Snique Away

I received an invitation to join SniqueAway a few months ago from George Hobica of Airfarewatchdog. SniqueAway, which is a part of the same company that owns TripAdvisor, is a member's only site offering short run sales at luxury resorts and 4 and 5 star hotels, mainly in North America and the Caribbean. The sales run about a week and the savings can be pretty significant. We were able to book a weekend at a four star hotel for what we were going to get at a nearby budget hotel for our upcoming trip to Florida. If you know you're going to be traveling and you are interested doing some comparison shopping it's worth getting the alerts. You can use this invite from me to sign up. 

If you've already used it, let me know how it went.

Drop Biscuits

I've been making biscuits for as long as I can remember. So long in fact, my original recipe called for a 1/2 cup of lard. This one's on the healthier side of that, and borrowed from Lauren Ulm. I'm still not entirely sold on Earth Balance margarine, but it's not bad once baked.

2 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tbs Earth Balance margarine
2 tbs shortening
1 cup soy milk plus 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Mix flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in the margarine and shortening working it until the dough seems crumbly. Add the soy milk until just combined. Place the dough on a floured surface and roll into 1-inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter or glass, cut the dough into circles and place on a parchment covered baking sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes at 475 degrees or until golden. 

Gimme Some - Peter, Bjorn and John

We've been listening to the new Peter, Bjorn and John album, Gimme Some, for the past couple of weeks. It's more of a straight ahead indie-rock sound than their previous albums: buzzing guitars, pounding drums, quick tempos, and short songs. They don't quite sound like fellow Swedes, the Hives, but Breaker Breaker sounds like something the Buzzcocks might have written back in the day. Here's the lead off track. Sorry they haven't posted a video for it yet. Enjoy boppers!

Flavia de Luce Mysteries

Jenni picked up these great little novels last month. They're not particularly travel related, but they were a fun read, and they might be fun to take along on your summer journeys, especially if you have a young reader along with you.

Set in 1950's England, these award winning novels by Alan Bradley feature the crime solving skills of Flavia de Luce, an 11 year old chemistry enthusiast who always seems to find herself in the thick of things when bad things happen in the tiny village of Bishop's Lacey.  

Surprisingly complex and suspenseful, the mysteries are filled with humor and told in Flavia's singular voice. They have about everything you can imagine in a mystery set in post-war Britain; an aristocratic family living in a crumbling manor house, quirky servants, eccentric, gossipy villagers, bumbling police officers, and the odd dead body popping up under mysterious circumstances every so often.      

You learn a little bit more about the characters with each novel, and the fictional village of Bishop's Lacey really comes alive. Throughout you have the indefatigable Flavia out to prove she can solve the mystery before the police can.

I believe there will be 5 novels in the series, and I don't doubt we'll be picking them up as well.  Great stuff.

iTranslate iPhone app

My first job after college was working in the international marketing department of a graphic design company. I remember spending hours translating our documentation and business letters into one language after another, piles of dictionaries and how-to books littering my desk and covering my floor. My associate, Pascal, looked on in horror as I butchered one language after another.

Well, those days are gone for good. We live in an age of Rosetta Stones, online translators, and apps for our smartphones that can translate in the palm of our hands or speak for us. I have thankfully retired from the world of international marketing, and I can only hope that Pascal found fame and fortune with the marionettes she was so fond of making.

I have several of these translators on my phone. I can't speak to the superiority of any one in particular. They all work on the same basic principal, type or speak phrase that you need, and the translator provides the translation for you. Text to Speech has come a long way but it still doesn't sound exactly natural. I like all the various voices iTranslate has to offer, but I have to admit I haven't bought any of them. If you have a favorite pass it along.

Catherine Tate - Posh People - The Aga Saga Woman

I loved the Catherine Tate show. I think of the first clip every time I pick up my organic vegetarian eggs.

Oven Fries with Lemon Rosemary Salt

These fries make a nice snack or side for lunch or light dinner. The boys and I threw these together along with some pizzas for our friend Bobby who was visiting from New York. 

Lemon Rosemary Salt
1 - 2 Tbs fresh rosemary
1 lemon zested
2 -3 Tbs sea salt

Combine ingredients using a mortar and pestle adding enough salt until the mixture seems dry.

Chips
3-4 russet potatoes

Wash the potatoes to remove dirt and slice into fries an inch or less thick. Soak the fries in cold water for 2 hours or overnight. Then parboil in salted water for 5 or 10 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Place on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 420 degrees for 20 minutes or until crispy. Sprinkle with the lemon rosemary salt and serve.

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

We've been listening to Adele's new album, 21. I thought that 19 was an incredible album, but I'm even more impressed with 21. Amazing voice, great arrangements, solid songs. Great Stuff.

Tracey Cornish Vegetarian Pasties

It's that time of year again. Time to raise a glass to the Celts. I thought I'd take a shot at the Cornish pasty, that savory, hand held pie popularized by the tin miners of Cornwall. I didn't make these vegan but they certainly could be. I served mine with home made oven chips and pickles.

1 3/4 cup of flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
5 tbs butter

1 tbs olive oil
1 onion diced
1 stalk of celery diced
1 carrot diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 small rutabaga (swede) peeled and diced
1 potato diced
2 eggs
1 tbs mustard
1/4 cup Gruyere cheese

To make the dough: Sift the flour and salt in a bowl and cut in the butter, mix well until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add enough water to bind. Chill it for about an hour.

For the filling: heat your oil in a saucepan. Add the onion, celery and garlic. Cook stirring for a couple of minutes. Then add the rutabaga, potato, and carrot. Add water and let the vegetables steam until just tender.

Whisk one egg and the mustard in a large bowl. Stir in the vegetables and Gruyere. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk remaining egg with water and set aside.

Remove the dough and bring it up to room temperature. Roll it out on a floured surface to the desired thickness. Cut it into disc shapes using a cutter or a bowl. Brush the edges with egg and water mixture. Add filling and fold over crimping the edges with a fork or rolling them together with your fingertips. Continue until 
all the dough or filling is used up. Brush the top with milk or the egg and water mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, or about 30 minutes.

Enjoy

Gardens at Warwick Castle

You don't have to spend all your time at Kew to enjoy English gardens, many country homes and castles have remarkable gardens worth visiting. Jenni and I spent a couple of hours wandering around the gardens at Warwick Castle as well as taking a well needed rest.