Here’s a visual taste of what I ate in Copenhagen for a food story I wrote for New York. You can read the article here.

Steven Gdula’s delicious gobs.

Thanks to the recession, a lot of people have been forced to reinvent themselves and try out new careers. In San Francisco, the profession of choice seems to be that of curbside chef as more and more folks in the Bay Area are hitting the streets with a pot of food in tow. I spent three very intense days in March chasing around food trucks, carts and tables in San Francisco via Twitter. I wrote about this little adventure for Budget Travel, and have included a few of the blurbs that didn’t make the cut below. Check it out!

Adobo Hobo
‘Hood: Mission District
Adobo Hobo is a lean operation: Founder Jason Rotairo invested in a folding table, a rice cooker, and a turkey fryer, then started serving his mom’s Filipino-style chicken adobo (drumsticks, soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaf, garlic, peppercorns, and onions in a hearty stew) at Dolores Park in August 2009. When the housing market slowed last year, Rotairo’s roommate—and now business partner—Edmund Choi suggested the licensed realtor hit the street. They recently expanded and occasionally include Sisig tacos, a take on another Pinoy staple made with marinated pork, onions, jalapeños, pork rinds, and sour cream scooped into a tortilla for easy handling.
Check twitter.com/Adobohobo for updates. $5. adobohobo.blogspot.com.

Gobba Gobba Hey
‘Hood: Mission District
When freelance writer Steven Gdula moved to San Francisco two years ago, he was out of work and missing his native Pennsylvania. In May 2009, he started pounding the pavement with a cooler full of gobs (a favorite childhood treat similar to a whoopie pie and made of two round cakes held together with a sweet cream filling) under the Ramones-inspired moniker Gobba Gobba Hey. So far, there are 36 rotating flavors on the menu—orange cardamom with ginger and saffron, and coco black cherry with lime are the most popular. Gdula also has a tasty book deal about his recession recovery story in the works. Various days and locations. Check twitter.com/gobbagobbahey for updates. $2. gobbagobbahey.com.

My family may be from Colombia but I’ve never been a coffee drinker. I am, however, very much into tea. One of my favorite treats is visiting tea rooms in England. I usually order the same thing: a small pot of tea and a scone with jam and clotted cream. And occasionally I opt for a proper Afternoon Tea, replete with finger sandwiches and pretty cakes. My number one pick for that is the Wolseley in London, where the tea is served in a silver pot with a silver strainer. You can’t help but feel just a bit more elegant when you’re sipping a cup of Earl Grey in this glamorous room with its 1920s-inspired black and white decor. But don’t get me wrong, I love most tea rooms as long as the tea is hot and the cream is fresh.

It’s not often I get to get a chance to ogle fresh fruits and veggies with a respected toque so when chef Ray Garcia of Santa Monica’s Fig Restaurant invited me to his neighborhood farmer’s market, I quickly said “yes, please.” We tasted locally-grown kumquats, delicate luna oysters, salty California pistachios and other treats. The best part was choosing that night’s dinner ingredients. Above are the strawberries we bought from Harry’s Berries and the strawberry shortcake I enjoyed later in the evening thanks to our shopping trip.

Just got back from the ‘Burgh, where I got most of my church imbibing out of the way before Easter. Whew! I had a great couple of beers with the kind of names—Celestial Gold, Pious Monk Dunkel, Pipe Organ Pale Ale—you’d expect from blessed brewery like Church Brews Works in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh. But despite the obvious gimmickry, this place is definitely worth a visit. Devout drinkers will be pleased to know that the building has the original pews, wooden floors and stained glass windows that were installed in 1902 when the building was christened St. John the Baptist Church. Back then, of course, only wine was served.

Even if you go to Berlin for the art scene, the clubs or the history, you have to make a pit stop at Germany’s biggest department store, the Ka De We. It has the most amazing food hall on the sixth floor. Sit at one of the many bar areas and fill up on cheeses, pork pies, oysters, mustard-doused herring, marzipan cake, chocolate truffles and so much more. There are over 30 food stalls to choose from and over 34,000 different items to savor. Hungry yet?

One of Santiago’s main attractions is the Mercado Central, a bustling fish market on the south bank of the Mapocho River that dates back to 1864. Here, colorful characters hawk all sorts of funny-looking sea creatures while uniformed waiters try to convince tourists to eat at one of the restaurants located in the center of all this madness. It’s hectic but worth it for the people-watching and the food. I ordered the paila marina (left), a typical shellfish stew capable of waking the dead. And though it was overpriced at 4,980 pesos (about $8), I enjoyed the scene most of all, which also included musicians, tchotchke-sellers, and fruit vendors making the rounds. If you do visit, don’t forget to look up: the intricate wrought-iron rooftop was manufactured in England and shipped over piece by piece.

See the inner workings of the kitchen at Czehoski.

Mission figs stuffed with chutney and wrapped in double smoked bacon. Chicken liver pate with apples cooked in rose water. Truffled brie hand-made pierogies with creme fraiche. Need I say more?

Czehoski is a former butcher shop/deli turned restaurant in Toronto’s trendy Queens West neighborhood. The service is a bit slow but the food is worth waiting for. The open kitchen and 1940’s-style piano player provide the entertainment. And the space—with its brick walls, butcher block, and cooling display case from its previous incarnation—is understatedly cool. For dessert: The spiced creme brulee is as good as it gets.

The food trucks in Toronto are no joke. Some have bigger menus (shish kebab, hotdogs, veggie hotdogs (!), sausage, burgers, fries, onion rings . . .) than some of the restaurants in town. And guess what? People actually eat (and enjoy eating) from the hotdog carts, which have relishes beyond ketchup and mustard. New York’s sad dirty water dogs should take notice.

One of the many temptations at Kensington Market in downtown Toronto.

The offerings at Kensginton Market are varied (and sometimes strange): loads of cheese stores, cannabis cafes, fresh fish, vintage clothing shops, every cut of beef imaginable, a photogenic tiger, and so much more. My favorite shop is Good Egg, which sells food-themed books that range from Gordon Ramsay cookbooks to Green Eggs and Ham. They also stock plates, napkins, and other kitchen tchotckes, like a foldable, portable spoon made for emergency meals on the go I was talked out of buying. My second favorite store has to be Wanda’s Pie in the Sky, where you can buy delectable wild blueberry apple pies that feel like a big ol’ hug in your stomach. Yum.

Dessert Island: How can you resist?