Category: Travel

Food, Travel

Mambo Italiano, and Tuscan Pici Cacio e Pepe Style

Tess

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Oh, baby. We are BACK.

And by “BACK,” I mean that I have been completely incapable of doing anything for the past 5 days due to a nasty, nasty bout of the flu. My mom referred to this as being retribution for taking a long, amazing vacation, and I’ll admit that it feels that way a bit.

Where was I?

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Oh yes. The #dreamtrip. We were lucky enough to spend two and a half weeks exploring a ton of different parts of Italy, which is something I’ve dreamed about for what feels like ever. I’m keenly aware that the origin of this yearning may in fact have been related to the very first time that I read Eat, Pray, Love – call me basic, but that shit was inspiring. Who doesn’t want to take four months off (ideally, with the bill footed by your publishers) to eat tagliatelle and stare at the David all day? I do. I want that.

I’m going to attempt to split our trip up into separate posts, but first, I wanted to share with you our very favorite culinary adventure from that trip: Pici.  Continue reading “Mambo Italiano, and Tuscan Pici Cacio e Pepe Style” →

Travel

Koh Samui Dreams (kind of)

Tess

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Last installment of the honeymoon, y’all. Promise.

Koh Samui was supposed to be the tropical honeymoon dreamland of which I have dreamed approximately my whole life since marriage started seeming like a real thing, which was maybe 6 months ago? Ish.

Imagine my delight when we arrived, and the first thing to greet us once we arrived at our hotel was…

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Well, the ACTUAL first thing to greet us was these drinks – roselle juice, with a handmade flower rosary just because, I don’t know, decorations. OMG it was so humid and they were amazeballs.

But the SECOND thing to greet us (are you feeling the suspense?) was a monsoon! And then there was another one later that day. And then there were 3-4 monsoons every day for the next 3 days.

In other words, GREAT JOB, Koh Samui.

All of that aside, it was basically a tropical honeymoon dreamland. For instance, check out the breakfast buffet. Let’s go on a little adventure.  I love adventures!!!

Travel

Three Nights in Bangkok

Tess

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[EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is terribly written and horribly rambly. I’m sorry. I really am.]

[SECOND EDITOR’S NOTE: The title of this post is actually a reference to a song, and NOT just horribly unimaginative. I could understand why you might think that, though.]

The most recent adventure in my life has been our honeymoon: two weeks in vibrant, amazing Thailand. We really had no idea of what to expect going in, except for knowing that it would be utterly and completely different from home. And in that regard, it did not disappoint.

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I find it a little challenging to talk about visiting other countries, because the homebody in me (yes, it does exist) often spends a good portion of every trip looking for the familiar. That’s something that I’ve tried to fight as I’ve gotten older, because I love to travel, but it doesn’t make the experience too much easier to describe. However, the defining point that we found while traveling is the same one that has made the biggest impact in our lives at home: the food.  I like food.

Travel

Be More Canadian.

Tess

Guys.  Are we all agreed that new year’s resolutions totally suck?

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Here is (I think) a great reason why they suck: if I hypothetically had to give myself a really solid resolution to start off 2013, one would definitely be to blog more often. I’ve had some really amazing feedback from folks who I really dig about this little old blog, and I would love (in theory) to keep that ball in motion as much as possible.

Can I be real for a second?  2012 was kind of a gnarly year in my life. There were difficulties.  There were learning experiences. I left one job; I started a different job. There were also great things. There were triumphs. I ran my first-ever (and second, and third) 5K race (32:08!). I discovered how truly amazing my support network is. I made some awesome friends. Those parts were great, but the hard parts were really, really hard.  The hardest.  Where are you going with this? Well, I’ll tell you.