As Jubilados (Spanish for retirees) and foodies part of our global experience is to discover the best restaurants in places we visit
“I ran down to your place this morning and stole juniper berries from your kitchen—couldn’t find them anywhere on our way or earlier grocery travels yesterday.” Yikes, I thought when I received this message from Lynn when we were in Norway. Long overdue for a cleanup, my spice cupboard was a bit of an embarrassment. Last week in a rare burst of housecleaning energy, I tackled the job. “A good thing” as Martha would say. Three good things actually—a tidy drawer, a blog source and a new recipe.
Pumpkins. Mushrooms. Persimmons. Mmmm…
Late autumn ripens my memories of Japan.
To the night Lynn, Ward, Magellan and I, dressed in kimonos, ate kaiseki at Ryokan Kurashiki. “Dishes of October, The feast to do the sight of autumn colors,” served by a kindly Japanese woman in the autumn of her life who Ward nicknamed “Ryokan Mommy.”
When people ask, “How was the food in Norway?” they often follow it up with “Did you eat at that famous restaurant in the Faroe Islands?” “Did you get a reservation at Noma?” “Did you go to Fäviken in Sweden?” Super foodies specify the chefs: Poul Ziska, René Redzepi and Magnus Nilsson, respectively.
No, we did not.
Years before these men became world-famous chefs, a woman chef in Norway quietly pioneered New Nordic Cuisine—Heidi Bjerkan at Credo, the restaurant she opened in 1999.
If you’re a jubilado and you’ve been camping all your life, you may have had a set of flimsy aluminum pots. Like ours, vintage 1970, guaranteed, even at the lowest heat, to burn water, their handles, without a thermal potholder, certain to burn your fingers.
When we bought Rove-Inn three summers ago after a camping hiatus that lasted decades, I tossed those aluminum hazards. And began a weeks-long search for quality cooking pots that wouldn’t burn our food or occupy much space.
Searching “Camping cookware/camping pots” was fruitless. “RV Camping cookware/camping pots” came up short. Sticking “quality” or “best” into the search didn’t help. Don’t ask me what combination of words finally led me to John and Mandi’s blogpost of September 6, 2014. As soon as I saw their photos and read Mandi’s review, I was in love with the Magma 10 Piece Gourmet Nesting Stainless Steel Cookware Set.
Have you been watching the Netflix series Chef’s Table?
Did you see Season 4 Episode 2 about Caffé Sicilia in the baroque hilltop town of Noto in southeastern Sicily?
“I knew that I was in paradise,” says Faith Willinger in the opening minutes, describing her first taste of Corrado Assenza’s aromatic, flavourful and creamy almond gelato.
Caffé Sicilia is the Sistine Chapel of sweets and Corrado Assenza, master craftsman and creative genius, is the Michelangelo of sweets.
It was Ruth Ann’s idea for our annual holiday. “I want to go to Dawson City,” she said, quite firmly.
We settled on meeting there on June 7 and staying four nights. A few days after we reserved our Air North flights, Magellan said he was going to drive up, meet me on June 11 and then he and I were going to drive up to Tuktoyaktak. The elders shall have their way—and I’m grateful to them both.