15 Ways to Keep the Travel Spirit Alive While at Home

Buildings in Boston

 

15 Ways to Keep the Travel Spirit Alive While at Home

Traveling is one of the best ways to experience new cultures, meet new people, and broaden your horizons. I love the upbeat, relaxed mood my whole family gets in when we’re exploring a new place. No one has a care in the world. However, it’s so easy to fall back in a rut when you get home and it is not always possible to travel as often as we would like. Here are 15 ways to keep the travel spirit alive while at home.

Try new recipes from around the world

 One of the best ways to experience a new culture is through its cuisine. Try cooking a new dish from a different country and explore its unique flavors. Here are some of my favorite cookbooks that remind me of my travels:

Click here for my blog on 15 Cookbooks that Inspire Travel

Read travel books

 Reading travel books is another great way to learn about different destinations and cultures, and to get inspired about future trips. These books will make you want to pack a suitcase.

The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca 

By: Tahir Shah

Less

By: Andrew Sean Greer

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Portuguese Paella

mytravelingkids.com

Being raised in a Portuguese home meant I was surrounded by the most amazing meals.  There were no canned spaghetti and meatballs, and no frozen dinners.  (There was also no peanut butter and fluff sandwiches…but I guess I forgive them for that.) Food was prepared with fresh ingredients and with recipes handed down from generation to generation.  A while back I created a cookbook filled with family recipes for my girls to use when they have their own families.  I’m hoping to instill the joy of cooking together, sitting down to share a meal, and laughing over great conversations at the dinner table.  This Portuguese Paella is perfect for Christmas Eve, Christmas day or New Years Eve. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

 

Portuguese Paella

Ingredients:

¼ cup good olive oil (never buy the cheap stuff)

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Books to Help With Your New Years Resolutions

Books and flowers

Every December, I start to look at my life and evaluate what I could do to make it even better for the upcoming year.  I think of things I like to do that brings me joy.  For example, this year I want to entertain more.  I love to cook and try new cocktails, so cookbooks are definitely on my Christmas list.  I love unique cookbooks…check out a few amazing ones I’ve found.  It is also a time to make some new habits like journaling, traveling, and becoming the best you possible. Here are a few books to help with your new years resolutions!

The Unofficial Witcher Cookbook

By: Nevyana Dimitrova & Trey Guillory

The Unofficial Witcher Cookbook: Andrzej Sapkowski’s epic fantasy saga of the witcher Geralt has captivated pop culture for nearly 30 years. Through books, graphic novels, TV shows, and video games, the witcher’s adventures have brought audiences face-to-face with monsters, sorceresses, kings, and destiny. Now, you can have your very own taste of the legendary adventures of a witcher.

The Unofficial Witcher Cookbook is filled with 50 recipes ranging from humble meals and tavern stews to bountiful feasts fit for a king, including:

Prized Potato Soup

Blacksmith Dumplings

Feast of Ham and Nightshade

House Specialty Soup

Honey Cakes for a Coin

And more!

This cookbook is perfect for die-hard fans of The Witcher, as well as those who just can’t get enough epic fantasy in their life.

The Van Life Cookbook

By: Susan Marque

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2022 Food and Beverage Christmas Gift Guide

2022 Food and Beverage Christmas Gift Guide

Food and beverages have a magical way of transporting you to new destinations.  It’s a great way to learn about other cultures and encourages you to be a bit adventurous with your meals.  Other times, it is a way to encourage you to relax, recharge, and reset your day. I stop what I’m doing every afternoon to have a cup of tea, take some deep breaths, and get ready for my second half of my day and give myself a little self-care. So what would be a great gift for those foodies in your life?  Look no further.  Here is our 2022 Food and Beverage Christmas Gift Guide!

Raw Spice Bar

Spices from Raw Spice Bar

WHY YOU WILL LOVE THEM

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pinned a recipe on Pinterest then never getting around to it because I don’t have the spices in my pantry or the spices are too hard to find at my local grocery store. Raw Spice Bar does all the work for you by not only giving you amazing recipes, but also by providing all the spice blends you’ll need. Food has the power of transporting you to new places and the recipes they give you are from across the globe.  It’s a wonderful way of exploring new cultures and getting your family to be more adventurous with your meals.  I love that you can play around with the recipes and add ingredients or omit the ones your picky eaters won’t try. I also love their website because you can get so much information about the countries these spices/recipes came from. For example, there are articles such as: The Etiquette of Ethiopian Meals and Adobo’s Reign in the Spanish Empire.

WHAT SPICES DID WE GET?

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Tips for Going to Farmers Markets During COVID-19

My weekly trip to the farmers market is one of my favorite things about summer.  There’s nothing like it…musicians playing in the background, farmers telling you when the vegetables you’re holding were picked, and hearing the young sons of the fisherman saying they helped catch the tuna we’ll be eating that night.  A farmers market is a great place to bring kids/teens. Here are 10 Tips For Going to Farmers Markets: 

HELP PLAN MENUS

Kids will be more likely to eat a meal if they had help planning it.  Each week, give them a new item off the menu to plan.  For example, each week they can plan the main dish, a side, and a dessert.  Give them full rein on it and although you can offer suggestions, let them do most of the work.  Whatever they plan, they will be responsible for helping cook.

TRY SOMETHING NEW

Give each person in the family the task of choosing something your family has never tasted.  Is there a type of cheese that looks interesting?  Is there a veggie that looks odd?  Have them ask the farmer for suggestions on how to cook it.

PRACTICE RESPONSIBILITY

Give your kids a job while at the market.  Give everyone reusable bags and have them hold your purchases. Teach them how to choose ripe produce.  Give them the task of paying.

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Jolie Tea Company

Jolie Tea Company

You know I love a good cup of tea!  I had the pleasure of going to Jolie Tea Company in Salem, Massachusetts, and it was so great I had to tell you all about it.  Because I really wanted the full experience, I didn’t just go for a cup of tea, I did a High Tea!

After I was seated, I had to take a minute to take in the beauty of the room.  The room has seating waiting for guests. I love the pink light that showcases the wall of teas. Good luck trying to buy just one.

Look at how lovely each place setting is! I love the porcelain tea cup and plate.  The gerbera daisy is a fun touch!

I was pleasantly surprised that they bring out a hibiscus iced tea to enjoy while you look over the high tea menu.

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Culture Cake Kit

One of the things we most loved doing this past year was being together in the kitchen to try new recipes.  Honestly…anything to get kids off their phones these days is a plus.  Not only is it a great life skill, but we have so much fun laughing together.  Culture Cake Kit is a wonderful company that lets you experience a different culture, discover news flavors and snacks, and recreate traditional flavors in a modern cupcake.

WHY YOU WILL LOVE THEM

As a former teacher, you know I love to sneak in education whenever I get a chance. Each kit comes with a pamphlet that tells about the country of the month.  We learned all about Bulgaria…the terrain, the cuisine, the day of Baba Marta, and martenits, red and white colored bands that symbolize health and happiness. We even learned a few phrases: ”Hello!” is “Dobar den!”

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Spice Madam

When you have teenagers, it gets harder and harder to find things you can do together.  One of the things I most love to do is get the girls in the kitchen with me.  We love trying new dishes while we’re traveling and we’ve had fun experimenting with cooking new ones this last year.  I love trying exotic meals but some ingredients can be both hard to find and intimidating. Spice Madam gives you the spices you’ll need to make a meal from a specific country around the world. It is the perfect way to spend a night at home!

WHY TRAVELERS WILL LOVE SPICE MADAM

One of my favorite things about this box is it gives you a link to music from the country.  Throw it on as you’re cooking or eating to set the mood.

I also like that they tell you how difficult each recipe is.  The chef hats in the upper right corner of the recipe card indicate a skill level from 1 chef hat (easy) 2 chef hats (medium) to 3 chef hats (harder). They encourage you to challenge yourself.

Finally, you know I love a company that gives back.  Every box of Spice Madame sold supports a non-profit that impacts youth education.

WHAT COMES IN EACH BOX?

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Peckboard Review

If you’ve ever been to my house for dinner or for a party, there’s a really good chance there was a charcutier board. I’m pretty obsessed with them! We love tasting all the different cheeses, crackers, spreads, fruit, mustards and much more goodies that go into them.  Peckboard is the perfect solution if you are a charcutier newbie or a pro that is looking for some inspiration. They give you all the material you need to create a fabulous looking board!

WHY YOU WILL LOVE THEM

Making a good board involves more than throwing some cheese out…it’s an artform.  Peckboard includes a guide to making a beautiful board. It also is a wonderful way for you to learn what different pairings you can do on a board.  I would have never thought to add a fig loaf.

It also teaches you different tips.  For example, I learned that you should take your cheese out of the fridge an hour before you’re serving it.

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Eattiamo Review

One of the best ways to experience a country is through their food.  We basically ate our way through Italy because everything we ordered ended up being delicious.  Every time I see Bolognese sauce on a menu, I think back to that small restaurant in Sienna we went to after attending the horse race of Palio.  Eattiamo, an Italian food subscription box, is the perfect way to bring Italy right to your kitchen.  Take a peek at this amazing box and see how we “traveled” to Italy without leaving our home.

WHY TRAVELERS WILL LOVE THEM

I loved getting the whole family in the kitchen together to make a meal.  We opened a bottle of chianti, put on some Italian music, and gave everyone a task of chopping, stirring, measuring, and tasting.  I love that it brought up many memories of Italy for my husband and I and it made Italy number one on my girls’ Travel Bucket List.

Although the box gives you ingredients to make an entire meal (including an appetizer and something sweet for the end) it also gives you the leeway to show your creativity.  We added some things to the menu and removed some to make it a better fit for our family. It was the perfect way to spend a Friday night together.

WHAT PRODUCTS DID WE GET?

ITALIAN DETOX FOOD BASKET ($79)

This box was perfect because I was just finishing a 10-day health shred, which focused on the importance of eating well. We loved preparing this Italian feast when we got to the lake. It was the perfect way to spend the night in the kitchen together. Fireplace was lit and a bottle of chianti was opened. What else could we need?

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