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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Culture & Cuisine
While M and I were on our Carnival Cruise with the Capital Jazz Super Cruise, we had the chance to visit Martinique. One of the first things I do prior to whenever we visit a new place, is do a bit of research online to discover popular local dishes and drinks (but sometimes I just stumble across them after our arrival). One of the dishes...
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Culture & Cuisine / Culture & History / Language Resources / Travel
The following is a post from Hanbridge Mandarin. You can learn more and enter their red envelope lottery by visiting their website. As a side note, Chinese New Year starts today – February 8, 2016! How to Say Chinese New Year in Chinese Chinese New Year 中国新年 Zhōnɡ Guó Xīn Nián Spring Festival 春节 Chūn Jiē Lunar New Year 农历新年 Nónɡ Lì Xīn Nián When...
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Culture & Cuisine / Travel
When one thinks of France, one of the images that often comes to mind – along with Paris, the Eiffel Tower, and cheese, of course – is that of Champagne. The historic Champagne region is located in the northeast of France and is best known for – you guessed it – the bubbly, white wine that shares its name with the region. According to EU...
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Culture & Cuisine
Beef empanadas, chipotle dipping sauce and pumpkin empanadas are a delicious and complete meal that will have you imagining you’re wandering the food markets in Spain, or sitting along one of Mexico’s beautiful coastlines as you enjoy your food! This is a recipe that I have thought about doing since our trip to Spain back in April of this year. I had the opportunity to...
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Culture & Cuisine / Travel
One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to explore local restaurants and shops, trying out foods and products that I might not find anywhere else in the world. These discoveries, to me, are a huge part of what makes travel so incredible and memorable. And now, I can bring a little bit of that experience home with me. I recently had the...
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Culture & Cuisine / Culture & History / Language Resources / Travel
About the Author // Ron Gullekson is a ‘language enthusiast’ with a background in German, Spanish, Arabic, and English. He runs Language Surfer where he shares his advice to language learners and his progress with the languages that he studies. Christmas in the Philippines The Long Tradition of Christmas In the 16th century, Spanish colonizers brought Catholicism to the Philippines. Now 85% of the Philippines’ 98...
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Culture & Cuisine / Culture & History / Language Resources / Travel
About the Contributor // I want to extend a huge thanks to Esther Julee of Local Adventurer for helping me research this post! Esther is a photographer and blogger currently based in San Diego, California where she writes about her travels along with her husband Jacob. A History of Christmas in Korea Korea began celebrating Christmas as a holiday in the year 1949. Since the...
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Culture & Cuisine / Culture & History / Language Resources / Travel
Today is the tenth day of the 12 Days of Christmas Around the World, so the countdown is on! And today, I’d like to share my second (and last) contribution to the series, before I let the other wonderful bloggers take over once more. In this post, I’d like to talk about Christmas in a country near and dear to my heart – France. How...
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Culture & Cuisine / Culture & History / Language Resources / Travel
About the Author // Chiara Grandola is the founder of Runaway Daydreamer. She’s a native Italian speaker and is passionate about all things languages, travel and entertainment. The origin of Christmas in Italy Italy stay true to its roots when it comes to Christmas and continues to focus on the same values the lie at the foundation of its culture: faith, family and food. As...
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