Travelling Lore

I can't believe that Christmas is over and we're about to say goodbye to 2015 and welcome in the year 2016 already!  Looking back on 2015, I feel so blessed for so many things.  I visited the west coast for the first time; I traveled through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; and got engaged to the most wonderful man with whom I'll get to spend the rest of my life! :) Time flies so fast that I wanted to take a moment to revisit some of the highlights of 2015.  It was so difficult to choose just a few photos out of all the fun adventures I had.  But choose I did, so without further ado.... Trekking through SoCal and observing wildlife in La Jolla ( link ). Fishing for the very first time ever in Florida ( link ). Exploring Venice by gondola ( link ). Driving through the Julian Alps in Slovenia ( link ). View of Rovinj, Croatia from Island Hotel Katarina ( link ). Plitvice Lakes National Park, home to some stu...

Okay, so I might not be the best food and/or dessert photographer, but I promise you that this is one of the best cakes I've ever made!  Even my fiance said it was the best cake he's ever eaten!  I had some leftover cranberries to use so naturally I searched Pinterest for dessert ideas and behold, OMG Chocolate Desserts' recipe for Christmas Cranberry Pound Cake fell into my lap.  She has much better pictures of this scrumptious dessert than I do, so check out her blog for a more photogenic cake. As many of you know, cranberries are tart on their own, but this recipe sweetens them right up!  Also, as usual, I made a few modifications to her original recipe to suit my preferences.  I used all-purpose flour because it's what I had on hand (just make sure to sift it well!); less granulated sugar than was originally called for; and heavy cream and cream cheese instead of mascarpone cheese, which I couldn't immediately find in my local grocery store. ...

While I blog mostly about travel, sometimes I like to mix it up and write about a different topic.  So when I'm not blogging about travel, I blog about food and wine.  Today I bring to you Against All Grain 's amazing recipe for lamb stew with dried plums .  I almost never eat lamb, but this recipe looked too good to pass up and I'm a sucker for stews/soups!  Lamb is more traditionally eaten around Easter, but if you eat lamb for Christmas this recipe would work well for any left over meat. I did make a few modifications to the recipe, though.  The original recipe calls for using a dutch oven, butternut squash, salt, removing the carrots after the first hour of cooking, and making an onion puree.  However, I don't own a dutch oven and I find that using a regular "stew" pot and keeping the lid on keeps the moisture in just as well and has resulted in some quite tasty stews!  I used red potatoes instead of butternut squash because it's what I had on h...

I know I'm barely squeezing into the reasonable time frame for purchasing Christmas gifts online, but like the rest of you, I'm sure, December has been a crazy busy month.  So bear with me!  There are tons of bloggers out there compiling great lists of gift ideas for him and/or her, fashion, beauty, you name it.  But I haven't seen a single list of ideas for people who love to travel (I could have easily missed them, though!).  So voila--behold my list of gift ideas for jetsetters! Gregory backpack | RFID blocking sleeves | Refillable perfume bottle | water bottle SlimFold wallet  | jewelry organizer | Eagle Creek packing cubes Gregory Women's Deva 70 Backpack ($319) If you love to hike, backpack, or travel around countries with cobblestones and rough streets, this is a great gift.  I thought my fiance's recommendation that I wear a pack instead of using a roller bag on our last trip was ridiculous, but I quickly found out how smart of an i...

After our scenic drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway, we finally made it to Asheville, NC and checked into our roadside hotel for the night.  Hotels are pretty expensive during leaf peeping season, so definitely plan in advance if you want to save a few dollars by booking your hotel early.  Asheville is a city in western North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains that, aside from the iconic Blue Ridge Parkway drive, boasts the Biltmore Mansion, music heritage, and a great food and beer scene. As an early Christmas present from my fiance's parents, we were able to visit Biltmore Estate .  The Châteauesque Biltmore House was built between 1889 and 1895 by George Washington Vanderbilt II and is currently owned by a Vanderbilt descendant.  The entrance fee is pretty steep, but I thought it was pretty interesting to walk through a house that was more or less advance for its time, such as installing a 70,000-gallon heated swimming pool and one of the nation's first...

A couple of years ago back when my fiance and I were still a relatively new item we decided to take a weekend to go explore Asheville, North Carolina.  In order to get there you can drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway , which is known for having overlooks and pull offs to small hikes so that you can explore and find spectacular views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The drive is extremely popular during autumn when the leaves are changing colors. There are a ton of overlooks between Virginia and North Carolina.  Since it was a 7-hour drive from northern Virginia to Asheville, in the interest of time we opted to stop at Rough Ridge Overlook , one of the most well-known trails along the parkway. The hike isn't very long, but some parts are steep and you have to navigate over some small boulders, which can be slick depending on recent weather.  There's also a boardwalk to climb, which was built to keep hikers from destroying the ecosystem.  Once you get to t...

While I don't follow a Whole30 diet, though I do try to eat well, I enjoy the recipes they post on Instagram and draw inspiration from them.  This is the first time I've gotten off my butt to make one of their featured recipes, cranberry sauce, just in time for you to make while you're waiting for that turkey to finish cooking!  It's incredibly easy to take and doesn't really take longer than 10 minutes. Cranberry Sauce Ingredients: 12 oz. whole cranberries 1 cup apple cider 3/4 cup juice from an orange 3 dates, pitted and chopped 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg (optional) Instructions: Preparing the pie crust: In a pot over medium heat, combine the cranberries, apple cider, and orange juice.  When you hear the cranberries start to pop, turn the heat to medium-low and begin to stir. When most of the cranberries are popped, add the chopped dates and walnuts and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Let simmer ...

I've been bouncing around a lot this month with a work trip, a short personal vacation, and everything else in between.  Like free food when shopping around for wedding caterers, yum!  But what better time to sit down and get back into the swing of things with a divine pie recipe just in time for Thanksgiving! Naturally this is a Pinterest find.  I was searching around on the internet for the cranberry pie recipe we've made the past few years, but it must only be in a recipe book as I couldn't find it.  However, during the search process I found this gem of a cranberry pecan pie recipe on I should be mopping the floor's blog .  Pumpkin pie will always be my favorite, but pecan pie is a close second and I love how festive the pie looks when adding the cranberries.  Plus they're full of antioxidants which makes this pie healthy, right?! I normally make a wheat flour-based pie crust and I try a different recipe each time since I haven't found the per...

I'm a gigantic pizza fan, so obviously it's one of my favorite foods.  So when I saw this Julia Child's Eggplant Pizza recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen floating around on Pinterest, I thought I'd give it a try.  Why not?  I'd love to learn another way to incorporate eggplant into my cooking, plus it's a healthier alternative to real pizza.  I'm all for carbs, but sometimes I just don't want all of that bread! It takes some time to make simply because you have to wait for the salt to drain some of the water out of the eggplant slices, but overall these eggplant pizzas are extremely easy to make.  See below for my modified recipe! Slice the eggplant into rounds of same thickness.  Coat each side with salt and let them sit on paper towels for 30 minutes while the salt draws out the water from the eggplant. Sautee the finely chopped garlic until fragrant.  Then combine the petite diced tomatoes, dried Italian seasoning, and dried oregano.  Le...