Belmond El Encanto Santa Barbara
Our last activity in pre-pandemic California was a quick weekend trip to Santa Barbara. It was a beautiful escape from San Francisco that made us long for Europe, but turned out to be the next best thing. It was so lovely to spend time overlooking the beautiful blue waters of the American Rivera with... Continue Reading
Ischia’s San Montano Resort & Spa
Perched high on a cliff on a secluded corner of Ischia, San Montano Resort & Spa offers a bird’s-eye view of the entire Island of Ischia and the Bay of Naples. Up a winding road from the village of Lacco Ameno, this serene resort feels a world away while being at most a ten... Continue Reading
Baja Beer-battered fish tacos with cabbage and white sauce
Fish tacos—batter-fried fillets, topped with cabbage, white sauce, pico de gallo, and red salsa—are possibly the most well-known street food of northern Baja. In Ensenada, fishermen unload from their panga boats hauls of premium fish such as yellowtail and grouper, plus bycatch including small sharks such as angelito (angel shark) and cazón (dogfish). The... Continue Reading
Handmixed Sourdough Ciabatta
If you’ve been following along, we recently made Laura’s focaccia recipe. Now you can also make her ciabatta recipe straight from Italy! This recipe takes two days to make and involves quite a few steps: read through at least a couple times and familiarize yourself with it, making sure you have all the necessary... Continue Reading
Cullen Skink: Scottish Smoked Fish and Bacon Chowder
Scotland’s Loch Fyne Oyster Company is known for the finest seafood. You can order items to go from their market or secure a table with a view of the loch (or lake) just across the street. Their Cullen Skink, a thick traditional Scottish bacon and smoked fish chowder, is the best soup for a cold day.... Continue Reading
Oven-Roasted Homemade Croutons
In our house, unless we use a baguette right away or an Italian loaf in a few days, it tends to get hard, stale, ignored, and ultimately thrown away. Instead, we now use stale bread to make crunchy toasted homemade croutons. You can use a combination of ingredients to add flavor. Salt and pepper... Continue Reading
Yeasteria’s Fried Eggplant Cordon Bleu
Are you eating a lot of sandwiches for lunch these days? Here’s a vegetable-forward type of fried sandwich for you to try. Jacopo Nardi and Esmeralda Spitaleri from Yeasteria winery (pronounced yeesterREEyah) make a twist on a traditional Chicken Cordon Bleu with two slices of eggplant to make their Eggplant Cordon Bleu. The winery’s name... Continue Reading
Spicy Garlicky Prawns
Two memories are lodged in my mind when it comes to these prawns. One is of a meal at Mar do Inferno, in Cascais, a town which we visited with my parents and our little daughter. Here, the sea crashes against jagged cliffs just below the restaurant. We tried these messy, delicious, chilli-hot prawns,... Continue Reading
