At a recent press lunch for journalists of the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association and New Jersey Press Association, Yang Chao Lu, owner of 88 Palace, presented a veritable banquet of dim sum dishes over several hours.
Gail Gerson-Whitte & 88 Palace manager Shi Fan Lu
But 88 Palace is more than a restaurant. It’s a microcosm of any Chinatown street, fun to explore and taste. Read more at…
Sitting stadium style looking out an entire glass walled side and half the ceiling of the specially outfitted bus, The Ride talks, in a deep resonating voice, not just to its customers but to people on the street as well.
The Ride, Chrysler Building ornament
The Ride deftly weaves Manhattan to give the audience a sense of the city’s energy and comedy. Read more at…
Mike’s Deli, David Grecodried tomatoes at Arthur Avenue Market
“I’m the mozzarella man,” says David Greco, and there’s a cigar man, cannoli women, a microbrewer and six other purveyors at the venerable Arthur Avenue Market in the Bronx.
Mario’s owner chef Joseph Migliuccis
New York still has neighborhoods such as Belmont in the Bronx and streets like Arthur Avenue that are pockets of an almost forgotten urban reality. Read more at…
Banyan on the Thames restaurant, Hotel Rafayel, London
The Hotel Rafayel is part of the remarkable 21st century transformation of the Docklands, the East End and South London from post industrial wasteland into the vibrant, upscale, multi-ethnic residential and commercial city London’s east side of the Thames has become.
Lobby of the Rafayel on the Left Bank, Falcon Wharf, London, UK
Hotel Rafayel on the Left Bank has garnered praise for its attention to environmental details. From components for the actual building’s construction to its water catchment system, its eco-conscisousness only adds to its 21st century 5-Star charm.
Banyan on the Thames restaurant, Hotel Rafayel, London, UK
Rapid urban change has remodeled the river scape along the Thames recreating the bustle of a modern port of international commerce. Except now the product is more than likely to be transported by computer or jet than freighter.
The ArcelorMittal Orbit, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Olympic Park, London, UK (scheduled to open 04/2014 )
With a city as cosmopolitan as London, there could only be more articles appearing shortly on Travel with Pen and Palate.
London from the observation deck of the ArcelorMittal Orbit, London, UK
The Tate Modern Gallery is housed in a converted art deco power plant within walking distance along the Thames River walk just up from the Globe Theater. The clean lines of the sprawling space gives justice to both the subjects and size of many great and imaginative works. A voiceless short documentary from the Tate is an urban ballet.
Most state capitals were chosen for political reasons, frequently condemning them to regions of inconsequential and dubious economic value other than politics.
The candy bra at The Chocolate Bar, 805 W. Bannock, Boise, ID
But in Boise, Idaho, an entrepreneurial spirit is resulting in unique pockets of cultural activity.
The 25-mile Greenbelt along the Boise River in the Idaho capital is a haven for recreation, sustainable river ecology and a pollution free bike and pedestrian path connecting downtown with Boise State University as well as numerous hotels and cafes. This video highlights a spillway popular with surfers and kayakers. Video credit: Marc d’Entremont (travel with pen and palate)
Dinner at Sawtooth Winery, Nampa, ID – Zee Catering
The potato may still reign as Idaho’s number one production crop but in the agriculture section of the Twin Falls Sunday Times-News is a long list of local farmers selling everything from grass fed Tibetan yak to heirloom Anasazi® beans.
Salad of baby vegetables & foraged greens – Zee Catering at Sawtooth Winery
Sun Valley and adjacent Ketchum are by far Idaho’s wealthiest communities, yet that does not mean the offerings at the Sun Valley Harvest Festival are esoteric. From the many exhibitors this journalist learned that quinoa is a complete protein. Salting a sauté pan before frying vegetables prevents sticking. Hemp seeds are high in fiber, low in carbs and packed with iron.
Kelley of Manitoba Harvest’s Hemp Hearts – raw shelled hemp seeds
Out in the cooking tents a number of chefs demonstrated a range of foods. Award winning vegetarian chefs to A-list celebrities Tal Ronnen and Scot Jones of West Hollywood’s Crossroads restaurant presented a twist on traditional caponata as an entrée served on black quinoa and toasted buckwheat.
Chef Ronnen and Jones eggplant caponata over buckwheat and black quinoa
Even unique music was featured on the last day. Spike Coggins, primitive musician, enthralled guests with unique and original compositions accompanied by the banjo, harmonica and percussion instruments ranging from chains, spurs and metal cleated boots tapping out the rhythm on old railroad spikes.
The clear blue water in the immense Hotel Nikopolis pool mirrors the crystal sea of Thessaloniki’s vast harbor.
Hotel Nikopolis, Thessaloniki, Greece
The strikingly modern Hotel Nikopolis, built in 1999, is reminiscent in its clean lines of the marble and limestone structures of Greek antiquity.
photo courtesy of the Hotel Nikopolis, Thessaloniki, Greece
Chef Stefanos Stamidis commands the hotel’s handsome Da Vinci dining room. Its Italian name is no conceit.
Veal ribs were glazed in deep, rich balsamic vinegar on a bed of baby carrots
Historically located at the crossroads of empires, the city has sat at the intersection of the fabled spice route connecting the ancient worlds of the Mediterranean, Near East and the Orient.
Founded in 315 B.C.E. by King Cassander of Macedon, he wisely named the city after his wife, Thessalonike, sister to Alexander the Great. Thessaloniki, as a major port city with nearly 2,500 years of history has been at the crossroads of empires starting with Alexander the Great, followed by Rome, Byzantium and the Ottomans.
For a city bulging with a young educated population – 15% are university students.
Located at the intersection of the fabled spice route between Asia and Europe has had a profound effect on both the culture and cuisine of Thessaloniki. And its young population has made it a city of cafes.
Fava with squid and raisins from Thessaloniki’s Oval café
Fava beans with squid and raisins is a favorite among Oval cafe patrons and reflects a reality that the ingredients for Greek cuisine remain easily sourced from their home provinces. Follow my step-by-step recipe with photos and recreate this delicious dish.
Not unlike the deep respect for nature ingrained in Native American cultures, Hawaiians saw themselves as simply caretakers. ‘He ali’I no ka ‘aina, he hauva wale he kanaka’ – the land is chief; the human is but a servant.
High above what passes for tourist glitz on the Kona coast of the island of Hawai’i, the town of Hohualoa sits in early 20th century calm.
Overlooking the Kona coast
Holuakoa Gardens and Café is set within lush gardens complete with a meandering koi pond, yet their story of is more than a small café morphing into a successful restaurant; it’s an integral component in the revival of the Hawaiian ahupua’a system.
“In Greece, food is an excuse to meet friends,” says Nikita Patiniotis
Taverna To Kati Allo, Athens
With half the national population, Athens is Greek cuisine in microcosm. Nikita weaves his Athens market tour through the narrow streets of Monastiraki to taste Greece, and during several hours Context Travel’s Beyond Feta Athens food tour introduces travelers to many future new friends.
We’ll wander through bustling Athinas Street into the vast Varvakios Agora and understand why Greece is still the ancient center of the culinary world. Context Travel’s Beyond Feta walking tour illuminates a civilization. Come walk with me.
The pleasant evening temperature, the lack of car horns and loud music coupled with the sounds of conversation and relaxed dining, Greek national pastimes, create a culture in contrast to the 21st century’s frenetic pace.
Grilled Sea Bream, To Kati Allo, Athens
This is not tradition triumphing over the modern era; it is the modern era.
More than one spoonful of this sweet at a time would most likely make your teeth ache. But if the quality of the spoon sweet was deemed worthy, the bride could take a deep sigh of relief.
Athens will introduce the visitor to a life that’s beyond the microwave and the modern world’s overly scheduled itinerary. If you give in to the experience, you just may change your own way of life.
Ruins of the ancient Roman Agora looking out onto markets in modern Athens
The 1910 Dentzel/Looff carouselDentzel/Looff carousel’s Wurlitzer organ
My wife and I were elated when we spied the Carousel Arcade on the Seaside Heights, New Jersey, boardwalk this past Monday, 9 September 2013. Having ridden and admired its magnificent century old Dentzel/Looff hand carved carousel with its powerful Wurlitzer organ, we were unsure it survived Superstorm Sandy. Fortunately it had, and although the arcade was closed on this post-Labor Day Monday, we peered through the window and wished we had come down earlier in the summer.
The Dentzell/Looff carousel Seaside Heights, NJ, as seen 3 days before the September 12, 2013 fire.Repairs being made to Seaside Heights boardwalk on September 9, 2013
We were pleased the boardwalk, one of only a few remaining early 20th century examples of pre-digital mass entertainment, was being restored. Many small cottages that once were the summer homes to working and middle class families – along what have increasingly become beach communities for the wealthy – had not survived. Yet repair and restoration efforts were ongoing and there was hope that the character of this town, made infamous by MTV’s Jersey Shore, would survive both Snookie and Sandy.
1910 Dentzel-Looff carousel, Seaside Heights, NJ
Tragically, a mere three days later on Thursday, we listened in horror to the reports as most of the historic boardwalk went up in flames. The loss to the community is devastating. Yet miraculously the carousel with its intricately hand carved and decorated animals and the Wurlitzer player organ survived! The fire was suppressed just yards from its pavilion.
Lower Manhattan as seen from Governors Island, NY
Ironically, we had just spent the previous day at the Fete Paradiso on New York’s Governors Island. On a pleasant sunny day in this military base turned park in the middle of New York harbor, we marveled along with hundreds of children, and other adults behaving like children, over more than a dozen restored late 19th and early 20th century French carnival rides and games. These treasures are part of the personal collection of Frenchmen Francis Staub and Regis Masclet, and the installation on Governors Island is their first venture to make a traveling living museum of what entertainment used to be.
Flying swings, early 20th century, at Fete Peradiso
The Vélocipèdes is the centerpiece of the collection. One of only two remaining, this 19th-century French carousel ran on pedal power. It was created in Paris to encourage the use of bicycles as a cleaner mode of personal urban transportation than horses. Although it’s pedal power that starts the carousel, they drive a motor invented by Nikola Tesla that adds surprising speed to the ride. The other Velocipedes is in a Paris museum and was featured in Woody Allen’s film Midnight in Paris.
Singer at Fete Paradiso
Other features include flying swings, a children’s carousel, a mechanical ball toss game of life-size caricatures of celebrities such as Charlie Chaplin and Josephine Baker and a magnificent mechanical pipe organ. Fete Paradiso recreates the feel of a summer carnival with entertainers from fire-eaters and sword swallowers to musicians crooning French love songs and an outdoor café created by New York’s bistro Le Gamin. For an afternoon the Fete Paradiso reminded me that people will restore and revel in a past that can still become the future.
With the active encouragement of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement and the considerable resources of the Kamehameha School agricultural land use initiative, the future for serious small farmers has rarely been brighter in the islands. With over 300 independent farms growing Kona Coffee and several dozen growing cocoa beans, the future for these Hawaii agricultural products is robust.
cocoa pods at Original Hawaiian Chocolate, Kona, Hi
The Kona Coffee Belt, panoramic Hawaii Route 180, hugs the Kona coast. Several dozen farms, including UCC-Hawaii Kona Coffee Estate and Original Hawaiian Chocolate offer tours and tastings. It’s no surprise that coffee and chocolate pair well together, but their Hawaiian story is just as interesting.
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