Category Archives: Get-Aways

Sea Glass Jello- {Hand-Held, Summertime, Sweet Treat}

Every summer my family and I head East to Boston’s South Shore for a bit of rest and relaxation. One of our favorite activities to do together is hunt for sea glass on New England’s beaches. On our living room mantle sits a jar of sea glass. We add a handful of collected glass to [...]

Real Women of Philadelphia with Paula Deen- a sneak peek

Welcome to Savannah… where the hospitality is always warm, and the tea is always sweet!
I survived an entire day of judging the Real Women of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cook Off yesterday… and by that I mean meeting 16 very excited and enthusiastic finalists, tasting all of their fabulous recipes, and hanging out with Paula Deen, [...]

Visit to an Italian Asiago Cheese Factory

This is the 3rd of four cheese producing factories that I visited on my trip to Italy with Sam’s Club cheese buyers: Monti Trentini, run by the Finco family. The Finco’s draw on their 80 years of experience with milk to produce Asiago, Provolone & Grana Padano. They pride themselves on combining both tradition and [...]

Visit to an Italian Provolone Factory (+ Recipes)

This is the 2nd of four cheese producing factories that I visited on my trip to Italy with Sam’s Club cheese buyers:  Auricchio, one of the best-selling Provolone producers in the world.  This cheese business is crazy stuff.  SO much going on in these factories… I’m telling ya, you’d be amazed.  Provolone is a whole-milk cow cheese.  [...]

Visit to an Italian Gorgonzola Factory (+ recipes)

On my trip to Italy with Sam’s Club cheese buyers, we visited four cheese producing factories. One of the factories we toured was IGOR- makers of Gorgonzola. For 3 generations, the Leonardi family have run the Gorgonzola business. This was by far the largest, most modern factory of those we visited. You’ll see in my [...]

Searching for the Best Cheeses… in Italy

I had the unique opportunity last week of accompanying cheese buyers for Sam’s Club on a trip to Italy. 

The goal of the trip was to search for 24 of the best cheeses in the world for the purpose of bringing them into Sam’s Club stores to share with members. 

I didn’t really know what to expect [...]

NYC Celebrity Journey… “Into the Heart of Italy” Premiere

Bertolli recently launched a new series of webisodes titled “Into the Heart of Italy: Six Adventures, Three Celebrities, One Mission… To Unlock the Secrets of Italian Passion for Food and Life.” This online series features celebrity chef Rocco Dispirito and actors Marisa Tomei and Dan Cortese as they explore the food and culture of Italy. [...]

Food Blogger Camp: Ixtapa Mexico, 2010

The moment this conference was announced, I started saving my pennies.  I was lucky enough to attend Food Blogger Camp last week featuring some experts in the field of food writing.  And the best part?… it was held in Mexico at Club Med Ixtapa.  My family tagged along, and we called it a quasi- vacation.  I [...]

Pumpkin & Spinach Manicotti with Bechamel- Sage Sauce

I recently attended the BlogHer food conference in San Francisco, where I had the opportunity to meet loads of other bloggers that I’ve known forever via Twitter & blog visiting, etc. It was truly exciting to meet face-to-face so many fabulous and talented food writers, bloggers and cookbook authors all in one place (far too many [...]

New England Vacation… Foodie Highlights & Sights

I just returned from a fabulous, relaxing family vacation in New England. The weather wasn’t the best this summer, but we did manage to snag a few good beach days and we didn’t experience the intense high heat and humidity that New England can typically bring. I’ll share food-related travel highlights in today’s post, and [...]

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Apples & Garam Masala

I quietly celebrated my birthday recently with a trip to visit my sister in Washington. I always so enjoy traveling to the Northwest in the fall. It reminds me of the East Coast with all of its colorful trees and other seasonal sights like pumpkins on doorsteps and endless piles of leaves.
On a morning walk [...]

Happy, Happy Hour on the Beach

Happy Hour originated in the US Navy in the 1920’s. “Happy” was given the meaning of “slightly drunk.” Today, many bars and restaurants give drink discounts and run appetizer specials for Happy Hour between the hours of 4pm and 7pm during the work week. Workers use it as an excuse to have a drink and [...]

Pork Tenderloin with BLUEBERRY Barbecue Sauce

In keeping with the “blueberry”/vacation theme, I’ll share the wonderful pork tenderloin recipe that we grilled on our vacation thanks to Oprah’s O Magazine: Pork Tenderloin with Blueberry Barbecue Sauce. I don’t really know why I get O Magazine. Though I’ve always been an Oprah fan, I rarely actually read the magazine but instead flip [...]

Blueberry- Cinnamon Muffins… or "What To Do With Loads of Blueberries!"

One of the many things I love about New England is the abundance of enormous, juicy Blueberries! We have access to blueberries here in Southern California but we don’t have cute little plants for picking blueberries anywhere that I know of here in So Cal, and it’s impossible to find the fabulous sort that are [...]

My New England Vacation (with food highlights, of course!)

Well friends, I’ve been holding out on you… but I return today from a month-long vacation in New England. That explains my MIA status in visiting not a single blog in the last 30 days. We stayed in a beach house north of Cape Cod where we enjoyed the sun and sand, visiting relatives, evening [...]

Vegas, Baby! $$$

Last Friday, the husband and I skipped off to Las Vegas for two short nights to meet friends for some fun in the sun and casinos. Hubby met me there via a business trip.
So this is how I began my solo flight…