So says Nudo in their dolcevitadiaries. About three years ago, I adopted an olive tree in Italy from Nudo Adopt. I received a certificate of adoption for Aleandri, a 21 years old, Leccino olive tree. I receive two packages a year–for two litres of organic olive oil in the spring and three flavoured. It is fabulous first cold-pressed …
For New Year’s I scored a reservation at the newest restaurant in Vancouver called, The Farmer’s Apprentice. We read about it in the Globe and Mail which sang its praises. We dropped by in the afternoon and I must say, it looked like an little coffee house. A tiny, narrow room, with only about 12 …
We discovered that the perfect pairing to that delicious salted duck breast was a Fromage Fondu. In Petra’s words, this is “deliciously gooey” — melting hot camembert, dripping over crusty bread, and so easy to make, but none the less impressive. Petra recommended La Rustique, the king of camembert, that comes nestling in its own …
After lunch at L’Ile Saint Martin, Petra gathered our team of culinary adventurists and took us to her B&B. As the other students had been with Petra since Friday, this was our first visit to La Souqueto, Chambres d’Hotes and the home of Petra’s cooking school in the tiny town of Mirepeisset. It was everything I expected …
Many people have asked me what my favourite part of our trip to Europe, and the answer is easy—meeting Petra Carter and attending her culinary school. Nestled in the heart of Languedoc, under the umbrella branches of the plane trees, rests Le Souqueto in the tiny village of Mirepeisset. This is the home of …
One delightful exception to our preconceived objections to cruising was the wonderful couple we met on the first night. We selected the late night seating for dinner at 9:30 pm so that we didn`t have to rush back for the early dinner. On the first night, there awaiting us, were two marvelous people named Ray …
We must confess that although this cruise ship is far superior than the ship we took to Alaska two years ago, we remain firmly, and resolutely, not cruisers. There is little appeal in being crammed in a supersized boat with 4500 passengers from 71 countries where the objective is simply to sell you something—all …
The last time we were in Rome, we decided to visit the Vatican one rainy morning. We arrived to a sea of people watching the Pope give mass on multiple outdoor screens around St. Peter`s Square. Ah, right. This was Sunday. Not going to happen… So this time, we got off the cruise ship, took …
Next stop. San Gimignano. This is the village I have been waiting to visit. Fifteen years ago, I visited the Medieval village of San Gimignano and was fortunate enough to be given a tour of the village by the mayor’s daughter. I fell in love with its rich history of dueling families, each competing for …
Just outside the Medieval of San Gimignano is a bustling winery called, Tenuta Torciano Winery, where we had one of the most boisterous and entertaining wine tasting. The energetic patriarch of this 400-year-old wine estate is Pierluigi (Luigi) Giachi who walked us through the art of wine. First he instructed us to raise our …
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