Pop Your Collar: An Afternoon Sailing with Corks Away Wine Cruises
Boats kind of make me nervous. Maybe its because I got chucked off of one in rough waters around Key Largo when we tried to go snorkeling in a storm. Maybe its because I got seasick on the way to Catalina Island in 8th grade. Or maybe because I have a numbing fear of the Pacific Ocean, whose cold, dark waters beckon with all the grace and charm of a razor-toothed barracuda. But ply me with a couple of glasses of wine on a beautiful day, and I could probably find boating bearable, if not actually enjoyable. Even though “sailing” just sounds pretentious anyway. Lapse in...
Read MoreCruise Food: A Look at the Underportioned, Overpriced and Out of This World Cuisine at Sea
“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly….” Famous last words. Oft-uttered by those faced with tertiary helpings at a holiday meal, trying on an expensive piece of jewelry, or offered anything gratis, anywhere. On vacation, as Cameron Diaz succinctly put it in The Holiday, you are supposed to “vacate your life.” Things like not exercising, saving money, getting reasonable amounts of sleep and perhaps most of all, indulging the palette (not to mention the stomach) are thrown asunder in favor of sweet, beautiful gluttony in all its forms. Nowhere is this glorious...
Read MoreMy Love Affair with British Food
“What is a chip butty?” “Why are jackets on a restaurant menu?” “Am I actually supposed to consume something called spotted dick?” Yeah. Call me ignorant. It took a couple voyages to Blighty for me to warm to British cuisine, but not because it isn’t good – but because in the same way Europeans think American food is supersized and beefy, we Americans grow up hearing tall tales of the great blandness of English food, as well as its general unhealthiness. And while YES much of it involves frying and YES I was desperate for a giant salad and...
Read MoreGrapes on a Plane: Healthy Airplane Snacks!
Twizzlers? Check. Pretzels? Check. Cheez-its? Check. Such seems to be the common rotation of food groups I have turned to for sustenance while traveling – those long hours in the airport staring at strangers or doing crosswords in the newspaper, those periods of boredom on-board once you’ve tired of your book, your iPod has run out of batteries or the movie is over. Sometimes you eat just to eat…even if you’ve already consumed an entire tray-table’s worth of salad/entree/dessert/roll combo (which as a general rule I do not find to be as terrible as people...
Read MoreA Day at the County Fair, the La-La Land Version
I’ve been cooking a lot lately. I mean A LOT. Which is great because it was my only new year’s resolution and I’ve actually stuck to it. Go me. Anyway, this weekend, in-between a very tasty mushroom sage and gruyere quesadilla and a very bad barley and black bean risotto, I had quite another foodie experience – the LA County Fair. This was my second trip in a span of 8 days. Not because I am addicted to odd cross-sections of humanity or low-level rodeos or paying $10 for the glorious experience of walking a mile through a parking lot in the 88-degree heat,...
Read MoreOf All The Gin Joints In All The World…
Last week on a cool, California summer evening at Malibu Winery, beneath a blanket of stars and over a couple of bottles of sauvignon blanc, my friends and I brought one of our favorite travel experiences full-circle: we watched Casablanca. With sound. You see, in January of 2009 we watched Casablanca together, too. At Rick’s Cafe – IN Casablanca. But nestled in the famous establishment’s comfy upstairs bar couches, you must deign to watch the classic film on mute, the better to hear the nightly band playing below. So for my pal Bob, who had never seen the film...
Read More
Get Involved!
Connect!