Category Picnics
Cooking (and a magic refrigerator) in Reykjavik
Not to ruin my budget travel cred or anything, but I didn’t try super hard to have a cheap trip to Iceland. (And by Iceland, I mean Reykjavik, because we didn’t leave the city other than a couple of day trips.) The last minute nature of the travel, plus the Covid situation meant I tried […]
How we ate cheap in Norway
When we got back from Norway several people asked me “How was the food?” and I answered “I don’t know.” That’s because, instead of seeking out local specialties and eating in restaurants, we just bought basic groceries from supermarkets and prepared the food ourselves. That’s not a romantic way to eat and it doesn’t make […]
A Roman amphitheatre, Byzantine mosaics, and an emergency picnic with bragging rights in Durrës
Our rushed day in Durrës went like this; rain, walk, rain, walk, rain, where the hell is the amphitheatre, rain, walk, oh there’s the amphitheatre, oh there’s the archeological museum, oh man am I ever hungry, torrential rain, thunderstorm, emergency picnic, walk, rain, salad, mosquitoes, vagina lamp. I have the impression that Durrës, due to […]
Eating stuffed cabbage in a forest in Transylvania and a washing machine adventure in Sibiu
Before I visited Romania I had the vague impression that the country was run amok with wild drivers, packs of rabid dogs and Dracula kitsch. Here’s what I’ve found so far: a proud folk heritage, ravishing countryside, friendly and astute people, lots of smoking and yummy (if meat-laden) food. For a taste of Transylvania’s enchanting […]
The next time you’re in Vézelay tell the people with the elephant ears I said hi
We were all alone in Vézelay’s Sainte-Marie-Madeleine Abbey, the light was fading, darker, darker…and then we climbed down into the crypt. No, not actually a horror story ending, but in fact the ending to a perfect day, a day we spent from sunup to sundown in and around one of the world’s greatest Romanesque churches. Vézelay […]
Flatulent cheese and green sauce: what we ate in Frankfurt
HOB and I have been together 18 years, sharing a of love of art in situ and adventurous eating, and finally, in Frankfurt, I’ve found something I’ll eat that he won’t. Handkäse mit Musik “hand cheese with music” is a sour milk cheese aged and marinated in oil and vinegar and a specialty of Frankfurt, […]
Why you don’t need to be rich to be a cultural tourist, and why it’s probably better not to be (really!)
I remember the exact moment: after a morning of winding our way uphill through the medieval Albayzín neighborhood of Granada in Southern Spain, we reached the San Nicholas Viewpoint. We picnicked while taking in the enchanting view of the Alhambra and surrounding mountains and I mentioned to HOB that, according to our guide book, this […]
Picnic at the Greek theatre of Syracuse
It’s not every day I can chow down on a can of tuna fish sitting in a theatre built in the 5th century BC, though as someone who has worked in and around theatres most of my adult life, I was thinking of mostly practical matters. For example: if this theatre sat 15,000 or more people, […]
Panini picnic at the Duomo of Syracuse
The entire gorgeous city of Syracusa is a UNESCO World Heritage sight, and if it were up to me, I would extent UNESCO status to it’s panini. Specifically, Caseificio Borderi Elefteria located at Via Emanuele de Benedictis, 6, Siracusa, Italy. We walked through Ortygia island neighborhood of Syracusa, towards the Ionian Sea, avoiding the rements of […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 