Our favorite princess was set to tie the knot with one of the top ten chocolatiers in North America – the king of ultra-premium chocolates – and the nuptials were not to be missed.
Anytime a princess marries a king, it’s a big deal – and when the surname is Love, it’s bound to be the social event of the season!
With our favorite princess set to tie the knot with one of the top ten chocolatiers in North America – the king of ultra-premium chocolates – the nuptials were not to be missed.
Anytime a princess marries a king, it’s a big deal – and when the surname is Love, it’s bound to be the social event of the season!
The reception began with a champagne toast to the happy couple highlighted by a dark chocolate, heavy cream and butter-based Love Pop Truffle.
Royal Princess‘ baby sister, Regal Princess will host the first Chocolate Journey in the Fall of 2014, and over the span of a year, every ship in the fleet will be featuring the decadent fare. On board, at the Captain’s Welcome Reception guests will toast their sailing with a Love Pop and bubbly.
Our chocolate journey continued with handcrafted artisanal chocolates…
…and chocolate libations
Sixteen hand-crafted chocolate cocktails have been created by Mr. Love as a dowry for his Princess.
Our favorites were the Chocolate Salted Carmel Rum Shake, the Chocolate Bacon Bourbon Bliss and the Chocolate Chile Margarita.
Focus was pulled from the blushing bride, when the Black Single Origin Dark chocolates arrived, making their grand entrance with the perfect wines on their arms.
David congratulates the groom
For dessert (how do you define dessert on a ambrosial occasion such as this?), we were treated to three of the groom’s fifteen divine signature desserts created for the Missus.
The Chocolate Hazelnut Bar with Citrus Cream, the Chocolate Pistachio Dome with Almond and Pistachio Nougatine, and the Chocolate Tiramisu with Mascarpone Cream and Espresso Gelato.
Diving into yet another dessert with chocolate in the corner of our mouths! You can’t take us anywhere!
Like any good wedding, we were sure to wake up the next day with a hangover. In this case, a choco-hangover.
We are so honored to be Writers in Residence at the Library Hotel. As always, all opinions are our own.
25 feet wide, 100 feet long, and 14 stories high, the hotel is one of NYC’s first sliver buildings
When we write the accounts of our escapades around the globe, we usually don’t bother mentioning where we stay.
It’s not that we don’t appreciate hotels, it’s just that, let’s face it, most are simply a place to lay our heads after romping around all day.
What can we say? “The towels were nice and the TV worked.” Not exactly a captivating story.
But sometimes the accommodations are the story, and such is the case with the Library Hotel in New York City.
In a city with hundreds, if not thousands, of hotels it is hard to stand out, yet the Library Hotel has done just that. So when we were invited to become Writers in Residence, we jumped at the chance.
The idea is to add to the incredible literary ambience of the hotel by having a few writers hanging around, and let us say, it’s a writer’s — or a reader’s — paradise.
Looking down 41st Street toward the New York Public Library from the rooftop garden of the Library Hotel
A big part of the atmosphere of the hotel stems from its proximity to the New York Public Library’s main branch.
Around the same time as that massive home to over one million volumes was opened in 1911, a group of businessmen were building one of the city’s first sliver buildings a block away.
After nearly a century of serving as offices, the beautiful little slice of architecture became the Library Hotel.
The renovations left the exterior wonderfully intact, while adding rooms and over a million dollars of mahogany bookshelves in the interior.
Books are everywhere, from the moment we checked in at the card catalogue-decorated front desk in the shelf-lined lobby, to the hundreds of titles in each room that correspond to its number in the Dewey Decimal System.
For example, our room, 905, is based on 900.005 in the famous library-organizing system, which is the travel and geography category. Absolutely a perfect fit for us, and we fell asleep blissfully reading of far-off places every night.
As we investigated the motifs of the other rooms, we realized that we could have been just as happy in 800.005, filled with fairy tales, or the mysteries right next door, or the Love Suite at 1100.006.
But it would be tough to beat 500.006, the Astronomy Suite where Neil Armstrong took one giant sleep for mankind.
The rooms aren’t the only place designed to inspire reading and writing, the second floor Reading Room serves as a quiet getaway, or the place to be for breakfast and each evening’s wine and cheese reception.
For even more inspiration, the rooftop Writer’s Den and Poetry Garden did the trick.
Get it? It’s a bookmark!
Come cocktail hour, the garden transforms into the hotel’s lounge, Bookmarks.
We couldn’t think of a better place to thank all of the folks at Skyhorse Publishing who worked so hard getting our book, Going Gypsy: One Couple’s Adventure from Empty Nest to No Nest at All, ready for publication, so we invited them all over for an after-work, literary-inspired drink.
We all sipped our “Ernest Hemingway”s and “Tequila Mockingbird”s while enjoying each other’s company and fantastic views of Manhattan.
See how we slipped that plug in there, downright clever, huh? Sorry, couldn’t pass up the chance for some shameless self-promotion.
Especially since we were so excited to see everyone that we forgot to take pictures to commemorate the occasion (still kicking ourselves!).
We also couldn’t pass up visiting New York’s best known literary landmark, the public library, so we followed the ninety-six bronze sidewalk insets along 41st Street that form Library Way.
The walk’s bronze plaques feature quotes from classic literature and authors, paired with innovative artwork by Gregg LeFevre.
We read our way right to the steps between Patience and Fortitude, the two lions that guard the entrance to the massive archives. Fortitude is pictured above, and the easiest way to tell them apart is that Fortitude is closest to 42nd Street. –> 42=fortitude!
As we climbed the stairs things felt very familiar, must have been because the grand old building has been the star of countless movies, from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, to Spider-Man, to the haunted book stacks in Ghostbusters.
Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to see those famous stacks. The one-hundred-and-twenty-five miles of shelves are off limits to the public. Can’t have the books getting misplaced or out of order, because the proverbial needle in the haystack would seem simple compared to finding a lost volume.
The the attempts at snapping the perfect photo of the ceiling in the McGraw Rotunda are many and varied. We gave up and simply laid down on the floor for ours!The ceiling depicts Prometheus giving man the gift of fire, symbolizing knowledge. The murals in the rotunda are collectively titled The Story of the Recorded Word.
So we contented ourselves with simply taking in the grandeur of one of America’s largest marble buildings and viewing some of the artifacts on display. Of course the library has an outstanding collection of rare books, but it also serves as a museum of sorts, with hundreds of heirlooms donated throughout the years.
Back in our geography-and-travel-inspired hideaway in the Library Hotel, just thinking about all of those books was a bit mind boggling.
But we contentedly drifted off counting books instead of sheep.
Famous for ancient Chinese medicines, traditional herbal remedies, and tonic foods such as $5,000-per-pound bird’s nests, Hong Kong’s Wing Lok and Ko Shing Streets are bursting with wonderful oddities.
And trust us, that’s the tame stuff!
The life expectancy in Hong Kong is among the highest in the world, so who are we to argue? Click in to see some truly incredible wonders… CONTINUE READING >>
A whole fleet of double decker street cars rolls endlessly back and forth along the north shore of Hong Kong Island, which is the most bustling part of the city.
The trolleys are affectionately known as “ding dings” for the bells they seem to be constantly ringing.
Because the fare for these wonderful old trolleys is also a mere pittance, we jumped on and off several times, whenever something caught our eye.
Toward the western end of the line, we bailed out at Queen Street.
This area is famous for ancient Chinese medicines, traditional herbal remedies, and tonic foods such as ginseng and bird’s nest.
Shaping the bird’s nests
These are real nests, taken from swiftlets, and can cost up to $5,000 a pound.
Needless to say, we did not make a purchase.
We wandered up and down Wing Lok and Ko Shing Streets looking into shop after shop filled with strange and exotic items that are believed to promote health, vigor, and long life.
Deer Antler (with skull)
The life expectancy in Hong Kong is among the highest in the world, so who are we to argue?
This glossary of modern parenting terms from around the world provides a cautionary tale through definitions. Could a Snow Plow Parent accidentally raise a Kidult in a perpetual state of Adultescence?
Snow Plow Parents
Like the snow removal apparatus, a Snow Plow Parent will be sure to… CONTINUE READING >>
This glossary of modern parenting terms from around the world provides a cautionary tale through definitions.
Could a Snow Plow Parent accidentally raise a Kidult in a perpetual state of Adultescence?
Snow Plow Parents
Like the snow removal apparatus, a Snow Plow Parent will be sure to clear the path ahead, ensuring nothing will challenge their children’s happiness.
Creating an obstacle-free world allows their child to dodge all the pitfalls and challenges that are necessary for molding responsible, competent adults.
Helicopter Parents
Veronica considers herself a recovering Helicopter Mommy, so we know all about these guys. Helicopter Parents hover over every aspect of their children’s lives, micromanaging every move they make. From arranging highly-scripted toddler playdates to writing their college-aged spawn‘s term papers, the Helicopter whirlybird is ever present.
Also known as Hovering Mothers, Smothers
Boomerang “Kids”
Like the Australian hunting stick, Boomerang Kids return to the place they’ve been thrown from. Initially the term described kids returning home after being away at college, but has broadened to any able-bodied adult offspring who lives with his/her parents. We do, however, have some tips for nudging them from the nest!
Also known as Parasite Singles in Japan, Bamboccioni (Big Babies) in Italy, Nesthockers in Germany (referring to birds with their mouths open, waiting for Mommy to feed them) and Basement Dwellers
Parasite “Kids”
The Boomeranger returns home to rely on its host for room, board and Mama’s cooking, but the Parasite “Kid” will eventually kill its host by latching on and sucking the nest egg dry while living on its own. It’s long-distance leeching, in a manner of speaking. These bloodsuckers have gotten it into their heads that their parents’ job of funding them never ends.
Also known as KIPPERS (Kids In Parents’ Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings) in England and Australia, and Trustafarians (kids living on parents’ trusts whilst dressing up and pretending to be Rastafarians) in The Virgin Islands
Hotel Mama
A place the Boomerang “Kid” calls home in Germany. Comes with parental housekeeping.
Kidult
Neither kid nor adult, or possibly both kid and adult. A new life phase between the teen years and true adulthood, the Kidult has a few more years to mess around, avoid a real job and all the pesky life lessons of one’s early twenties. It’s basically an extension of the teen years with the ability to legally drink. What could possibly go wrong?
Also known as Twixters. Similar:NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) in England, Ni-Nis (ni trabaja, ni estudia — neither work nor study) in Spain and Mexico
We work hard on keeping our relationship fresh (to varying degrees, of course!) and continue to try new things together.
But sometimes a girl’s gotta get away.
One of many stage shows – aren’t they the CUTEST?
When the chicks were in the nest, our family was very girl-centric.
Our daughters, The Piglet and Decibel, are very dynamic people and, if we weren’t careful, they would overshadow their more reserved younger brother, The Boy.
The men in our family were outnumbered and, many times, outmatched.
When the girls graduated from high school and struck out on their own, I found myself in a whole new world. Sports were — more often than not — blaring from the TV, scores and stats that I didn’t understand (or, frankly, had no interest in) were bandied about until I was blurry-eyed.
I’m so glad that David and The Boy had that bonding period; it did them both a world of good.
But I did feel lonely. I missed my estrogen-infused days, when we girls ruled the roost (that’s a little heavy-handed, but we were, as team, a force to be reckoned with!).
Once David and I sold the nest and hit the road, we became very focused on rekindling our relationship, our Nation of Two.
Until that point, raising The Spawn to be happy, healthy, productive adults became our main focus in life and had been – and always will be — our greatest achievement.
But we had half a lifetime stretching out before us and if we didn’t get off of our butts and get to working with each other, that second half could become an ugly eternity. So we got to working.
But sometimes a girl’s gotta get away.
Now we are six years into our grand GypsyNesting experiment, and we are currently in The States traversing the now familiar family-and-friends route.
We’re making frequent trips to NYC to horn in on the girls, and spent a month near The Boy before he made his big move to Alaska. We’re spending time with our parents and siblings, and seeing a lot of our friends.
I’ve realized through these visits that I miss my girlfriends more than I had thought. Sure, we talk on the phone, and sure we banter on Facebook, but having my gals around me in person is not always so easy to do.
And forget about that big, nurturing group of ladies I used to have – now that our nests are all empty, many of us have relocated, or taken on jobs with more responsibly or — gasp — found a new group of friends. How dare they not wait around for me!
Ann Voorhees Baker
And then, in steps Ann Voorhees Baker who invites me to be her guest at Women At Woodstock.
When she first brought up the idea, I literally thought UGH.Is a women’s retreat for me?
It didn’t sound like my thing – at all. Then I looked into Women At Woodstock a bit further and became intrigued. I was first compelled by the locations (imagine that!), but was hooked when I saw the workshops.
This Ann V. Baker lady’s pretty wily and she knew how to hook me! I’m always looking to beef up my writing skills, so the writing workshops are really exciting to me, and the business stuff looks invaluable.
But, oddly enough (and I hate to admit this) it was the estrogen-infused events that made me accept the invite.
Obviously, I need some girl time, STAT.
Come join me and let’s get our girl on! I’ll be at the Woodstock, NY retreat on October 13th, 2014 and there are later ones in Palm Springs, CA and Charleston, SC.
As with everything about life in Newfoundland, the food revolves around the sea.
<– David kisses a cod!
In fact, seafood is the main reason that settlers from Europe came to the island in the first place.
See all the wonderful ways Newfoundland prepares the catch of the day!… CONTINUE READING >>
Yes, David’s kissing a cod! More on this later, read on…
As with everything about life in Newfoundland, the food revolves around the sea.
In fact, seafood is the main reason that settlers from Europe came to the island in the first place.
Just five years after Columbus sailed the ocean blue, King Henry VII of England sent the Venetian explorer Zuan Cabotto in search of new lands to the north of Christopher’s discovery.
The captain, better known by his English name of John Cabot, came upon Newfoundland and wrote, “the sea there is full of fish that can be taken not only with nets but with fishing-baskets.”
Those fish were cod, and cod became the backbone of the economy, as well as the staple of the diet. It was only fitting that we would dive right in to some cod on our very first night.
How Many Ways Can You Cook a Cod?
Before dinner we heard stories about the fabled fish, some involving kissing them. Well, we can truthfully testify that not only will a Newfoundlander kiss a cod, they aren’t shy about using some tongue.
Cod tongue was our appetizer, and the first bite of food we consumed on the island. Fried tidbits straight from the fish’s mouth, served with scrunchions; deep fried bits of pork fat.
The tongues taste like cod, with a very slight gelled consistency. And everything’s good with a little pig fat on it… so down the hatch.
We were starting to feel like real live locals, so we ordered up the Fisherman’s Brewis for the main course.
This was a slightly fancier version of the Newfoundland classic Fish & Brewis, which consists of salt cod and hardtack, boiled, broken up, and mixed together.
The embellished variety we found at the St. Christopher’s Hotel in Port aux Basques was dressed up with potatoes and corn, and a handful of scrunchions for added flavor.
There was none of that on the traditional plate we found a few days later, but either way, it tastes way better than it sounds… or looks.
Just in case we hadn’t had enough the night before, breakfast was focused on the fish too, cod cakes and eggs.
Then at lunch with Paul and Ruth Gale at Pirate’s Haven was another Newfoundland favorite, cod au gratin.
We are happy to report that all tongues stayed in their mouths, and the fish were set free.
We were finally going to eat something other than cod! Don’t get us wrong, — we love it — but as non-Newfoundlanders, our bodies craved a little variety.
Darren grabbed a bucket of mussels he had gathered nearby and scooped some water from the bay into it. At low tide, he simply walks along the shore and picks the shellfish up.
Toss in some fresh snow crab, give it a few minutes on the stove, and we were ready for a feast.
This was the first of several times that we would eat a meal fit for the finest gourmet restaurant while sitting at a picnic table by the water’s edge.
At some point we had to eat something other than seafood, and we finally found a time-honored alternative at an establishment with an unlikely name, Fisherman’s Landing in Gros Morne National Park.
The special of the day was Jiggs Dinner, which features salt beef, and is kind of like a Newfoundland version of the good ole Irish corned beef and cabbage. Jiggs Dinner includes carrots, turnips, and pease pudding — a pudding in the British use of the term.
Made from split yellow peas and cooked in a pudding bag along with the rest of the ingredients, it is almost like a dumpling.
All we know is that we got downright jiggy with it.
The Non-Fancy Version of Fish & Brewis
Of course fish was also prominent of the menu, and this is where we found the more traditional Fish & Brewis,
Both of the dishes date back to the days before refrigeration, so they are based on easily kept ingredients like salted meat, root vegetables, and dried bread or hardtack.
Between sets of homespun humor and harmonies by this group of women who have been entertaining for over twenty years, we tried toutons, a traditional fried bread accompanied by molasses or partridge berry jam.
After our break from seafood we realized that we had not sampled the island’s most popular non-cod offering from the water, lobster.
They are so common in the area around Twillingate that folks remember it in their lunch boxes as children. Some say they actually got sick of it, like we did bologna or PB&J sandwiches!
There are signs all along the roads advertising lobster pools, so we stopped off to check one out.
The name is quite accurate, think swimming pool filled with lobsters, hundreds if not thousands of them just waiting for someone from a restaurant or store to haul them away.
As a sideline, and happily for those of us who are not sick of lobster, most of the pools sell steamed lobsters to curious wanderers like us.
We picked out a couple of beauties and settled in at a picnic table on the shore.
No five-star establishment could have been better – and the view was unbeatable.
Of course food is not the only thing consumed in Newfoundland, libations have a long history too.
Distilled spirits played a big part in the early fishing trade as salt cod was shipped down to the Caribbean and rum made its way back up.
One of the most common types became known as Screech, allegedly for the sound a person makes after downing a shot.
Somewhere along the way “Screeching In” took hold as a way to induct folks who “come from away” but would like to become an honorary Newfoundlander.
This is a revered practice on the island, and as such must be performed properly by a registered screecher.
After a week or more crisscrossing the land we felt pretty close to real live locals, so we took the plunge, and the pledge. With a shot of Screech and a kiss of another cod, we were initiated.
We would never dream of tampering with tradition, but we did wish that perhaps one of the island’s iceberg infused beverages could have been substituted for the Screech.
Resourceful captains have created a cottage industry of harvesting the bergs, hauling them ashore, and selling the pristine water. The Auk Island Winery is even using it to make wine.
The Elusive Moose Strikes Again
“Moose” sign
We were definitely noticing that land animals were rarely found on the bill of fare in Newfoundland, so when we saw moose steak on the menu at Chucky’s Seafood and Wildgame Restaurant in the town of Happy Adventure.
We figured we ought to take advantage of the opportunity.
One problem, moose are supposed to be thick all over the island — warning signs for motorists are everywhere — but the only time we got a good look at one was on our plate.
Our last meal on the island was one of the best, a park ranger at Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve recommended the nearby Gannet’s Nest restaurant for the best fish & chips in Newfoundland.
He was most certainly right about the restaurant, fantastic fresh, crispy, lightly breaded fish right out of the nearby water. So we began and ended with cod, the Alpha and Omega of gastronomy in Newfoundland.
Ann Voorhees Baker
