So DC Week kind of got pushed back by “I published an ebook” week (!!!).  I’ll be sharing some more awesome local tips about the DC are all through next week so stay tuned. Until then enjoy this refreshing waterfall picture of the Museum of the American Indian on the Mall.

Friday Postcard: More DC Please! is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

I’ve been sitting on this announcement for weeks, and I’m really thrilled to finally share my news with you guys!

Since the day I started this website, nearly 4 years ago, I’ve wanted to write a book, or maybe eventually a lot of books. As it turns out with everything in life, follow through is a lot harder than just having big ideas. I never really had time to sit down and put something together that I thought was worthy.

Then, opportunity fell in my lap. Thought Catalog, a website I really enjoy and admire, got in touch with me about joining their new e-publishing program. It seemed like as good a time as ever so I went to work.

I pulled some of my favorite blog posts from Twenty-Something Travel, and cobbled them into a story of sorts. The articles are all pulled from this website, but most have been rewritten with juicy new details and insights- kind of like a remix.

After a stressful month of re-writing, editing and a handful of panic attacks I’m really pleased to share the finished product with you guys:

 So what’s it about?

A Year Without Make-Up is a series of articles about my first year of travel: the inevitable decision to quit my job, the preparations and the amazing year where I met Michael, explored South East Asia, lived in China and more.

The title comes from an article I wrote fairly recently, about how I stopped wearing make-up while traveling. I chose that because I think it’s a pretty great metaphor for a lot of the changes that happened to me once I started traveling: I stopped caring so much about what other people thought and started charting my own course in life.

The book is short, a lazy afternoon read, and is on sale for just $2.99 on iBookstore and Amazon.

Why Should You Buy It?

Here are a few reasons I came up with that you might want to support my book:

• You enjoy my writing style and would like to see me write more
• You owe me a favor and/or are related to me.
• You’re a more recent fan of the blog and want to see where it all started.
• You’re an old fan of the blog and want to reminisce about how young and stupid we all once were.
• You’re not a fan of this blog at all and want some hate-reading material.
• You like stories that involve self-discovery, romance and exotic places.
• You’ve got $3 to spare… did I mention it’s only $2.99?

If you do buy the book it would great if you would leave a review (honest- of course!). I totally welcome any and all feedback.

I’m really excited, because I see this tiny book as the start of something new and big for me; a direction I’ve always wanted to go but never had the guts. So… here’s hoping it goes well!

Check out the book here!

Announcing My First Ebook: A Year Without Make-Up is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Most visitors would never know it, but the Washington DC area is actually one of the best areas in the country for really authentic international cuisine. You name it, we’ve got it, from Bolivian to Chinese to Ethiopian, all fairly cheap and bringing total realness.

From the make-up of downtown DC however, the city seems to consist mostly of chain restaurants, cocktail bars and overpriced fusion places. I mean, we have the most pathetic Chinatown in probably the entire world: it’s colorful gates are flanked by a Hooters and a Fuddruckers. Not exactly inspiring.

There are plenty of great, popular mid-range restaurants in DC, but I’m not talking about them today. I’m not even going to recommend individual restaurants, just try to steer you in the right general direction.

To find the really, really great food you have to look a little closer: the local neighborhoods and the suburbs, specifically the suburbs of Northern Virginia which are full of ethnic communities. For this, it really helps to have a car. Even if you don’t however, there are a lot of areas you can check out for a taste of the real, global DC. We’ve got a little bit of everything.

Here is where to direct your stomach:

 Little Ethiopia

CC rock_creek

Did you know that DC has the largest population of Ethiopians outside of Ethiopia, at over 200,000? That means that there are tons of legit Ethiopian restaurants in the area, the highest concentration of which can be found in the Shaw neighborhood at 9^th and U street. Here you can find about a dozen Ethiopian restaurants as well as an Italian-Ethipian fusion place (which I definitely need to check out).

Columbia Heights- Salvadorian Food

I mainly know Colombia Heights and Mount Pleasant as the gentrifying area where all my downtown friends rent houses, but it’s also a hotbed for Salvadorian cuisine. Cheap and tasty pupuserias (pupusas are a kind of stuffed tortilla) abound as well as sit down places with cheap beer and local specialties.

Local Markets

DC has a couple of really great local markets with interesting food. Eastern Market is a really great place to spend a Saturday or Sunday morning shopping for crafts and local produce, as well as a place to munch at street vendors (the elusive crepe man is legendary). Inside the market itself are a few more pricey but delicious local restaurants.

I haven’t yet been to Union Market but it’s high on my to-do list. It’s open Wed-Sunday and is a new revitalized spot for artisan food shops and eateries, including pop-up restaurants. A pretty great example of DC’s rising local fresh food scene.

Food Trucks

Then there are the food trucks- a rising and exciting trend in DC that is going to warrant an article all it’s own, maybe next week. These mobile restaurants serve everything from pho to tacos to chicken satay, and many of them actually hang around downtown, making a nice alternative to eating at Cosi. You can track the many trucks on the Food Truck Fiesta website.

Unique DC Foods

When I was working on Eat The World I realized that despite having amazing food, DC doesn’t have many distinctive food specialties to call it’s own. There are a couple of DC dishes to look out for though:

The Half-Smoke- If you do end up eating at one of those ubiquitous hot dog cars around the Mall, at least order a half-smoke, DC’s unique hotdog of choice. It’s half-beef, half pork, and is usually chopped with chili. The most famous place to eat a chili dog is of course Ben’s Chili Bowl on U Street.

Jumbo Slice- available only in Adams Morgan, these are the biggest slices of pizza you will ever see in your life, bigger than your head. Sadly they are only good when you are drunk (oh but if you ARE drunk, they are delicious- I ate more of these in my early twenties than I can count).

Now: if you have a car, or a friend with a car, head out to NoVa for the real good stuff (and I’m not just saying this because I am a Northern Virginian):

The Eden Center- Vietnamese Food Paradise

When I came back from Asia I couldn’t believe how fortunate I was to have this thick slice of Vietnam just ten minutes from home- I am a lucky girl, let me tell you.

The Eden Center is a strip mall shopping center on the edge of Arlington and Falls Church that has over 100 shops and restaurants all catering to the local Vietnamese population. Everything from sit down full service restaurants to pho shops to karaoke bars to bakeries to an Asian supermarket. It can be hard to know where to start, so here’s a handy article with some restaurant suggestions. Pho Xe Lua is my favorite pho place in the area.

Annandale, VA- Koreatown

This is a bit further afield but if you love Korean food it’s totally worth the trip. Koreatown is a 1.5 mile section of Little River turnpike that is home to over 1000 (seriously) Korean owned businesses, everything from churches to bookstores to yes, lots and lots of restaurants.

The area is definitely intimidating at first if you don’t know where to go- many of the signs are in Korean and the area is really set up for Korean locals, not visitors. Check Yelp and do some internet research beforehand to help determine where you’re headed.

Spread out across Northern Virginia you’ll also find real and authentic Chinese (Uncle Liu’s Hot Pot is the only thing keeping me from dashing right back to China), Indian, Afghani, Bolivian and more. Here is an awesome summary of ethnic dining in the DC area.

Anything I missed? Where do you eat in DC?

How to Eat Like a Local in DC is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Sometimes I feel like I am blind to DC. I travel all over the world and write about my adventures, but when it comes to my own hometown, the place where I actually LIVE, this blog is mostly silent. Which is pretty ridiculous considering it’s a major city for tourists and a pretty freaking awesome place in a lot of ways that visitors don’t even know about.

So this summer I am going to write more about Washington DC. I hope to show you guys that there is a lot more to this city than the National Mall, and that it’s actually a really interesting, diverse and cultural place. So for starters I am dedicating this week to all things DC.

But first, I’ll show you flowers. One of the highlights of being in DC during the springtime is the plethora of flowering trees and bushes: azaleas, magnolias, dogwoods, daffodils and more. Then there is the crown jewel: the cherry blossoms. They actually bloom all over town- there are two in my yard, but the most beautiful and iconic ones are the National Cherry Blossoms down by the tidal basin. Given to the nation by Japan, they bloom for just about a week every year and are a major tourist attraction.

Because they only bloom for 7-10 days, there’s a very small window for appreciating the trees. This year, the year of endless winter, they bloomed very late, not until mid-April. When Mike and I first tried to go see them they were still just on the verge of bursting into bloom:

Pretty, but not quite the look we wanted. So we came back a week later and got to see them in all their glory:

He loved it

Lots of tourists

The National Floral Library next to the Tidal Basin

The Cherry Blossoms of DC is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Mike is in Amsterdam this week and it’s quite chilly. “I’m being punished,” he said, “for skipping winter for so many years. Now I have endless Winter.” In honor of that sorry situation here’s a frosty photo from Sam at Indefinite Adventure:

Despite my love/hate relationship with Paris, on a grey winter’s day the French capital is still wonderfully photogenic. The climb up the butte Montmartre is definitely worth it for the Sacré Cœur and the views out over the city.

Friday Postcard: Winter in Montmarte is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

I finally finished blogging about my last trip which means it’s time to get moving again.

This summer is kind of a weird one for me. On the one hand it’s prime traveling season and I’ll take most any excuse to get out of the DC humidity. On the other, I’m getting married, for realsies, in September (!!). There’s still so much to be done (and so much to pay for), so by necessity both Mike and I are trying to keep our travel schedule lighter than usual.

Lighter does not mean sitting still though! Here’s what I’ve got coming up, starting with next week:

New York and Boston

Mike is in Holland speaking at TBU, that lucky bastard. I couldn’t afford the plane ticket but wanted to have my own adventure! So I’m solo-busing up to New York and then Boston to visit some friends and soak up some Eastern US ambience. It’s not quite as glamorous but hey, I make my own fun.

On the docket: A lot of eating (including food tours- my fave), brewery visiting, couch-crashing, friendship-hugging, brunching, aimless wandering and exploring. Just the way I like to travel.

Toronto

cc Grantmac

From Boston I’m flying straight to a new city, Toronto for some blogger business and fun.

First up I’ll be doing my second stint mentoring at the Navigate Blog House. Last year we all hung out in a massive villa, and this year we’ll be studying and learning together in an actual castle! Yes, I found a castle in downtown Toronto, thanks to FlipKey, because I’m that good. I’m really looking forward to the chance to help the next generation of travel bloggers get a foothold in the industry. Plus I mean, castle!

Then, directly afterwards I’ll be spending the weekend at the Travel Blog Exchange Conference networking and catching up with many old blogger friends. It won’t be as great as last year (the one that involved the mountain-top surprise engagement), but it should be good fun.

Hopefully somewhere in there I’ll have time to explore Toronto, a city I’ve never been to before. Suggestions?

Milwaukee

Later on in June Mike and I will be flying out to Milwaukee as guests of Visit Milwaukee. I am really, super excited about this for a lot of reasons, including beer, cheese and the chance to explore a new city. Most of all though, I’m psyched because we will be there to attend Summerfest, the world’s largest music festival (at least that’s how they tell it). I mean, what’s summer without at least one massive outdoor concert?

There will probably be a couple of other as yet unorganized trips this summer, but mostly I’ll be hanging around DC, freaking out about stupid wedding stuff and trying to beat the heat. Don’t cry for me too much though: Mike and I are still working on our post-wedding plans, but I can tell you that they for sure involve leaving DC permanently for new, exciting international adventures!

Where are you going this summer?

Upcoming Travel Plans: May/June Edition is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Wow, I have been writing about Italy forever, haven’t I? There is just so much to say and I could probably go on and on (particularly about food), but I think I’ve reached the end of my Italian musings for the time being. Which means it’s time for Best and Worst!

Total Days: 15

Total Days it Didn’t Rain: 11 (Wow, that has to be some sort of record for me)

Places Visited: Rome, Bologna, Milan, plus day trips to Modena and Ostia Antica

Favorite Place: I still adore Rome, but Bologna really struck a strong chord with both Michael and me- strong enough to go on our shortlist of places to live!

Least Favorite Place: Milan didn’t do much for me, but it’s still part of Italy which makes it 1000 times better than most places.

Best Tourist Site: Even so, wandering around on the rooftop of the Duomo was the coolest way to explore a church ever.

Favorite Food: Oh my god, I can not choose. I am having a serious crisis just trying to answer this question. Okay fine: Roman artichokes, pizza we made ourselves, pasta bolognese (which I don’t even like much back home), real gelato, every single kind of cheese and cured meat.

Least Favorite Food: Even the Italians have an off night. Mike and I went out to celebrate a late Valentine’s day at a fancier place near our apartment in Rome and I ended up with an extremely disappointing lamb chop with barely any meat on it’s charred bones. It was also probably the most expensive meal I had in Italy to add insult to injury.

Most Memorable Moments: Eating real gelato outside our homey rental apartment in Rome, discovering Keat’s grave, wandering Bologna late at night with my friend Anna, seeing the Trevi Fountain with Mike for the first time and exploring hidden parts of the Colosseum.

Coolest Discovery: The startlingly different (and yummy) taste of real DOP Balsamic Vinegar, aged 25 years, in Modena. I’ll never go back to the thin stuff.

Biggest Obsession: Food obviously, but more specifically the local markets that can be found in every town and local neighborhood in Italy. The produce was so fresh and colorful it looked like jewels.

Biggest Annoyance: The air quality in Milan was surprisingly terrible! Also, this wasn’t so much an annoyance as a terrifying ordeal, but I’ll probably need sedation dentistry next time because of our horrifying Italian dental experience.

Coolest souvenir: I love love love my little Capuchin monk espresso shot glasses that I picked up at the Capuchin Crypt. Aren’t they the cutest things ever?

Biggest Regret: That dentist of course. Also being too unorganized to go see the Last Supper outside Milan.

Best Advice: When in Italy try every local meat, cheese and pasta specialty you can get your hands on! Learn about food traps and really make the most of being in (at least according to me) the culinary capital of the world.

I’m starting to think Italians have a thing for octopi

Would I Go Back? Oh yes, I suspect I will be seeing a LOT more of Italy in the next few years. At least I really hope so!

Italy: The Best and Worst is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Of all the places I’ve visited in Italy, Milan may be my least favorite. It’s a very generic European big city: expensive, generic and really, really smoggy.

Now if Milan were a city in any other country, I might have liked it more better. Coming off of a two week high in Rome and Bologna though, it just couldn’t stand a chance. Milan was too business-like, too sophisticated, too un-italian to really make much of an impression on me.

I try really hard to see the good in everywhere I go though: I’m an optimist and I think every city has it’s charms if you rummage around enough. Even in a city like Milan which was not my favorite, and not one I’m dying to return to like Bologna, there was still some pretty neat stuff to enjoy.

The Duomo

It may be controversial to say, but I think Milan’s elaborate gothic cathedral blows the Duomo in Florence out of the water. It’s the largest in Italy, took six centuries to build and is full of gorgeous details and towering spires.

Plus, for a small fee you can ascend a giant winding staircase and walk around ON TOP of the church. You can wonder among the stone beams and see the details up close while tourists huddle like ants in the square below. It was one of my favorite activities of the whole trip.

Parco Sempione

Sometimes I forget how much I love wandering around public parks on the weekend and watching the locals enjoy themselves. We accidentally wandered into this enormous green space (which is attached to the medieval Sforza Castle). There was a traveling carnival going on with cotton candy and rides, further afield we found an African drum circle, dogs playing with frisbees and this Napoleonic Arch. Definitely a peaceful way to spend a warm afternoon.

Panzerotti at Luini’s

Our last meal in Italy before we hopped the plane to chilly Germany was panzerotti at Luini’s, a famous shop hidden behind the Cathedral. Panzerotti are a savory pastry stuffed with filling, similar to an empanada or a calzone but with softer dough. You can get them fried or baked, we tried one of each and they were unfathomably delicious with warm cheese spilling out the ends. I’m getting hungry just typing about it.

Actually, we did eat some pretty great meals in Milan, not counting the All-You-Can-Eat-Sushi place I flat out could not resist (I’m only human). Cheap and crisp pizza, softballs of mozzarella and legit pistachio gelato.

Anyways, I would come back to Milan, just for some more Panzerotti.

Have you been to Milan? Am I missing something?

Things I Did Not Hate About Milan is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Anyone else ready for it to be beach time yet? This gorgeous picture is from Kathryn of rtw Travel Guide. The photo is of “my “home” beach on the West Coast of the South Island, NZ (super rough sea and deserted beach).”

Friday Postcard: Deserted Beach is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Even though neither of us have even been to Bologna, Mike and I have long had it on our short list of places to seriously consider living in Europe (along with Rome of course). We had heard so many good things from friends who have visited and lived there.

It did not disappoint, at all. Bologna is super under-rated among people who haven’t been there. It doesn’t have the fame and glamour of Rome or Venice or Florence, but it’s so perfectly, iconically Italy. We only spent 4 days here but I fell head over heels.

So here’s why I’m pretty sure I’ll be back in Bologna, if not to live (although maybe, hopefully, to live?), at least to hang out a little longer:

Covered Walkways

The first thing I noticed about this city and how I knew it must be made for weather challenged people like me! I even did a whole love letter to the porticos where you can read about their history.

Food (umm duh)

I thought about writing a whole post on the food of Bologna but I figured after Rome you guys might be tired of hearing it. No matter, I’m sure we will return and I will have ample time to tell you about the hot chocolate so thick it’s like pudding, so rich it’s like cream. Or the tortellinis boiled in tender broth (always in broth). Or the pasta bolognese which is never made with spaghetti- it’s too thick and hearty for such a wimpy pasta, you need a real thick noodle to take that rich beefy flavor.

I could also tell you about the Emilia-Romagna region and it’s many different areas famous for balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese, Parma ham, truffles and more.

I could go on. I think you get what I’m putting out there though?

The Library

Nerdy girl that I am, I fell head over heels in love with the Bologna public library off of the Piazza Maggiore. The Salaborsa is located inside an old palace, but the interior is gorgeous and modern. We wandered in on a Thursday afternoon and the place was buzzing with university students working on projects, senior citizens reading the paper and hip young people on laptops. “I would work here all the time if we lived here,” I told Mike immediately.

The best part was the see through floor of the library which provides a window to an archeological dig going on below.

The Markets

those peppers!

Okay this is kind of a cheat since I already said food, but as I’ve made quite clear over the past few weeks I am super obsessed with Italian cuisine and fresh produce. I’ve been getting more and more in to eating organic and local, and it would be very easy, and delicious to do that in Italy.

In fact, I’ve already started researching local cooking classes.

The Crazy Statues

Look at that saucy minx! She and three others just like her form the base of the Fountain of Neptune by Renaissance artist Giambologna. It sits at the very center of the city and for me it pretty perfectly sums up the kind of irreverent, “we do what we want” attitude of the city.

Not sure about this one though, can anyone tell me what’s going on here?

The octopus!

The Ease of Travel

It’s also an ideal home base for someone looking to explore Italy geographically and culturally. It’s set right in the center of Northern Italy, a transportation hub with links to nearly everywhere.

From Bologna you can easily explore the surrounding region which includes gems of small towns like Ravenna, Modena, Parma, Reggio Emilia and a whole bunch more. Or you can go further afield and explore the rest of Italy:Venice is two hours away, Milan 1 hour, Florence just 45 minutes.

The Mystery

There is a lot of Bologna we didn’t get to see or experience in our three days there (particularly since we devoted an entire day to gorging on gelato). It’s an ancient city full of secrets, hidden alcoves, small museums and more. There are small cafes, modern shops, old traditions and more to be discovered. Plus, there’s all of Italy basically at your steps.

Will we make Bologna our home this fall? It’s a definite maybe. I would love to spend some time living in Italy, exploring the culture of my grandparents and hopscotching around Europe. If it were up to me we’d go right after the wedding. There are still a lot of details to be worked out, many not under my control, we we’ll have to wait and see, but no matter what happens I’m pretty sure I’ll come back to Bologna.

Think you guys could handle all the food posts?

We visited Bologna as guests of the Emilia-Romagna Tourism Board. All optimistic-about-moving-to-Italy opinions are my own.

7 Things I Loved About Bologna (and Why I’ll be Back) is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

In which I prove that too much gelato is in fact a bad thing… (I was shocked too).

When the Emilia-Romagna Tourism folks invited us to spend a day at Gelato University I was, as you can imagine, beside myself. I had no idea what Gelato University actually was but I knew if it involved gelato I was fully on board.

Bright and early Wednesday morning we took a local bus to the outskirts of Bologna and the Carpigiani factory. As one of the leading makers of gelato machinery in the world, the company brilliantly started the Gelato University as a way to train potential customers in the making of gelato and the use of their equipment. They offer a variety of 2-3 week courses at different levels of difficulty. Lucky for us we were sitting in on the beginner course.

It turns out, not that surprisingly I guess, that making gelato is hard. We sat in the back of the classroom watching the teacher (a local gelato shop artisan) lecture on the science behind gelato making. I wondered when we would get to taste some of the good stuff and tried to pay attention while the students around me took vigorous notes.

So who goes to Gelato University? It turns out all sorts of people. As we sampled yesterdays creations (pistachio, dark chocolate, lemon cream), I chatted with some of the students. Among them: A couple from the Philippines researching how to start their own shop (gelato is very popular in the Philippines apparently), two chefs from Norway, a world traveler from Colombia on a career break, a young guy from Dubai who just wanted to learn a new skill and a Lebanese woman considering a career change. Everyone was chipper and eager to learn despite the surprising volume of math involved.

Bathroom signs

During the lunch break a representative from the company showed us around the Gelato museum, which is dedicated to the history of gelato and gelato-making from the early hand cranks to the modern machines produced by Carpigiani. We also stopped by the cafe and gelato testing center, where top Gelato chefs were experimenting with new flavors.

You know what that means. Sample time:

By now I was feeling pretty full from the 5 or 6 different cups of gelato I had already had. But we couldn’t quite yet: the afternoon session of Gelato U was the kitchen session.

The class split up into groups of 3 or 4 and each received a recipe. Today’s focus was on straciatella- cream flavored gelato with chunks of chocolate mixed in, which just so happens to be my very favorite flavor. The kitchen was a flurry of rushing students, mixing bowls, whirring machines and quiet debates on the best way to mix chocolate. I was so impressed- these people had only been in class for three days and they already basically knew how to make gelato.

It tasted pretty great too. The students lined up about a dozen different finished straciatellas for tasting. After the fourth or fifth one though, I started to feel a bit woozy. My head was pounding- too much sugar maybe? And my stomach felt…weird. “I think I might have overdone it,” I whispered to Mike. He nodded weakly a grimace on his face. The students still had another couple of hours of lecturing ahead of them but we decided our time at Gelato university was over.

After a nauseous bus ride back to central bologna we collapsed on our giant bed and fell into some sort of ice cream coma, only to be awoken several hours later by my friend calling to take us to dinner. Damn our lack of self control.

How do the students at gelato university maintain the self-control to not gorge themselves to death? How do gelato shop OWNERS manage it? I have no idea but I know now I could never be one.

So yes, I do love gelato, but I think I’m content to enjoy it as an amateur-not a professional!

We visited Bologna as guests of the Emilia-Romagna Tourism Board. All gluttinous opinions are my own.

How I Flunked Out of Gelato University is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Yup, we’re going to do the cooking thing now.

I don’t talk about it much on here, but in the past year or so I’ve gotten really into cooking. I’m still not very advanced but I do really enjoy the process (and the end results). I mostly focus on simple and healthy dishes (although I also make a mean chocolate chip cookie- Mike can tell you).

I have written a lot about my love of exploring food around the world and it dawns on me that an important component of that exploration is COOKING food around the world. Which honestly, doesn’t have to be that hard.

Seriously- if I can make it- you can make it. I was once nick-names Rambo because of my uncanny ability to burn stuff.

So for my first cooking post I’m excited to present the exceptionally easy, yet exceptionally tasty Italian Bruschetta. The perfect warm-weather appetizer or light lunch.

Market bruschetta in Rome- heaven on a plate

The most important thing to know about Bruschetta is that it’s pronounced bru-SKETT-a, NOT Bru sche-ta. Bruschetta at it’s most basic means toasted bread. If you order plain bruschetta in Italy, that is what you’ll end up with.

The biggest difference with real Italian bruschetta? The garlic is rubbed into the bread, not chopped into the toppings- this infuses the whole thing with garlic-y goodness but doesn’t overpower (if you’re a garlic fiend you could do both). The olive oil is baked into the bread as well, not poured on top.

You could top it with so many different things, but in this case we’ll go for the most well known and super delicious tomato and basil version. Because it’s perfect.

Who’s Rambo now???

The key to the most awesome bruschetta ever is the best, freshest ingredients you can find- top quality olive oil, fresh basil and seriously kickass tomatoes. The best tomatoes you can find.I used vine ripened tomatoes from Trader Joes but this would be great with heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes or any really good, juicy looking farmer’s market tomatoes. Stay away from those flavorless hot house supermarket things though- they are just pale imitations of real tomatoes.

We took our bruschetta up a notch and added some of our authentic balsamic vinegar which was heavenly. So here’s the recipe, half taken from what I learned about bruschetta in Rome and half adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything:

Ingredients:

Loaf of fresh bread (French will work but a hearty Italian is better)

1 cup diced tomatoes

¼ cup fresh basil

Olive oil

1 or 2 cloves of garlic, peeled

Salt and pepper

Makes 4 slices.

Directions:

Turn on your broiler. Move the rack in the oven so that it’s directly underneath the top.

Cut your load of bread into thick slices (about 1 inch thick- any less than that and they’ll burn). We’re just using 4 but you can make more if you want. Brush olive oil on each side, then place on a baking pan under the broiler for 1-3 minutes. Watch carefully- it’s a thin line between toasty and charred! Once they look appropriately browned and delicious remove from oven. 

Peel a clove of garlic and rub it against the top side of the toasted bread, almost like you are grating it.

Throw the diced tomatoes into a bowl along with any juices that spill out. Slice basil thinly and mix into the bowl along with a little salt and pepper. You can add some chopped garlic too if you’re into that.

Heap tomato mixture onto the warm bread. Add balsamic vinegar if desired.

Let’s Make Bruschetta! is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Today’s postcard is obviously not from me, as I find scuba diving terrifying. It comes from Charli and Ben of Wanderlusters:

Our trip to the Poor Knights was our first experience of diving in temperate water. Training as PADI dive masters in the tropical waters of Costa Rica we had no need for dry suits, however the 15 degree waters of the South Pacific called for suits hoods and boots as a minimum.
Uninhabited since the 1820’s the islands are the eroded remnants of a 4 million year old volcano. With picturesque underwater architecture including caves, tunnels, over hangs and archways as well as a diverse spectrum of marine life the Knights are known as one of the best places in the world to dive.

This little guy is a soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusk. Often referred to as a sea slug or nudibranch, they are found all over the world and are known for their extraordinary colours and abstract forms. As we entered a dive site called Worlds End there were hundreds of nudibranchs of varying size and colour covering an underwater wall that plummeted down to around 40 metres.

Friday Postcard: Under the Sea is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

If there ever was a city made for people like me, it’s Bologna, Italy. Not just because of the food (although, oh man….), or the history or the plethora of bookstores. No, the reason I immediately knew Bologna was my kind of place was the porticos.

Much to my dismay I’ve become notorious for constantly being rained on during my travels. Australia, Thailand, Fiji, Colombia, the rain just follows me where ever I go (wow, just writing that out made me realize how much it really DOES rain on me- I should get that checked out somehow…). Of course Bologna was no exception, and our introductory tour of the city took place in the pouring rain. This time though, it wasn’t so bad, because of these babies:

Covered sidewalks, all over the city! You could explore the whole town this way, only occasionally darting from covered area to covered area.

Believe it or not the walkways, called porticos, weren’t put up for rainy day losers like me, they have an interesting history themselves and are actually a potential UNESCO World Heritage site.

You see, back in the middle ages Bologna was getting a bit crowded due to the flourishing university and trade businesses. They were running out of room to build within the city walls. They needed bigger buildings but didn’t want to encroach on their public outdoor spaces, so the officials came up with the rather ingenious idea of requiring buildings to add extra space by extending outward towards the street- but only on their second story or higher. These new floors were held up with wooden beams (most have been replaces with marble or brick now) resulting in covered arcades for walking.

The oldest portico in the city. The pictures suck because, well because it was raining.

Thanks to those long dead city planners there are over 40km of covered porticos in the city center: some grand and sweeping, others small and utilitarian. Many have architectural or artistic significance (sadly lost on me), and some date back to the 13^th century. They are an essential part of city life now; public places to walk and socialize, outdoor seating for restaurants and places for busking.

Or for people like me, who just can’t escape that trailing black rain cloud. No umbrella needed here!

Yup that’s snow.

We visited Bologna as guests of the Emilia-Romagna Tourism Board. All rain-soaked opinions are my own.

The Covered Walkways of Bologna is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

Happy Spring? I think it’s here for real this time, at least, I managed to get quite sunburned at the Nationals game on Saturday so it’s definitely not winter anymore!

Travel Plans- After an April hiatus I’m back on the road later in May, headed to visit friends in New York and Boston before hightailing it up to Toronto for the Blog House and TBEX.

Around the Web

What I’m Doing when I’m Not Writing Here. I actually had a really big project I completed this month that I’ll be announcing soon but not. just. yet.

Someone Once Told Me- When I was in Berlin Mario from SOTM photographed me with a handy piece of advice my Dad once gave me. Check it out!

Why You Shouldn’t Overplan Your Trip- Room 77- Over planning is a rookie travel mistake that most of us have been guilty of at least once, sometimes it’s better to go with the flow.

How To Travel with Someone Else- Room 77- Going from solo-traveler to travel buddy is a big adjustment! Here are my tips for getting through it.

Best Reads of the Month:

CC mhaithaca

Touring Ford’s Theater in Washington DC- Jason’s Travels- I love seeing how other people experience sites in my hometown- particularly the ones I haven’t been to.

The Truth About Traveling As a Gay Man- Landlopers- An inside look at travel, and dealing with the travel industry as a gay man traveling with his partner. Love Matt, love his perpective.

Do Real Travelers Use a Hop-on Hopoff Bus Tour?- Tips for Travellers- Sure they do! And you know what, there’s no shame in it.

How I Financed My Sabbatical- Megan Young Mee- Great tips on saving a lot of money for travel.

CC Judaluz83 

Why I Traveled to Yemen For My Vacation- Wandering Earl- I have really been digging Earl’s writing lately- he tells stories that nobody else would dare!

I Am Following My Dreams: Are You?- Off the Path- And great inspiration to stop waiting around and start living.

A night at the coolest budget stay in Japan… the Manga cafe- Grrrl Traveler- I’m definitely staying at one of these when I make it back to Japan- so neat!

Finding the Best Flight Search Site- Too Many Adapters- What do you use to look for flights? Here’s a report on what really works.

How to Use a Guidebook- Reid on Travel- Are guidebooks still useful? Probably. Here’s guidebook expert Robert Reid on how best to use them.

What’s the Best Thing You’ve Read This Month?

Blog Updates and Best Reads: April 2013 is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

You probably think you know Italian food. It’s one of the least mysterious, most familiar cuisines, available nearly everywhere. I doubt there’s anyone in the Western world who considers pasta an exotic food or pizza to be strange or mysterious.

Yes, for the most part Italian food is what you expect it to be (unlike Chinese food which is a total different). Funny thing when you go to Italy though, is that nothing is quite like you’ve known it at hom. For starters it’s all 1000 times better. Then you start diving into the history and the food culture and you learn some really surprising facts about Italian food.

This trip I really started to dig into the meat of Italian cuisine. I even went on several food tours around Rome, including one with Walks of Italy, “Rome Food Tour: Markets, Tasting and Pizza Making,” which centered around the popular Campo D’Fiori food market. There I learned some really surprising facts about Italian food:

Italians only Started Eating Tomatoes around 300 years ago

Yes, the most iconic Italian ingredient hails from the New World and only made it’s way to Italy in 1548. Even then it wasn’t considered edible- it was mainly used as a decoration! People actually thought they were poisonous!

At some point someone somewhere took a big ol bite out of a tomato and the rest is history.

Pizza is not a Traditional Italian Food

I know right? What’s more Italian than pizza? Well a lot of things actually. Pizza as we know it didn’t exist before Italians hopped on the tomato train (above) in the 18^th century. Even then it was mostly a Napolese snack food, with little recognition elsewhere.

Pizza’s turning point came during the unification of Italy in the late 19^th century. Pizza was designated as a national food. It also made it’s way to the US around that time with Italian immigrants where (in my opinion) the New Yorker’s perfected it.

Balsamic Vinegar tastes Nothing like you Think it Does

The balsamic vinegar you use in salad dressings is just a pale imitation of the traditional balsamic which has been produced in Italy since the middle ages. The real stuff has more in common with wine than vinegar. It’s made solely of Trebbiano and Lambrusco grapes that are aged for twelve plus years. The result is a thick syrup with a rich flavor. It’s delicious. I bought a bottle of that stuff and I’ve been putting it on everything from bread to strawberries.

Olive Oil Cures Basically Everything

I don’t know if it’s the Italian in me but I love olive oil. It’s my primary cooking oil and I probably have some almost every day. I’m no match for the Italians though, where each person consumes roughly 13.5 kilos of olive oil per year (second in the world only to Greece). For reference most Americans consume less than 1 kilo per year. So yeah, thats a lot of oil.

Fortunately olive oil is intensely good for you, at least according to the Italians. It reduces cholesterol, curbs appetite, reduces the risk of stroke, breast cancer and heart disease. You can put it on your face to cure your acne or in your hair as a moisturizer. You can mix it with sugar for an exfoliant. It prevents aging, lessens wrinkles, smooths dry feet. Gargle with it to protect your voice. Use it as a… lubricant. Make soap, minimize cellulite, combat stretch marks, kill lice, shine metal surfaces, waterproof leather, remove chewing gum and shine your shoes.

I think you get the idea.

Pasta Alfredo is a Totally Made Up Thing

Fettuccine Alfredo is totally delicious- but it’s also totally inauthentic. In fact if you try to order it in Italy (outside of a couple restaurants in Rome) people will have no idea what you’re talking about.

You see, an enterprising restauranteur in Rome, developed the dish as a neutral food to please his pregnant, nauseous wife. After she recovered he decided to put it on the menu, where it was ordered by famous silent film stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. They fell in love with the cheesy buttery goodness and told all of their friends, and thus it’s popularity spread.

That chef’s name was of course, Alfredo. You can still visit his restaurant for “authentic” fettuccine alfredo. In fact the family has three restaurants now, two in Rome and one in Florida, at Epcot Center.

Never Drink A Cappuccino After a Meal

Nobody will stop you, but they will think you are pretty weird. In Italy cappuccino’s are solely a morning drink (as are lattes). Italians think that drinks that contain hot milk hinder digestion, so it would be gross to drink them after a full meal. Ordering one in a restaurant after lunch or dinner will immediately mark you as a tourist. Post dining what you really want is one of the small powerful espressos to help you digest and give you a boost of energy.

Gelato is good for you!

Well, good for you may be a bit of a stretch, but there is a reason that Italians can get away with a daily scoop and still be very attractive people. Gelato is made primarily from milk, not cream, which gives it half the fat and calories of regular ice cream (and twice as much taste). It’s also much easier to digest. Good gelato (not the fake stuff) is made from fresh ingredients so it has less preservatives and more vitamins and nutrients than the store bought stuff. Basically, it’s practically a health food.

My biggest takeaway from touring Campo D’Fiori is how incredibly passionate Italians are about their food. They love to eat, but they only love to eat fresh, quality local foods. Baking, cheese-making, charcuterie are all carefully crafted art forms in Italy.

After this tour I felt like I had learned the basic building blocks for understanding Italian food- but my curiosity and my stomach tells me there is still so much to learn!

Special thanks to Walks of Italy for the complimentary tour. All gluttonous opinions are my own.

Gelato is Good For You and Other Startling Italian Food Revelations is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

This picture is amazing! It comes from Sab of Just One Way Ticket.

Last year I discovered an abandoned skyscraper in Bangkok. 50 floors, the Thai People call it the ghost tower and insist the building is haunted.

Anyway, I went in there and made it to the top.

Friday Postcard: the Ghost Tower is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

I LOVE traveling in Italy, but in some ways it is much harder to write about famous well-known places than it is to talk about more off the beaten path destinations. I could write basically anything about Colombia (link) and people thought it was fascinating, but how many new things are there left to say about the Duomo, the David or the Trevi Fountain?

Or the Colosseum. Even my 13 year old cousin knows everything about the Colosseum (at least that’s what he told me, with an epic eye roll). It’s one of the most famous and iconic landmarks, not just in Rome, but in Europe.

That doesn’t make it any less amazing to see though! Even though I’ve been in and around the Colosseum on my 2006 visit to Rome, I still gasped in awe when we stumbled upon it on a late night stroll one of our first nights in Rome. It’s not just epic- it’s one of those structures the word epic was invented to describe. Pushing 2000 years old and standing strong: a breath-taking monument to Roman might.

But what are you supposed to WRITE about it?

Luckily for me, my buddies at Walks of Italy (you can probably tell I’m a fan by now), gave me the chance to go on their behind the scenes tour of the Colosseum: VIP Access: Colosseum Underground, Arena and Forum. And just like that, I found my hidden angle.

I won’t go into the tour of Palantine Hill and the Forum- although they are both breath-taking and awesome snapshots of ancient history. Although it’s nice to have a guide give you the history, they are also pretty great to wander on your own. The real attraction here was the bottom level of the Colosseum- the dungeon area where tourists almost never get to go.

First though, we visited the stage, where ancient gladiators once matched wits and courage with each other along with the odd tiger or grizzly bear. This is an area not typically open to tourists- and other visitors stared at us as if we were VIPS, or possibly about to start fighting ourselves.

 Then we proceeded down, down down, into the hypogeum, the area underneath the stage. Here is where sh*t got real: This was the real backstage of the bloody performance above. The area where gladiators, condemned prisoners and every type of animal imaginable waited anxiously for their turn to appear on stage.

They may have lived thousands of years ago but the Romans were a crafty bunch. They had elevators and levers for moving around wild animals (tigers, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, you name it). Dozens of trap doors allowed them to surprise fighters above by springing an angry beast at a moments notice. They could even flood the Colosseum floor if they felt like it.

Simulation

Although it’s now open air, it’s easy to imagine how cramped and hot it must have been- you would have heard water dripping, fighters thumping overhead and the blood-crazed roar of the crowd. You might have been seated right next to the lion cage where a hungry and angry feline wanted nothing better than to snack on your head.

After the damp dark below I needed some air. Luckily our next stop was the opposite side of the arena- the very top of the stands- again an area the typical tourist can’t access. From the Colosseum’s top floor you could see the entire arena, which once held 50,000 plus people. The very top, the furthest away from the action, would have seated the poorest citizens: slaves, the very poor and women (you know, the unimportant people). At least they had the best views:

Other side of the railing

It’s kind of creepy to think of these tens of thousands of people, packed in, enjoying their day off by watching people and animals get ripped to shreds. Then again, I don’t think their bloodlust is that unusual, nowadays we just get our torture-porn fix from horror films and watching the news.

For me, the craziest realization about the ancient past is that those people were pretty much just people- the same as us. It’s so easy to forget, and exploring ancient places always gives me that tiny glimmer of insight. They sat in the stands, ate their peanuts, watched their spectacles and tried to escape from their everyday lives for just a couple of hours.

To me, that individual experience is so much more interesting to think about, and maybe write about, than the size of the colosseum (massive), the work that went into building it, it’s long history etc. etc. No matter what I put down on paper about the Colosseum, I can’t quite capture that. You have to go there and find it for yourself. It’s the feeling you only really get from visiting: gazing up at the sheer size, sitting in the stands, lurking in the dungeons. It’s what makes history real.

Special thanks to Walks of Italy for providing my tour. All weird historical opinions are my own.

A Fresh Look at the Colosseum is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

I love this shot from Caro of Passport and Toothbrush:

This is a shot I took leaving Hebron, a city in the West Bank home to Palestinians and Jewish settlers. When traveling in Israel it’s a shock to see so many young people in uniform with guns. But as the days went by we realized how many of these uniformed soldiers are just like any other young adult, talking and texting away. Very odd experience!

Friday Postcard: Israeli Soldiers is a post from Twenty-Something Travel

I’ve written in the past about the side effects of long term travel like a restless heart, a new perspective on the world. But maybe one of the most insidious and secret effects of loving travel is the increased need for more and more travel to get your fix.

More than once I’ve heard people say that they will travel while they’re young to “get it out of their system,” before heading off to start a career and sedentary life. What I don’t tell them, and what they probably don’t want to hear, is that travel isn’t the kind of hobby you can just shake out of your system. In fact it’s the complete opposite: the more you travel, the more you feel you have to.

In this sense travel is less like a right of passage or life experience, and more like a demanding and raging addiction. The more I travel, the bigger the world seems to get, and the more I feel the insatiable need to keep moving, keep exploring and keep experiencing the great wide universe.

A Growing List

I would like to say that I have a list of places I want to visit, and I check them off as I go along. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work like this.

Rarely do I feel like I’ve truly seen and experienced a place with enough satisfaction that I couldn’t benefit from going back. In fact, the more I see, the more I feel I still need to see- with each trip and experience I come away with half a dozen new ideas for my non-existent bucket list.

Besalu, Costa Brava Spain

Last year I finally visited Catalonia, and now not only do I need to go back to take another more in depth crack at Barcelona, I also discovered a whole world of new destinations I haven’t yet seen: the Pyrenees, Tarragonna, basically everywhere in Costa Brava besides Girona. And this is all just one small corner of Spain. You could easily spend years just getting to know this one country.

Travel opens your heart and mind to a world of places and possibilities. I want to go back to just about every country I’ve ever been to, and I’m constantly discovering new cool places I’d like to go. So every day my wanderlust just grows and grows, which is a real problem coupled with the second thing travel does to you:

Easier to Make the Leap

Hoi An, Vietnam

Once you’ve broken that fragile membrane between what you can imagine and what you can do, but it gets easier and easier each time to crash through. The more you travel, the more you realize how EASY it is to travel. And that makes it really, really hard to stop.

In my dazed procrastination state I find myself only half-consciously researching flights to Turkey, holidays to New York, travel deals to Central America. I can’t stop myself, even though I have other commitments. I just want to go, go, go all the time. I would too, if I found the right deal for my paltry current travel budget. I’d jet off to Nicaragua tomorrow.

Seriously, the pull of travel is so strong that people will sell all of their belongings, quit their jobs and leave their homes just to satisfy the intense cravings. When you put it like that it sounds a little dangerous doesn’t it?

How do you fight travel addiction? I don’t know. I’m not sure I want to know. I’m having too much fun!

Tayrona, Colombia

Do You Suffer From Travel Addiction?

This post was written by me, brought to you by Travel Bag.

Travel Side Effects Part 3: Travel Addiction is a post from Twenty-Something Travel