Search Results for: food

Global Food : A Night in Ireland

October 26, 2015

Something many Land of Marvels readers might not realize is that I love to cook. It’s always been a big passion of mine and baking, cooking, and hosting dinner parties is something that I love to do and try to do as much as my schedule permits. Food is also such a huge part of travel and as Nick and I have ventured around the world, we’ve fallen in love with so many cultures through their food. So in this new Land of Marvels series, as I learn to cook different cultural food from around the world, I’ll share the process and recipes here so you can have an exotic culinary adventure yourself as well! Welcome to Global Food: A Night in Ireland!

Before I get into my Mexico posts (which are starting tomorrow!), I wanted to go back a few weeks to recap another Global Food dinner party I recently hosted. My grandparents recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and in celebration of that, I hosted them and other family members at our apartment for a Night in Ireland! My grandmother’s family is from Ireland and the country has always had a great impact on our family over the years. So I thought, what better way to celebrate than with a country-themed dinner!

I drew inspiration for the menu from our trip to Ireland a couple years ago as well as some classic UK favorites from various trips. I wanted the flavors of that part of the world to really come through, as well as for the dinner to be full of classic, comforting foods with little touches of Ireland throughout.

My table-scape was gray and white with touches of deep greens throughout. Green candles, olive-green succulents for the centerpiece and green and white napkins helped set that theme. As to cooking, I started early in the day with the prep work for the vegetables, then moved onto the Soda Bread, preparing the cheeses for appetizer and roasting the vegetables for my soup course. I also prepared my leg of lamb in a marinade and then roasted it for a couple hours while everything else was finished up. Finally, it was time to pull everything together and here’s what we enjoyed for a Night in Ireland and how to replicate some of the recipes yourself!

Global Food : A Night in Italy

August 25, 2015

A few weeks ago we had a gap in our travel schedule and after trying to get a group of our friends together for a while, we landed on a weekend where everyone was free. I make homemade pasta every once in a while and was craving a good old fashioned Italian dinner. Cooking for eight, Nick and I started our Saturday morning bright and early at the local Farmer’s Market. We wandered through the stalls, editing our menu as we went. Loosely, I knew the first course would be burrata (but I was open to was would accompany it), the main course would be pasta (one ravioli and one fettuccine dish), and our dessert was homemade tiramisu (which I had made the night before). We looked at all the fresh produce and decided on our final items, plus picked up a bundle of fresh lavender for the table.

After unloading our Farmer’s Market haul at home, it was time to get to work. I started on the bread: a Rosemary and Sea Salt Focaccia (see recipe below). As that was rising, I prepped everything I would need for my pasta and started my slow-cooked red sauce for the fettuccine. Then I moved on to the filling for my ravioli (a ricotta and shallot filling). Throughout the day we prepped our Night in Italy, moving from one item to the next.

Finally I got to setting my table complete with our fresh bundle of lavender, a canister of olive oil and setting menus at each place so our guests would know what was to be served. The dinner ended up being a success and we had such a lovely time, gathered around friends, eating fresh, homemade food and enjoying “la dolce vita!”

If you want to cook your own Night in Italy, take a look below at one of the recipes for the items I made for our Italian dinner at home!

10 Foods You Must Try Around the World

September 10, 2014

One of my favorite things about traveling is trying different kinds of food all over the world. It’s no secret that Nick and I both love to try different food, even here at home in Portland, and it’s something that makes travel so fun for us is to find amazing food around the world. So far in our travels, we’ve had some incredible meals around the globe, food we still crave to this day and when we look back at some of our trips, some of our favorite memories are the food we had there. So today, here are the 10 foods you must try in your lifetime, from all around the world. Obviously this list is only comprehensive of places we’ve been so far and will grow over time, but for today, here is the list (from places we’ve been so far) of the foods that have changed how we think of certain destinations.

Whether it’s croissants, macarons or tarts, France has some of the best pastries in the entire world. Many other countries try to replicate what France is famous for, but very few stand up to the test so spend your time in France tasting every pastry you can find.

Even though my extent of time in Japan is to a few hour layover at Narita Airport earlier this year, one thing I can tell you is that ramen in Japan (even in the airport) is nothing like it is anywhere else in the world. I’ve had a lot of ramen in my life in places with heavy Asian influence like Hawaii, but the ramen we enjoyed in Japan (and I know it wasn’t even the best that Japan has to offer in the airport) was amazing.

One of the meals Nick and I still talk about regularly, the Cambodian BBQ we had on our last night in Siem Reap is one of the best meals we’ve had traveling, ever. This BBQ/noodle soup was seriously incredible and I crave it often.

You really can’t go to Italy and not have gelato because it’s pretty amazing. The texture and flavors are not easily replicated elsewhere and I had gelato for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert during our few trips through the country. I’m partial to Stracciatella but all the flavors are delicious!

One day while in Marrakech, Nick and I had lunch at a little restaurant near the Koutoubia Mosque. We ordered chicken bastille and devoured it. A few hours later for dinner, we ventured back to the same restaurant and ordered it again… it was that amazing. This layered pie type dish is filled with ground chicken, nuts and spices, wrapped in filo dough and then covered in powdered sugar and cinnamon. It’s one of those dishes that really shouldn’t work, but it just somehow does.

If you like Indian food, there is obviously no place to have better Indian food than in India itself. My favorite dish, Aloo Ghobi, is a mixture of spiced potatoes and cauliflower and I devoured the dish many times on our trip to India earlier this year. Nick is still asking every Indian restaurant we go to if they have Butter Naan like we had in India and to his disappointment, no they don’t. I’m not sure what they did to it, but the butter naan we had in India along with Aloo Ghobi was simply incredible.

One thing my time in Korea was not short on was food. My coworkers would take me out to eat a lot while I was there working and one thing we had a lot of (which was totally ok with me) was Korean BBQ. I’ve never tasted meat like that before (or since) and something about the small side dishes served with the BBQ’ed meat was just irresistible.

On our last trip through the UK last November, we had Sticky Toffee Pudding almost every night there. This incredible dessert is hard to find in the US but one of my favorites. Served with clotted cream or ice cream and caramel sauce, it’s hard to not love this rich dessert.

One thing that could get me back to New Orleans (which wasn’t my favorite city all together) are the beignets. I couldn’t get enough of these fried dough shapes covered in heaps of powdered sugar.

I don’t eat a lot of lobster but I couldn’t pass up the chance for a lobster roll in Maine last year. It was everything I hoped, moist lobster on a fresh roll and a butter sauce making it sweet. You can’t pass up a chance to sample this famous dish while in New England!

The Best of Geneva

July 7, 2024

I fell in love with Geneva on my first trip and immediately upon return booked a return trip back a year later, so if you’re headed there, you’ll love it! Geneva is a beautiful vibrant city, with a calm sophistication and while Switzerland is definitely on the more expensive end of trips to Europe, this city is definitely worth a visit! So for all my tips and advice for traveling in Switzerland, here is the best of Geneva and how to have an amazing trip there.

Arrival into Geneva

You can arrive into Geneva by train, by car, or by plane – each with its perks and draw backs and we’ve done all three. By train is pretty easy as you’ll arrive right into the city center and it’s a quick walk to get to the main part of Geneva. We stayed in the Dorciere neighborhood right on Lake Geneva and it was a quick 5 minute walk to the Hotel Bristol from the central Gare Cornavin. By car, you can drive fairly easily into Geneva and we did it with a rental car on our first trip to Geneva. The roads are wide and easy to navigate – the hardest part of driving into Geneva is the parking situation so be sure you know where you’re headed and what the parking will be when you arrive. By plane, the airport is a very fast 7 minute train into the city, so once you land, follow the signs to the train, buy a ticket and head into the city – from there you can follow the same advice as above since you’ll be arriving into the city center by train.

Walk the City

I’ve previously shared all the see and do if you just have 1 day in Geneva but if you’re looking to spend more time there, you’ll want to wander the city on foot to see it best. From the Old Town to the Rue Basses, there are beautiful neighborhoods throughout the city. As the city mainly is centered around the Lake, you can’t really ever get lost so find an area each day to wander and you can see all of the city on foot.

Boden Jacket (similar) | Lululemon Cargos (similar) | Converse Platforms | Zara Crossbody Purse (similar) | Sunglasses

Where to Eat

Food is always the best part of travel in my opinion and Geneva has a wealth of amazing places. For where to eat, here are some of my favorites:

White Rabbit Brunch & Co. – This spot is amazing for breakfast and honestly if we had had more days in town in the morning, we would have gone again. It has gluten and dairy free options and everything was delicious!

Molino Ristorante and Pizzeria – For Italian, this is one of my favorites in Geneva. Conveniently located in the main square near the shopping area, grab a table outside here in nice weather, enjoy a glass of wine and some pasta or pizza and you won’t be disappointed.

Globus Food Hall – This is a great food hall in the Globus Shopping Center and it has a ton of options to choose from!

Cafe de Centre – This bistro style spot in the main square near the shopping center has lots of outdoor seating in the warm months and delicious food and wine. It’s also open on Sundays when many of the other restaurants are not!

Where to Stay

We’ve stayed at the Hotel Bristol twice now and both stays were excellent. The location can’t be beat and the staff are lovely, plus the rooms are large by European standards!

Tips for Geneva

This tip goes for Switzerland in general, but expect everything to be expensive. We found the smaller items like bottles of water and souvenirs to be the most expensive, while meals were slightly more than we are used to. Your time in Switzerland will cost more than neighboring countries like Italy and France so just be prepared!

Headed to Switzerland?

See more of our posts on the country here!

5 Years Dairy Free and All my Tips for Making Being Dairy Free Easier

May 28, 2024

I’ve been dairy free for 5 years this year and honestly it’s been a journey! You can read more about the reasons behind my decision to cut dairy out of my diet here but in general, I was having some major health issues 5 years ago and decided to try cutting dairy from my diet and it took away nearly all of the symptoms I was experiencing. In the last 5 years, I’ve learned so many ways to make it easier to be dairy free, especially while traveling, and after years of figuring out how to stay healthy, here today are all my tips for making being dairy free easier and the products that I swear by.

Milk for My Coffee

One of the things I knew early on in my dairy-free journey that I couldn’t give up was my morning latte. I don’t usually have multiple cups of coffee but I need my latte in the morning to get my day started. After years of using milk in my latte, when I went dairy free, I tried multiple options for plant-based milks and Oat Milk is definitely my favorite. I use a couple different kinds of oat milk at home and while traveling (see below) and most of the world now offers Oat Milk as an option at restaurants and coffee shops (except for places like Italy) but when in doubt, just ask!

My favorite Oat Milk Brand that I Use At Home

In Europe, This Brand is Often Easier to Find

When In a Pinch, I Use this Powdered Version of Oat Milk

Cooking With Vegan Butter or Olive Oil

When I am able to cook my own food or have access to a grocery store when traveling, I immediately stock up on this vegan butter and a good quality olive oil. Between those options, you can pretty much cook whatever you need totally dairy-free. I even bake with this vegan butter and you’d never know it’s dairy-free!

Know Which Chain Restaurants and Coffee Shops can accommodate Dairy Free

I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing which places to eat at or which coffee shops can accommodate being dairy free over the years. Starbucks is a good option anywhere in the world because they’ll always have plant based milks available. I have also found most coffee chains in the UK and throughout Europe have great dairy free options. This also goes for chain restaurants – it’s good to know which spots you can go to and always know that it’s dairy free. In the US, Chipotle is a good example of this where it’s easy to eat dairy free. Whether at home or while traveling, figure out the places that you’ll have locally that will have good options.

When in Doubt, Just ask.

I have found that most places, especially restaurants, will make an effort to accommodate your dietary needs if you just ask. Let them know what you need nicely and more than likely, they’ll work with you!

Global Food : A Night in Ireland

Global Food : A Night in Italy

10 Foods You Must Try Around the World