir, near the Los Gobelins metro). But since we were staying near the Rue Mouffetard market, we found it actually fairly easy to cook a great Indian meal in Paris! And searching the market for ingredients was half the fun! It helped that the apartment we were in had a good spice cabinet, but at the market we bought a good chicken (enjoyed having the butcher cut it up), cilantro, onions, tomatoes, limes, potatoes, tumeric, basmati rice, etc....and had a great meal of "Jerry's chicken curry" on a rainy night! Better yet, we finished it with some wonderful raspberry tarts bought from the bakery....

[rosepoint]

For the past five years we have rented a house or apartment when we go to Europe. We love to cook and don't have enough time to enjoy making elaborate meals at home with our work schedules. So on vacation we eat a nice lunch out then after we have exhausted ourselves touring we go back to our home away from home to open a bottle of wine (or two) and cook dinner using local foods.

We spent three weeks in the South of France last year and loved finding little out of the way food producers to buy from then to go back to the house and enjoy the food on our patio. I confess to even bringing a meat thermometer in my luggage so my lamb would turn out the way I like it!

We are heading to London and Rome next week and cannot wait to go to Borrough Market and buy pork at the The Ginger Pig to cook in our flat. In Rome we are one block from Campo di Fiori and I am hoping to shop at small grocers in the area.

[Rick]

We often rent condos or houses for our group vacations. The only time we've ever used the kitchen was to make eggs and toast for breakfast before going to Disney World. It was a whole lot quicker (and cheaper!) to make breafast in the condo than to go out for breakfast. We've never used the kitchen, other than the fridge, on any other trip. It's vacation and I want a break from cooking!

[orangewasabi]

Just returned from 3 weeks in Paris where we had an apartment for the first time. It was terrific!

First of all, on a trip that long, I cannot eat high end food. Even with street food sprinkled in, sometimes, I just gotta have me a lettuce vinegrette salad. Or cold fruit - the oranges were terrific while we were there.

Loved having cheeses on hand to munch in the evening with wines.

Great having a fridge loaded with bevvies in general.

And a place to keep pastry or three overnight.

One night I got the 'gastronomie' that was going around. My husband made me boiled potatoes that night, which were the only things I could bear. I was so glad to be in a flat not a hotel that day.

One night I made a ragout of all the different mushrooms from the market -- my own cooking, but not something I could have made at home where those ingredients were not available.

Another night, I did myself a butter tasting -- THAT was fun and couldn't be done in a restaurant.

To me, there's no downside and lots of upside of having a kitchen.

[spigot]

Me too, me too. I just spent three weeks in South America and went a little crazy with no kitchen.

Like Candy, I don't want to cook on holiday, but like orangewasabi, I *need* a spot to keep a little cheese, a bit of pastry, a leftover half-sandwich. I'm the peckish type. Plus God help us all if there's more than 30 minutes between waking and coffee :-)

[Mr. Cookie]

To respond to a point made by the OP, one of the main reasons to get a kitchen while on vaykay is to expand one's knowledge of the food and food markets wherever one is visiting. Sure, there is great peasant food to be had in restaurants in Florence, for example, but a visit to that city's farmer's market is an eye-opening experience and a window into food and its importance in that part of the world. Granted, you can visit the market without buying any produce, but take my word for it, you'd feel cheated if you did.

One doesn't get a kitchen to avoid restaurants, but to provide variation and, like I said, expand one's interaction with food in a new place.

[Candy]

Actually I don't feel cheated after visiting the markets. We enjoy exploring them but we just don't want to eat our own cooking, neither of us. We enjoy the flexibility of a flat and can't ever see going back to hotels unless it is a weekend jaunt. Flats are also frequently sotcked with ancient spices etc. For a week's stay to go out and buy and stock all of the fresh components like flour you know hasn't been sitting there for 2 years or so gets to be too involved. I did consider packing up baggies of some of these things but eh! We are trying to travel light. If I were cooking in we would have missed some amazing food.

[Mr. Cookie]

It's true vacation kitchens are often stocked with some pretty grungy stuff, but it's pretty easy to plan simple meals that need little more than garlic, onion, olive oil or other basic components. And it's still cheaper than eating out. I understand wanting some time away from cooking, I'm just saying it's pretty easy to cook.

[Candy]

yeah we just don't want to

[CindyJ]

We rented a small villa (1 bedroom, living room kitchen/dining room) in Castellina in Chianti (Tuscany, Italy) a couple of years ago. It cost far less than a hotel room would have been and, more importantly, it gave us an excuse and an opportunity to shop in the food local markets. That meant FRESH porcini mushrooms whenever we wanted them!!! And, when we didn't feel like eating in, there were wonderful restaurants to discover in this great little town that we never would have found otherwise.

We've also rented "villas" in Hilton Head Island and Kiawah Island, SC, and in Sedona, AZ. Given the choice, I'd never stay in another hotel room on an extended trip, even given the fact that my daughter works for Marriott and we get great discounts.

[uptown jimmy]

We vacation at the beach on the East coast, usually the OBX. Having a kitchen is of the utmost imprtance in places like that, where the local restaurant scene is far less than stellar in most cases.

But the fishing is some of the best in the world off the NC coast, so walking down to the local fish monger and bringing the day's freshest catch back to the hotel/flat is just the only way to go for most meals. The fish is fantastically fresh, and I can cook it better than most of the restaurants. Then head to a local bar for a few beers and some oysters. Perfect.

[bryan]

what is the OBX please?

[Das Ubergeek]

The Outer Banks of North Carolina.

[IndyGirl]

We rented a nice big house on our honeymoon (much cheaper than a hotel, ironically) that had a great kitchen complete with a cuisinart and kitchenaid. We were on the beach, and all the restaurants that were good were $$$, so I just bought fresh seafood and cooked every night. It really saved us cash in the long run.

I wouldn't feel that way in Europe, though. We were in the OBX.

[macca]

We go to the OBX every two oyears for a family vacation- and usually there are at least 25 of us!! I do a lot of the cooking, as I love it! And it IS funn to find local, fresh ingredients to try. If you are there in July, make sure to sample some of the local peaches. They are absolutely great. Made a great peach salsa last summer to serve with local shrimp.

[pitu]

I love to cook on vacation. And was deeply annoyed by a vaco housemate who bitched about the ingredients available being what she was unfamiliar with...EWWW. It's true that lots of the basic vary (like chocolate) but that's the fun. Enjoy your trip!
And maybe bring your own measuring tools if a. you need them b. you don't want to deal with the metric system!

In England I'd be enjoying Neal's Yard too, and all the produce they get from Israel at the street markets. Bet you can get all sorts of European raw milk and non-USDA-constrained meat products there...

If you like rum, pick up some Havana Club. It's cheap and good and still banned in the USA as a Cuban product.

[emilief]

We have a summer home in MAine and it has a wonderful kitchen. I love to cook and cook constantly at home but in the last 12 years we have had our summer place I have cooked dinner there only once! It is nice to be able to make breakfast and have the ingredients for sandwiches, salads etc for lunch and lots of cheese, wine, cocktail stuff and munchies but there are so may wonderful restaurants and who wants to cook on vacation anyway!!! Occasionally do take out but still nice to go out after a day at the beach.

[Linda VH]

We own a timeshare in Aruba that is 2br, 2 bath with a full kitchen. We go for 3 weeks in a row. We have never eaten dinner except to order in pizza one night but we do have most b-fasts and some lunches in the condo. We sit out on our balcony and look at the pool and the ocean. We occasionally go out to lunch and I love to order a large salad w/shrimp at the pool bar to bring up for lunch. Our dinners runs the spectrum from duck to burgers. We have cocktail stuff, etc. as the cheese you get down there (Dutch) is wonderful. Linda

[LaLa]

I do not cook on vacation other than to throw a sandwich together...period. I always have a kitchen but it just for the microwave and fridge.I cook at home almost everynight so vacation is time for me to be waited on. Of course on the way home hubby starts telling me everything he wants me to make the next week.

http://www.shoplateda.com/

[dfrostnh]

Most of our vacations are on a budget. We have camped in the Virgin Islands where it was easiest to cook our own breakfasts, make a picnic lunch to go snorkeling some place and then eat dinner in the dining pavilion or a restaurant. I love exploring supermarkets wherever I am ... and bringing home something I've bought. Days in Maine are usually spent in search of the best lobster roll or lobster for lunch. I like to stay someplace with a kitchen even if it's only an ice chest and camp stove. I think it has been silly to stay in a hotel room where I don't have a fridge to keep fresh fruit. On business trips there are many times when I'm exhausted at the end of the day and room service doesn't appeal. It's nice to have a place to get a light supper and store leftovers in a room fridge. Eating out is great. I enjoy it most of the time but I really like being able to shop a farmers market and cook where I'm staying. About 20 years ago I remember staying in a nice Boston hotel where the restaurant didn't open for breakfast until something ridiculous like 8am. Fortunately I discovered early coffee was set out in the lobby for flight crews. That was before hotels put coffee makers in the rooms. I like a vacation where I can eat out AND cook.

[julesrules]

In London I have to say the options in my budget were not great, at least 10+ years ago and before the internet. So having a flat, which was indeed cheaper than a hotel and more comfortable for my family, was great. Even today I suspect that *for my money*, even if London food is much improved, I can get better at home and eating out wouldn't be a focus of the trip. Same trip we were in Paris for 5 weeks staying in an apartment. I loved eating out - from 3-course lunch to picnic croissants for breakfast/baguette and cheese for lunch,the whole bit, but we also LOVED going to the weekly market, patisserie, etc, talking recipes with the locals and trying new things in the kitchen. Some of my best memories of that trip. In Japan I also really enjoyed checking out the local market and cooking in the hostel kitchen with input from locals.
Travelling with my in-laws, they very rarely eat out, so I am happy to share cooking duties and have comfortable meals together. They do think it's a treat to be waited on once in a great while, but they just aren't comfortable with it on a regular basis. If it's a family or group vacation I figure compromise is part of the deal - although it can certainly be frustrating at times!

[Das Ubergeek]

When we go to Hawaii (Big Island) we ALWAYS rent a place with a kitchen. While there's some truly great grindz in Hawaii it tends to fall into one of two categories: either cheap breakfast/platelunch type places or very, VERY expensive hotel restaurants.

But you can go to Suisan and the Hilo Farmer's Market and buy indescribably excellent fish and produce and cook for yourself with ingredients that simply aren't available elsewhere.

[susancinsf]

I wouldn't dream of getting a place on the Big Island without a kitchen either, for the same reasons. I also loved my kitchen in Paris, even though we obviously had a much better choice of restaurants there....even in Paris there was a night or two where it was cold and rainy (I much prefer travelling there in the winter to the summer) and it was great to stay 'home' and eat a simple meal with lovely ingredients from the local markets...

Just got back from London, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if we had had a kitchen, for similar reasons....

[Sam Fujisaka]

I seek out ways to cook when (rarely) on vacation or on work trips (all the time). I judiciously and with great enjoyment go out to eat; but can also cook with ingredients I can't get in Colombia if I stay in "suites" in places like the US. I've also been granted the use of hotel kitchens to prepare fish we caught in places like Bali and Cartagena. I stayed in a hotel with kitchen access when I worked in East Timor to take advantage of the great catch available on the beach every morning.

[vanillagrrl]

I think kitchens and fridges are great on vacations because then you don't have to go out for every meal -- and you have a place to keep the leftovers from the ones you do go out to eat. And it's nice to be able to enjoy a drink or coffee at your home base -- sometimes paying for the privilege of eating or drinking every time can get a wee bit stale. I too love foraging for little specialties you can't get so easily at home when I'm in a new place. That's at least half the fun of traveling right there!