Continuing the pandemic trend of living vicariously through the travels of my past self, this post references my journey around the Mediterranean basin from summer 2019. One of the places we visited on that trip was an olive oil producer, Stella Croatica, near Split, Croatia. Split is a particularly interesting …
In the midst of the pandemic, I scratch my travel itch vicariously, enjoying photographic “memories” that pop up in the various apps that store my photos. A trip to New York City popped up this weekend, and reminded me that I intended to create a post about that trip, the …
I wanted to talk about one of my favorite varieties of olives, Turkish Gemlik olives. These olives are black, as they are cured after they are ripe, and they have a high oil content, which gives a satisfying mouth feel. They are sold either packed in brine or packed dry …
One of the things I love about olive trees are their longevity. Driving through the countryside you can see tree after tree with thick trunks, twisted or bent from the ravages of the wind, sometimes with holes in the center where parts of the tree have rotted or worn away. …
This summer I had the opportunity to take a sabbatical for three months, and used half of it to travel around the Mediterranean basin in Europe. I was able to visit portions of southern Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Croatia, southern France (including Corsica), and portions of northeastern Spain (including …
I have let this blog sit for quite some time (life gets busy, etc.), but as I begin planning some travel along the Mediterranean basin next summer, I want to start writing again, and to incorporate olives into some of my travel. Cultivation of olive trees has been happening for …
Food has a strong tie to memories. A scent or flavor brings you back to a very particular moment in time. The strongest food memories are often tied to family, like the flavor of tomato sauce, cooked on the stove for most of the day, brings back memories of family …
The first word that comes to mind when I think of a Kalamata olive is bracing. They are salty and tart and bitter all at once, causing your mouth to pucker a bit as you bite into the meaty purple fruit. They are not a mild olive, but if you …
When I was young, I HATED olives. I thought they were foul, and worked to pick them out of whatever food into which they had been incorporated, if I wasn’t compelled to eat them out of politeness. This made me an outlier in my family, as my sisters loved olives, …
