On our recent trip to Chicago, my husband and I found ourselves fairly
secluded from the outside world as we cared for my aging father-in-law
while my mother-in-law got a much needed vacation. With only one day to
ourselves – thanks to the brief appearance of his brothers – we decided
to meet up with some friends on the shore of Lake Michigan, in
Michigan. It would have been easier to hook-up on the Chi-town side of
the water (they only live 20 minutes away from my in-laws), but since they were off
boating there, we like to road-trip and I had never been to Michigan,
we tentatively agreed to meet in a small town on the lake called New
Buffalo.
Spontaneous is a word rarely attributed to me, especially when I
travel. The advent of the Internet has been a godsend to my obssesive
need to pre-plan and find exactly the right place to go before I leave
my living room. Sure, I might miss the best local "whatever" that just
opened yesterday or is too obscure to be on the web because of my
control-freak nature, but I'm too old and particular to leave lunch to
chance. If I'm going to make the effort and take the time, I want
better than even odds that I'll enjoy the excursion.
Travel
Travel
Taco Torture
After growing up in Western Massachusetts, it didn’t take me long to become spoiled living in Los Angeles. Not only do we constantly have fresh produce from around the world, but delicacies from every nation are well-represented. Mexican food didn’t reach my hometown until I was in college and even then it was either Chi-Chi’s or Taco Bell, neither of which is very authentic or culinary genius. Regardless of quality, the food was something completely new and I was immediately hooked on guacamole, chips, salsa and greasy crispy tacos. Once I landed here – and got a taste of the real thing – there was no stopping my cravings for all things “South of the Border.“ L.A. is the crossroads of the world when it comes to food and I never realized how lucky I was to live here until I went to Europe for a month.
La Creme de Paris
On my first day in Paris, on our first tour around the Jardins Luxembourg, a charming Persian woman with bouncy curls and smiling eyes stopped me and my entourage of children and a dog for a chat. "The French drive me crazy," she pronounced. "But living in Paris will mean two things for you. You will become both more refined, and more humble." And so the adventure begins...
It turns out that there is heaven on earth. And it lives in an inauspicious plastic saucer, covered in cling wrap.
This week’s cheese was a seemingly unassuming Saint Félicien. This little number is made in the Dauphiné region of France, and it is soft and extra creamy. We took our first bite over lunch with the girls, and at Twiggy Sanders’ suggestion, I was armed with a fresh baguette.
The cheese starts out relatively contained, but by the third bite, the fresh cream had runneth over into the container. We started to eagerly mop it up with pieces of bread, and within about ten minutes flat, the entire saucer had been wiped clean.
Eating through LA
When I landed at LAX I didn’t have the heart to tell my father all I wanted for dinner was some delicious Prime Rib from Lawry’s. But, I didn’t need to wait long because just as we entered the house he announced we would be getting dinner there that very night. Needless to say, the Martini, Lawry’s Cut, and all the sides had me full, content, and very sleepy after a long day of travel.
I also had a mission on my LA trip. I really wanted to find some delicious tacos. As luck would have it, my dear friend Almie moved to Loz Feliz and suggested we try Ensenada’s Fish Tacos. We were not dissapointed. For a mere 6 dollars we got Fish, Shrimp, and Potato Tacos with fresh homemade salsas and a particularly interesting radish slaw.
A couple days later my dear friends from Birthright, Mike and Julie, toured historic Downtown with me where we saw the new Grand Park, and many beautiful buildings, on foot. We stopped in to Mr. Ramen to grab a quick lunch and it was delightful. Just the kind of excellent Ramen I remember LA having.
The Other Wine Country
It’s all my fault. I’ve been telling people for almost a decade about this lovely wine region in the middle of California. Most of them had no idea where Paso Robles is – halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco – and had never heard of any of the wineries that call this region home. Until the last 3-4 years I couldn’t really blame them. Even though some people have been successfully making wonderful wine here for over 3 decades, their efforts rarely reached beyond the county’s borders.
Unless you made the trip, you’d have no idea what you were missing…and you are missing some of the best Bang-for-the-Buck wines being made in California.
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