Our Air Berlin flight took us from Berlin to Bergamo, about an hour east of Milan. Upon landing, we immediately hopped into our rental car and took off for Vernazza, one of the five Cinque Terre towns on the west coast of Italy.

Italy's autostrada is no different than our interstate toll roads — easy driving and plenty of rest stops on the way. What was surprising was the quality of food available at these rest stops. When you see the knife and fork symbol along the autostrada, more likely than not it's going to be an Autogrill restaurant. As it turns out, every Autogrill is different, and the food they serve is dependent on which area of Italy you're in. Since we were in the Liguria region of Italy, there was pesto everywhere.

My Swiss exchange partner Immanuel Willi insisted that we check out the hottest city of the moment in Europe — Berlin. So we booked a flight on Easyjet, one of those cheap-o European airlines and spent two nights and one day in Berlin. As it turned out, both our Irish friend Julie and our Russian friends Katya and Dima wanted to visit Berlin as well, so we all met up for dinner on Saturday night and brunch the next day.

Editor's Note: For the next month or so, our roving food writer will be reporting from Europe.

It's probably not possible for a foodie to leave Switzerland without tasting fondue, so we saved this special meal until went to the Alps. The Swiss Alps are as majestic as you can imagine and perhaps it is this steep rock backdrop that makes the food taste better (either that or all that hiking makes you extra hungry).

Editor's Note: For the next month or so, our roving food writer will be reporting from Europe.

An advantage of teaching at Parkland College is the privilege of participating in international exchange programs. Last year, I was accepted and matched with an exchange partner from Switzerland. In October 2007, I hosted Immanuel Willi, an IT professional at University of Applied Sciences/Northwestern Switzerland in Basel. He stayed with us in Champaign for two weeks, and now it's my turn to to stay with him in Basel.

There's barbecue and then there's Jackson's "pit" barbecue.

Located on First Street, across from the police station, this windowless storefront hides one of the best barbecue joints in town. Inside, the decor is sparse and clean, just your basic unfussy dining room with a full-service bar area (open only during the evening). The soda fountain is self-serve and so is the beer cooler. You order at the counter and pay first, but this is definitely not fast food. If you're in a hurry, go to Li'l Porgy's. But if you want authentic down home cooking, then stick around. The food will come eventually.

If you're in the mood for Mexican food, there are numerous choices around town. But do you ever wonder why the customers at these restaurants are all American and the only Mexicans you see are the ones serving you? So where do Mexicans like to eat when they go out? Apparently they like to gather at at El Charro, a little taco joint and grocery store on Green Street that makes no attempt to cater to American tastes.

On a recent trip to Boston, I made the mistake of trying the clam chowder at a so-called "seafood" restaurant. The flavor was bland and the consistency milky. Maybe that's what they like, but I prefer my chowder hearty. So upon my return, I decided to do my own version.

Traditional chowder recipes call for roux, the French version of a thickener made with butter and flour. I prefer to let the potatoes do the thickening for me. By cooking some of the potatoes a little longer than others, they begin to melt and act as the thickener.

Sure, I could use fresh clams, but why?

After tasting all the wonderful flavors of Indonesian food, we couldn't possibly leave Bali without taking a cooking class. Several restaurants in Bali offer cooking classes, but we didn't want to learn about Indonesian cuisine from a German or Aussie chef, so we chose Warung Enak ("delicious restaurant") whose kitchen was run by Chef Rai Adnyani.

Warung Enak also had a great logo and a fun web site, so we thought that they would be a class act — and we were right. As it turned out, Chef Rai was not only Indonesian, she was an amazingly creative chef — and her sparkling stainless steel kitchen was an all-woman operation.

We decided to stay in Ubud for a while since the eating was good and cheap. But as we looked around the dining rooms of Monkey Forest Road restaurants, we noticed that there were no Indonesians eating with us (just a lot of happy Europeans, Japanese and even a few Aussies). So we wondered, where do Indonesians go when they're hungry?

Our home away from home in Jimbaran is the Villa Balquisse, a boutique hotel near the beach.

The pictures on the Internet didn't do justice to this hotel. From the curtains to the furniture, the attention to detail was astounding. Everything was perfect including the food and the service provided by the staff. Most hotels in Bali provide a free breakfast for guests and Villa Balquisse is no exception.

We're in Jimbaran, a seafood town. So we have no choice but to eat seafood.

The Jimbaran beach is lined with probably 50 or more seafood warungs (the local name for a small family-owned outdoor restaurant). Divided into three sections, each part of the beach has a row of warungs that serves pretty much exactly the same thing, freshly caught fish from the local fish market, lobsters, prawns and squid. Even the preparation is exactly the same: the seafood is grilled over dried coconut shells instead of charcoal and then served as is or sauced to your liking. The prices are listed as "per 100 grams" and you even get to pick your own fish right out of the ice bins.

So how does one choose which restaurant to try?

Yesterday, we arrived in Denpasar (Bali's major city) just after lunch. Our hotel picked us up at the airport and within half an hour, we were checked in and in the pool. We chose to stay in Jimbaran because it was close to the beach. Although Jimbaran was once a small fishing village, today it is a beach resort town with grand hotels and boutique villas.

Surprisingly, some of that old fishing village charm still exists.

Editor's Note: Our roving food writer, Paul Young, reports from his spring break excursion to Bali. Watch for a new column every day this week.

After a fairly uneventful 13-hour flight, we landed in Taipei for a two-hour layover.

As soon as we got off the plane, we headed directly to the airport's food court to see what we could scrounge up. The first food stall we came to looked promising, so we dove right in. This being an airport food court, they had planned for language barriers – so the food was on display. All we had to do was point and say "one" (with one finger pointing up, course).

Editor's Note: Our roving food writer, Paul Young, reports from his spring break excursion to Bali. Watch for a new column every morning this week.

One of the privileges of teaching is being able to take off during spring break.

This year, we decided to go to Bali for some fun and good eats. Since Bali is halfway around the world (literally), we decided to break up the trip with a stopover in San Francisco. Armed with a rental car and the Bay Area Guardian's Best of Guide, we zeroed in on a little neighborhood Japanese joint near the renowned Castro district called Eiji (317 Sanchez, San Francisco). We chose Eiji because we've never had oboro (handmade tofu) before.

Some may remember the days when Am-Ko was the only Asian grocery store in town. Today, one can choose from perhaps more than half-a-dozen Asian grocers, all of them locally-owned and run as family businesses. Each grocery store has an ethnic focus – Chang's is Chinese, Lee's is Korean, Annapoorna is Indian, Am-Ko is Korean and Japanese, and so on. Of these choices, my favorite place to shop is Far East, hidden on Fifth Street just south of University Avenue. Until recently, you probably wouldn't notice it was there because the only identifying mark was a few hand-painted words on their building. The colorful new sign that just went up may make the shop slightly easier to find.