Just when are you supposed to read the menu? You’ve made reservations at a premier spot. You’ve heard and read so many positive reviews of the place and have researched whatever you can find about the menu and what to expect of your dining event. You arrive and your initial expectations have been met with […]
Author Archives: CritDicks
It’s my birthday, and I’ll beat you with a Wooden Spoon if I want to.
The wife has been bothering me for a couple of days now about where I would like to go for dinner on my birthday. It wasn’t until hard-pressed for an answer the day before my birthday that I hadn’t recently thought about trying out The Wooden Spoon. “It’s 8:30 at night and I’m not going to f’ […]
Exploring Italy’s regional cuisines . . . and then some. Part 4; Florence (Firenza), Tuscany.
I’m absolutely sure I could not culminate this wonderful Italian vacation in any other way than an art-filled and historic tour of Florence in the Tuscany region. The wife and I were looking forward to trying some new cuisine of Italy, more specifically the cuisines of Tuscany. This desire made for some interesting self-tours and more wonderful […]
Exploring Italy’s regional cuisines . . . and then some. Part 3; Sorrento, Campania.
We enjoyed a three-hour luxury bus ride atop of the upper deck from Bari into Naples for an overnighter where we did enjoy a Naples pizza; but the next 5 days were spent touring a large area of the Campania coastal region while staying in Sorrento, Italy (highly recommended). The pizza in this region was often times different than […]
Exploring Italy’s regional cuisines . . . and then some. Part 2; Bari, Apulia.
Our first adventure on the 160mph high-speed rail system in Europe was our ride from Rome into Bari, Italy; and is where this story begins. The high speed rail system is available to European travelers in, what appeared to be, 3 different luxury rail providers. At one point or another, we rode all three. I didn’t know […]
Exploring Italy’s regional cuisines . . . and then some. Part 1; Rome, Lazio.
Having attended culinary school, I had learned about the various regional cuisines of Italy. The wife had finally decided she was going to jump at the chance for us to attend our Grandson’s destination baptism in the birthplace of our in-law’s family. Molfetta, Italy is a small fishing town along the Adriatic sea, just north of […]
Understanding An American Warrior – a story from a guy named Dennis
I’ve recently found that I embrace conversation with prior military service members about the things they, we or I did while in the service. I’ve also come to realize that not just the military service members are the only ones with stories to tell. These stories are not only worth hearing, the stories are also worth telling. Just listen […]
Write to write
I reserve the write to write . . . and the right to write. When I feel like writing, then I shall. If I don’t feel like writing, then I have that right too. Confused? So am I, and I just don’t feel like writing about it . . . or righting about it. Then again, […]
Dry-Aged Prime Beef. How to – do it at home in the fridge in 4 weeks. Simple!
There are a lot of videos and web information on the internet about how to dry-age prime rib. There are even more warnings and silliness about precautionary measures, “special rubs” or secret methods from chefs that have done this process countless times at their restaurants or in expensive climate controlled environments. Well, I don’t have a restaurant and […]
Is it ‘owing’ an apology, or ‘owning’ an apology? – Decoy – San Marcos, CA
It all started with a walk through the grounds at Bernardo Winery. We were supposed to meet at 4pm on this Saturday afternoon to enjoy some of the shops and other Christmas hoopla that goes into the holiday season. We arrived at 4pm awaiting my son, Daughter-in-Law and Granddaughter to walk her through to see Santa (HUGE . […]
