I know bakeries. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's tracking down baked goods. And eating them. I am VERY GOOD at eating baked goods.

It's not just the obvious deliciousness I enjoy. Bakeries are a fun, accessible, affordable way to explore a destination. I have vivid memories of my very first backpacking trip in Europe, way back when before the common Euro currency was in play. I was determined to use up all my coins before I crossed borders (rendering them all but useless). As such, I soon became very adapt at buying the exact thing at a bakery that corresponded with the precise amount of coins left in my pocket. I still remember a train station apple pastry procured in France moments before I hoped on a train to Italy! The sweet filling was almost as satisfing as the knowledge that I had used every spare cent.

It's this kind of deep seated bakery love that had me jumping at the chance to investigate Ottawa bakeries. I know first hand that my local favourites make treats every bit as delicious as those fancy French spots that had me carefully counting my pennies all those years ago and I am eager to spread the word about just how much creative baking talent is right here in our hometown. Some of these destinations are long-loved special spots that I can't believe more people haven't heard about yet, while others are new to me, discovered this year as part of the #Invite2 campaign. And some, I must confess, aren't strictly bakeries per se but more like cafes that specialize in their own baked goods. What can I say? The heart wants what it wants. And so does my stomach! I'm sure you will love these sweet destinations as much as I do.

PS: Of course, this is but a tiny sampling of the bakeries the city has to offer, focusing on the places I know well. I hope this is a list that will only grow over time!

I have a secret to confess about this avocado mango salad. You're looking at a stolen recipe.

Once upon a time, I hosted a potluck dinner and one guest brought a date - who brought this incredible concoction of deliciousness. She described it as a salsa and served it alongside tortilla chips and it was just about the most magical thing I ever tried.

There was only one thing to do. I stole it the receipe and claimed it as my own.

Actually, there were three things to do. First, steal the receipe. Secondly, rebrand it as a salad, not a salsa. Thirdly, enter it in a recipe contest with a local produce store and win a $50 gift card. Done, done, and DONE, thank you very much.
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You could say that this receipe is criminally easy to make. You don’t have to get too hung up on precise measurements for it to taste great. It’s sophisticated enough that a seasoned entertainer will be proud to show it off, yet simple enough for a new cook to conquer. Most importantly, it's SO travel friendly.

​You could pack a cup of this as a rich, healthy, flavourful snack for the plane or the train. You could easily mix it up at a hostel or rental apartment without needing any special equipment. This avocado mango salad is great for potlucks and it stores well in your cooler for camping trips. The lime juice keeps the avocado from turning brown (though you can always prep the other ingredients in advance and add avocado at the last minute for maximum colour.)

There's an old-fashioned tradition which dictates that, if you cook something especially fragrant while preparing Turkish cuisine, you must share it with your neighbours. After all, you never know who might be particularly roused by your aromatic fare. Perhaps there is an expectant mother who has a craving or an elderly person who isn't able to easily visit their favourite cafe.

There's a second part to this tradition. If you are so fortunate to receive a sample of your neighbour's cooking, you must return the cleaned plate with some cooking of your own. It's simply poor form to return a dish empty!

I first heard about this cozy custom from Aysin, my cooking teacher in Istanbul. Under her tutelage, I learned more about Turkish culture and cuisine than I thought possible - and we did it all as a virtual experience, cooking side by side even though we're half a world away.

An oral history of Irish coffee usually begins in Foynes, a small community in western Ireland. But in actuality, the legend of this popular cocktail wraps around the world, from Dublin to the Marshall Islands. And a travel writer plays a starring role! 

This boozy, creamy drink first gained popularity after it was served by Irish chef Joe Sheridan at Foynes Airbase, likely in 1943. It was offered up as a bracing concoction for passengers whose flight was forced to turn back due to poor winter weather and they promptly fell in love with the combination of coffee, whiskey, sugar, and cream. However, it was travel writer Stanton Delaplane who popularized it in 1952 when he brought the recipe home to San Francisco. 

(Let's all take a moment to appreciate how fitting it is that someone whose last name is "Delaplane" choose a career as a travel writer. Marvelous.)

Stan convinced his friend Jack Koeppler, owner of San Francisco's Buena Vista cafe, that the drink would be a hit. Or, depending on who you believe, Jack approached Stan and tasked him with the job of recreating the Irish drink that was slowly getting a word-of-mouth reputation. According to official lore, since they couldn't figure out how to to properly add the cream, they offered Joe Sheridan a job and the chef immigrated to San Francisco in 1952. Problem solved!

Alas, there may be more to the story. In a Time Magazine interview with Joe in 1955, he stated that he immigrated through Canada and Hawaii before settling in San Francisco by coincidence, where he found work in an all night dinner called Tiny's Waffle Shop (now closed). Like many travel legends, it seems like this story has some tall tales.

There’s nothing like the sound of the waves, the smell of salt spray, and proverbial long walks on the beach to make you realize just how much you love oceanside travel. The tiny town of Ogunquit, home to less than 900 people, stands out as one of my favourite seaside escapes in southern Maine. I promise it will check every box on your cozy wish list, but this is no place to simply be idle. There are plenty of things to do in Ogunquit, Maine to fill a long weekend - or maybe even an entire week.

​These are some of my absolute favourite places to stay, spots to eats, and things to do in the Ogunquit area.

If there's one thing that travel has taught me, it's that every country seems to have their own special chocolate concoction and Brazil is no exception. Brigadeiros are best described as a Brazilian bon-bon. These soft, truffle-like delights are incredibly easy to make (cocoa and sweetened condensed milk are the star ingredients) and you can easily customize them according to your own tastes. This Brazilian chocolate brigadeiro recipe is the perfect way to inject a little travel coziness into your day, even if you can't exactly fly to Rio!

I used to think travel bloggers were really dedicated to their craft... that was, until I stepped into the shoes of food and recipe bloggers for an afternoon.

What I thought would be a simple photography challenge of capturing some pretty cookies ended up as an exhausting, sweaty affair - and that was just the effort it took to scrub my kitchen to get it photo ready! For those of you who do this everyday, I tip my hat to you. It takes extraordinary effort and skill. Meanwhile, I think I'll stick to my day job of chatting about travel but there's no way I'm letting all those photos go to waste so I'm going to borrow one more page from my foodie friends and share the recipe and process here.

These travel-inspired Black Forest cookies have THREE kinds of chocolate in them, are filled with moist cherries, are super easy to make (at least, they are when you don't have to photograph them,) and they're perfect for festive occasions like Valentine's Day or Christmas. 

To be clear, I didn't invent these cookies. All credit goes to Beth at The First Year blog. Please check out her site to see her original notes and the gorgeous photos that originally inspired me.

What’s your lockdown libation of choice?

In my pre-pandemic life, I often kept things simple -- and alcohol free. My tipple of choice was a mix of cranberry juice and ginger ale. A pretty, refreshing blend, it never failed to remind me of travel. After all, ginger ale is this queasy girl’s best friend! But these days, there’s just something about, well, EVERYTHING that has me reaching for a stronger beverage to imbibe. Drowning sorrows and remembering simpler times? I can get behind that.

I’m craving something tangy, herbaceous, and travel-y. The mix of gin, lemon, and elderflower I had at Sydney’s New South Wales Art Gallery the night I heard Rolling Stone writer Toby Creswell speak about the origins of American rock and roll comes to mind.  Or perhaps I’m really hankering after a generic frothy blender concoction like the one I sipped in a Bangkok infinity pool, where the overpriced slush diluted my fears of ice and waterborne diseases. Heck, maybe a classic Sex And The City-style cosmopolitan would do the trick, so long as I call it a quaran-tini. Ginger ale just doesn’t cut it anymore. And I’m not the only one who feels this way!

"Are you open?" It was nearly three in the afternoon, far too late for lunch and way too early for dinner. But I was starving. Starving! And the small, unassuming Italian restaurant which I had passed earlier in the day suddenly felt like just the ticket. 

The older waitress shook her head emphatically from side to side. I pushed aside a micro-flash of confusion then nimbly skipped over the threshold. This was Bulgaria, where shaking your head "no" is actually a gesture for "yes", and catching on was easier said than done. Once inside, I was greeted by the mouthwatering smell of cinnamon, so bright and vibrant that I could only conclude that the restaurant was using its pizza ovens to make baked goods during their downtime. 

The staff of Sofia's Restaurant Balito (ul. "Pozitano" 50, 1303 Pette Kyosheta) laughed when I inquired about what they were baking. I was smelling an air freshener! Perhaps I was more hungry than I realized or Bulgaria must make the best commercial scents in the world. Either way, I couldn't shake my craving, even after several courses of savory Italian delicacies. I knew I had to find the best apple pie in Sofia.