Three Alternative Destinations to Visit on a Cooking Vacation with TIK
Filed Under Destination Features Croatia, Peru, USA
When most people think "cooking vacation," they think of Italy and France. And those countries have been out top destinations for the past 28 years! But we have many other amazing destinations that you can try on our tours, and some of them might be a bit unexpected. Whether you are traveling solo, as part of a couple, or with a small group of family or friends, we have many… Read
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Recipe for Moroccan Harira (Chickpea and Lentil Soup)
Filed Under Food History, Kitchen Tips, Recipes Morocco
Harira is one of my favorite Moroccan dishes. There are many variations but they all include legumes (usually lentils and chickpeas), tomato, onion, turmeric, and herbs. It is sometimes thickened with egg or a slurry (a mixture of flour and water, called a tedouira in Moroccan cuisine), although it will thicken on its own if left overnight. Harira is a dish traditionally served during Ramadan, but can be enjoyed throughout… Read
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Highlights of the Sicilian Baroque on our Sicily Cooking Vacations
Filed Under Destination Features, Travel Tips Italy
The Italian Baroque was one of the most florid and proliferous art movements in what is modern-day Italy, lasting from the late 16th to the early 18th centuries. Its famous art and architecture are particularly known for their grandeur, drama, and exuberance. The Sicilian Baroque, however, is its own movement. Although related to the wider Italian Baroque, the Sicilian baroque was developed on the island in the 17th and 18th… Read
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Best Day Trips from Florence by Train
Filed Under Destination Features, Travel Tips Italy
Florence is one of our most popular destinations for our cooking vacations and culinary tours. We offer a wonderful 5-night Florence for the Food Lover tour, but we also offer custom private ours in Florence for any amount of time. Frequently travelers add extra days in Florence either to our Florence tour or to any of our Tuscany cooking vacations. It's such an amazing city to explore! Small enough to… Read
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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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