Yipee! I finally got around to working on posting about our fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime trip to Egypt. I have split it into two sections: Cairo and the Nile Cruise. The hardest part was choosing which photos to use…I have close to 500. Enjoy!! The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities Commonly known as the Egyptian Museum, the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities has been in the current location in …
I soaked the walnuts in milk and spent the next hour carefully peeling them, all the meanwhile thinking, “do people really go through this much trouble to make a sauce?” It was the moment I came to appreciate the intensity and work spent on preparing traditional sauces. But I was not at a fancy French cooking school: I was in Cuernavaca, Mexico, at a week-long cooking …
During a trip to France over the summer, I was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of visiting Mont Saint-Michel, a tidal island and abbey in the region of Normandy that is one of France’s most recognizable landmarks. Located at the mouth of the Couesnon River, Mont Saint-Michel was considered a strategic fortification. Tides can vary greatly, as much as 46 feet, making the island …
We just returned from a wine-soaked weekend in Sonoma County, CA, and I wanted to share with you some of my favorite recommendations! xoM Where to Sleep? Hotel Healdsburg, h2hotel, Harmon Guest House Fifteen minutes from the Santa Rosa Airport, at the confluence of the Dry Creek, Alexander and Russian River Valleys, Healdsburg is a quaint town that is an ideal spot from which to …
There were too many highlights this past week to focus on just one post, so I had the idea to write a weekly wrap up. After 5 years of writing this blog, I am game for changing things up, so give me your feedback as to whether you like it (or not). I will try to be brief and not get too bogged down in …
The earliest record of grape domestication dates back to approximately 6000 B.C. in what is the present-day Republic of Georgia. A couple thousand years later, wine is cultivated in over 70 countries across the globe and is the 6th most consumed beverage after tea, coffee, beer, soft drinks and vodka. At the furthest point from the origin of the common grape vine known as Vitis …
“It is true that all men are pigs. The trick is to tame one who knows how to find truffles.” – Lev L. Spiro “The truffle is the very diamond of gastronomy” – Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin Following on the heels of my “My Favorite Dishes of 2017”, I thought I would spend some time on our white truffle hunt in Tuscany, after …
I know I’m supposed to do these “best of the year” wrap-ups before the year actually ends. With the craziness of the holiday season, I’m just glad I made it through to 2018 in one piece, so I’m not going to be too hard on myself. Looking back, we traveled quite a bit – Savoie (France), Alaska, New York, Santa Barbara, Dallas, San Antonio, the Grand Canyon, …
Less than a two-hour drive south of San Diego, down the scenic coastal Mexican Federal Highway No. 1, lies the Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico’s burgeoning wine region. While you may associate beer and tequila as the quintessential beverages of Mexico, the popularity of wine is growing at a tremendous rate, close to 15% last year. We don’t see Mexican wines in the States because Mexican …
Occasionally, I have the honor of being asked to promote a product or service on Instagram or my blog. In all honesty, my first reaction is that of hesitation because I wonder, “What if I don’t like it?”. I am nice to a fault, and the Catholic school girl in me worries that telling white lies has the outcome of time in the confessional booth. …
