SA chefs vie for trip to Tahiti July 31, 2009
Posted by tracybarnett in : Food, San Antonio, Texas , add a commentOn a May visit to San Antonio, I happened by the new Bistro Bakery, the latest offering by the prolific and popular French chef Damien Watel. He had brought in his mother to help run the place, and the two were running hither and yon to keep up with the overflowing crowd.
Damien, a descendant of a chef who served French King Louis XIV, has been my favorite San Antonio chef since he turned an old laundromat into Ciao Lavanderia, which serves infallibly fabulous cuisine. I liked him even better when he converted the neighboring nail salon into Ciao Vino, perhaps the city’s best wine bar. Since then, he’s opened two new restaurants in the exclusive Stone Oak development on San Antonio’s upscale north side.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUFNfVsZP0o&hl=en&fs=1&]
His project made headlines recently when he got into trouble with the Stone Oak property association for installing a sculpture of a fork without authorization. Watel responded to the censure by erecting an also controversial “Wall of Censorship” partially obscuring the offending fork.
Little wonder, given the hyperactive Watel’s peripatetic pace, that he’s thrown his hat into the ring for a free getaway vacation in Tahiti.
Today I received this item in a press release from Tahiti Tourisme North America:
“Damien Watel and his girlfriend Lisa of San Antonio are battling it out with more than 20 other couples for a trip to Tahiti.
The couple (both professional chefs) entered Tahiti Tourisme’s “Invest in Your Love” video contest by submitting a video, “Recipe for Tahiti”, on why they need (and deserve) an escape to the beautiful islands of Tahiti.”
What’s even more fun: You can vote for Damien’s vacation here:
“Now it’s up to the public to decide who gets to move on to the finals. Voting for this round is open to the public and runs from July 25 through August 8. Videos that receive the highest number of public votes by August 8 move on as finalists and then the winner will be selected from an expert panel of judges.
Visit investinyourlove.com to watch the videos, vote and for information on how to enter to win a trip to the South Pacific island paradise of Tahiti. There are four more contest periods to submit a video for a chance to win, running until the end of November.”
I don’t know about you, but I think he’s earned it.
Marvelous Matagorda July 25, 2009
Posted by Tracy in : Nature tourism, Sustainability, Texas, ecotourism , 1 comment so far
Hundreds of miles of coastline stretch from Galveston to the Coastal Bend. I’d always wanted to explore that stretch in between where the Colorado River meets the sea. But aside from a state park on an island that is no longer accessible, nobody I spoke to could say much about what I might find there.
This only made me more curious. So one day I picked up the phone and started calling around. And before I knew it, I was packing my bags and headed for the coast.
What I found surprised me: spectacular beaches, abundant wildlife, great food, a fascinating history, fishing to die for and friendly folks who will make you feel right at home.
What I didn’t find was an overabundance of tourists. A couple from Fort Worth, a father and daughter from Houston, a family from Pearland and a handful of locals — but mostly, miles of white sand pounded by surf and backed by graceful dunes.
Last week I got to spend a couple of glorious days soaking up some of the best this region has to offer. On Aug. 9, the story will appear in the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News. Meanwhile, here’s a preview.
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United Breaks Guitars July 23, 2009
Posted by tracybarnett in : Consumer travel , 1 comment so farNow this has to be the most creative way I’ve ever seen of filing a consumer complaint to an airline. And another example of how social media is changing the balance of power.
Canadian musician David Carroll says United Airlines broke his $3,000 Taylor guitar. A year-long attempt to get United to cover the damages went nowhere, so he took his appeal to the public on YouTube.
“I said to myself, ‘What would Michael Moore do if he were a singer-songwriter?’” he told the London Daily Mail in an interview aired this morning. So he wrote a series of three songs telling his story. His first one has gone viral — it’s garnered 3.7 million hits.
Check out the video – he’s not only a decent musician, he’s hilarious:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo&hl=en&fs=1&]
Here’s the story in the London Daily Mail.
United has reversed its position since his song became such a hit. They’ve offered now to pay to fix his guitar, plus they’re throwing in more than $1,000 in travel vouchers, according to the Daily Mail.
But the horse is already out of that barn. Carroll just announced the second in his three-part series will be released soon.
Zen stories for travelers July 20, 2009
Posted by tracybarnett in : Uncategorized , add a commentI’ve recently been enjoying Brave New Traveler, an online travel community founded by Canadian traveler, writer and videographer Ian MacKenzie with the idea, as his web page states, of “exploring the inner journey through the outer world.”
Today I found a posting there that I had to share. It’s called The ten very best zen stories for travelers, and if you’re looking for inspiration, you’ll find it here.
Just in case you’re not yet convinced to check it out, here’s an excerpt:
1. A Cup Of Tea
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”
“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
The best travelers head out with no preconceptions about the cultures they will visit and the people they will meet. They remember to pack the most important thing: an open mind.
Thanks to @hanimeli for posting this link on Twitter!
SA hotels make "World's Best" list July 17, 2009
Posted by tracybarnett in : Food, San Antonio, Sustainability , add a commentRecently I was in San Antonio to visit the new stretch of the famed River Walk, and to visit with chef John Brand, the culinary wizard behind the remake of two River Walk classics, Pesca and Las Canarias.
Brand has distinguished himself with a cuisine that is both cutting-edge and creative, while being an active adherent to farm-to-table and sustainable harvesting practices. Here’s an interview I did with Brand at Las Canarias after a memorable lunch in May.
Pesca and Las Canarias and their parent hotels, the Watermark Hotel and Spa and Omni’s La Mansion del Rio, have more to celebrate this month than a new stretch of the River Walk. Both hotels made Travel + Leisure’s “World’s Best Hotels” list — the only hotels in Texas to have received this honor.
Here’s the story in the San Antonio Business Journal.
Of course, it can’t hurt that they’ve got a world-class chef at the helm of their two restaurants. Congrats, y’all.
Biking Bohemeo Style July 11, 2009
Posted by tracybarnett in : Biking, Houston, Texas , 1 comment so farLast night I followed up on a welcome invitation from Patrick Taylor, organizer of a new biking group over on Houston’s East End. I couldn’t think of a better way to meet new friends and explore my new city than this one — so I packed up Bessie and headed east.
Bohemeo’s, it turns out, is a pretty cool little cooling-off spot in itself – tucked inside the Tlaquepaque Market (an East End community center that’s as much fun to visit as it is to say), it’s a coffeeshop (yes, free wifi), restaurant, bar, and art & music venue all wrapped up in one.
Bohemeo's, the East End's first art and music coffeehouse
And now, it’s also the departure point for the city’s coolest new biking club.
Patrick Taylor checks Lajla Cline's tires in preparation for our inaugural ride.
It quickly became apparent that this group was not going to be like the bicycle club I trained with for the MS 150. No padded bicycle shorts or gloves here, and barely a helmet to be seen. The important thing here, I was told, was to have a good time.
“I work hard enough during the daytime,” said Elise, who was fetchingly attired in a denim dress and pink headscarf. Her hobby is biking from bar to bar, and “the getup is really important for that,” she confided. Note to self: I need to work on the getup!
There was an impressive turnout for the group’s first ride. I guess it shows the power of Facebook – and Patrick’s organizing skills. Or maybe it was just a good idea whose time had come.
Ready to roll
Our first ride took us down the new Columbia TAP Trail, a rail-to-trail project inaugurated in March, and past scores of new trees planted as part of Mayor Bill White’s Million Trees + Houston Initiative. We cruised through East End neighborhoods and the TSU Campus to the McGowan Street Trail, a bike trail that parallels Brays Bayou and runs through the so-called “River Oaks of Houston,” a wealthy black neighborhood where you’ll find the mansions of famous locals like Beyonce Knowles.
The bayou here is sadly paved in concrete, unlike the Buffalo Bayou in my neighborhood, which was mercifully left intact. But the skies opened up here to the prettiest sunset I’ve seen in awhile, and I can honestly say the breezes were refreshing.
We did seven miles on this first round, and got back to Bohemeo’s before dark — in time to drink a cold one and enjoy some live music. A little soggy for a public appearance indoors, unfortunately — so the music will have to wait!
Mission accomplished
A farm with art – and heart July 6, 2009
Posted by tracybarnett in : Houston, Sustainability, Texas , 4commentsAfter a month of travel, these thirsty boots were aching for something more than the road – a place to dig in and put down some roots in the heart of this vast city. And right in the heart of one of its most blighted neighborhoods, I found it.
Cidette Rice, 5, Last Organic Outpost volunteer (and rock star)
The Last Organic Outpost is more than a garden, it’s an urban farm. It’s the brainchild and the lifework of Joe Nelson Icet, who has poured his sweat and his muscle and his life’s savings into this acreage and the other lot that surrounds his home.
“It’s not just about gardening; it’s about building a community,” Joe said.
Joe Nelson Icet, founder of the Last Organic Outpost, at the gate of his community farm
About 10 years ago Joe was trying to figure out what to do with himself after a rough divorce. His job as a refrigeration maintenance man paid the bills, but didn’t fill the hole in his soul. He was looking for a mission, and as he began to plow up his yard and fill it with vegetables, he found it: to create an urban farm belt on the vacant lots in the inner city.
He found other abandoned lots to cultivate, and a community of people to help him. He found artists to come and lend their creative touch to the spot. And then he found the love of his life to help him – or, more accurately, she found him.
The vivacious Marcella Murff is now the red-haired, barbecue-cooking, bikini-wearing muse of the garden, and Joe’s never been happier.
I discovered the Outpost just days before departing for a monthlong global sojourn, and I lamented the fact that I wouldn’t be around to help for awhile.
“No worries,” said Marcella brightly. “Just think of how your garden will have grown when you come back.”
The whole story is here in Lisa Gray’s account in the Houston Chronicle, the article that first led me to Joe, and I’ll always be grateful.
“Fertility is the gateway to the soul,” Joe told me. “We start with the land and we heal it, and we end up healing ourselves.”
I looked around me at the assorted crew that had gathered to weed and hoe, a group as diverse as the vegetables they’d come to tend; I looked down at my own too-white, too-soft hands, and I saw that he was right. I grabbed a shovel and I dug in.
Farmer Joe gives Maddalena Romano a lesson in weeding.
Time for a photo break!
Patrick Taylor, flower child of the day
Food Inc., a horror film you must see July 4, 2009
Posted by tracybarnett in : Food, Sustainability , 1 comment so farNormally I avoid violent movies, but this was one I knew I had to see. And it’s far more disturbing than the worst slasher flick – because it’s true.
It’s a gripping story about the violence being perpetrated not just on the miserable hordes of dumb beasts, but on us all.
It’s a tragedy that will move even the skeptic to tears.
And it’s a message of hope in a time of change.
See the trailer, and then, if you haven’t already, go see the movie. Please. It will change your life, and maybe even the way we do business in this country.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0]
Cultural Safari in Tanzania July 1, 2009
Posted by Tracy in : Africa, Food, Sustainability, ecotourism , add a commentWhen I told people I was planning a trip to Tanzania, the first question was: “Are you going on safari?”
Well, I didn’t see giraffes and elephants and lions. But since “safari” is the Swahili word for “journey,” I can honestly say I did!
Look for the full story in the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News travel section, or just click here to read it online. Meanwhile, njema safari (happy travels)!
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For more stories from this incredible journey through the real Africa, from celebrating the election of Obama in hubub of Dar es Salaam to making new friends in the Bukoba countryside, see Tracy’s blog, Postcards from Tanzania.
For a story about the amazing group of women who drew me to this remote region, and how they are changing it, see From Texas to Tanzania: San Antonio network changes African lives.
And for story and videos from an exotic little side trip to the legendary Spice Islands — a land of Omani towers, red colobus monkeys, sparkling white beaches and mahogany forests – see Hakuna Matata in Zanzibar.
