Archive For December 2013
Jose and Isabel Macicior have fast become the faces of bespoke food and culture trips to Spain and southern France. They have hit the ground running, and seem to have a finger on the pulse of high-end vacationers offering tours with Travels and Tapas! Food tourism is now big business and it’s raised awareness of…
From Stop and Shop Ingredients: 1 pound ground round 1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced 2 cups chopped onion 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 14.5 oz cans stewed tomatoes, Mexican style 1 15.5 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and well-drained 1-2 Tbsp chili powder 1 Tbsp cumin 1/2 tsp pepper Method:…
Valentina Harris, author of The Food and Cooking of Venice and the North-East of Italy, has long been the UK’s Italian culinary authority of choice. She has oft graced our TV screens in her own popular series as well as guesting on many food programmes. You might have had a glimpse of her working with the…
The Hague is indeed a ‘Royal’ city. You might even come across one of the ‘Oranges’, as they are considered perhaps the most accessible royal family in Europe. The Hague has been home to the House of Orange for more than four hundred years; first they were Stadholders and later gained the title of monarchs….
We live life at a frantic pace and when we take a moment to reflect we muse on the quiet life, the good life, of life filled with gentler pursuits, and of time spent around the kitchen table. That good life is still evident in the Alentejo region of Portugal. Bread is an indispensible part…
Isn’t it a perennial problem? What to do for Valentine’s Day! When one has had the same partner for several decades one starts to run out of romantic options. You might possibly get away with socks for Christmas, but they just don’t cut the mustard for Valentines. Jewellery is predictable, and restaurants are always full…
Atithi devo bhavah is part of a Sanskrit verse and means ‘The guest is God’ or ‘Guest become God’. It’s a thoughtful phrase and indicates that the team here have considered even the name of the restaurant carefully. I hoped it would be an indication of the general ethos …and it was. We arrived on…
Saké has become more popular than ever in both restaurants and bars. One can find good quality saké by the bottle and made into cocktails, but there are surprisingly few books in English on the subject of saké and its production. John Gauntner is considered an authority and has penned The Saké Handbook which is…
Our links with The Netherlands have been long-standing. We shared a monarch in the guise of William III of England, known as William II in Scotland. He might be better known, to all but the most historically inclined, as the William of ‘William and Mary’ fame. The blood connection isn’t as strong now as then…