Food & Wine Podcasts Writing & Books: Food & Wine Podcasts Writing & Books
by maribeth
Comments Off on Selective Sipping: Mark Spivak and His Iconic Spirits
Selective Sipping: Mark Spivak and His Iconic Spirits
Mark’s Book: A Delicious Holiday Gift Idea
I’ve always felt that you can appreciate something more when you know the story behind it. This is the premise behind my books The Riches of France: A Shopping and Touring Guide to the French Provinces and The Riches of Paris: A Shopping and Touring Guide. There’s always a lot of imbibing during the holiday season, so why not know the history behind some of the world’s most beloved elixirs?
I chatted with Mark Spivak, author of Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History, during a Travel Fun interview which you can listen to below. He tells some fascinating tales behind the twelve spirits featured in his book. You can learn all about Chambord, gin and tequila, to name a few. He talks about Campari, a bitter concoction formulated by an Italian around 1860, considered to be one of the sexiest beverages on earth as well as the connection between Nascar and moonshine, a surprising association which has remained hidden from the general public over the years. “Most of the early (Nascar) drivers were all bootleggers…Then in 1947 they all got together and formed Nascar,” Mark explains.
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Food & Wine Writing & Books: Food & Wine Writing & Books
by maribeth
Comments Off on Sweet and Savory Holiday Baking with Holly Herrick
Sweet and Savory Holiday Baking with Holly Herrick
Holiday Baking à la Holly Herrick
Looking to take your holiday baking up a notch? Pick up a copy of Holly Herrick‘s new book, The French Cook: Cream Puffs & Eclairs, and whip up some sweet and savory creations that will leave you and your guests swooning. This cookbook, second in the series, showcases luscious-looking delights in glossy images that you’d never believe are so easy to make. But according to Holly, they are. And they’re also economical.
With choux as the foundation for most everything in The French Cook: Cream Puffs & Eclairs, you learn about this fun and messy pastry dough that becomes light and airy once baked. You can make these floaty confections weeks ahead and keep them in your freezer and take them out as you need them. I see this as a wonderful holiday baking project either by yourself or say between mother and daughter. “It’s always my goal to get people really exciting about cooking. It’s important that it’s fun and delicious,” says this renowned food writer and author of six cookbooks.
“Happily (choux) is one of the easiest pastries to make: bring a little water and butter to a simmer in a saucepan, dump in flour, beat over heat to thicken it, and whip in a few eggs. That’s all there is to it…”
—Julia Child, The Way to Cook, 1989
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by maribeth
Comments Off on Susan Herrmann Loomis: On Rue Tatin in Normandy
Susan Herrmann Loomis: On Rue Tatin in Normandy
Susan Herrmann Loomis with a Tarte Tatin, Her Signature Dessert
L’Heure de l’Apéritif at Susan’s Cooking School
“Apples are a huge part of the cooking here in Normandy,” says cookbook author Susan Herrmann Loomis on the phone from France during a Travel Fun interview with me.
And to most of us they’re such a big part of fall and Thanksgiving, so tune into the our chat below if you’d like to add a French twist to your holiday feasting. I met Susan briefly some twenty-five years (yes—a quarter of a century) in Paris at an American women’s function when I first moved to the French capital. At that time she was working as an assistant to Patricia Wells on The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris, one of my all-time favorite books.
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Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Cycling Denver Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Restaurants Shopping Travel Vail Writing & Books: Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Cycling Denver Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Restaurants Shopping Travel Vail Writing & Books
by maribeth
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Bike Race Spectating, Colorado Touring, Book Promoting, Travel Adventures Galore Oh My
Taking a Break from Book Promoting Along the Barriers at the Vail Time Trial of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge
“Have you decided what you’d like to order?” the server of Spencer’s, the signature restaurant of Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, asked me.
“I’ll have the snake,” I said.
When he looked at me in a bewildered manner, I realized my words weren’t matching my thoughts and then I corrected my order. “Oh, I meant to say steak. Yes, steak. I’m sorry, I’m just so weary.”
“No problem,” he replied and seemingly just minutes later I was served one of the most succulent steaks ever. I gobbled it down along with a heap of Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and a big gulp of red wine. I felt exhausted and much in need of sustenance and this unassuming restaurant delivered.
My Travel Memoir/Love Story that Features France and Highlights Colorado
I had been on the road a few days by the time I reached Breckenridge and realized that following a major sporting event, especially one that changes locales daily required a lot of hustling about, but then adding a book promo tour to it was like doubling town. I had been busy much of the summer promoting my new book, A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France, although I saved the biggest push for the end when I’d scheduled a number of events and publicity opportunities in conjunction with the USA Pro Challenge, a major bike race which was marking its third year in Colorado. It seemed like a good fit, so why not give it a go? My core audience seems to be made up of outdoor enthusiasts and discriminating travelers, just the kind of people you find showing up for this big cycling event, especially in Aspen, Beaver Creek and Vail.
I set out in Misty, my old 1993 Subaru with over 250,000 miles to her credit, late Sunday, August 18, for Redstone, Colorado, a delightful little mountain town just under an hour from Aspen. From Telluride, the drive ranks as one of the finest in Colorado, punctuated by bucolic farmland scenery in and around Paonia and dramatic mountain vistas up and over McClure Pass. I arrived at the warm and cozy Redstone Inn to find its bar and restaurant bustling with Sunday evening diners.
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by maribeth
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Read and Listen to What I Say About A Tour of the Heart
A Tour of the Heart book cover
I’ve been pounding the pavement this past week, promoting my book, A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France. It’s been great getting out there chatting with people at promotions I’ve done in conjunction with the USA Pro Cycling Challenge—it’s always nice to connect with like minded people that enjoy to read. The beautiful cover of this travel memoir/love story draws people in right away and then I take it from there. I tell some people a lot about my book; others just a little—whatever it takes for them to determine if this is a read for them. I’ve done readings, signings and press interviews and have even distributed flyers and postcards the old fashioned way. To me, it has all been important and best of all, it has afforded me the opportunity to chat with people that love cycling, France, Colorado, food and wine, adventure, romance and other components of my story.
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by maribeth
Comments Off on Tellurider Matt Beaudin Talks about Cycling, VeloNews and France
Tellurider Matt Beaudin Talks about Cycling, VeloNews and France
Matt Beaudin
I’ve been living in Telluride just over ten years now. And I’m still continually amazed by the number of multi-talented people living within our towns (Telluride and Mountain Village) of a combined population of about 3,200 year-round residents. Artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, you name it—T-ride boasts the crème de la crème of doers, adventurers and creative types from many areas. And Matt Beaudin definitely fits that profile.
I’ve always enjoyed the quality of writing in our local newspapers and came to know Matt through his stories when he was editor of the Telluride Daily Planet. After a nice stint at our local rag, Matt moved on—but not out of Telluride—to become a writer for VeloNews, one of the country’s top publications on cycling. Now after a year and a half at this post, I thought it was time to sit down and chat with Matt on Travel Fun, my talk show on KOTO. He’s passionate about cycling, has been to France a couple of times and covered the Tour de France twice, so I was sure we’d have a good exchange. I enjoyed what Matt had to say about the French, following the Tour and riding a mountain stage, recounting another impressive ride—Eider Creek—in Telluride and sharing his thoughts on the upcoming USA Pro Cycling Challenge that begins Monday, August 19 in Aspen, Colorado.
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Writing & Books: Writing & Books
by maribeth
Comments Off on A Synapse of Thoughts on Three Hundred Blog Posts
A Synapse of Thoughts on Three Hundred Blog Posts
Clara, My Editorial Assistant, Sleeping on My Lap or Rather My Laptop
Story, short, sweet, sweeping, SEO, sections, scintillating, syncopation, sponsors, sexy, silky, systematic, seductive, sensory, shitty, shaky, succinct, sequence, senses, seeds, senseless, satisfaction. More storytelling. Silly cat.
This is the sort of jumble that passes through my brain as I stare at the blank screen of my computer. Then I begin to fill that empty page in with words, links and images, as more of a hodgepodge gathers in my head. And those are just the “s” words. Indeed, a lot of time and energy goes into every post and that’s after a bunch of initial research which often includes planning a trip, then traveling to a certain destination and seeing what hits me there.
Colorado Crested Butte Cycling Mountain Living Outdoor Adventures Writing & Books: Colorado Crested Buttte Cycling Mountain Living Outdoor Adventures Writing & Books
by maribeth
Comments Off on The Bike Culture of Crested Butte
The Bike Culture of Crested Butte
Sailing Down the Ski Hill in Crested Butte
Fat tires, skinny tires, town cruisers, sleek road bikes, bouncy mountain bikes—you name it, everywhere you turn in this freewheeling mountain town in the summer, you see a cyclist, a bike, a bike part or a bike path popping into view. I’ve been to many mountain towns across the Rockies, yet never have I observed so many bike doings as here in Crested Butte, Colorado. A bike mecca for sure, perhaps largely due to its glorious network of trails (many single track) and the fact that mountain biking took off here in the 1970s after some locals began retrofitting old Schwinns with gears and took to the hills. Since then, the bike culture has done nothing but grow to the point that people of all ages and ability levels can’t help joining in on the fun when they land in this stunning mountain town.
This morning I went out for a little power hike on the ski mountain. Did I feel out of place not being on two wheels? Not at all. Instead, I enjoyed hoofing about at my own pace and observing the biking activities both up close and from afar. From the bike wash station to the easy bike loading setup at the gondola, I realized Crested Butte is a mountain resort destination that takes cycling seriously. I meandered up my own single track that accommodated two-way hikers and uphill bikers, a sinuous path bordered by fields of wildflowers, where I could take in the full expanse of CB’s alpine setting and still boost my heart rate and break a little sweat.
