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Love
It's a Vagabond Diary
"Love-In"
and you're invited.
We've wrinkled a few maps
over the years and have met a lot of people, eaten in some great places,
drank a few barrels of wine, and bounced down many off-the-beaten-path
roads to fall in love with (or stalk---depends on who's telling the
story), these places.
View our favorite food
sites and blogs, order some products from our friendly partners and
producers, and read our "dish it up" section full of fan mail (we hope)
from clients, fellow foodies and partners.
We've tasted it all, (we
have the waistline to prove it) and we LOVE it.
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Wouldn't we all LOVE a home in Paris, Provence or Tuscany?
www.haveninparis.com
Thanks
to Erica Berman and her company Haven in Paris, you can . . .
.at least for a little while anyway. Her top of the line apartments and villas
offer all the luxurious amenities of a 5-star hotel combined with all of
the comforts and luxuries of home. Whether you're planning a romantic rendez-vous
for two, or a family adventure for 16, Haven in Paris has a home away from
home anyone would LOVE! All properties are personally chosen and approved
by Erica.
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Gourmet a Go Go
www.diaryofafoodie.org
With the arrival of Ruth Reichl as Editor in Chief to Gourmet Magazine we absolutely love the direction she has taken the magazine. Back in 1973 Laura was given every copy of Gourmet published and promptly tore each recipe to file into various categories. A bad
habit Laura still has to this day, Steve happily turns to Diary of a Foodie to read a
complete article.
Click on and read this, all we can say is “How Cool?”
“Avant Garde A la Carte”
HELLO, MOTO
At chef Homaro Cantu's Chicago restaurant-cum-think tank, he cooks with laser beams
and liquid nitrogen. Oh, and he wants to feed the world. Writer Robert Sietsema pays a
call on Cantu to learn how, as well as what makes this mad scientist tick.
www.diaryofafoodie.org |
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Queen of the Hill
www.haut-pecharmant.com
 If I we had to find this place
again,we'd be lost. Luckily Domaine
du Haut Pécharmant is well known and the family Roches is
legendary in this small producing wine region. Up on a hill,
surrounded by vineyards, five generations have tilled the fields and pared the vines to produce a range of delicious reds, whites and roses. The matriarch of this loving clan is Reine (which means queen
in French) whose charm is contagious and whose eyes light up when you ask her what meal she'd cook with each wine. We got some
great recipes from her.
If you have the time, and want to meet a real wine family, come
meet Reine, her son, his sons, and their children who will likely be swinging and playing with the dog out front.
If Norman Rockwell had seen this, we'd have met the queen and tasted her wines long ago in America.
Domaine du Haut Pécharmant
www.haut-pecharmant.com |
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Someday, Your Prince Will Come
www.chateau-de-tiregand.com
 Until then, might we suggest
that you get off your white horse and go find him yourself? If
you happen to be in the southwest
of France, a good place to start is Chateau
de Tiregand in the Pecharmant wine producing regionof Bergerac. In a small
town
of Creysse, among rolling vineyards, along a dusty path, you will meet
Francois. No, he did not arrive on a horse, but he did look dapper in a suit
and tie. A prince of a host, Francois will delight you in perfect English
with the history of the vineyards, the art
of wine tasting and a trip up
his family tree...the Saint-Exupéry family... that
has been making wines at Château de Tiregand
for well over 300 years.
For those of you who either live under a rock (or a wine barrel), you might be
more familiar with this family than you think as this is the family of Antoine
de Saint-Exupéry who is best known in this country for the book: The Little
Prince.
Not only do we LOVE the book, the wine is a fit for royalty. Smooth reds, and
a rose that has the most spectacular color we have ever seen. As Francois'
guests, we were given the royal treatment with a private tour of the chateau and
an informal chat with him and his lovely wife Monique who has clearly found a
prince!
www.chateau-de-tiregand.com |
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Ciao Bambino
www.ciaobambino.com
 If traveling to europe with kids in tow sends shivers up your spine, then you will LOVE Ciao Bambino!
Founder Amie O'Shaugnessy has walked, carrying a diaper bag and pushing a stroller, a mile in your shoes and she knows just the place to send you and your brood! She has recommended properties that are in just the right location and perfect for every age.
A family vacation in Europe? We Love It!
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Hippy Gourmet
www.hippygourmet.com
For
babyboomer-foodies this is like a romp in the daisies with “special brownies”.
Laugh along with us when Bruce joins our “Lovefest”.
Bruce Brennan - “Dude! Food IS creativity, because who can dream
on
an empty stomach!”
www.hippygourmet.com |
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Girl Power
 BThereMag.com - A Woman's Place
It's been said that too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth,
but perhaps they meant too many men? No offense to our testosterone producing
readers, but we LOVE the fact that women chefs are not only up and coming
but down right dominating the European restaurant scene. Hats off to these
original
"spice"
girls.
BThereMag.com - A Woman's Place |
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Truffles to the Rescue
 www.garlandtruffles.com
When our forefathers first planted tobacco in North Carolina it never occurred to them one day their entire economy would be leveled. What’s a farmer to do when their livelihood has gone up in smoke? Could it be another gold rush? Black Gold?
Advice from Tobacco Trust Fund Commission
“Find a hazelnut tree.
Look for bare earth at its base.
Watch for flies buzzing about, or let your dog take a whiff.
Dig, and maybe you will unearth hope for North Carolina's rural economy: a truffle.”
www.garlandtruffles.com |
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 Mas
Des Bories
www.masdesbories.com
The first time we met Rox and Nico, Rox had socks pulled up around her
sweat pants, she was wearing a well-worn flannel shirt, and was
shuffling across the gravel path in Birkenstocks carrying a laundry
basket. It was love at first sight!
Roxanne and Nico Derni are the delightful owners of this hidden gem of
an olive farm whose oil has won awards in Europe and the United States.
Join them (they have a guest house on the premises they rent out) and
you are in for a real treat as they tour you around their farm (we’re
pretty sure Rox has a name for each of her 1500 trees), and Nico will
likely pour you a glass of pastis and invite you to stay for dinner.
This is a good thing as he was a professional chef in Wisconsin for over
20 years. Of course, the olive oil must be tasted so pull up a shot
glass and down the hatch.
We left with a hangover, a half a case of olive oil and some great new
friends.
 Kunfoodie
www.kungfoodie.com
Come on…the name is
cool; Kat the kungfoodie queen if cool; The logo is cool.
And, we love her pizza-eating dogs. Good boy!
Log onto her ‘curiously strange’ food blog for seriously strange food
lovers like us. Anything from eating on the road to wearable treats,
there is some seriously delicious reading here at kungfoodie, Did we
mention she is just cool? We love cool chicks.
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Edouard Loubet
www.capelongue.com
While we love many of our corner
trattorias and boisterous brasseries, we see stars when we are
in Provence. Michelin stars that is. La Bastide de Capelongue,
Edouard Loubet's restaurant in a small town called Bonnieux in
the Luberon Valley is a must stop for anyone who happens to love
stellar food in a post card setting. Calm, serene, and secluded,
the Bastide is simply delicious to look at ---like a cream-puff
come to life. We dove into the cream headfirst. Seriously, if
you don’t fall in love in an instant, there might be something
wrong with you.
Edouard Loubet himself is friendly, and cute too! You gotta love
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 La
Source Bleue
www.sourcebleue.com
Some women like diamonds
and roses. Some prefer chocolate. Chef Laura of Vagabond Gourmet just
loves her duck fat. It makes Valentine’s Day very interesting.
In search of the finest
Duck Confit, chef Laura has tasted flocks and flocks of the Southwestern
France specialty, and it is safe to say, she is an expert. Alert the
media: La Source Bleue has been crowned queen of confit. “It’s
the best confit I have ever tasted,” she said.
Because chef Laura says
it’s all it’s quacked up to be, we LOVE this place too.
La Tarte Tropezienne
www.tropezienne.com
Very few places on the planet conjure up an image
by mere mention of the name. And St. Tropez conjures up some of the
best! Can’t you hear the dreamy song in the 1980’s TV commercial now?
And of course, St. Tropez brings to mind her most famed resident
Brigitte Bardot. And it’s this Hollywood legend that is linked to St
Tropez most famous food…La Tarte Tropezienne. Rumor says it was Bardot
herself who suggested the name to the cake’s creator, Alexandre Micka,
while she was filming on nearby beaches. The tasty tarte is now sold at
the chain of patisseries that share the same name, but why not stroll in
the footsteps of Brigitte herself and taste it at the original shop on
Place Des Lices in St. Tropez. You’ll love the taste, and who knows,
maybe you’ll get discovered.
 L’esplanade
Restaurant
www.esplanade-perigord.com
L'Esplanade is
located in the picturesque medieval town of Domme, directly overlooking
the Dordogne Valley. René Gillard, the chef, and his son-in-law, Pascal
Bouland create the best of the local cuisine using the flavors of their
own home-made products.
We love the food. We love the views. And we love going back year after
year.
Confessions Of A
Restaurant Whore
www.meshsf.com
It’s “A San
Francisco Girl's Down and Dirty Adventures in the Culinary Playground”
but let’s face it, we love it because of the name.
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