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...