Quick and Easy Meals: Summer Steak Tacos
Filed Under Kitchen Tips, Recipes, Mexico
One of my favorite meals in summer are tacos. You can throw anything on the grill and turn it into a delicious taco. While steak tacos usually call to mind carne asada, these steak tacos use flank steak marinated in a chipotle lime marinade and then cut thinly into strips. This marinade can be adapted for other meats as well, or for fish or shrimp to make seafood tacos. And… Read
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How to Save for a Vacation
Filed Under Travel Tips, What's Up at TIK
We know saving for a vacation can be difficult, and saving for an expensive vacation is even harder. And just because our culinary tours are, we believe, the best value to be found, that doesn't make them inexpensive. We have had culinary dreamers follow our social media for years with only the hope of "maybe someday" trying one of our trips. But there is no reason you can't make that… Read
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How to Fill Out the Passenger Locator Form to Visit Italy or France
Filed Under Travel Tips, France, Italy
Recently several of our tour destinations required a special form be completed to enter the country. This was a new requirement that was started due to COVID. Italy removed this requirement as of May 1, 2022. France's Foreign Ministry site says that passengers "may" be required to fill out the form, which might indicate it also will soon be suspended. Here are the instructions should it once again become necessary… Read
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The Borromean Islands on Our Northern Italy Culinary Tours
Filed Under Destination Features, Travel Tips, Italy
If you visit the Lakes District in Italy, and specifically the beautiful Lake Maggiore, a visit to the Borromean Islands is absolutely essential. The Isole Borromee, as they are called in Italian, are a group of three islands and two islets on the western arm of Lake Maggiore. They are so named because they were acquired and developed by the Borromean family, which historically was one of the most important… Read
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Five Things You Didn't Know about Champagne
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Wines & Spirits, France
Everyone loves champagne. This exquisite sparkling wine is known the world over as the wine par excellence for celebrating. But it's much more than that! Check below for 5 things you might not have realized about this famous bubbly. But before getting to those, let's recap what makes champagne champagne, and not just another sparkling wine. What Makes Champagne Champagne A sparkling wine has 3 basic rules it needs to… Read
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The Foods of Molise: What to Eat and Drink in Molise
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Travel Tips, Italy
When clients ask us where to go for an ultra-authentic cooking vacation in Italy, some place off the beaten path where they can experience authentic Italian life and flavors, one of our first answers is Molise! Molise, as we have noted elsewhere, is so little-traveled by tourist, and so unknown even by Italians from other reasons, that it is jokingly said "not to exist." But it does exist, and it… Read
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Recipe for Casunziei: Beet-Filled Ravioli from the Dolomites
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Recipes, Italy
One of the more unique recipes for ravioli that you will find are Casunziei ampezzani, named for the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo in Dolomites of the Veneto region. This half-moon pasta can be filled with a variety of seasonal produce, but is most often filled with a mix of beetroot and potato, making it very colorful. It is served dressed with a butter and poppy seeds, giving it a very… Read
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On This Day in History: Reflections on Two Strange Years
Filed Under What's Up at TIK
Some weeks I have more time and ideas for the blog than I know what to do with, while other times I'm either scratching my head for blog topics or searching frantically for the time to get it done. This week, it's a little bit of both. When I'm looking for a new blog topic, I always search to see whether there is a culinary significance to the day (hmmmm,… Read
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Top Five Foodie Finds on Our Northern Italy Culinary Tour
Filed Under Destination Features, Travel Tips, Wines & Spirits, Italy
Northern Italy is one of Europe's most gastronomically rich and interesting places, and it is the perfect destination for a foodie tour of Italy. Bordered as it is by France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and the Mediterranean Sea, you will find a wealth of gastronomic influences in a small geographical area. And that is not to mention the varied terrain. From the high peaks of the Alps to the fertile plains… Read
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Tours You Can Select on Our Rome Culinary Vacations
Filed Under Destination Features, Travel Tips, What's Up at TIK, Italy
Rome is perhaps my very favorite city in the world. We have long organized custom itineraries in Rome for our travelers, including hotels, foodie tours, cooking classes, cultural tours, and more. And now we offer two set culinary tours in Rome, one of 3 nights and one of 5 nights, which you can select as offered or customize to your heart's delights! Part of the charm of Rome are all… Read
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