Back Trackin', Rhode Island Edition - Rhode Island's "Wine Country"

Parts of this post were originally published on my wedding blog, Chic...Personal...Fun, and Weddingbee.com.

While Husband J and I spent a lot of time on boats and on the water during our first couple of days of our mini-post-wedding getaway in Newport, Rhode Island, Newport has other places to experience that don't require a lifevest or cause seasickness.

One thing that I failed to mention before was that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law were kind enough to give us a little basket of mini-moon cheer for our time in Newport. In addition to the sail boat trip we had (and other cute gift basket items), they also gave us a gift certificate for a tour and tasting at Newport Vineyards. Yes, that's right. While it's not Napa, Rhode Island has got its own little wine making area right next to Newport in neighboring Middletown and Portsmouth, Rhode Island. In addition to Newport Vineyards, Greenvale Vineyard is just a short drive from the heart of downtown Newport.

One of the winemakers checking on some Cabernet

Being the foodie that I am, it would be awfully whack of me not to make some wine suggestions. Personally, we liked the whites the best, particularly the Great White, In the Buff (cool name ;)), and the Riesling. Newport Vineyards also makes this great, crisp Rhody Coyote Hard Cider.

After the vineyard trip, we had a nice lunch at the Castle Hill Inn. The Inn has a great lawn right on the water where you can relax with a drink and a nearby patio and eat their fabulous lunch and dinner options. We recommend the chowder, the lobster roll and the Cobb Salad.

Pretty view, huh?

We could sit and watch the boats go by while sipping some cocktails.

Happy Valentine's Day from us!

Have you been to a winery in an area not known as a major wine-making region?

L.A. Revisited/Food Porn Friday - Lunch by Santa Monica Beach at Ma Kai Lounge

It's Friday. Let's ease into weekend.....

I love being near the ocean.

Combine eating AND being by the ocean and that was our sunny and relaxing lunch at Ma Kai. Granted, it wasn't waterside, but it was right on Ocean Avenue overlooking the Santa Monica Beach area and across from Santa Monica's Palisades Park. After a beachy stroll where you've worked up an appetite, a leisurely lunch is definitely appropriate.

Seared Ahi Spinach Salad

An attempt to be healthy. :) Sauteed to slightly wilting spinach with a balsamic reduction, plump shitake mushrooms and refreshing tuna slices.

Salmon with Mango & Avocado sushi roll

A nice mix of mango & avocado. A good regulation sushi roll that wasn't spectacular but did the job.

Kobe Beef Sliders with Pineapple BBQ Sauce

Definitely not the best sliders in the world, but can you argue with the something like pineapple BBQ sauce? The sauce saved these sliders, if not elevated them.

Plus, when you're not working on a weekday, a little afternoon cocktail isn't all that bad, is it?

Paradise Martini

Cruzan coconut rum, framboise (raspberry liquer), mixed with pina colada mix and muddled strawberries with a fabulous garnish (for Big Mitts)

Kama Sutra Martini

Malibu mango-infused rum shaken with sake and lychee syrup (for me)

This lunch was perfect to get us through the afternoon. No, we did not stumble down the beach back to the car. :)

Ma Kai Restaurant & Lounge

101 Broadway Avenue

Santa Monica, California 90401

Cheers to a Happy Weekend!

L.A. Revisited/Adopt a Block - Indulging My Sweet Tooth in Beverly Hills

Aahh, Beverly Hills. It makes me think of some of my favorite past Beverly Hills residents.

Come on. I had to. :)

Let's take the Adopt a Block feature nationwide!

I didn't expect to get a sugar rush during a quick trip to Beverly Hills, but when roaming around for parking spots (something that I usually don't get to experience), I spotted the Paulette Macaron shop. I know macarons have been pretty popular in the past few years whether as a wedding dessert or as a way to fulfill a craving for something sweet, fancy and French; but I have to admit that I missed the boat on this food trend. This visit changed that.

Nice shop, right?

I love how colorful the macarons are.

A tower of macarons?

Big Mitss and I ended up getting a pack of 12 with a variety of different flavors. I am now a convert to macarons! My personal favorites? Pistachio (I believe that was a special that day), Caramel, and Coconut. I find I don't like the fruity flavors as much (that means the Passion Fruit), and I'm not sure that chocolate macarons are all that great either. I will have to try some more here in NYC soon.

Big Mitts pointed out the Famous Cupcakes shop practically across the street from Paulette Macarons. Can I admit to you that I was weary of this place? Another cupcake place? They're "famous"? Riiiiiiight. Yet after tasting these cupcakes, I have seen the light. Dude, when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. Don't judge food by its storefront.

First of all, this place is kinda spiffy....

Also imagine my surprise that I like something that the Kardashians like too.

There were so many to choose from: Cookies 'n Cream (chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse topped with Oreo buttercream frosting), Chocolicious (milk chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting) and the 24 Karat (carrot cake with walnuts crowned with cinnamon cream cheese frosting).

We ended eating one of the specials for the day, Mocha Latte.

From what I could tell, it was chocolate cake with a coffee-like frosting with a fabulous coffee-chocolate ganache center.

I know I'm showing you half eaten food, but I can't resist this cupcake.

If I can say anything about these cupcakes, it's that they tasted homemade like someone just baked them at home and decided to sell them in the store. Really! I couldn't believe how fresh it tasted. The coffee-chocolate flavor really did taste like a mocha from your favorite coffee shop. We also had a Chocolicious that we ate more than a day later and that tasted good albeit like a cupcake I would normally get with the cake not as forgiving. I think buying from the store must be the way to go.

So, yes I found all of this sweetness in one block of Beverly Hills (specifically, the corner of Charleville Boulevard & South Beverly Drive). I'm still thinking about that cupcake.....

Paulette Macaron

9466 Charleville Boulevard

Beverly Hills, California 90212

Famous Cupcakes

168 South Beverly Drive

Beverly Hills, California 90212

L.A. Revisited - Griffith Park Observatory

During my last time in Los Angeles, I never made it to the Griffith Park Observatory, but this time around I made sure not to miss it. Griffith Park is the largest park in L.A. and the eleventh largest urban park in the United States. In addition to the Observatory and its planetarium, there are golf courses, athletic fields, hiking trails and the Greek Theater, a concert space.

After checking out the Los Feliz neighborhood and thinking about a past glorious brunch here and about a crazy night of seeing Marty & Elayne at the Dresden (Swingers reference), Big Mitts and I took a short drive through the park's winding roads and came to the observatory at the perfect time: sunset!

Can you see Big Mitts? It was either get her in the pic or the observatory. I chose the latter. Darn, camera!

A close-up of the observatory

Can you see something a little different about me in this pic? If you pick up on it, I will be very impressed.

From such a high point in the area, the observatory's position really provides awesome views of the city. I'm not used to seeing L.A. from above.

To the west with a view to the ocean.

When I turned around, I looked right into this! I still haven't been to the sign. Apparently, you can get up close.

Downtown Los Angeles

If you're interested in taking in more than just pretty views of the city, be sure to go inside and learn about the stars and the solar system. The planetarium there has a few educational programs that run throughout the day as well as exhibits.

What a gorgeous ceiling!

A Tesla ball that emits electricity. Big Mitts and I learned more than we could have ever imagined about Tesla from one of the scientists there. Apparently, Tesla wanted to light the entire US with free electricity. I'll take no electric bill, thank you!

I forget what this cool looking thing does. Does anyone know? I think it has to do with planetary or lunar movements.

Close up of above

There are telescopes here, except I don't think any of them were open to the public when we were there.

The Griffith Park Observatory area is a beautiful, free and educational way to experience Los Angeles. Make a stop there on your next trip.

Thanks, Griffith J. Griffith! (yes, that REALLY is the founder's name!)

So What Happens When There's a Revolution In Your Next Travel Destination?

I'm sure you remember that I've said it before, but I am a pretty private person for a blogger and that includes revealing trips I'm planning for the future. I was going to wait until March, but since things are slowly changing day-to-day (and it might be something we can all learn from), I'm letting you know that Husband J and I are currently scheduled to travel to Egypt in mid-March. I emphasize the word currently right now.

I was hoping to see this:

(source)

and instead there have been protests and violence in Tahrir Square. The protests are a little less tense at the time of this writing, but there is still quite a bit going on.

(source)

Our Cairo hotel is located in downtown Cairo less than a mile from Tahrir Square.

If you haven't heard, there is major political upheaval in Egypt that became violent in the past week. I'm pretty laid-back when it comes to what's considered "dangerous" by some (perhaps I have lived in New York City too long). When things started on January 25, I was hoping that things in Egypt would proceed as they had in Tunisia. Again, this is not to say that I just wanted Egypt's citizens "to get everything over with so that I could see their country;" but rather I was hoping for a peaceful transition of power. Husband J and I were sending e-mails and text messages and keeping a general eye on what was going on while I was away in L.A.

As someone who has often written about and studied social movements, I commend the people of Egypt for demanding more from their government. I am worried about the safety of the country's citizens and visitors. I hope this political situation can be resolved and a new, stronger, more vibrant Egypt will emerge.

When I arrived back to New York, I set out to figure out what our options were as it relates to our travel insurance, our airline, and the travel company that has been helping us organize our trip. This is what I found out:

1. Travel Insurance - We have travel insurance through Travel Guard. When I first made the call to speak to a customer service rep on the phone, they beat me to the punch with a recording. It stated that there was an exclusion in the coverage of ALL of their policies in connection with trip cancellation and civil unrest. In other words, we would not get any reimbursement from the travel insurance for fees incurred by canceling our trip due to the political upheaval in Egypt. Also if we went anyway, defying any government travel warning, we would receive no reimbursement either. Yikes! No help there.

If anything, I would think this situation would be one of the reasons covered by travel insurance but apparently not. After talking to a customer service rep, this is actually an industry-wide provision in most travel insurance. If you want to avoid my situation, get a (pricey) upgrade to a "Cancel for Any Reason" additional coverage that will trump any exclusion in the travel insurance and allow any sort of cancelation. I wish I had known that beforehand. Since insurance law differs by state, this might not even be applicable in New York state, this apparently does not apply to us. Double check me on this though.

2. Airline - We are flying Turkish Airlines, and they have just started to offer refunds or free itinerary changes to customers traveling to Egypt, BUT as of the writing of this post, only for those passengers traveling to Egypt from the end of last week until February 15, 2011. Airlines loathe canceling flights, especially weeks in advance. I've been told that we would have to pay 200 Euro (NOT DOLLARS!) to change our flight. Did I mention that these tickets are non-refundable? That, too. One thing that is helping us is that we are flying through Istanbul, Turkey. More on that below...

3. Travel Company - Sometimes I use travel companies to help plan trips and other times I plan the trip solely by myself. Bali was an example of a trip that I planned alone. I ended up deciding to use our travel company, Backpacker Concierge, because a former work colleague had worked with them and enjoyed their trip, and I really liked their community-based travel philosophy. Given the circumstances, Backpacker Concierge, has actually been quite responsive. Eric, our contact who spends considerable amount of time in Egypt and is currently there, was able to find internet access when most of the country did not have it.

We are still trying to figure out our plans. Husband J wants our money back in the event we don't go. Based on my review of our booking conditions with them, its provisions are silent regarding civil unrest, etc. PRIOR to our departure (it does address changes in itinerary if things were to go awry while we're actually there). Timing is funny too because we had sent in our final payment a day BEFORE the protests started.

So what are options? Well, right now it's looking like the following:

1. Cancel our trip altogether/Postpone our trip - Husband J has been dragging lately and I think he really needs to get a break from work. It would be a shame to essentially lose a ton of money on plane tickets even if we get our money back from Backpacker Concierge.

2. Go to Turkey instead - This seems like the best option right now. We already have plane tickets to Turkey, since our tickets on Turkish Airlines have us flying through Istanbul enroute to Cairo. It may take a little extra outlay of money, and this will also have to be examined in light of what could happen with Backpacker Concierge. I've been fascinated with Turkey since watching a travel show on our way to Ireland. It won't be warm there though (although after multiple snowstorms, I guess low 50's Fahrenheit ain't all that bad).

I'll let you know what we end up doing soon.

Food Porn Friday/L.A. Revisited - Culver City's Akasha

I love when cities have their own restaurant weeks. Usually select restaurants will choose to serve three course pre-fixe meals for a certain price during lunch and/or dinner service. Los Angeles was having Dine in L.A., their version of restaurant week, while I was there. After careful scrutiny and weighing of options (I didn't want Big Mitts and I to have to drive all the way across town and hit notorious L.A. traffic), we headed to the restaurant, Akasha, near her place in the Culver City section of the L.A.

Akasha tends to favor more New American/California cuisine (I will say that it is cool that this state has its own cuisine designation), and all of the dishes really had a modern, fresh flair. I think we were happy with this choice.

We were joined by one of Big Mitt's friends, and here's what we had (FYI, it was pretty dark in there, hence some pictures are a little iffy):

First Course

Pappardelle with Duck Ragu and Pecorino Sardo

I had this, and you could tell the pappardelle (pasta) was homemade. The Rabbit was tender and flavored. Do I need to mention cheese? Hello!

Albacore (Tuna) Crudo with Pomelo, Daikon, Carrots, Pickled Ginger & a Sesame Plum Sauce

Some of you have already commented on how good this looks. It tasted even better, and I only had a bite! Totally REFRESHING! The greens were crunchy and fresh, and that TUNA was unreal: no hint of fishiness, and it melted in your mouth. A wonderful beginning to the meal.

Main Dishes

Goat Cheese Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms Rainbow Chard and Parmigiano Reggiano (with green beans)

Big Mitts enjoyed this dish. All of the veggies were perfectly seasoned and cooked to a nice crispness. I did like the gnochhi, although it was probably not the best I've ever tasted. I would have appreciated more cheese. :)

Pepper-Seared Scallops with Sunchoke Puree, Meyer Lemon Frites, Romanesco Cauliflower & Almonds

I had this dish and was totally satisfied. I usually don't go crazy for puree, but the sunchokes enhanced the flavor of the scallops. I was wondering where the Meyer lemon was when I bit into this small little disc of tart, spiciness and sweet. There it was in a totally unexpected form. This dish felt filling yet still wholesome, healthy and comforting.

Dessert

German Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Oh, chocolate cake, you're always a good plan, but I wanted to like this a little more than I did. I will say that I was happy that this wasn't the usual run of the mill German chocolate cake that is overly sweet with way too much coconut. The chocolate was not cloying and a whole top layer of chocolate was definitely called for. Good, but not amazing.

Rice Pudding with Cardamom Shortbread, Bruleed Bananas & Ginger Cream

The rice pudding itself was kinda meh, but let's talk about how ingenious that ginger infused whipped cream was. The cream was a perfect consistency, and the small pieces of fresh ginger took it to a new level. Whoa! Big Mitts ate this and thought the bananas were perfectly glazed. We all agreed that they could have made an entire dessert out of the cream and bananas.

In addition to being a restaurant, Akasha also has a bakery and caters. I love neighborhood gems like this, and I'm glad Big Mitts has a wonderful place like Akasha so close by.

Akasha

9543 Culver Boulevard

Culver City, CA 90232

Happy Weekend!

L.A. Revisited - Back from Cali!

Hey, all!

Life is slowly getting back to normal after this trip. By the time this post goes up, I will have been back home for several days now. Minus his continuous usage of the N word (sigh...) and other expletives, I love this Notorious B.I.G. song because Biggie reiterates the fact that while his beloved Brooklyn/NYC will always come first, he definitely gives props to Los Angeles. I think I'll do the same here. Big props to you, L.A. It was nice to be back there after such a long time and even more wonderful to be in the sun and share good times and good food with my girl, Big Mitts. :)

Here are few images from my short time there. More posts to come in the next few weeks.

Big Mitts & Me!

It's good to be blogging again!