Culture & Cuisine
Food is seriously one of my favourite things about travel. I love trying out new dishes and snacks whenever I’m abroad (and even when I go on a local adventure near home). While I was in China, there were so many opportunities for me to try out different cuisines, street foods and snacks and I eagerly took every opportunity my stomach allowed (I can only...
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Culture & Cuisine
When I first put together this recipe, I was craving something grilled, but I wanted to prepare it a bit different than usual. So I thought of Benihana, a teppanyaki-style restaurant we have out where we live. M loves eating out at Benihana, but I’d never thought to make it at home before because it seemed like a lot of work especially because M and...
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Culture & Cuisine / Language Resources
Food is a big part of any travel experience for me. Aside from visiting sites both popular amongst tourists and off the beaten path, I consider a successful trip one where I’ve had the opportunity to try out the local cuisine and some of the best restaurants in the area. Of course, because food is such an important part of my experiences abroad, dining etiquette...
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Culture & Cuisine
While I was in China, I ate as much as I possibly could. There are so many delicious dishes that if I wasn’t sitting down for a meal, I was picking up a snack from a street vendor hoping that I’d walk it all off by the end of the trip. 🙂 One of the dishes that I discovered while in Beijing was 老醋花生 lǎo...
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Culture & Cuisine / Travel
Established in Marseille, France in 1723, Maille has since opened boutiques featuring its mustards, cornichons, salad dressings, and oils in Paris, London, New York, and Bordeaux. Antoine-Claude Maille, a distillateur-vinaigrier (distiller and vinegar-maker), saw great potential in vinaigre (vinegar) and so he invented the “Vinaigre des quatre voleurs” (Vinegar of the Four Thieves) meant to be swallowed by the teaspoon along with water to fight the...
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Culture & Cuisine
I love soft pretzels. I know they aren’t the healthiest option when it comes to snack foods, but there’s just something about them that keeps me coming back. I know I’m not the only one who is tempted by the enticing smells whenever they pass a pretzel vendor in a shopping center! So in lieu of indulging in the less healthy options in either the...
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Culture & Cuisine / Travel
Each time M and I go back to France to visit family, we try to experience new things, eat at new places, and visit new sites. Our trip often falls on one of our birthdays or anniversaries, so we always take the time to go somewhere special. On one of our outings, we decided to visit La Table des Gourmets on Rue de Lombards, not...
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Culture & Cuisine / Travel
When it comes to pastries, chocolates, and macarons, there are an endless numbers of shops to choose from in Paris. But when it comes to the Breton pastry kouign amann and its bite-size companion, kouignettes, there’s one particular spot that comes to mind – Maison Georges Larnicol. The location on Boulevard Saint-Germain is one of three Paris locations, but the original family owned business was...
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Culture & Cuisine
M and I absolutely love spicy foods. We’re constantly looking for new and creative ways to flavor up our dishes with a little bit of spice and we’ve settled on chipotle peppers as one of our favorite ways to give our food a bit of a kick. The chipotle carrots are something that I’ve been making for a while, but the Arrogant Bastard Chipotle...
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Culture & Cuisine / Travel
Macarons, delicious meringue-based cookies that come in a variety of flavours, are a staple item in French bakeries despite their 8th century Italian origins. So how did an Italian treat find its way into French hearts? Via Catherine de Medici. Upon her marriage to Henry II of France, Catherine de Medici brought along a few of her Italian pastry chefs in 1533. At this time,...
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