ExperiencePlus! Blog


ExperiencePlus!

  • Mediterranean Fennel Salad Orange Slices, and Walnuts

    Mediterranean Fennel Salad Orange Slices, and Walnuts   How many of you regularly eat fennel? Here is your chance to prepare and eat it with familiar tastes. Besides, it takes only ten or fifteen minutes to prepare!   Ingredients for… Read full article

  • History and Geography of the Camino de Santiago in Spain

    History and Geography of the Camino de Santiago in Spain St. James the Greater was the brother of John the Evangelist. The brothers were converted to Christianity by St. John the Baptist. James was martyred in 44 A.D. in Palestine… Read full article

  • Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread

    Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread       With the coming of Fall and cooler temperatures, I start making my own bread in order to warm my soul (and stomach) with freshly-baked bread and the house with heat from more… Read full article

  • A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica/Naturalists Guide to Costa Rica

    A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica/Naturalists Guide to Costa Rica A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica by F. Gary Stiles and Alexander F. Skutch, illustrated by Dana Gardner (Comstock Publishing Associates, a Divison of Cornell University… Read full article

  • Galileo’s Daughter: A Drama of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel

    Galileo’s Daughter: A Drama of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel I read this fascinating book during the last two weeks I spent at my families’ farm in Italy this summer, and I must agree with the editor’s assessment… Read full article

  • Panzanella, a Tuscan Salad

    A perfect way to use up some bread that has gotten a bit old and a great summer salad! So many dishes from Tuscany are For six people: 8 pieces or more (or less) of hard Tuscan bread or any… Read full article

  • Gallo Pinto

    Gallo Pinto   If you ask any Tico what the national dish of Costa Rica is, chances are they’ll mention Gallo Pinto. Pura Vida!   Ingredients:     3 cups "day old" cooked rice   2 cups black beans –… Read full article

  • Race Book Reviews

    Race Book Reviews We hope you’ll be able to join us in France next summer for the 101st anniversary of The Race. If you are able to come, then the selection of readings in my review this month will help… Read full article

  • Sicilian Caponata

    Sicilian Caponata Rick and I enjoyed this dish in Sicily last summer, while we were doing the research for the Sicily bicycle tour that we will first offer in 2004. The following recipe is taken, with some editing, from the… Read full article

  • Rødgrød med Fløde (Danish Red Berry Pudding with Cream)

    Rødgrød med Fløde (Danish Red Berry Pudding with Cream)   Danes love to ask foreigners to say "Rødgrød" because it is nearly unpronounceable to those not familiar with this guttural language. The Erslevs coached their children to say it correctly… Read full article

  • Cordero con ajo: Lamb with garlic

    Cordero con ajo: Lamb with garlic I found this Spanish recipe in a French cookbook on Mediterranean cuisine. The chunks of lamb shanks got a bit tough with the cooking. So, careful on what kind of cut you choose! THE… Read full article

  • Warblers Wintering in Costa Rica

    Warblers Wintering in Costa Rica It’s not clear how many birds migrate to Central and South America every year. Warblers, orioles, tanagers and many small birds migrate during the night and are hard to be recorded. Hawks, falcons and vultures… Read full article

  • Pelle the Conqueror/ Smilla’s Sense of Snow/ Babette’s Feast

    Pelle the Conqueror/ Smilla’s Sense of Snow/Babette’s Feast   Pelle the Conqueror by Martin Anderson Nexö (Fjord Press, first printed 1906) Smilla’s Sense of Snowby Peter Hoeg (Delta; Reprint edition)   Babette’s Feast by Baronness Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen… Read full article

  • As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee

    As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee (Atheneum, 1969) Moment of War: A Memoir of the Spanish Civil War by Laurie Lee (New Press, Reprint Edition, 1994)… Read full article

  • Greek Christopsomo (Christmas bread)

    Greek Christopsomo (Christmas bread)   THE RECIPE: Ingredients: 1/2 c.milk 1 c. butter  2/3 c. sugar  1 tsp. salt  2 tsp. crushed anise seed  2 pkg. active dry yeast  1/2 c. lukewarm water  1 tsp. sugar  4 eggs  5 1/2-6… Read full article

  • Italian Vegetable Soup à la Farm

    Italian Vegetable Soup à la Farm This soup was a favorite of the ExperiencePlus! travelers who stopped by our farm/headquarters in Forli, Italy for lunch. Use whatever is available or what you have in your refrigerator and/or freezer and you… Read full article

  • Tuscan-Style Baked Cannellini Beans with Rosemary and Garlic

    Tuscan-Style Baked Cannellini Beans with Rosemary and Garlic   Baking beans in a covered dish in slow oven heat allows them to soften without their skins puckering and separating. Another version of baked beans calls for onions, thyme and sage… Read full article

  • Bicycling Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna

    Bicycling Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna A Bike Tour Review by Claudio Strocchi of ExperiencePlus! There is a famous saying in Italian: "The history and the art of Italy’s different regions were determined by the food people eat in each of these… Read full article