Professional Eater, Storyteller, and Wine Traveler
A Solitary Vineyard Near Marsala
Italy Images – iPhone 5 Editing Tutorial is a sampling of my recent work editing standard DSLR images using only my iPhone 5. I am very excited about the quality and style of these photos and I want to share with you today some details on how and why I edit as I do. [Read more...]
Spaghetti with Clams – Le Marche
What a wonderful and sometimes intense set of responses from my previous post – The Italy Rules. I want to take a little time today to expand and expound on some of my thoughts and provide further insight into traveling in Italy.
1. Italy Guides – Here is my short list of who I would travel with and why in Italy.
Can you See Me?
WordPress Visibility Test – Can you see me in your reader?
I have information from WordPress that my wordpress.com blog subscribers can finally be migrated to my updated and self-hosted site. If this is true I will finally be able to post my blog in only one space 
Can you please like or comment on this post if you see it in the WP reader.
Thanks Blissful Adventurers!
Roadside Ruins (click image to view full-size)
Sicily – Theatrical Friday Photos - Is a journey across the enigmatic island using photos that conjure emotions reminiscent of the theater. I am more and more returning to my theatrical roots and seeking inventive and resourceful ways to tell you my stories. This is one of them.
We left the airport at Trapani in a rented Fiat Punto our Garmin Nuvi GPS device had not been updated in 3 years, and roads in Sicily are museums for allied bombing runs from the 1940s. Then, there was this structure in its abandoned glory. Nino Rota played in my head and I fought the urge to look for sheep to herd. In reality I barely took enough time to stare at the gorgeous wreck before getting lost a few more times on the roads that go and go yet no distance ever seems overcome. [Read more...]
Palmento Santo Spirito – Mt. Etna
Mt. Etna -Volcanoes, Vines, and the Holy Spirit is a 3 part series on how I came to meet Salvo Foti, the preeminent voice on traditional (ancient) winemaking on Mt Etna. I am releasing my post now to celebrate Salvo’s visit to San Francisco this week. Salvo Foti will be pouring wine and discussing how he makes the magic this Saturday at Biondivino is San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood from 6-8PM. Come out and enjoy the wines and say hello to yours truly as well as the great Salvo Foti.
We walked all together through the vineyards at Palmento Santo Spirito and saw vines as old as 150 years resting next to new plantings. The cycle of life in Sicily is as clear as anywhere I have seen. Ancestral vines keeping watch over new ones managed by men following ancient rituals to the tune of making wine without the use of electricity. I assumed Salvo was kidding till he walked us through the dark and dank rooms of the Palmento and explained to us how the grapes are carried up the ramp by hand and into the lava stone pool where they are foot tread to break the skins and allow the juice and pulp to run free into the rock tank below. The temperature outside over 90 degrees while the stone and the vented windows keep the inside temps at 75 or less. This was how the Romans made wine said Salvo and yet they say what I am doing is illegal. Two thousand years of winemaking precedence cannot be wrong but the EU says it is illegal. I want to know so much more. [Read more...]
Hotel Parco Statella – Randazzo, Sicily
Mt. Etna -Volcanoes, Vines, and the Holy Spirit is a 3 part series on how I came to meet Salvo Foti, the preeminent voice on traditional (ancient) winemaking on Mt Etna. I am releasing my post now to celebrate Salvo’s visit to San Francisco this week. Salvo Foti will be pouring wine and discussing how he makes the magic this Saturday at Biondivino is San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood from 6-8PM. Come out and enjoy the wines and say hello to yours truly as well as the great Salvo Foti. [Read more...]
Mt. Etna -Volcanoes, Vines, and the Holy Spirit is a 3 part series on how I came to meet Salvo Foti, the preeminent voice on traditional (ancient) winemaking on Mt Etna. I am releasing my post now to celebrate Salvo’s visit to San Francisco this week. Tune in tomorrow to learn where you can meet Salvo and taste his wines.
I Vigneri Vigna Bosco Vineyard – Mt Etna [Read more...]
The Greek Ruins at Selinunte – Sicily
Italy Images from a Month in the Boot is my 3 part series of photos taken exclusively from my iPhone and from our month-long journey in Italy this year. The photos are not chronological and are simply used to evoke feelings and a sense of wanderlust in readers. Enjoy [Read more...]
The First “Cala” or Cove Beach of the Hike
In Sicily we had been in cities and wineries for days and decided we must get outside. We decided to visit La Riserva Naturale Orientata dello Zingaro which turned out to provide one of the most compelling hikes of our lives. [Read more...]
