Letters
A barrel of sherry signed by Ayrton Senna at Tio Pepe, Spain. Can a few letters change the value of a product? My guess is that this barrel will never be consumed, which I guess makes it priceless. Read more
Posts tagged ‘travel’
May 1
There and back again
A 5,000 km road-trip from Lithuania to Ireland and back in 10 days is pretty tough going. Especially when you’re living, eating and sleeping in a Ford Galaxy. But it was necessary. Having left Ireland in May with just summer clothes and the bear minimum of possessions, we needed a trip home to collect some winter woollies and other belongings. Read more
New beginnings – a good life
Sometimes dreams really do come true. This time last year I was sitting in an office feeling exhausted and dejected, despite having just completed a major project. There was little or no thanks, no recognition of the tremendous effort required by all involved to complete the project on time. Instead, there was criticism and blame. The focus was on the 5% that was not complete rather than on the 95% that was fully complete and performing well above all expectations. Something was clear to me – I was in the wrong place. Read more
So, how was your trip?
Open roads, rugged mountains, wandering long-horned cows, winding river valleys, terraced vineyards, sparkling seas, ice lakes, snowy peaks, colourful markets, majestic cities – these are just some of the sights we encountered on our recent tour of Europe. Read more
Roquefort cheese – mouldy bread comes good
It’s hard to imagine anything tasty resulting from a piece of mouldy bread. But the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, a small village in Southern France, have managed to turn mouldy bread into France’s second most popular cheese thanks to some ingenuity and some 160 million year old cracks in the earth. Read more
Beyond Bristol Cream
I’ve always loved Port. It reminds me of Christmas, of overindulgence on Stilton and crackers, of spicy pudding and squabbles over Monopoly. Sherry, too, reminds me of Christmas. Someone would invariably give us a bottle of Bristol Cream, which would sit in the cupboard until some elderly neighbour came to visit and fancied a sip of the overly sweet syrup. Brandy (generally cognac) was always considered a luxury and was saved for very special occasions, sometimes mixed with a drop of port for added exorbitance. Read more
Tapas Hunting – from San Sebastián to Seville
Tapas bars are ubiquitous in Spain. A bit like the “chipper” back in Ireland, even the smallest towns and villages seem to have at least one tapas bar. Not only that, but they tend to be good quality. While some are undoubtedly better than others, I did not encounter a single tapa that I didn’t enjoy on my recent trip through Spain. From San Sebastian to Santiago and Seville to Antequera, all of our investigations met with positive results. Read more
A taste of things to come
After 76 days on the road we’ve decided to take a short break from our travels. Much as we’ve been enjoying ourselves, we have a few wrinkles we need to iron out to ensure we get the most from our experience. Read more
Ibérico Ham School – Day 2
We returned to La Posada the following morning for an enormous breakfast, full of Lucy’s homemade Andalucían delights, before setting off with Angel to an organic pig farm nearby. The farm is set in a huge oak forest (known as a “dehesa”) and has goats, ducks, geese and chickens as well as over one hundred black Iberian pigs. Read more
Ibérico Ham School – Day 1
Sometimes things work out much better than you’d hoped. Having driven for miles through areas of both Portugal and Spain that are home to the famous black Iberian pig, I wondered if we would ever get a glimpse of these wonderful animals. I’ve dreamed of someday owning an Iberian pig farm in Andalucía and really wanted to experience them in their natural habitat. Alas, they proved elusive. Read more
Porto Pantomime
The fish market in Porto took longer to find than anticipated, principally because it wasn’t where it was meant to be. At least, that is, according to our guide book. Pedalling around hilly Porto in the sweltering heat with empty tummies and lunchtime smells filling the air, we were close to throwing in the towel and opting for one of the many street-side cafés. Read more
Chalky Cellars at Taittinger
22 million. That’s how many bottles of champagne Taittinger have ageing in their cellars at any one time. Unlike wine, all champagne is aged in the bottle it will eventually be sold in. Taittinger produce a variety of bottle sizes Read more
Sweet cheeses – the Normandy quartet
Few places I’ve visited have struck me as more insignificant that the tiny village of Camembert in Normandy. Having travelled a considerable distance to visit the birthplace of the iconic cheese, I was incredibly underwhelmed. Read more
My Food Odyssey 