Archive For January 2014
Anyone with a molecule of romance in their hearts will have considered a vacation in Italy. Any lover of good food and wine would have mused on a visit to this land of culinary abundance. Every traveller who prizes quality produce, striking accommodation and the best of restaurants will want to stay in Norcia. Where?…
Cocktails! We tend to have a vision of summer evenings, flowery dresses, sipping colourful libations in some place exotic. But for those of us who live far from the equator those days of balmy bliss only happen by during our short summer months, and even then there are no guarantees! But we still crave mixed…
I am an enthusiastic home cook and a periodic professional cook, but I hold my hands up and admit that I have avoided using pumpkins & squashes, my excuse being that when I was growing up we never saw such things apart from on Halloween, and even that wasn’t a popular holiday/event till I was…
Baking is, thank goodness, enjoying something of a revival. We are reconnecting with some old-fashioned culinary values – the kitchen filled with tempting aromas, a cake on a glass stand, some home-made chocolate treats. But much of the appeal of the candy is the fact that it is also eye-candy. They look beautiful. Perhaps these…
Valencia is the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona. The Port of Valencia is the 5th busiest container port in Europe and the largest on the Mediterranean, and is these days something of a work in progress. For those lucky enough to arrive by ship the impression is of a sprawling building…
There is a whole section of the British population that lives to float. They are dedicated cruisers and remain faithful to their chosen line. P&O seems to have attracted many of those who have adopted cruising as part of their lifestyle. The Americans have a term for those who fly south in winter to follow…
I am not, by Oriana standards, a seasoned cruiser. I have only had three floating holidays to date and this was the first with P&O. Some of my fellow passengers had enjoyed up to 70 such trips and those with a score of a dozen or more were numerous! This company is obviously doing something,…