Alan’s Amazing “Slow Carb” Chicken “Noodle” Soup
I love to make soup. I think soups are a good representation of a cook’s ability to balance flavors and textures. They can also such a delicious way to make a healthy meal that is typically super cheap, relatively simply and provides great leftovers for any meal time (breakfast soup is an awesome replacement for…
Showing Off the Best of Santa Barbara for My Sister’s Weekend Visit
A few weekends ago my sister came to visit us in Santa Barbara. Like me, she is also a UCSB alumni. Also like me, she did not explore many of the fun things to do in down town Santa Barbara that I have only found living here as an “adult”. As such, we spent the…
Food, Wine and Art From Umbria and Tuscany, Italy
After regrouping in Rome for a couple days after our trip south to Pompeii, we rented a car to road trip through central Italy for the final week of our travels. We were told by our hosts that doing a loop through the region of Umbria, a few hours North-East of Rome, then continuing North-West…
A Short Trip to Pompeii and Napoli/Naples – Archeological Ruins and The Home Of Pizza
Everyone has heard of Pompeii and knows the story of Mount Vesuvius and the relatively instant burying of the city during the volcano’s AD 79 eruption. Over 1,000 bodies were found by modern archeologists, buried by ash in the city, which have been preserved in plaster casts as seen in the picture above. These are…
Our Roman Holiday: Seeing Rome’s Historical Sites Between The Inevitable Pizza, Pasta, Pastry and Gelato Obligations
The whole time we were traveling I was so excited to eventually end up in Italy because I love Italian food!!! Once we landed in Rome, the first thing I did was ask our amazing hosts, Tracy and Jeff, to point us in the direction of some tasty Italian food. Within a half hour of…
Drinking Some Sweet Wines in Portugal – Porto and Douro Valley
Porto was one of the places I was most excited to visit when planning our trip and I’m happy to report it lived up to my expectations! It ended up as one of my favorite places we visited and a region I would love to return to soon. The food and wine tasting in Porto…
Wine-ding Our Way Through France – Photos from Fontainebleau, Loire Valley, Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Provence and Fréjus
“A person with increasing knowledge and sensory education may derive infinite enjoyment from wine.” – Ernest Hemingway Our road trip through France from Reims in the north east of France, down to Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast then further south to the French Riviera was filled with beautiful sites, great meals, fun new friends, silly…
Exploring Paris by Foot and by Food
I write this post while sitting in a wine bar in Bordeaux, France. Two amazing glasses of Medoc red wine in front of me waiting to be tasted, and as these posts take a while to put together I’m sure a few other wines will pass over my table as well. Alena and I have…
Dubai Photo Journey – Visit UAE
Heading out on our 4 month trip, we started our adventure with cocktails at SFO airport before our long flight to Dubai. We had a few days in Dubai before setting off to our adventures in Ghana. Dubai was an odd place as I detail in my “Thoughts on Dubai” post, here are just the…