Browsing CategoryFood

Road trip: Watching my dinner swim in Halifax

Each one looked so peaceful. They were all swimming around and climbing over one another in a playful sibling sort of way, vying for what little space was left in their waterfront home. They had no idea what was going on. They had no idea that they would soon be whisked away into a shopping basket and weighed for sale. These innocent lobsters had no idea that they were going to become my very lavish dinner. I don’t like to see my food alive. I am no vegetarian, but I can certainly understand the sentiment when an animal, or crustacean in…

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Road trip: More than cheesesteak in Philly

I went to Philly for the cheesesteak. No, really, I did. Well, to anyone who knows me, going somewhere just to eat something wouldn’t seem silly at all. My love affair with food is almost as critical as my love affair with travel. Almost. After all the talk of the rivalry between Pat’s and Geno’s, and the testaments from die-hard Philadelphians, what more could I do than visit and eat for myself? We drove into the city at midday. The skies were gray and the weather was crisp, not a particularly beautiful day at all. As we parked across from Pat’s…

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Uncle Jorge

A slushy machine? Jorge, the bartender of the millennium, set the tall glasses in front of us, complete with the little umbrella and a cherry, and waited patiently for our reactions. I did not have high expectations. Had I not already seen Andrew Zimmern’s shocked reaction, I would have been just as surprised that the “original” and supposed best Piña Colada, was a pre-made mixture from a slushy machine. I tried it. The sticky, humid temperature of the evening made that first cold sip quenching and almost heavenly. It really was the best Piña Colada I had ever tasted! We told Jorge exactly…

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Café in the plaza

Trying to channel my inner artist and writer, I searched endlessly for Cuatro Estaciones Café, a café known as a popular meeting place for artists and writers. After asking hotel guest services, several locals on the street, the girl behind the jewelry shop counter, and the man in the restaurant opposite the plaza, all of whom had no idea what I was talking about, I thought I might never find it. But lo and behold, the third person we asked at the tourist bureau knew what it was and where to find it. And when I finally saw it, I…

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Through the window of a shrimp truck

My search for a travel friendly, cubicle-free lifestyle ended with a shrimp truck. Well, not ended exactly, more like made a pit stop. Yes, a shrimp truck, as in prepare shrimp, cook shrimp, and serve shrimp right from the truck. I never imagined what I could see from the inside of a restaurant on wheels. Actually, I suppose I never imagined I would ever be inside a restaurant on wheels. But the travel bug makes me do crazy things. Throughout the bustling and trend-hungry streets of Los Angeles, there is an underground culinary culture that is ‘The Food Truck.’ And…

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Today, travel came to me

Today I am a traveler, and I haven’t even left home! Lines of locals and tourists alike littered the streets trying to get into a street food fair in downtown Los Angeles. I am seeing new parts of my own city. Who knew we had a food fair? I get to eat food ALL day?! Definitely my kind of day. I think this might be a small slice of heaven. Its almost like an assembly of all these different countries got together to share their fabulous food with me (and a thousand other people). They even gave me a passport!…

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