Life As We Know It … October 2015
“Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself.” – Unknown I am sitting at our kitchen table overlooking a small corner of the South China Sea. Boats are passing. Some are huge cargo ships, chugging through the waves with containers of rice, wood, furniture […]
Brussels Farewell Biscotti
There is something about farewells and rain that go hand in hand. The heavy grey skies of Brussels looked down on us as we raced from lunches to dinners to drinks to parties, all in the name of seeing as many friends as we could before leaving. The thick clouds mirrored our mood, reminding us […]
New Caledonia – Paradise Revisited
Coming back home after 16 months on the road, it is always interesting to see what kind of questions you get from family and friends. One surprising one for us that was often repeated was, “How was New Caledonia?” Considering we had been to over 20 countries overland, somehow the image of far flung islands […]
Late Summer Fig Tart
Is there any fruit more stunning than a ripe fig? The fragile thick skin waiting to burst open with a slight pull, the glutinous sweetness oozing out from the round bottom and the fragrant flowers moist and succulent within. When the apricots and peaches start to disappear from the market stalls, the figs come in […]
Zucchini Blossoms à la Provençale
The secret to having the best summer experience in Provence or the Luberon is to wake up early. Not only do you treat yourself to one of the best sunrises in Europe, you also get to sip your hot coffee and tear apart your warm croissant while it is still almost chilly outside. We sneak […]
C’est l’heure de l’Apero
A summer’s day in France is never complete without an evening Apéro and there is nothing more quintessentially Provençal than a pre-dinner Pastis. With the sun working overtime in July and August, it is not unusual to go to a late dinner just as the skies turn a bright tangerine orange and by the time the […]
Taking Stock: 500 Days of Summer
Today it is 500 days. 500 days of summer, 500 days since we left home. Though I am not really sure where “home” is anymore. 500 days since we left the life that we knew behind. 500 days since we left our jobs, our family and friends, 500 days without a fixed address; 500 days […]
Provence Lavender Lemon Shortbread
If you asked me to close my eyes and think about summers in Provence, I would first tell you what I hear. There is a constant buzzing, the cicadas have worked themselves up into a frenzy, the bees are excited by all the sweet melons and peaches on the table, there is laughter of young […]
Lake Tekapo Salmon Frittata
New Zealand’s landscape is crisp. Crisp as a cracker and pops like poppadoms. On good days, the air seems to be filterless, so clean that if you look through the lens of a camera it looks like the contrast settings have already been raked up high. Everything is clearer, the outlines sharper and you can […]
Tramping along the Heaphy Track
One…two, three, four. One… two, three, four. One foot in front of the other, in a steady rhythm, we moved forward, up into the clouds. We were trekking along the mountain’s edge or as New Zealanders prefer to call it, tramping. For five days in the northwestern corner of New Zealand’s South Island, we would […]
