Above the Trees in a Hot Air Balloon
Would you like to ride in a beautiful hot air balloon? Well, I wanted to and after many years of thinking about it, I finally did when friends and I attended the Adirondack Balloon Festival at the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Glens Falls, New York. Glens Falls, a small town of about 15,000, is located in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, north of Saratoga Springs and the Hudson River. The festival was started 43 years ago to attract visitors to this beautiful area of Warren County.…
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London: A gateway to the UK’s other cities
The majority of people that travel to the UK seem to settle for just seeing London. It’s a shame, because the UK has a lot more to offer than just the business capital of the world. One thing London can be extremely useful for is it can act as a gateway for extensive travel if you wish to venture out of the urban metropolis that is London. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Manchester[/caption] With direct bus routes and trains to practically…
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Up Close to Nicaragua’s Masaya Volcano
Windmills seemed to sprout out of the Nicaraguan countryside, their blades turning lazily as we moved quickly from the border of Costa Rica towards the historic town of Granada. Seeing them made me smile and I pulled out my camera to capture a few shots as we passed but the tops of familiar-looking trees kept getting in the way. [caption id="attachment_14524" align="aligncenter" width="673"] Mombacho Volcano, Nicaragua[/caption] I don’t now remember which I saw first – the water or the volcano.…
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Lake Nicaragua’s Monkey Island
Following our quick tour of the Plaza de la Independencia, it was off to lunch at the Toritos Hotel Restaurant & Bar on Calle Calzada, Granada. To save time, Eric, our tour guide, had phoned in our orders and they served us as soon as all 20+ of us had our seats. (Lunch was included in the cost of the tour.) My fish with salad and rice, served with a few wedges of lime, was light and delicious. We spent…
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Pepper Shrimp – The Taste of Middle Quarters in Hackensack NJ
I’ve been eating pepper shrimps (or ‘swimps,’ as some of us call it), since I was in high school and I can still remember my first time (it’s the same every time). Biting into one of these Scotch-bonnet-infused on-the-go morsels, my tongue is instantly in flames, my eyes watering, heat passing from my throat and warming my stomach. I involuntarily pull in air, slapping my tongue against my lips and the roof of my mouth, to try to cool it.…
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Six Hours in Granada Nicaragua
I had no plans to go to Granada, Nicaragua. The furthest I considered going while I was planning my trip to Playa Potrero, was to San Jose, the Costa Rican capital to see a friend. But I'd given up the idea because I wasn't able to speak with her before I left home. I was content with spending the time catching up, reconnecting and reminiscing with my friends. A day or two after I arrived, though, I noticed a one-day…
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Jamaican Coco Bread
It’s been years since I ate a coco bread, that soft, sweet, usually warm, folded-over bread that is the perfect folder for the flaky, spicy and usually hot, patty. Perhaps it might seem redundant to marry a patty, a meat pie, with a puffy, buttery coco bread (one inventive student at my high school called the combination a coco-pat) but it works, somehow. It’s like biting through layers of dough and finding a sweet spot -- the spicy meat filling…
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Searching for Authentic Poutine in Montreal
Last Thursday, as my friends and I chatted excitedly about our girls' weekend in Montreal, our discussion turned to food, specifically what and where we were looking forward to dining. On Judy’s list was a recommendation from a work colleague that she should not miss poutine. Poutine, pronounced put-in, a local favorite, was created in rural Quebec in the 1950s. Once only available in the province, it has made its way across Canada and to as far away as the…
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A Return Visit to Harlem’s The Cecil
One of the best things about living in New York area is the variety of restaurants the city has. At any given time, if you’re so inclined, you could eat your way around the world with just your Metrocard as your passport. (Of course, you'd also need to take your credit card along.) With so many restaurants, it’s sometimes difficult (for me, at least) to settle on a favorite. But I have. The restaurant I can’t get enough of is…
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Costa Rica, Pura Vida
The one thing everyone says about Costa Rica is how lush it is. And despite having near drought conditions (it was the rainy season but there was little rain and we heard of water lock-offs), much of the landscape in the northwest still looked green. [caption id="attachment_14557" align="aligncenter" width="651"] Costa Rica from Above[/caption] [caption id="attachment_14558" align="aligncenter" width="653"] Costa Rica from above[/caption] [caption id="attachment_14559" align="aligncenter" width="601"] Costa Rica from above[/caption] I had traveled to Playa Potrero, Costa Rica in Central America…
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