Turtle Bay A chain restaurant in the UK with a Caribbean theme, we were intrigued by their 2-for-1 happy hour before 6:30p. The 'One Love' with passion fruit was nice, as was the combo of a...
Blog posts from wine
UK Dec 2024: London food & drink
We split our time in London returning to old favorites and trying some new spots. Given how busy things were in 2022 we knew we should get reservations, and it definitely paid off as London felt...
Euro Fall 2024: wine tasting in Rheinhessen and Mosel Valley
Ahead of this trip, I had reached out to several wineries to inquire about tastings. While many were available to book online through the Wine Tourism site, we also had good luck booking directly...
Euro Fall 2024: Bernkastel-Kues
The Mosel valley is a popular destination in Germany and there are lots of places to stay both in towns and in the countryside, so making a decision on where to stay rather challenging....
Euro Fall 2024: food in Locorotondo and wine “experiences”
Tuesday, Oct 1 Our first dinner in Locorotondo was also our best. Pavì wine restaurant is located just outside of the narrow old town, with a terrace overlooking the landscape. It was chilly though...
Euro Fall 2024: Bari food & drink
Monday, Sept 23 Our first dinner was at Ruffiano, where we had made reservations - they were busy on a Monday night, and we were seated at an outdoor table. Little did Leandra know that the...
Long Island Summer 2024: wineries + breweries
Lenz Winery We've been members for years, and we love visiting in the summer in the shaded courtyard. Service was great as always across our four visits! On our first visit with our friend Leah, we...
Long Island Summer 2024: food + restaurants
As usual, we tried out some new-to-us spots while returning to old favorites for things like pizza and bagels. Watershed Kitchen + Bar We ate outside on the back patio as it was a pleasant...
Europe Spring 2024: Valencia wine bars (+ one brew pub)
La Patrona We had an hour to kill before our apartment was available and this was one of the only Russafa wine bars open in the later afternoon. It was warm in the sun so we grabbed a table outside...
Europe Spring 2024: Istria wineries
Istria has a really interesting wine industry with a mix of international grapes (cabernet sauvignon, merlot) and locally unique varieties (teran, malajvasia). In addition, some spots have a...
Europe Spring 2024: Plitvice food & drink
As it was a 15 minute drive on a rural road into Rakovica, we limited our trips, but still managed to try three places. Bistro Old Shatterhand - We had made a reservation for 8pm, but it was not...
Europe Spring 2024: Palma food and drink
Some of the more popular places in town are difficult to visit on the weekend without reservations, so Leandra booked us both lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday ahead of our trip. El Camino for...
San Diego 2024: food & drink
Thursday This year we arrived in San Diego in the early evening, so after checking in to the hotel {link to hotel blog post} we drove to Hillcrest Brewing to check out what they had on offer....
Oregon Wine Tasting, a weekend with friends in Willamette Valley
A Southwest airfare sale spurred us to look at some options for a quick weekend trip in December, and much like 2019, we choose a weekend of wine tasting in Oregon's Willamette Valley. On this trip...
September 2023 Wine and Rugby: daytrip to Peñafiel
The drive from Valladolid to Peñafiel was fairly easy, with most of the route through rural countryside (and a decent number of trucks). We stopped briefly at the necropolis ruins outside of town,...
NY Summer 2023: wine and beer tasting
July 1: Long Island Farm Brewery We stopped here after a long day of driving to stretch our legs. Though this brewery is about 30 minutes from my parent's house we had never visited before. I...
Italy 2023: Bologna food & drink
Monday On our first afternoon in Bologna we saw these little cakes in the window of Paolo Atti & Figli - torta di riso, so we had to try it. It is a lightly sweet cake made from rice that had a...
Italy 2023: daytrip to Modena
Modena has intrigued me for a while, after all it is the home of balsamic vinegar, with ham, lambrusco and other tasty items also produced locally. And with it being about 30 minutes from Bologna by...
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London + Manchester, UK (Dec)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)
2022 Trips
Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)