I’m just back from a weeklong romp through the Vinho Verde wine region in Northern Portugal where some of the most popular Portuguese roses are produced. This crisp wine with a hint of strawberry has a lower alcohol content than most wines, making it very drinkable with a Valentine’s Day dinner or as a refreshing after-dinner drink.
Vinho Verde roses offer a unique option for a romantic dinner or a simple evening in with a bottle of wine. Try pairing it with chicken, shellfish or a bold seafood dish. Vinho Verde roses can also tame the bite of spicy foods and complement the sometimes hard to match exotic flavors in Indian and Thai cuisine. The Quintas das Arcas, Arca Nova Rose 2008 is a great example of the region’s quality roses.
Roses and other pink wines have gotten a bad rap in the United States, largely being stereotyped as sickly sweet, low quality beverages. Wine drinkers will likely be surprised by these Portuguese roses for their dry and crisp flavor with fruity undertones and a hint of spice. This sometimes savory wine is made from indigenous local grapes such as the Alvarelhao, Pedral, Espadeira and Vinhao, and ranges from the slightest pink to nearly red. Portugal’s young and adventurous wine makers are often willing to try new things and the rose trend is no exception. A few years ago, wineries rarely produced this pink wine, but today, roses make up about five percent of the region’s wine production.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
a guest blog by travel journalist Jules Older, co-creator of the new iPhone App San Francisco Restaurants.
Savor San Francisco Dining without Breaking the Bank
Here’s a travel fact: San Francisco is the world’s favorite American city. Year after year, it’s the city overseas visitors most want to see.
Here’s a food fact: Along with Chinatown, the Golden Gate Bridge and those little cable cars climbing halfway to the stars, one of San Francisco’s biggest attractions is its food. It has 3,489 restaurants.
Here’s a locals’ fact: San Franciscans firmly believe that visitors routinely miss the best of the restaurants.
I’m a San Franciscan. I share that belief.
When I see tourists, they’re flocking to places all my friends avoid. When my wife and I eat out, the places we choose rarely see a tourist from farther away than San Jose.
Why the disconnect? Because while there are fine restaurants downtown, most of the best eating in San Francisco is in the ‘hoods. Especially at small ethnic restaurants. And most especially, at small, ethnic, cheap restaurants.
Even those that aren’t cheap cost far less than the Venus Fly Traps where tourists flock to devour… and be devoured.
Let me share some of our faves with you.
Our go-to restaurant is a venerable Thai place, Little Thai. It’s on Broadway and Polk, where Russian Hill meets Pacific Heights. Don’t miss their pumpkin curry with soft tofu — we eat it so often that when we sit down, Toni, the owner asks, “And what are you having besides pumpkin curry?”
One of the great bargains of San Francisco is a Persian restaurant on Van Ness and Sutter.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
article via partner site Divine Caroline by Brie Cadman
Most people agree that one of the best things about traveling to new places is sampling new foods and eating out. But what I miss most about Asia and Latin America isn’t “eating out” in restaurants, it’s “eating out” on the streets.
Long before Anthony Bourdain was doing his No Reservations TV show—which introduced viewers to exotic and delicious delicacies of foreign cultures—many of us were tromping around the globe doing our own tasting. And many of us were backpacking, which meant that we were young, or adventurous, or semi-broke, and usually all three. Street food, the kind that’s served up in a mobile cart, a stand, or a roadside hut, with prices equivalent to pocket change, made economical and logistical sense. But even better, it was the most interesting and flavorful food to be found.
In Thailand, as in many low and middle-income countries with less sanitary red tape than ours, variety, mobility, and an entrepreneurial spirit characterize the street food scene. Sometimes the food comes to you, as it does when a vendor selling mango, pineapple, green guava, and papaya (with or without chili), wanders by. In Oaxaca, Mexico, bellowing hawkers tout their tamales and elotes (corn on the cob covered in cheese and spice) as they wheel them by. Inevitably, the mundane becomes exotic, and it’s not unusual to see fried cockroaches the size of your hand, pig parts, or small mammals being sold as edibles.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
a guest blog by Vera Marie Badertscher
Trying to order food in a foreign language when you are traveling can give you a belly ache. But that belly ache can become all too real if you have to avoid particular foods that your body cannot tolerate. To the rescue—laminated cards, about the size of your driver’s license, that spell out your problem and graphically illustrate the foods that are a no-no.
Seems like such an intelligent idea. Why didn’t I think of it? All these years of travel when I tried to find a native language speaker who could explain to me how to say “I cannot eat raw or lightly cooked onions, scallions, shallots or leeks.” You would think I would have come up with the idea to manufacture cards for everyone with a similar travel problem.
But I left it to an Internet company called Select Wisely. Their line of cards goes beyond just serious food allergies (gluten free diets, peanut allergies) to include intolerances (like mine to onions) and other medical problems (diabetes, asthma, and the generalized, “Where can I find a doctor who speaks English?”).
The Select Wisely cards, come in sets of two, so if you lose one, you’re still covered.A pair of cards costs about ten dollars. The information is printed in English and the language of the country you are visiting, and they squeeze in as much information as possible. Just so there will be no misunderstanding the gluten allergy card says “I am allergic to wheat, rye, barley, oats, soy sauce, malt, flour and gluten including sauces, gravies, breads, cereals and foods processed with these ingredients.” Illustrations with the universal circle-slash meaning ‘NO!” over the food in question, make the printed message even clearer.
Having these cards available means I can eat in any language—without a belly ache.
Vera Marie Badertscher travels whenever she can, reads constantly, writes about it all from her home in Tucson, Arizona, and blogs at A Traveler’s Library (atravelerslibrary.com ). Learn more about Vera at pen4hire.com.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
48% of Travelers Surveyed Plan to Visit a U.S. Vineyard This Year
TripAdvisor, the world’s most popular and largest travel community, today announced its top 10 North American wine destinations, according to TripAdvisor editors. Travelers are particularly interested in wineries this fall, with searches for the term “vineyards” up 10 percent on TripAdvisor over the past six weeks, compared to the same period last year.
In a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. respondents, 48 percent plan to visit a U.S. vineyard this year, with 40 percent planning to do so this fall. Travelers are most interested in visiting California favorites Napa Valley (29 percent) and Sonoma (18 percent), with the Finger Lakes, New York and Willamette Valley, Oregon tied for third place with eight percent. When it comes to good taste, 59 percent prefer red wine, 43 percent want white and 12 percent request rose.
1. No Contest for Napa: Napa Valley, California
The undisputed American capital of wine has earned its reputation thanks to seemingly endless picturesque vineyards and world-class wines. The valley’s gorgeous scenery serves as the backdrop to both amazing large-scale wineries as well as smaller, intimate (but no less excellent) wineries.
Top Value hotel in Napa, California: Chablis Inn — Average nightly rate: $114
2. Sublime Sonoma: Sonoma, California
Protected by mountains from excessive rainfall, Sonoma has an ideal climate for growing grapes on its numerous vineyards. Napa’s neighbor is smaller in terms of wine production, but has the highly sought-after wines and sweeping vistas to make it an enchanting wine destination.
3. Oregonian Oenophilia: Willamette Valley, Oregon
Oregon produces far less wine than its Californian counterparts, but distinguishes itself for its outstanding pinot noirs and other varietals. Willamette Valley, one of Oregon’s major wine-growing regions, has more than 200 charming wineries, and is considered the hub of the state’s wine industry.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
Gourmet Getaways: Select Registry Serves Up Fun For Foodies Vacations
You may not cook like Julia Child, but you can wine and dine like her.
The Hartstone Inn, Camden, ME, hosted the culinary icon’s 89th birthday party, as one of her preferred summer dining destinations. Today, this celebrated seaside retreat is one of six Select RegistryTM inns offering Fun for Foodies Vacations of New England. Now in its sixth year, this unique program of gourmet getaways is available at fine lodgings throughout the region: Hartstone Inn as well as Captain Lord Mansion, Kennebunkport, ME; Stone Hill Inn, Stowe, VT; Hancock Inn, Hancock, NH; Birchwood Inn, Lenox, MA; and Historic Jacob Hill Inn, Providence, RI.
Select Registry’s Fun For Foodies Vacations is a mix of awarding-winning inns, picturesque settings and culinary adventures with local flair. Food enthusiasts share Julia Child’s delight in food – not just the eating of it, but the preparing of it too – with hands-on experiences like these:
— Artisan Cheese Maker for a Day – Make farmstead cheeses at a Vermont sheep dairy. Meet the animals, prepare a batch of cheese and package the product for market. A wheel of the cheese you helped create will be shipped to you after ripening.
— Chocolatier For A Day – Master the art of chocolate making in a candy shop during a day of hand-dipping and cooking. Or, travel to the heart of the Berkshires for a private tasting with an acclaimed chocolatier, ranked by Saveur magazine among the nation’s Top Ten.
— Canoe Trip and Winery Tour – Take in the lush Green Mountains, while canoeing down a gentle river. Then discover the joys of winemaking at the Boyden Valley Winery, part of a fourth-generation farm producing more than a dozen award-winning, international wines.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".