Local food Archives

Exploring the Adriatic Sea Coastlines!

April 21, 2026April 17, 2026Posted in adventure travel, blogging, history, Travel, writingTagged birding, blogging, food, history, Local food, solo travel, travelLeave a comment

The Adriatic Sea is rarely mentioned in comparison to the Mediterranean Sea, yet the Adriatic Sea is a northern arm of the Mediterranean Sea. My travels for the next few months will be to explore the Balkan Peninsula, not really a peninsula, and Italian Peninsula separated by this 500 mile long body of water.

For those of you who love water, I learned, the Adriatic Sea is relatively shallow, has clear, turquoise water and over 1,000 islands. Wonder if island hopping is a thing people do?

My time will be split: group tour and solo time. The entire travel involves places I have never visited, so this will be a true exploration! My blog posts are usually twice a week, however, if writing time is available, I’ll post more often.

Looking at a map, I’ll visit Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and some locations on the eastern coast of Italy. If you have visited any of these areas, let me know what I should not miss! Thanks!

My sketch below is to orient myself to the locations of the countries I’ll eventually be visiting. I’ll start on the Southeastern European side. Can you name the countries labeled B thru F? Then I’ll visit eastern coast of country labeled A. Will not visit country labeled “?”, but needed to include it for my sense of the area.

Italian and Balkan Peninsulas. Can you name the countries?

Here are the answers:

A= Italy

B= Slovenia

C= Croatia

D= Bosnia and Herzegovina

E= Montenegro

F= Albania

How did you do? What about upper right corner with question mark? Answer: Serbia

Time to travel … and explore foods, birds, history with eyes wide open and to meet people from all over the world!

Foods Eaten While on 2025 Argentinian Adventure

January 11, 2026December 25, 2025Posted in adventure travel, blogging, environment, Travel, writingTagged Argentina, Local food2 Comments

I cannot start writing about food in Argentina without first mentioning “mate”. This is a caffeine-rich drink shared amongst friends in many of the places I was visiting in Argentina. It would be similar to me having my mug of tea each day, except I am not sharing my mug with others and not carrying around a thermos of hot water to refill my cup throughout the day.

The dried yerba mate plant leaves are put into a “gourd”-shaped cup. Hot water, not boiling, is poured into the cup, and drunk through a filtered metal straw. One person oversees the making of the mate and in being sure it is shared among others.

BBQ, especially out on the ranches, is very common. It was a delicious lamb BBQ at one location.

Argentinian food includes beef, chicken and fish; however, here are a few unusual foods I tied. Isn’t that what travel is all about?

Pickled rabbit … not a favorite of mine.

Guanaco stew with potatoes and chips on top … definitely did not like this meal.

Sometimes a plate was with a variety of foods on it. Such as this one with muffins, ceviche, 3 different empanadas and passionfruit dessert in the middle. The food item with a brown, sweet block of something on top of a cube of cheese was very different.

Empanadas.. 3 beef, chicken, fish, ceviche, muffins and passion fruit dessert on one plate

Someday I will visit Mendoza, Argentina’s wine country! I drank Malbec wine while in Argentina and tried some cerveza … beer!

Our guide introduced us to a liquor: Fernet-Branco. It has 39% alcohol, so we had a third of a glass with Fernet and the other 2/3’s with Coca cola. I would not run anywhere for this drink; however, it is known to be a digestif.

Snacks though I am always looking for, especially since Snicker bars, my favorite travel snack is not in the local markets. One snack, I also found on restaurant tables, was alfajors. These cornstarch sweet snacks have dulce de leche, a caramel filling, which you’ll find everywhere in Argentina.

In Calafate, Argentina there is calafate jam and ice cream often served. The calafate berry is on a thorny plant and similar to a blueberry.

We made a dessert with chocolate cookies dipped in coffee and placed on a layer that had dulce de leche, caramel filling, spread on it. One photo shows us making it and then the finally look at it before eating a bite!

Other snacks:

The same snack if you were to buy it at a store.

Snack … chocolate snacks were everywhere!

The food was delicious everywhere I went. What I loved most were the local markets where people bought their food. There we had an opportunity to watch the fish be filleted, see the giant garlic bulbs, and enjoy the interaction with local people. It was a great opportunity to be on this adventure.

Gardeners Created a Park in Green Valley, Arizona

December 5, 2021November 17, 2021Posted in UncategorizedTagged Arboretum, Gardeners, Local foodLeave a comment

I have no green thumb, but I do know when I see a good thing happening! I was talking with some birders who mentioned Desert Meadows Park was their next birding stop in the day. I had never heard of the place so I decided it was on my way home and time to visit.

What a wonderful park! It was established in 2014, maintained by garden club volunteers and is a microcosm of the Sonoran ecosystem. I want to acknowledge all these people have done so please read their sign below:

I love the park; it is colorful, with such variety while also looking at native plants. I love the numerous cushioned chairs and swings in the place! I find myself writing this post and showing you everything but the plants, but know they are there! I love the garden plots … brought back memories of when I lived in upstate New York and had a community garden plot for my tomatoes to grow! Here ten tons of fresh produce are donated … fantastic … no doubt appreciated by local food banks!

I discover the Juan Bautista de Anza Historic Trail is located here too. As you may recall from a past blog post, the 1,000 mile trail is from Sonora, Mexico to California.

Unique to this park: a self-serve nursery, bee hive, and labyrinth. I have provided some information about the labyrinth since one does not see one to often, and if you do, then you might want to walk within one. If you are in the Green Valley, Arizona area, stop by and visit Desert Meadows Park!