Photo: Sonya Stoa

Part of traveling is eating like the locals. We’re following Sonya’s jet set lifestyle as she travels through India. These delicious parathas are a popular breakfast dish in northern India.

If you aren’t traveling to India anytime soon, you can make them at home following this recipe from vegrecipesofindia.com (visit their website for photos of the step-by-step instructions):

The Mexico Tourism Board Office in Los Angeles announced the creation of “Boomer Fest Days” during a press conference last Friday, September 14 in Los Angeles.

“Boomer Fest Days” is a Music, Food & Wine Festival that will take place in the coastal town of Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point), Sonora, Mexico on May 1-5, 2013.

This five-day event will be a first of its kind and will include 24 top music bands and comedians from the 60s, 70’s, and 80’s. The organizers will be revealing some of the band names in the next few weeks.

The Managing Partner of the event, Henry Altman, is bringing together a world-class production team who has been involved in some of the most famous and spectacular events in the world.

Altman also mentioned the importance of “Boomer Fest Days” has to do with the fact that there are millions of baby boomers out there who have disposable income and who are at a time where they want to have fun and enjoy life.

With that in mind, some of the activities prepared for the visitors of “Boomer Fest Days” include:

• Celebrity & Sponsors Golf Tournament
• Celebrity & Sponsors Sport Fishing Tournament
• Food & Wine Festival
• Arts & Crafts Sales and Exhibitions
• Motor Sports Exhibit, featuring Vintage Cars & Motorcycles
• On-Stage Performances
• Laser Light Show & Mega Fireworks
• Carnival Games and Ferris Wheel
• And many more…

The organizers expect a crowd of about 50,000 people attending the five-day event and encourage visitors to make their reservations on time. Tickets for “Boomer Fest Days” will officially go on sale in mid-November through their website.

Why Rocky Point, Sonora? Because this area is not only a booming touristic attraction enjoying a beautiful coast line on the Sea of Cortes, but also because there are over 31 million Americans living within 400 miles of the Festival site.

“Boomer Fest Days” has the support of the Mexico Tourism Board, the Sonora Tourism Board, and Puerto Peñasco Visitors Bureau.

For more information please visit www.boomerfestdays.com

Arguably, Bogota’s best attribute is its expansive selection of unexpectedly enchanting dining establishments.  Others may argue that other characteristics deserve that title … its charming people, its wide variety of delicious subtropical fruits, its coffee shops, the prominent mountains that form a distant wall around the city … but in my humble opinion, the restaurants are the hands down winner.

Below are a few options in Colombia’s capital city waiting to delight your senses.

BREAKFAST

To start the day off on the right foot, visit Abasto in Usaquén district for an amazing weekend brunch.  (Preferably on a Sunday; Saturdays are usually quite packed, as this place is not exactly a well-kept secret.)  You’ll be charmed the moment you walk in the door, by the cozy Colombian country-style décor, the tempting baked goods placed strategically near the entrance to keep starvation at bay should a table not be immediately available, and the decadent scents wafting from the kitchen, which can immediately be glimpsed through a large open window by the entry.  You may see bakers preparing the thickest pancakes you’ve ever seen in your life, or arepas crowned with any number of toppings, or waiters may be bringing out trays of freshly squeezed juice or steaming coffee.

Abasto is furnished with an eclectic mix of wooden tables – as far as I could tell, no two are the same.  My favorite is the big wooden table in the back room, where you’ll be surrounded by baskets of fruits and vegetables and shelves of wine, journals, salt and pepper shakers, jars of dates and other such items available for purchase.  Once you’re seated, you’ll be faced with the difficult decision of what to order.  You can’t go wrong with anything, really – all of Abasto’s dishes are prepared with fresh, natural, locally sourced ingredients and are without exception mouthwateringly delicious – but my personal recommendation is a glass of granadilla juice, fruit salad, huevos rancheros, and if you’re really hungry, accompany all of that with a cheese-topped arepa or one of the raspberry crumbles sitting enticingly on the counter.  Then, wash it all down with locally-sourced coffee, or a beautiful aromatica (similar to a tea, but prepared with dried fruits rather than tea leaves.)

To walk off some of those calories, take a stroll afterward through the neighborhood before heading off to your next destination.

LUNCH

If your appetite returns in time for lunch, head to Restaurante Casa at Carrera 13 # 85-24 for a fresh and delicious Mediterrean meal.  This is a very pretty part of town, on a street lined with other restaurants and a few classy bars.  If it’s a nice day, you can eat outside in the small back courtyard, under leafy oak trees.  If it’s not a nice day, and you’re lucky, you’ll get the table inside next to the fireplace.

The juices here are too good to miss, and as beautifully presented as any cocktail.  Try the maracuya con menta (passionfruit with mint.)  Unusual combination, but it works.  If you like seafood, the grouper and avocado appetizer doubles very well as a light meal, or if you’re hungrier, the sea bass with quinoa will delight your tastebuds and fill your belly.  If that’s not enough, the French fries here are also sublime.  And you should save room for at least a bite of the apple crumble with vanilla ice cream – although I bet you won’t be able to have just one bite.

Another lunch option, if you are really hungry and in the mood for traditional Colombian dishes, is Club Colombia.  Like Casa, it was formerly a house, and this restaurant still exudes the serene feeling of a stately older home, with its polished wooden floors, wide staircase and fireplaces.  The impeccably dressed waiters seem to have stepped out of a time gone past.

Portions here are generous: a cup of ajiaco or sancocho with a side of empanadas is likely to fill you up.

DINNER

For dinner, if you happen to be craving sushi or seafood, take a cab to Sushi Gozen.  They have the best seaweed salad I’ve had in a long time, consistently fresh, well-prepared sushi and a magnificent seafood and rice platter.

For a unique beverage, try the Umeshu, a Japanese liquor with an unusual taste: complex and slightly sweet.  The wine list offers plenty of options to please the palate, or choose a perfectly shaken caipirinha.

You can also find a very nice wine list and exquisite seafood – or meat – or vegetarian options – at Matiz, the perfect choice for a quiet, elegant meal.  It could be romantic, but it doesn’t have to be.

THE AFTER PARTY

Finish the night by dancing off some of those calories at Andres. (Conveniently located downtown, it’s a smaller version of the original Andres in Chia … smaller, but just as much fun!)  Along with live music and a fun-loving crowd, Andres has an enormous menu of scrumptious beers, cocktails, appetizers and full meals.  The lulada is an irresistible concoction including aguardiente and lulo juice, guaranteed to put you in the mood to dance the night away! 

Natalie! She’s…

Congratulations to Natalie who just won the Sony Cyber-shot WX9! We used Random.org to select the winner and her winning comment is:

Fave destination? That I’ve been to? Paris.

But on my “I know this will be a favorite” list is Greece or Italy.

Natalie is the amazing woman behind The Bobby Pin, a blog about everything and anything. A firm believer that “that life is best lived when you have a plane ticket in your hand,” Natalie always has a camera in hand whether she’s jet setting around the world, cooking, or showing off her latest bargains. The Bobby Pin is the wonderful blog that it is because of Natalie’s natural gift for the written word and an eye for beautiful photography. We have no doubt the camera will be put to good use.

We can’t wait to see your Sony Cyber-shot WX9 picture and hear what you think about it! Keep us posted.

I often crave fresh, seasonal veggies as well as astoundingly delicious international eats and have a tendency to not feel so great until I get my fix.  I also incessantly yearn to travel to places on the other side of the world, like Europe, in part because I covet their fine dining and superb wines.

Because it has been a few months since I’ve had my dose of European culinary delights in Europe, I have found myself in the kitchen cooking up chic new twists to these culinary experiences I dearly miss.

Keep in mind, when you eat like a European, you have to drink like one too. With each dish, I find myself browsing our wine cellar to find the ideal wine to go with the latest creation. Such a tough life…

This week I made a simple, lip-smacking Lemony Miso Pesto Pasta paired with an Austrian Grüner Veltliner.

Here’s how:

This Lemony Miso Pesto Pasta is tart, delicious, and totally worth a trip to the locals farmer’s market for as may fresh ingredients as possible. If you can find fresh, handmade pasta your taste buds will experience double the pleasure.

Sauce

• Bunches of basil

• Bit of baby spinach

• Oooo so delicious olive oil

• Mega spoonful or two of white miso paste

• Lots of lemon zest

• Enough lemon juice to satisfy your love for tartness

• Toasty pine nuts

Toppings

• Sauté or steam seasonal veggies (ideas: asparagus, mushrooms, broccoli, onions, bell pepper)

• Parmesan

• Arugula

Base

Your favorite type of pasta, but I used fettuccine.

Directions

As the pasta cooks, place all the sauce ingredients in a Cuisinart and chop until it reaches your preferred consistency. Sauté or steam the veggies. Combine everything and top with Parmesan and arugula as desired.

The Wine

While the obvious wine pairing with an Italian dish would be, of course, an Italian wine, I prefer to mix the countries and flavors a bit more. While a Pinot Grigio or Prosecco would be a nice choice, I wanted to take this opportunity to pair one of my favorite Italian home cooked dishes of all-time with one of my favorite white wines of all-time, an Austrian Grüner Veltliner. I know this grape is capable of both holding its own and complimenting such a zesty dish.

I chose a 2008 Grüner Veltliner Haarlocke Hajszan from Vienna (yes, the city limits of a European capital… how many wines can boast these type of credentials!) because I wanted to compliment both the lemon in the sauce as well as the arugula topping. Grüner Veltliner wines, in general, have a tendency to be lemony, peppery, and full of minerality. This particular wine tasted slightly of stone fruit (apricots) and had pleasing levels of acidity that matched quite well with the creamy, lemony basil sauce. The peppery finish, synonymous with Grüner Veltliner, goes hand-in-hand with freshly picked arugula.

In reality, it doesn’t matter which Grüner Veltliner label/vineyard you enjoy with this dish, but I highly recommend you give this grape variety a taste. If you love funky, fun, dry, different, and unoaked white wines… you can’t go wrong with Grüner Veltliner.

It’s also a great wine to sip while you cook.

* Disclaimer: Wine provided as sample from a PR agency; Photos taken on a Sony Cyber-shot WX9 courtesy of Sony Electronics.