All posts tagged: featured

Must Do’s: 7 Days in NYC with Children

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I was asked to put together a 7 days itinerary for a friend visiting NYC from France for the first time with her husband and two boys (elementary school age). This was a challenge as they also did not speak fluent English. I am used to taking friends and family around NYC but I have never taken children around, especially at night. The feedback from my itinerary have been very positive so I am sharing it for visitors to NYC on this site. The visiting family was able to pick and choose the activities each day depending on their timing. Day 1 (Saturday):  Explore Midtown West Start at 2pm after checking into the hotel. Start the day at 53rd Street and 7th Avenue, the beginning of Times Square area. Area of interest are: Broadway District and Time Square Rockefeller Center and  Radio City Music Hall Saint Patrick’s Cathedral Afterward, walk toward Bryant Park and get a drink/coffee at the following options: Southwest Porch and Bryant Park Café There are activities in the park such as ping pong, mini …

Green Beans with Garlic and Roasted Peanuts

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An easy vegetarian dish for a weeknight dinner is green beans sautéed with garlic and topped with roasted peanuts and fried shallots. Add a side dish of fried egg and rice and you have a complete and healthy meal. Try this simple vegetable dish for dinner tonight. Difficulty: Easy / Serving: 2 / Time: 30 minutes Ingredients: 1 pound of green beans 3 tablespoons of garlic (rough chop) 3 tablespoons of olive oil 2 teaspoons of soy sauce ½ teaspoon of fish sauce 1 teaspoon of mushroom seasoning  2 teaspoons of sugar 1 teaspoon of sea salt ½ teaspoon of ground pepper a handful of roasted peanuts a handful of fried shallots (optional) 2-3 scallions (white portion) to garnish (optional) Directions: Add enough water to a pot to cover the green beans. Season the water with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Once the water comes to a boil, add the green beans and allow them to boil for 2 minutes. Remove the green beans and rinse right away with cold water to …

Weekend Unexplored: Ometepe, Nicaragua

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“Mono! Mono!” We rolled down our windows, peering up at the trees to see a whole family of howler monkeys climbing from branch to branch.  They are found all over Ometepe, the majestic twin-peaked, volcanic island, and we could hear them early in the mornings, awaking us from sleep.  My friend J.G, her sister, her mother, and I were on our way to see the land that they had purchased years ago near San Ramon, on the southeast side of the island.  That morning we took a ferry from San Jorge, loading our car on the bottom level and then situating ourselves at the top to catch the cool breezes coming off Lake Cocibolca, one of the great fresh water lakes of Nicaragua.  Straight ahead, we could see Volcan Concepcion and Volcan Maderas.  Photographing these volcanoes would only increase as we drove between and around them on the island. Long after passing through the port town of Moyogalpa, the paved road soon turned to dirt as we traveled further southeast of the island, closer to …

Bún Bò Huế / Huế Beef Noodle Soup

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Bún Bò Huế is a popular beef noodle soup originating from the ancient imperial capital of Vietnam. The soup has a great combination of salty, sweet, sour and spicy with a strong citrus fragrance. This soup is served with a plate of condiments including various herbs, vegetables and rice vermicelli noodles. To get the right balance of flavors require boiling pork bones and beef shank with lemongrass and fermented fish sauce for hours. Spicy chili oil is added to the broth during the process to add a kick.  Bún bò in Huế is not the fiery spicy broth that most people associate with in the US. It is a generally mild and complex broth. The spiciness is added according to people’s taste afterward. This is my mom’s recipe that she learned from a famous Bún Bò Huế vendor in Huế. Difficulty: Medium / Servings: 8 bowls / Time: 3-4 hours to prepare Ingredients: 1/4 cup of ruoc  (shrimp sauce) 6 quarts water 1 lb boneless eye round roast beef 4 lb. pork small knuckle 3 lb pork leg chop …

Pan Fried Fish with Turmeric and Dill / Chả Cá Thì Là

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Fish with turmeric and dill or chả cá thì là is a famous Vietnamese dish made popular in the northern region of Vietnam. This dish typically has a hardy white fish marinated in turmeric and other seasonings and then pan fried with a lot of dill. My mom and I came up with a version that you can make at home. It has a few exotic ingredients that are generally available at an Asian grocer. This dish is fragrant and is served on a bed of vermicelli rice noodles and top with dill, peanuts and a dab of the aromatic sauce. We published a taco version last month based on this recipe so some of the steps will be the same. The key difference is that this recipe uses shrimp paste or rouc, a pungent shrimp seasoning. In our taco recipe, we substituted the shrimp paste with fish sauce and created a different sauce to pour over the fish at the end. If you do not like the shrimp paste, use the recipe for the marinade and sauce …

Weekend Unexplored: Portland, Maine and surrounding area

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Portland, Maine, is a quick 2 hour drive north of Boston, making it a perfect weekend trip.  My husband and I fell in love with Maine few years ago, especially Portland and its surrounding areas.  You can find beautiful scenic sights, plenty of outdoor activities, antiquing, great food scene and, of course, lobster rolls.  After so many years, we have perfected our weekend trip itinerary and where to take our “out of town” guests.  Here are some of our favorites and make sure to also scroll all the way to the end for our sample weekend itinerary. HOTELS The Press Hotel (119 Exchange St, Portland, ME 04101) Website Source: Instyle *If you are a history buff, then Press Hotel is a must stay.  The hotel used to be the Gannett Building that housed the offices and printing plant of the Portland Press Herald.  The building was converted to a hotel after the newspaper shut down in 2010.  The hotel has vintage-styled furniture juxtaposed against contemporary interiors and playful newsroom references making it my favorite hotel in Portland. …

Bánh Mì Series: Pork Pâté

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We introduced you to bánh mì xíu mại or meatballs sandwich, pickled carrots and daikon radish accompaniment and homemade garlic mayonnaise in earlier posts. The next key essential ingredient to assemble a true Vietnamese bánh mì is to make pork pâté. This meat spread gives the sandwich a unique flavor and can be easily eaten alone with bread. My favorite thing to eat for breakfast is to have toasted bread spread with delicious pâté and mayonnaise and top with a fried egg and a splash of soy sauce. This pâté is so easy to make and so scrumptious that you cannot stop eating it. Difficulty: Easy / Serving: 6 cups / Time: 1.5 hours to make and 8 hours to set Ingredients: 2 pound of ground pork ½ pound of pork liver (if you cannot find pork liver, you can substitute with chicken liver) 15 cloves of garlic 3 teaspoons of sugar 1 ½ teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons of ground black pepper 1 ½ cups of canola oil Directions: Mince 15 cloves of garlic in the food …

Vietnam – Posts Index

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Vietnam is quickly becoming the next hot destination in southeast Asia. I have been to Vietnam so often that is is practically my third home country. Over the last year, our bloggers have written numerous posts on what to do, where to sleep and what to eat. I have combined the links of all the Vietnam travel articles into one post for our readers. We are constantly writing up new post about Vietnam so check back for updated links. Ho Chi Minh City – Metropolitan city in the south Select Local Eateries in Ho Chi Minh City – District 1 Hotel Review: Hotel Nikko Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) Hue – Central region with an imperial history Local Favorite Eateries in Hue, Vietnam Hotel Review- Pilgrimage Village Resort  Hanoi – Capital of Vietnam located in the north My picks for Hair, Nails and Spa Must eats in Hanoi Hotel Review- Hanoi Delano Hotel Da Nang – Modern beach city in central Vietnam Must Do’s Part 1 Must Do’s Part 2 Hotel Review-Fusion Maia Resort Phu Quoc Island Weekend …

Phở Bò / Beef Noodle Soup

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Phở is a hearty noodle soup that is the most well known of all noodle soups from Vietnam. The stock can be made with chicken or beef with the most popular type being beef noodle soup. Every region has its own take on phở bò and the noodle soup is often eaten for breakfast. Phở bò takes at least a few hours of just simmering the bones to get the  right bone stock for the soup base. This is a dish that is made for long weekends and especially when the weather turns cold. We redid the traditional phở recipe into 2 parts (beef stock and  phở broth) to make it easier to measure the ingredients and to get a consistently good broth. This is one of the easiest recipe for phở that we wrote to create a very clear, rich and fragrant broth. You can make the bone stock in advance and freeze it. Whenever you want to make phở, just defrost the bone stock and season the stock to make the phở broth. Difficulty: Medium / Time: 3 hours for bone …

Weekend Unexplored: 4 Days in Southern France (Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence, Lourmarin, Bonnieux and Cassis)

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Provence has always been on my list of places to visit in Europe. I had an opportunity to visit Europe again this year and made it a priority to visit this charming region. My sister and I choose to visit the region in early May before the tourist crowds descend onto the area. Luckily my good friend grew up in the region and planned my trip for me. There is nothing better than having a local show you the best of their home region! Friday-Saturday: Provence/ Marseilles Sunday: Aix-en-Provence, Lourmarin and Bonnieux Monday: Cassis Arrived Friday My sister and I flew into the Marseilles International Airport Friday morning to uncharacteristically rainy and windy weather. Marseilles Airport is very small and the car rental lot is right next to the airport. We rented a small automatic car from Hertz prior to arriving in Provence and the whole process to pick up the car took over an hour and a half. Things move very slowly in southern France. We were advised to book our car months in …