Not all those who wander are lost
An ideal gift book for a teen who likes Harry Potter — and baking. 😀
But I actually enjoyed it.
Fourteen-year-old Mona’s magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance.
THEN she’s called on to save the city.
Author T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) has won the Hugo for past books. I’m not surprised.
If you ever get to Athol, Idaho 😀 — be sure to book one of the best meals you’ve ever enjoyed.
An unlikely success story.
Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.
Best advice when visiting Lisbon is to eat MOST of your meals at Time Out.
It’s a massive place where you have a lot of choices at reasonable prices.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Over a couple of weeks, I ate there perhaps 6 times.
My favourite was something billed as a traditional Portuguese meat sandwich. I tried several variations.
Last time I Portugal, my favourite was the Francesinha ( ‘Little French Girl’). It’s a high calorie feed.
My friend Paulo recommended I try a traditional Portuguese light lunch. Cod croquettes alongside a beans dish.
Of course PORK is a mainstay in Spain and Portugal. This was a delicious dish … of some kind.
The traditional desert is a custard tart.
Said to be written by Bourdain — his longtime assistant Laurie Woolever actually only had one meeting about this book with her boss before he killed himself at the age of 61 in June 2018.
A shocking end to one of our favourite travel and food gurus.
But Bourdain had long talked about writing a summing-up travel book, highlighting his favourite foods, cultures, meals and destinations. Woolever made it happen.
The book includes short summaries of 43 destinations from his many years filming Parts Unknown and No Reservations.
Profane, opinionated and often hilarious.
Bourdain was a tough guy. But travel opened his eyes. He wanted to tell the truth, to challenge the powerful, to expose wrongdoing. He’d call out racism at every opportunity.
He championed industrious Spanish-speaking immigrants—from Mexico, Ecuador, and other Central and South American countries—who are cooks and chefs in many United States restaurants,
Amazon – World Travel: An Irreverent Guide, April 20, 2021
I happily joined in the Adlard family and friends vacation to Newport, Oregon following our climb of Mt Adams, Washington.
Newport only has a population of 11,000 yet is a big tourist destination. Great beaches.
Here’s the vista from their rented beach house deck.
We enjoyed cycling the HUGE beach. (VIDEO)
It’s WINDY so Kites and Kite Surfing are popular.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
That’s close to Devils Punchbowl State Natural Area. A fun stop.
Oregon Coast Aquarium is well worth a visit too.
We had 3 terrific dinners at seafood restaurants on Newport’s Historic Bayfront. Research for Chef Dave Adlard.
Local Ocean was great. Clearwater Restaurant, as well.
Tom enjoyed our stop at the Rogue Nation Brewery & Spirits factory. We did well, as well, at a boutique wine tasting shop.
Dave cycles every day. So our group cycled every day.
The iconic image of Newport is the Yaquina Bay Bridge. Art Deco and Art Moderne design motifs as well as forms borrowed from Gothic architecture.
When you have destinations like Newport, who needs Hawaii? 😀
I really like Salmon. Try to avoid thinking about how they are killed for my pleasure. 😐
But my Dad and brother have always been keen fishermen. I’ve joined them on charters a few times in Canada and Mexico.
Many times found reasons to avoid those trips in the past. I really fear sea sickness. 🤮
Since my Dad sold his boat, they’ve done two charters a year, most recently out of Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island.
As Pacific salmon numbers decline, it’s gotten increasingly more difficult.
June 2021 they decided to try a new guide in a new area. An interesting and entertaining character.
We stayed in Port McNeill for 2 nights as Pete lives there. He made the final decision whether to fish out of Port Hardy or Port Alice.
Fishing had been better out of Hardy, so that was the final decision.
It was about a 3.5 hour drive from Parksville to McNeill. Another half hour to Hardy.
We headed north at 6am on the hottest day in thousands of years (at least).
I’ve been to the north of Vancouver Island a few times — but feel I don’t really know the remote, unique area. I’m planning for a couple of weeks bicycle touring. Some day.
It was an hour at full throttle to get to the open fishing area. Seas at the north tip of the island are dangerous. Weather often horrific.
Our day was dead calm, compared to normal.
My family likes to fish for salmon first. Switch to halibut next. We had our limit of 8 Chinook (Spring) salmon (2 / licence) by about 12:30pm.
I even caught fish. It was fun.
Click PLAY or get a glimpse on YouTube.
Pete took us further out about 5 miles to a spot he calls his butthole. It’s a shallow, sandy bottom area.
We ended up catching 4 halibut. They were bigger and much more of a challenge to murder than salmon. The largest halibut required Pete to use his harpoon.
Cost for 4 was about $1600 including 2 nights hotel, charter, fuel.
We brought home well over $1600 worth of fish.
I’d go again. Did not get sea sick.
On return to town we found all restaurants closed. Power failure.
Happily our motel had a huge, noisy generator.
related – Canada has budgeted $647M over 5 years to try to save declining Pacific salmon.
My first full-time job out of High School was milkman. In 1975/76 for months I stopped at the Deer Head Cafe for brunch.
A local motor cycle gang hung out there, as well.
It seemed OLD and RUNDOWN even then.
Gump Worsley’s Lament feat Deer Head.
Surprisingly, the Cafe is still serving loyal locals. Cash only.
They even have an Instagram.
THANKS Rockin’.
Shockingly, I made it to midnight. 😀
Good riddance 2020.
Yvonne and Rob hosted Christmas dinner 2020. AND served up the same meal for Boxing Day.
We all agreed, leftovers are even tastier than the original. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Christmas Eve dinner in Parksville has evolved into an annual burger bash.
As an old Canadian, this cheddar cheese spread is comfort food for me.
Warren and Sandy always have some in their fridge.
ALEXANDER FERGUSON MacLAREN b. 3 Feb. 1854 in Perth, Upper Canada, was a businessman and politician.
In 1920, his company was purchased by J. L. Kraft and Brothers Company.
RickMcCharles.com 