Posted in book review, British, chefs, chili, Christmas, culture, diversity, England, grilled, grilling, London, Meat, noodles, tradition, travel, Vietnam, Vietnamese on Nov 19th, 2014
If the path from high finance executive to cookbook author isn’t a well-beaten one, then the path from stock-broker to market stall-holder is even more poorly trod. But, for Oxford-educated former bankers turned Banh Mi vendors-cum-restaurateurs, Van Tran and Anh Vu, that was their peregrination. They certainly don’t say so in the book, but it’s […]
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Posted in America, Argentina, Autumn, baking, barbecue, bread, Buenos Aires, cheap meal, chick peas, chickpeas, culture, Fall, Genoa, Genovese, Italian, Italian-American, Italy, Liguria, New York City, Pizza, Provencal, Provence, rosemary, sage, South America, tradition, travel, Uruguay on Sep 17th, 2014
“There are more pizzerias in Buenos Aires than in Naples and Rome combined.” – Ernesto Sabato, Heroés y Tumbas In his book “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” travel-writer Bill Bryson, in an attempt to defeat insomnia, describes making a lonely evening among the anodyne IKEA fittings of a Stockholm hotel even more excruciating by tallying […]
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Posted in black beans, breakfast, cheap meal, chipotle, Chorizo, hearty, language, Mexican, Mexico, onions, pork, sausage, spicy, tacos, tortilla, tortillas, tradition, travel on Jun 28th, 2014
“Waiter! What is this?” “Um, it’s bean soup, sir.” “I don’t care what it’s been. What is it now?” – bad English joke Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, has the highest proportion of native peoples in the country, and traditional culture is alive to such an extent that an estimated 50% of indigenous people are unable […]
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Posted in breadcrumbs, Christmas, culture, Easter, history, Italian, Meat, Pasta, Pizza, sauce, Sicilian, Sicily, summer, tradition, travel, winter on May 29th, 2014
“To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all,for Sicily is the clue to everything.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Sicily sits apart from mainland Italy, like a rock ready to receive a swift kick from the instep of the Italian boot. Indeed, many Italians would tell you […]
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Posted in America, beef, Canada, culture, diversity, Europe, France, French-ness, grilled, grilling, horse, Meat, Montreal, public health, travel on Apr 28th, 2014
Last year there was unprecedented outrage when the news broke that the meatballs being sold by more than one European grocery chain were “contaminated” with horse meat. This was big news this side of the Atlantic for two main reasons: a) the horses in question are likely to have been American horses, and b) because […]
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Posted in appetizer, Barcelona, blood, boudin, chick peas, Chorizo, hearty, Meat, morcilla, pork, Portuguese, racione, restaurant, sausage, Spain, tapas, tourism, travel, watercress on Apr 15th, 2014
Barcelona’s La Boqueria is perhaps the most famous food market in the world, and the most famous of its bar/restaurants is undoubtedly Pinotxo (pee-not-cho), run by the equally famous Juanito Bayen. His immaculate sense of dress and reputation for treating his guests like family have made him and his 14-stool establishment legendary. Indeed, such is […]
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Posted in agriculture, alligator, America, blood orange, citrus, drink, Florida, Food Commentary, fruit, orange juice, oranges, tourism, travel, winter on Apr 8th, 2014
I have never known an aroma quite like it before: an intense, aromatic perfume. We could smell it from miles away – even before we had passed the last of the strip centers and construction sites. On one side, the low khaki scrub of the sandmine, on the other the hot, itchy pine forests, then […]
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Posted in Argentina, brown sugar, Buenos Aires, crispy, delicacy, dining, duck, empanadas, French-ness, grilled, grilling, herbs, Meat, Olive Oil, orange juice, oranges, Paul Bocuse, South America, thyme, tourism, travel, Uruguay, winter on Mar 14th, 2014
On our first afternoon in Buenos Aires, as we lazily wandered the Palermo district, stupefied by an overnight flight and a filling lunch featuring our first Argentine steak and an immoderate milanesa napolitana, we paused to admire the way the beautiful lilac-blue flowers of a blooming jacaranda overhung a stucco wall that years of sub-tropical […]
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Posted in Canada, culture, dining, Food Commentary, French, french fries, holiday, language, Montreal, podcast, touriism, tourism, travel, unhealthy, winter on Jan 22nd, 2014
As Montreal braces for its annual mid-winter festival, a lot of which takes place au plein air as they might say, much of the US East Coast braces itself for the kind of frigid, snowy conditions that Montrealers witness 6 months of the year, illustrating just one of the ways they and their city distinguish […]
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Many among us, ourselves included, can be forgiven for spending a few wistful moments during the more tedious passages in our lives wondering what it might be like to wander exotic locales, rubbing shoulders with cultured types all while sipping fine wines over plates artfully decorated with exquisite regional specialties. When we come out of […]
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Posted in almond, Barcelona, broiled, calamari, Chorizo, cuttlefish, fish, Garlic, Madrid, Murcia, noodles, nuts, Olive Oil, Pasta, pepper, peppers, pulpo, Spain, Squid, tradition, travel, Valencia, wine on Nov 14th, 2012
For centuries, mankind and cuttlefish have had something of a difficult relationship, certainly from the latter’s perspective. Even prior to the development of the photographic tint known as sepia – a brownish hue that makes the late 19th century appear to have been an unusually dusty period – the ink of the cuttlefish was prized […]
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Posted in basil, cauliflower, crispy, culture, Fall, fish, Iceland, language, lemon, nuts, salmon, shark, travel on Oct 12th, 2012
My guidebook assured me that 3 out of 5 Icelanders believe that faeries, mischievous sprites and trolls are real. Many, it continues, actively take precautions against them, refusing to set foot in the spots they are thought to inhabit. My first introduction to the country, the drive from the airport into Reykjavik, past a giant […]
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