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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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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