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Tomato Chickpea Flatbread

You know the old saying, ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’? Well that is exactly how I’m feeling right about now on my European adventure. Over the past couple of weeks constant thoughts of ‘how is it that I’m going home soon’ have been filling my head. While we are coming home just shy of 1 year, the past 11 months have flown by! People keep asking about what our favorite part of our trip has been and honestly, everything has been my favorite. It has been such a wild adventure, a learning experience, and a time filled with so… Read More

Le Marais Food Tour in Paris

I can remember back in September when we first arrived in Europe being excited and anxious to be away for one year. I can also remember thinking about how far off Paris was from our arrival but it finally arrived when we paid a visit last month! I know that a lot of people have mixed feelings about Paris but I really do love the city for the beauty and romance it presents. I only had one spat with a cloakroom attendant at a museum, but we won’t talk about that. Today I’m sharing the details of my food tour… Read More

Korean Grilled Chicken & Cucumber Salad

Since I left the French Riviera at the end of May a lot of travel and learning has occurred! We took a 2 week trip to the Loire Valley, Mont Saint-Michel, Monet’s Garden, Versailles, Paris and then Epernay. If you follow on Instagram you may have seen all of the sights that we’ve been visiting! I have a lot of travel posts to fill in to bring you up to date and hopefully will be getting to those this week. In the mean time I am sadly starting my countdown until I’m back in America and behind my grill! Speaking… Read More

Refreshing Citrus Sangria

Bonjour friends! I thought I’d take a break today from the travel posts and share a quick summery drink recipe with you and an update on where things are at on my European adventure! While I won’t be enjoying summer on my patio this year, I do have a lot of fun things in store and you can sip of this delicious Refreshing Citrus Sangria while reading all about my travel adventures! I’m very sad to say that this is my last week in the French Riviera. We arrived back in September and instantly fell more in love with this… Read More

Krakow Food Tour With Delicious Poland

As I mentioned in my last post, our trip to Poland was somewhat unexpected as it certainly wasn’t a place high on our list to visit. I say this only because we didn’t know much about Poland, the culture or the food but as we begin to research something ‘different’ to fill our time in April, Krakow came up on multiple lists of places with a lot to offer. Including an amazing cuisine! The first thing I thought of was vodka, but with the help of Delicious Poland and their Culinary Food Tour, I found that they have so much… Read More

Wieliczka Salt Mine and Schindler’s Factory Tour

One of the great things about spending a whole year traveling throughout Europe is that it gives you an opportunity to see so many different things, and I have to say that when we set off on our European trip back in September of last year, I never expected to be spending some time in Poland. As we were researching new places off the beaten path to visit, we came across some information on Poland that was really intriguing. More specifically we were drawn to the beautiful city of Krakow and the historical sights which are in close proximity. After… Read More

The Ancient Farming Practices of Rosa dell’Angelo

The month of May is here and we are back to our home in the French Riviera! After a full month of travel to Budapest, Athens and Krakow that lasted the month of April we thought that settling back into our home away from home for a break would be nice before we begin our final leg of this adventure. A friend that we met while here told us that the motto of the Côte d’Azur is ‘Slow in the morning. Not too fast in the Afternoon.’ and this is exactly how we’ve been treating our time here! It seems… Read More

A Culinary Walk in Budapest

It really is quite amazing how quickly these days and months are trailing by! At the start of this month we left our cozy little beach-front apartment in France and headed to our first stop for the month of April: Budapest. This definitely was not a place that I had even considered visiting but as we began to look at our travel plans for the month it came came to mind because of the interesting history of the city and country as well as some of the beautiful architecture and sights within the city. Of course one of the first… Read More

Saint Emilion Winery Tour with Bordovino

After experiencing some of my favorite wine regions of Italy, I was eager to get back to France and check out Bordeaux. I’ve watched a few documentaries on the complexities of Bordeaux wines but certainly wouldn’t call myself an expert. You pretty much can only find French wines in the shops of France and I would go in there clueless and end up not really enjoying the wine that I picked. And so a wine tour was in order to learn more about these world-renowned wines. I decided to team up with A la Français and their Bordovino team to… Read More

Gourmet Blue Cheese Steak Sandwiches

I have now moved from the land of stinky cheese to the land of goulash….and will be heading later this week to the land of gyros! Traveling around Europe and getting to experience all of the delicious flavors has really been one of my favorite parts of this adventure. While I photographed this recipe before I left for Europe last fall, it certainly is very French-inspired between the Dijon mustard and blue cheese crumbles. There is nothing more delicious than a toasty sandwich on a ciabatta rolls, wouldn’t you agree? This Gourmet Blue Cheese Steak Sandwich layers rare steak with… Read More

Buffalo Chicken & Bacon Ranch Sliders

I feel like I’m a bit late to the March Madness party but being fashionably late is totally acceptable in my book! While I keep up with the news over here in Europe I don’t find myself being as plugged in as I was living back in America. Not to mention my mind is slightly sidetracked by the adventures of living abroad! Either way, with the tournament winding down (or perhaps heating up) there is never a bad time to introduce a new buffalo chicken recipe to try as we approach the championship! I worked on these Buffalo Chicken &… Read More

Roquefort Salad with Warm Croutons and Bacon

One of the stereotypes about the French is that they love their stinky cheese and I have to say that since I have been living here I can absolutely confirm that to be the truth. Since smell is connected to taste I have still had a hard time getting on board with a lot of these smelly cheeses but my husband seems to love them. One of the most popular cheeses that you can find here in the south of France is Roquefort, which is a sheep’s milk blue cheese. It’s one of the best known varieties of blue cheese… Read More

Citrus Roasted Chicken

While Italy was a really fun and educational experience, I am certainly happy to be back in the warmth of the French Riviera! We knew we had to return to France for 2 months because of our visa and started looking at new areas to explore. In the end we ended up right back in the Riviera, in the same apartment where we spent the first 3 months. We certainly were missing the beach and our quiet little town and we knew that we could take some long weekend and day-trips to new cities to explore. When we arrived in… Read More

What is the Difference Between Balsamic Vinegar and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena?

A lot of you probably don’t know that my maiden name is Aceto. In Italian this literally means vinegar. Seriously! The next time you’re at an Italian grocery store or even looking at balsamic vinegar you’ll probably see Aceto on the label. I enjoy telling people who speak Italian this and also while in Italy I would always make reservations under ‘Aceto’ because I could say it how the Italians pronounce it and they would never be confused or ask how to spell it. My husband finds it funny when I would tell people that my last name was Aceto… Read More

Learn the Difference Between Parmesan and Parmigiano-Reggiano

I grew up in Wisconsin and have lived there my entire life, so basically you could call me a cheese expert. My palate has changed over the years turning from classic American cheese to more refined flavors like Pecorino, feta and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Don’t get me wrong, American cheese is still the only cheese I’ll eat on a good grilled cheese sandwich. And I still won’t touch anything with blue marbling involved. BUT on top of my cheese list now is Parmigiano-Reggiano and if you’re not familiar with this amazing cheese and how it is different than classic Parmesan, I’m here… Read More

Creamy Buffalo Chicken Dip

Does anyone else avoid chicken wings because they hate having dirty fingers? Ladies? I love buffalo chicken but hate the mess that it makes so I have come up with the perfect solution: Creamy Buffalo Chicken Dip. You can enjoy all of spicy buffalo taste that you enjoy without the messy fingers! This recipe features flavorful rotisserie chicken which cuts your prep time in half! It also features delicious Chunky Blue Cheese dressing AND Blue Cheese Crumbles from my friends at Litehouse! You can whip up this dip in under 30 minutes and please your football-loving crowd this weekend during… Read More

10 Amazing Super Bowl Appetizer Recipes

My husband and I just finished having a spat over what day the Super Bowl would be happening. I was convinced it was a Monday and he insisted that the Super Bowl was always on a Sunday. Then I realized that being on European time was throwing off my research. He. Was. Correct. There, I said it. At any rate, thinking about buffalo chicken and nacho cheese dip had me wishing that I could get all of my favorite football snacks this coming Sunday for the big game. Not that I care too much about the game, I’m more interested… Read More

Tuscan Wine and Olive Oil Tour

One of the goals that I had for myself during my time in Europe was to learn more about wine throughout the different regions. I’ve been more than happy to do the research too! It really has been interesting to learn more about what makes a bottle of Chianti Classico a ‘Classico’ and which combination of grapes make up each of the different wines. Another thing that seems to be popular here in this region of Italy is olive oil and many of the wineries here also grow their own olives for production so when you visit a winery you… Read More

Prague Secret Food Tour

It is crazy to me how quickly these days and months have been flying by since I set out on my European adventure! In fact, it has already been 1 month since I was up in chilly Prague celebrating the holiday season with Christmas markets, beer and plenty of sausage. One of the other things that we did during our time in Prague was a food tour! I know that I have talked before about how much I love a good food tour and how I love that you can get a really great understanding about the culture of a… Read More

Chianti Wine Tour – Learn About How To Taste Wine

One of the things that I was really excited about while planning our trip to Europe was learning more about wine. I wanted to immerse myself in not only learning about the different varieties but how to properly taste and appreciate wines from different regions. Given that I currently am calling Florence my home, now was the best time to learn more about Tuscan wines, specifically those from the Chianti region. Of course the best way to learn more about wine is with a wine tour group which is why I signed on with Italy on a Budget Tours to… Read More