earthspiral travels & eats

Heading back to St. John, USVI

scanna283 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:23:42 +0000

Alas, this summer is winding down way too quickly for me. I do love fall, but there is something sad about the fleetingness of summer. It was 4th of July and now summer is over. BUT, not yet! We are squeezing in one last jump in the ocean, we are heading back to our beloved Caribbean, this time second visit to St. John in the US Virgin Islands. In Sep 2006 we stayed at Caneel bay and loved all 7 private beaches, this time we are renting a house (better for scanofia since we have a 1 yr old this time!). I am looking forward to lazy days with no running around trying to get things done for work and daycare. We are planning a side trip to Jost Van Dyck so we can grab some painkillers at the Soggy Dollar Bar in White Bay, we loved it there in May 2006. Talk to you all when we return and I can do some reviews of dining choices on St. John!

Cantina in Saratoga Springs, NY

scanna283 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:04:06 +0000

Seven of us (including my 1 yr old) went to Cantina on Sat for a quick tapas style lunch with drinks. The Greek (aka my dad) was paying and we kept ordering Margaritas! That evening we were going to dinner at Bellini’s near Waterford so we didn’t want to eat too much. I took the lead and ordered some apps. This was my second visit to Cantina’s (first time was dinner takeout for my mom and I when she was recuperating at the nearby hospital for her hip op). I was not disappointed and am looking forward to my next visit! I got the duck taquitos, lobster burrito, quesadilla, and seared sea scallops in salsa verde. YUMMY, this place does not disappoint!

Rome, Italy apartment review: Leutari

scanna283 — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:26:25 +0000

I guess the old adage really is true – “you get what you pay for.” The apartment “Leutari” is within steps of Piazza Navona, and the location itself is perfect for exploring all of Rome’s highlights by foot. There is even a great little café nearby the apartment where we would get our morning lattes and cornettos. The good adjectives have to end here though.

The apartment was dark, dirty, and not very comfortable. There were 6 adults and one baby, so the two bedrooms were occupied as well as the pull out couch in the living room.

As far as taking showers and washing baby bottles – it was a CHALLENGE. We all had a hard time finding the right time of day for hot water!

There was also no toilet paper, no soap, no paper towels.

The kitchen utensils were all crusted with dirty food and only a person with a suicide mission would actually decide to voluntarily use anything.

One of the most disappointing aspects of renting this apartment was the inability to cook in the kitchen since everything was dirty and mainly unusable. We had a farmer’s market nearby and really wanted to cook at least one dinner in Rome but that wasn’t possible.

I would never recommend this place to anyone.

The only positive aspect is that we saved some money but in the overall travel experience of being in Rome, it wasn’t worth it since our experience was severely tainted by this horrible apartment.

Cuchi Cuchi in Cambridge, MA

scanna283 — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:41:56 +0000

Cuchi Cuchi ROCKS - from the delicious yummy variety of international tapas (my favorites were the Mexican fried tomato, Argentinian steak with chimichurri, Russian bliny, fried artichokes, mushroom risotto, and the French banane dessert to mention a FEW!). The most “shocking” part of the experience were the mode of dress of the ladies who served, bartended, hosted). They all had period piece clothing but that wasn’t the most interesting, the variety of head gear of feathers, beads, and fuzzy animal hats were funny. My husband paid special attention to one of the ladies wearing a black 20’s style flapper mini - need I say more? I recommend the caipuracha - Brazilian bombshell cocktail - its a mix of rum, lime juice and sugar and I ordered 2 of them, so good.

Roma + Tuscany Coming Up!

scanna283 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:35:20 +0000

We are packing up once again and heading for Italia next month! This will be our daughter’s second international trip and she will be 10 months old - phew, I am exhausted just thinking about all the packing!

First stop: Roma, Italia.
We are renting an apartment for 3 nights near Piazza Navona called Leutari.

Note: apparently throwing a coin at Trevi fountain does guarantee a return to the Eternal City (la citta eterna) - last time we were in Rome, Italy was 2002!

The Plan for Rome:
• Hang out with Sofia and Scott at lots of coffee + gelato shops
• Purchase food and flowers near Campo de Fiori
• MAYBE go to Ostia Antica via Metro
• Walk around and LOOK at people, fashion, and old buildings and monuments
• Will not do any tourist stuff we have already done, whats the point?

Second stop: rental car agency
• I will go grab our rental car at Termini station and go pickup the gang back at the apartment
• I do have my international driver’s permit just in case!

Third stop: Vagliagli, Tuscany
• Staying at Villa Cignano
• Planning day trips to Cortona, San Gimignano, Chianti, Cortona, Firenze, and maybe Pisa
• Scott and I have only been to Florence so exploring Tuscany will be awesome

Final Leg: drive back to Rome Fiumicino Airport
• Drop off rental car at airport
• Catch our Swiss Air flight back to Boston via Zurich

Sweet Basil in Needham

scanna283 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:44:44 +0000

My friend Kate and I had dinner at Sweet Basil recently since my hubby is away in CA at a conference. My daughter came with us but she slept in her car seat all night! We started with some authentic village bread and a pesto/butter spread. The vibe inside is cozy and rasta-like, pretty funky for an Italian place in Needham!

We shared an app “Steamed mussels in garlic and wine with fresh roma tomates, evoo
and garlic crostini.” Very high quality mussels and with the village bread to dip in the sauce, it was perfect.

I had the soup of the day (yummy eggplant, red peppers, cheese, basil) and my entree was “Rosemary chicken with crispy pancetta and asparagus in a garlicky parmesan cream sauce with ziti”. The portions were so big that I had to take most of the food home, but thats great for leftovers.

Kate had the “Seafood Fra Diavolo - assorted fish and shellfish in a spicy tomato brodo over linguini fini.”

This place surprised me, I would definitely recommend it and plan on coming back here with a bigger group. Apparently you can bring your own wine too with a small corkage fee.

La Cava - Cocina & Vinoteca

scanna283 — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:47:39 +0000

La Cava - Cocina & Vinoteca

Great restaurant 2 steps from our house Casa conde de Pestagua in Cartagena, Colombia. Plaintain wrapped grouper for an app, shrimp with rum and garlic potatoes for main, and liquid bread pudding for dessert (at least it tasted like liquid bread pudding!). More details to follow soon!

Cartagena de Indias, Colombia here we come!

scanna283 — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:44:42 +0000

My very good friend from grad school is getting married Jan 12, 2008! Scott, Sofia, and I are packing up the stroller, diapers, formula, desitin, sunscreen, fancy outfits, and some beach clothes and we are heading out on jan 9! This will truly be an adventure on many fronts: its our first trip to South America, first plane trip with Sofia, first swim for Sofia (Caribbean!), and first wedding with Sofia, fun! This will be a good test and “launch and learn” for all future plane trips with Sofia - I am sure we will overpack some stuff and underpack or forget others - wish us luck!

We will be hanging out in the Old Town of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia which has some of the most beautiful Spanish colonial architecture in all of South America - and best part is - we are on the Caribbean sea! Cartagena is a UNESCO world heritage site in the Americas. We will be visiting Isla de Rosarios for the day, which will show us coral reefs with turquoise, blue, and even purple water!

Our friends have a web site set up for the wedding, but worth posting since the information on Cartagena and Columbia is invaluable. Take a looksee.

lunch at sel de la terre - natick, ma

scanna283 — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:00:07 +0000

Scott and I were doing some returns and shopping at the Natick Collection on Sat, and we decided to go have lunch at Sel de la Terre. Denise and I had been there before and really liked it. Sofia was with us so there was a brief moment of panic when her sticky nosy hands ALMOST flipped over a hot soup tureen (sp?) of red pepper soup! We shared the soup for an app (a little kick to it but no so much that it bothered you, it was a yummy soup). I had the Niçoise salad with seared peppered Yellowfin tuna (very generous on the tuna, overall portion size was perfect, some olives, red bliss potatoes, crunchy string beans, greens, and red onions). My only negative was that if the red onion slices were consistently thinner, it would have been more successful, some of the onion strips were huge and some were thinly sliced (preferred) so the huge ones overpower the flavor and I avoided them. Scott had the SDLT burger with smoked onions, lettuce, bleu cheese and spicy aïoli and he loved it. I enjoying stealing his thin pomme frites!

scannita gets christened

scanna283 — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:23:45 +0000

Here we are on a sunny COLD sunday morning in Bristol, RI - Sofia and her cousin Harrison got christened / baptised in a non-denominational ceremony, just like we prefer it! Lunch followed at Quitos in Bristol (been there about a billion times in last 9 years and I still love it), I got something different for a change, the pan-seared seafood platter with shrimp, scallops, and cod, yummy!