Unlike most state parks with large signs hailing the entrance and easy-to-find landmarks, you’ve got to work to find the ring of sites that make up the Ohio’s Hocking Hills State Park. (Need a place to stay? Click here for best places, rates, and availability.)
Real chocolate, not the overly waxy variety that’s common in grocery store aisles and tends to have a saccharine aftertaste.
I didn’t.
Despite years of thinking of myself as a chocolate connoisseur and doing my best to have a daily serving (or two!) of chocolate, I’d never gone to a chocolate tasting, where the intricacies of the flavor and the importance of the purity of the beans were explained in detail.
Jessica George can’t remember a time when she didn’t know how to sew.
“There are 5 kids in my family and one of the ways my mom kept all of us busy was by doing crafts – so I was always crafting,” recalls George, who grew up near Cleveland.
In college, George studied industrial design with the intent to go on to create toys, perhaps for some big-name company. She took time off before completing her studies to volunteer in underserved communities just outside Buenos Aires in Argentina.
From decor to shows to cuisine, in Las Vegas everything seems to be over the top: Restaurants that offer free food if you’re over 350 pounds – that would be the Heart Attack Grill with fare like the Quadruple Bypass Burger and the Butter Fat Milkshake.
Golden crisp on the outside with a chewy texture inside, just-fried donuts bear little resemblance to the bland varieties you’re likely to find at the grocers: Simply put, the homemade version is better.
Much better.
Donuts seem to have an unwarranted mystique of being difficult to make at home – perhaps because the dough can be a bit finicky. Or it may be because the final step involves a lengthy dip in a vat of bubbling oil.
Blanketed with big-bushy trees that flame red and orange in the fall, then soak up the snowflakes in the winter, and burst with green the rest of the year, Holmes County, Ohio is a world apart.
And along the road, it’s not uncommon to see Amish buggies with horses plodding along the gently, curving roads.
But Bhut Jolokia. That’s where the real heat is. Chile heat!
Also called red naga, naga jolokia, and bih jolokia. But this hybrid chile from India is one of the hottest around. No wonder it’s garnered the name most know it as … Ghost chiles.
My face must have shown my confusion when my new neighbor in suburban Detroit gave me a cooking mitt. I was grateful, of course, but a bit bewildered at what seemed like an unusual housewarming gift.
“It’s Michigan,” she smiled. “We’re the glove state.” Enthusiastically, she held her hand up to show that the state of Michigan has an uncanny resemblance to a gloved hand. Then she put up her other hand. “And this is the UP. You know, the Upper Peninsula. Up north?”
Texas may be known for its barbecue but you’re missing a lot of its others eats if that’s all you have while visiting. On a recent trip to Houston, which skirts the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, I was surprised by the variety of cuisines offered within the city and its surrounding areas.
That’s right, Houston is a foodie town.
Sure, I expected plenty of Tex-Mex joints and barbecue dives, but what I didn’t plan on is a world of flavors tucked around nearly every corner.
