What Locals Love About L.A.

by Adrienne Wilson on

“The gas is almost $3, but I love it here! I’m never leaving Los Angeles!” – My Insane Travel Companion also a Los Angeles Native.

I did my time in Los Angeles, three whole years and I’d surely go back. To visit. Maybe I’ll even settle into a nest of my own again, but if it shouldn’t happen I wouldn’t die. It’s that love hate thing I’ve got going on with the city, but there are certain things that are just unbeatable when it comes to one of Southern California’s most popular and smoggy cities. Nat Geo Traveler has an excellent piece on what the locals dig. What makes the weird, diverse, and possibly normal folks happy and keeps them staying there? The list is actually 30 items deep with many of my personal favorites included like dining in Little Ethiopia, Korea Town’s karaoke favorite Brass Monkey, shopping at The Grove, and cruising the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu. These are the things I miss a lot, but what really makes me want to take a speedy road trip down I-10 is Sunday’s until sunset dancing at the drum circle in Venice Beach, the after hour reggae mixes at Dumas and of naturally my own wonderful friends.

Before I begin to go further with all the memories the article brought back I encourage you to take a look at L.A.’s greatness according to the piece at Nat Geo Traveler and the cutesy photos to go along. It’s fah-boo-lous!

Sink Your Teeth Into a Sweet Maui Onion

by Adrienne Wilson on

This is certainly an event I never imagined took place in the gorgeous Hawaiian island of Maui,
but sweet onions happen to be serious business and they love them so much they
even have a festival to celebrate the delicious – onions.
Uh. CNN notes this will
be the 16th year for the annual festivities and should be all the sweeter during the two days on August 6-7 where
locals and visitors can take part in raw onion eating contests. Is this sounding appetizing yet? If all else in
Maui should fail, which I am sure is nearly impossible, at least you could say you added a little flavor to your trip
by being in attendance.

The secret to growing the sweet Maui onions lies in the soil near a huge dormant volcano and cool temperatures from
the elevation, but only the small group of farmers in the Kula area on the slopes of Haleakala know the real tricks of
the trade. CNN’s piece on the upcoming onion par-tay isn’t that bad and teaches us that Maui is far from being all
about surf. Least it taught me and I lived in Hawai’i.

Italian Cooking and Cuisine

by Erik Olsen on

Checking out a few Italian cooking courses in Italy I came across
a few good ones.

Divina Cucina in Florence. They offer one to five day
cooking trips from $375 to $1300. The average day sounds really cool. You’ll head out to the Central Market and plan a
custom menu based on the season’s best ingredients. Then you’ll tour the market, sampling some of the best-tasting
olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cheeses, in the world. After shopping, you hit the wine shop and get a bottle hand-picked
by the local sommelier. Something to match the menu, of course. Then, everyone heads back to the kitchen to learn how
to whip up some delicious Italian fare.

Another place in Tuscanny is Casa Ombuto run by Paola Baccetti in
Casa Ombuto and Franco Palandra in Torre del Tartufo. The classes were mentioned on CNN and teach four of the most
popular cuisines in Europe and North Africa.

Bon gusto!

Animal Kingdom Lodge & Jiko

by Adrienne Wilson on

I’ve been working on a project based out of Disney World for the last month or so and you find
out a couple things when working in prime tourist destinations. You not only have one job,
but you have two. Your second jobs becomes that of a concierge constantly recommending the best places to dine and
sleep while staying at Disney.  There are several options and it really will depend on your interests, but
word-of-mouth is Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of the
best. The theme alone requires applause as the atmosphere takes you to an African savannah combining styles from other
Disney resorts. What many enjoy most is the view from the atrium at early morning sunrise where you can lookout at
three of the savannahs and watch as Giraffe, Impala, and Kudu wake up for a new day.

Though you’ll be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge you won’t have to worry about the menu’s being
completely filled with meaty dishes.
Jiko has one of the
larger and best vegetarian selections in the entire Magic Kingdom. The food keeps to the theme of the resort
offering African fare for your buds, as well as some multi-cultural mixes. The resort and its dining facilities are all
a bit pricey, but if it’s well worth it if you’re out this way on vacation.

Doyle’s Seafood Restaurant

by Adrienne Wilson on

Maybe this picture sold me on this place, because I’ve damn sure never tasted their seafood, but
how could seafood and Australia go wrong? I’m sure it can, but for the folks at
Doyle’s who have been serving jewfish, snapper, garfish, unique NSW crayfish or
lobster for the past five generations, I’m sure they’ve nailed the art of cooking mouth-watering seafood
dishes. Other items on the menu include John Dory, flounder, gemfish, barramundi, pearl perch, prawns and
mussels.  Selection goes far beyond the menu too as they have many dining locations from you to choose from
while in Australia, though the Quay location and its view have already won my choice for best restaurant with a
view.