Frying bannock. (Photo by Susan McKee.)

I’m always on the lookout for indigenous cooking wherever I travel. Last summer, while on a trip to Canada’s Yukon Territory, I was wandering through Dawson City on my way to the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre when the aroma of bannock stopped me. What’s a traditional Scottish treat doing up in the Yukon Territory?

The aroma lured me toward a young woman cooking bannock over an open fire. She explained that it was brought to Canada in the mid-1880s by Scots working for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Because it was so easy to cook and transport, it became popular among the hunters and trappers, who spent months traveling. It was quickly adopted by the First Nations people.

Scottish bannocks are heavy flat cakes of unleavened barley or oatmeal dough formed into a round or oval shape, then cooked on a griddle. “Bannock,” comes from ancient Latin, but is also a Celtic and Old English word, which essentially means “baked goods.” It’s initially recorded at the turn of the first millennium.

Whether the Yukon’s bannock came from Scotland, or was an adaptation of the typical fry bread made by indigenous peoples on both sides of the U.S. and Canadian border, doesn’t really matter to foodies. It’s the eating we love best.

Here’s the recipe:

3 cups flour

2 level teaspoons baking powder

4 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat some cooking oil in a frying pan. Mix together with about 3 cups of water, stirring until the batter is smooth. Scoop a large spoonful of dough into the frying pan and flatten it. Cook, turning once, until both sides are golden brown. Serve with “butter, jam or anything else that might enhance bannock.

For more on Dawson City visit: www.dawsoncity.ca

Susan can be reached at: Susan@SusanMcKee.com.

Cognac has been a tourist town for centuries not for its eponymous distilled spirits, but for its location. It’s on one of the ancient pilgrimage routes to Santiago (St. James) de Compostella in northwest Spain. For centuries, religious travelers have stopped in France to rest or pray at Cognac’s churches on the way to Galicia. The Tours Saint-Jacques (St. James Towers) along France’s Charente River, dates from this time.

Cognac

Lately, though, the town of 20,000 has fallen off the tourism radar. I was there by chance on a weekend getaway, and found this out-of-the-way part of France steeped in history and tradition. For starters, King François was born there two years after Christopher Columbus first set sail in search of a route to Asia.

I was familiar with his name – Anglicized to Francis I, this first Renaissance monarch of France, a man who gave his name to a Reed & Barton sterling silver pattern, one that’s unaccountably popular among my friends. A contemporary of Henry VIII of England, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Suleiman the Magnificent, he was the architect of many cultural advances for his country.

He was born in the Château de Cognac in 1494, and its current owners are delighted to show you the exact room. The château is now the home of Otard, one of the premiere brands of eau de vie (or, brandy) produced in Cognac.

Spirits, however, weren’t the first produit de gastronomie created in the region of Poitou-Charentes. Back in 1215, Jean Sans Terre – better known to the rest of us as John Lackland (who became the English King John of Magna Carta fame) – issued the town a charter for the salt trade. The marshy Atlantic coast of Charente is the perfect place to produce evaporated sea salt, which was a valuable commodity in a time when salt was the only food preservation.

Salt trade was the start of the town’s prosperity. The Old Town, the medieval quarter called Vieux Cognac, still contains many unusual old buildings along its narrow, cobbled streets. The 17^th century’s brandy production began when it was discovered that distilled alcohol survived transit by ship to northern Europe — and so much better than wine.

My tour guide pointed out gargoyles and other figures on the richly decorated wooden façades. There were lots of salamanders. This amphibian, more in its mythic incarnation as a relative of the dragon than its lowly existence as a lizard, was Francis I’s symbol. In an era when towns and castles regularly burned to the ground, the salamander was said to thrive amidst the flames.

Vieux Cognac runs from the river up to the Saint-Léger church, founded in the 11^th century. It’s noted for an unusual 18^th century portal decorated with the signs of the zodiac.

Cognac’s main square is, of course, named for Francis I, and a statue of the king on horseback towering over his enemies is found at the center, right on the spot where a bastion once stood as part of the town’s defenses during the Hundred Years’ War.

According to French law, only brandy made in certain areas around the town of Cognac during particular times of the year can be called “cognac.” (There are some good eaux de vie produced outside this Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée, but they aren’t cognac.) Not surprisingly, the economy revolves around this particular form of brandy.

Almost everyone I spoke to had some connection to the dominant industry – whether it was in the distillation process itself, or producing the aging  barrels, bottles and corks, printing  labels, or distribution and shipping. I was told that 95 percent of the production was exported.

The very air of cognac seemed redolent with eau de vie due to the ubiquitous black mold. If you look around town, you’ll sniff out buildings old and new, all shaded with the distinctive fungus. Called the “angel’s share,” this is the evidence of cognac evaporating from its oak barrels to the sky and the angels.

I took the Otard cognac tour because I wanted to see inside the historic chateau (owned by the Otards since the end of the 18^th century), but there are lots of others. Tours of Hennessy, Camus, Martell also are in Cognac, with Louis Royer and Courvoisier just down the River Charente in Jarnac.

I stayed in the absolutely fabulous Logis du Fresne in the village of Juillac le Coq. Inside, the rustic guestrooms have every luxury, and outside is the restful quiet of the countryside. Great restaurants were everywhere in the region. A few of my favorites are Le Coq d’Or in Cognac (try the Moules marinières au Pineau des Charentes), Château de l’Yeuse in Chateaubernard and La Ribaudière in Bourg-Charente.

I met some friends in Cognac who had a special treat lined up for us: a visit to the Grey Goose factory. Although the complex is not yet open for public tours, it is part of the company’s future plan.

Who knew that this premium vodka was made in Cognac – but, of course, it makes sense. Grey Goose is distilled from French wheat, and Cognac has a long history of making spirits. After a sneak peek of the inner sanctum (where cameras and notebooks were forbidden) we ended up in the elegant tasting room for some sipping and demonstrations.

François Thibaut, the maître de chai for Grey Goose, explained the genesis of the brand. The intention was to produce a premium vodka, so the owners searched for the perfect combination of ingredients and tradition. The answers turned out to be soft wheat grown in the “breadbasket of France,” which is just south of Paris, with natural spring water filtered through limestone as it flows underground from the Massif Central and the tradition of distillation present in Cognac.

Dimitri Cezinska, Grey Goose’s Global Brand Ambassador, showed us how to make the perfect martini – stirred, not shaken, James Bond’s preference not withstanding. “Shaking just adds ice shards that dilute the drink,” he explained. Martinis are, of course, made with unflavored vodka, but flavored varieties are popular in other mixed drinks.

Grey Goose!

Details:

Cognac Otard, Château de Cognac, 127, Boulevard Denfert Rochereau, BP 3
16100 Cognac; +33 (0)5 45 36 88 86; http://www.otard.com.

Official site of the city of Cognac (in English): http://www.ville-cognac.fr/welcome.php3

Logis du Fresne, 16130 Juillac le Coq; + 33 (0) 545 322 874; http://www.logisdufresne.com

Château de l’Yeuse, 65 rue de Bellevue, Chateaubernard; +33 (0)5 45 36 82 60; http://www.yeuse.fr/uk/accueil_uk.html

La Ribaudière, Place du Port, Bourg-Charente; +33 (0)5 45 81 30 54; http://www.laribaudiere.com/

Grey Goose: http://www.greygoosevodka.com/

Susan can be reached at: Susan@SusanMcKee.com.

By Susan McKee

Slurp, slosh, spit, repeat. I watched Abir Goyal sample his way through a hundred different lots of tea in the broker’s office in Guwahati, India. This was his second run through. The first was steeped with boiling water. This go-round added milk to the brewed tea, just as it would be drunk by the majority of tea drinkers in India.

He was tasting “dust” – the lowest quality of broken tea leaves that looks like powder. Goyal said that it’s very popular in the south of India because it brews many more cups per kilo than the pricier leaf tea. He said it’s also used in tea bags.

Just like wine tasters, Goyal doesn’t actually swallow what he’s tasting; he just swirls it in his mouth for a bit. Tasting notes are dictated to the clerk following him down the line of teas identified only by number. “Thin,” he’d say. Or “thick” or “smooth,” or other succinct adjectives.

The vocabulary, too, reminded me of wine tasting. Goyal assessed the weight and quality of the tea on his tongue, just like an experienced sommelier, checking for burnt, harsh or coarse overtones. “Malty” is sought after in Assamese teas, “metallic” is not. “Full-bodied” is the top designation, the target combination of strength and colour.

He also looked at the unbrewed tea next to the prepared cup, checking to see if it was well-picked and clean.

Goyal, who is a senior executive with Carritt Moran & Company, is charged with providing guidance for his company’s purchasing agents. Based on his tasting notes, they head to the tea auction in Guwahati and bid for the lots. Carritt Moran, founded in 1877, is the second-largest tea auctioneer firm in the world, handling about one-fourth of the teas sold through the Indian auction system.
I had spent the morning at the Gauhati Tea Auction Centre, watching both the live and the subsequent electronic auction. Assam – the province of which Guwahati (also called Gauhati) is the capital – grows most of the tea exported by India. Some 20 percent of Indian tea passes through this auction house. Watching the auction itself was mesmerising. I had no idea what made one lot of tea worth more than another, but men such as Goyal certainly did.

I was staying with friends, originally from Darjeeling, who’d moved to Assam several years ago. Like many in Guwahati, they invested in a tea plantation, which is called a tea garden here. But they hadn’t visited their property in months; the region had become too dangerous. The entire north-east section of India had been off-limits to foreigners for decades because of an ongoing guerrilla uprising against the central government. Although things had quieted down enough to lift the tourism prohibition, out in the distant reaches of the province things were still a little bit dicey.

My friends said they’d ransomed their manager twice now, that keeping good staff was a problem when kidnapping was a routine occurrence.

I didn’t see any trouble in the tea plantation I visited, however. The Brahmaputra River is bordered by more than a half a million acres of lush green tea gardens growing in the rich alluvial soil. The total production of tea in Assam approaches one million pounds per year.

The tea gardens themselves are beautiful. The emerald green of the waist-high camellia sinensis bushes seems to glow from within. The best tea is picked by hand, and whole villages of migrant workers are imported to do the specialised work. First comes withering, when the freshly picked green leaves are spread out to dry on enormous ventilated trays. The leaves are then processed and graded, with whole leaves at the top of the scale, and the powdery dust at the bottom.

Tea, while a darn good excuse, isn’t the only reason to journey to Assam. There are a couple of significant Hindu pilgrimage sites here and one of the top game preserves in the world.

The Kamakhya Devi temple, known for its animal sacrifices, occupies a prominent hilltop in the middle of town. The Umananda Temple, dedicated to Shiva, is the centrepiece of Peacock Island. Hindu priests and golden langur long-tailed monkeys are the only permanent residents of this small bluff in the Brahmaputra River. Ten rupees (US$.25) buys you a round-trip ferry ride from Kachari Ghat, about 20 minutes each way.

The Assam State Museum, located near the Standard Chartered Bank on the GNB Road, provides a good introduction to the history, culture and art of the region. Just looking around, one can see Burmese, Chinese and Indian influences on the people and the culture.

Although there are many stores selling the distinctive champagne-coloured Assamese silk, if you travel to Sualkuchi (about 32km from Guwahati on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River) you can see the weavers in action. Don’t miss a trip to Kaziranga National Park (www.kaziranganationalpark.com). India’s first wildlife sanctuary, it was established a century ago by the British viceroy to preserve the then-dwindling population of the one-horned Indian rhinoceros. There are now some 1,500 of the majestic beasts roaming free in the park, protected by 400 staff members and 120 anti-poaching camps.

Tigers, sometimes seen on excursions into the park, are considered an especially auspicious omen on one’s visit. It’s an astonishing experience for visitors who can climb aboard elephants for an early morning ride out into the bush in search of wildlife. That’s when I saw my “lucky tigers,” but also lots of swamp deer, hog deer, storks, herons, a group of wild buffalo and, of course, rhinos.

Kaziranga is about 217 dusty, bumpy kilometres by road from Guwahati, so arranging a package tour is the best way to get there.

There are no name-brand hotels in Assam, even in the capital, so don’t expect Western hotel standards. The rooms will be clean, if a bit threadbare, and the occasional insect should not be cause for alarm. There will be two sets of prices – one in rupees for Indian nationals and another in US dollars for foreign nationals.

The best hotel in the Assamese capital is the Dynasty (SS Road, Lakhtokia, Guwahati, tel 91 3612 5104 9699, www.hoteldynastyindia.com). In the heart of the Fancy Bazaar shopping district, it’s close to restaurants and many businesses. The doorman wears an impressive uniform, the lobby floors are marble and the atmosphere is definitely Indian. To get an actual bathtub in your bathroom, you need to request a junior suite. The 76 rooms have minibars, and there’s a fitness centre.

For a spectacular view, ask for a room overlooking the river at the 49-room Brahmaputra Ashok Hotel (tel 91 361 602 281, (www.theashokgroup.com/brahmaputra_hotels.htm) – as long as there’s no noisy party scheduled on the ground-floor patio. It’s on Mahatma Gandhi (“MG”) Road, opposite the High Court in Guwahati.

Contact Susan at Susan@globalfoodie.com. This prolific writer can also be found at:

Roadtrips.Foodie@gmail.com
http://Twitter.com/RoadtripsFoodie
http://RoadTripsforFoodies.com

By Susan McKee

In one day, you can sample top vintages from award-winning wineries and contemplate museum exhibits chronically the development of the atomic bomb. No doubt about it: there’s something for everyone in the southeastern corner of Washington State.

Washington State is more than its Pacific Coast with Seattle and Puget Sound. In its eastern half, you’ve entered another realm. Instead of the lush, green rainforest of the Pacific region, you’ll find the dry brown open spaces of the high desert.

Yet, this region is a viticultural paradise, one of the best areas in the country for growing grapes. Why? The latitude is the same as the great wine-growing regions of Burgundy and Bordeaux in France. The rich volcanic soil combines with long sunny days and cool nights and produces an environment great for grapes. And, perhaps most important, vineyards require less of that most precious of all desert commodities, water. (Although, apple trees and wheat fields are disappearing fast.)

The wineries in the area stretching from Yakima to Walla Walla rival the more established estates in adjacent Oregon. If you lunch at the Barrel House Wine Bar in Yakima, as I did, you can preview many of the labels glass by glass.

When I was in Washington, I tasted my way through quite a few wineries, although not all in one day! My favorites were: Claar Cellars, in Zillah; Washington Hills Winery in Sunnyside, located in a former creamery; Three Rivers Winery in Walla Walla; Hinzerling Winery, in Prosser (try the Lemberger); and the stunning chateau-style Hedges Cellars at Red Mountain in Benton City.

When you’re done sampling wines and ready for dinner, consider the Whitehouse-Crawford Restaurant in Walla Walla. In a renovated 1905 woodworking mill, it boasts an enormous wall of glass providing a clear view of the inner workings of the Seven Hills Winery, which occupies the remainder of the building.

Grapes aren’t the only tasty crop in eastern Washington — yet. They still grow some great fruit. I was there during cherry season, and eating ‘em the same day they’re picked can’t be beat. If you have a chance, stop at Chukar Cherry Company in Prosser and see what I mean.

TriCity History, Lore and More …

Hanford is known these days for two major sites: Hanford Engineer Works and Hanford Reach National Monument. The latter encompasses a 51-mile stretch of the Columbia River with its adjoining landscape of white bluffs, dunes and desert plateaus. Bird watchers and geologists alike are drawn to its pristine beauty, preserved because it served as a security buffer for what’s now called the Hanford Site of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Remember the bombs the United States dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki? The Manhattan Project was started in New York, tested at the University of Chicago and developed at Hanford Engineer Works, which resulted in a spectacular and deadly climax to the conflict in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Wandering through the Columbia River Exhibition History, Science & Technology Museum in Richland I was astonished to learn about the top secret work that was completed nearby, in what certainly back then was “the middle of nowhere,” by people who couldn’t even discuss what they were doing with their families. In fact, the TriCities area has much hidden history.

If Kennewick causes dormant synapses to fire in your brain, you’re probably remembering Kennewick Man, a 9,200-year-old skeleton. It surfaced there in 1996, setting off a battle over ownership that wasn’t resolved until 2004, when the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a cultural link between local Native American tribes and the skeleton was not met, allowing scientific study of the remains to continue. Kennewick began centuries ago as a Native American settlement (its name means “Winter Paradise”) and now serves as a retail center for the region.

Across the river, Pasco just finished its 15 minutes of 21st Century fame as a stop on the Lewis and Clark expedition, which camped here in October 1805. The modern settlement started in the 1880s as a railroad town – it was a division point on the Northern Pacific Railway on its transcontinental journey. Now it’s the largest city in the million-acre Columbia Basin Irrigation Project.

The third of the tri cities is Richland, where many of the employees at the Hanford Engineer Works and their families lived in what became known as the Alphabet Houses. This was a company town that had ballooned rapidly as the Manhattan Project grew during World War II and continued to flourish in the Cold War Era. Spokane architect G. A. Pehrson designed “cookie cutter” houses that could be erected rapidly, with the uniform floor plans separated into A, B, and C categories according to one’s rank within the company.

Not far away is Walla Walla, with two unique attractions: Mark A. Anderson’s Foundry and the Whitman Mission. The Foundry handles the technical stuff of sculpture. It takes the artist’s ephemeral creation and turns it into permanent form using an alchemy that’s fascinating to the observer. This unique workshop can produce bronze, of course, but also stainless steel, copper, fused glass, silver and more.

Watching skilled workmen translate Deborah Butterfield’s ethereal horses from the original open lattice of driftwood into bronze, for example, made me realize that expert casting and assembly was as crucial to the creative process as the original design.

Whitman Mission is right on the Oregon Trail. The National Park Service staff demonstrates frontier skills every weekend in the summer, including flint knapping, adobe brick making and writing with a quill pen. The mission takes its name from its 1830s founder, Dr. Marcus Whitman, who’s also the namesake for Whitman College, located in Walla Walla, which means the place of many waters.

When I returned to Seattle, wine remained on my mind. Driving a bit north of the city, I stayed in Woodinville at the Willows Lodge. There are tasting rooms for two wineries literally within walking distance – Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia. But, by then, I was all tasted out.

The hotel? Well, it was divine. But frustrating – because it turned out to be (literally) next door to the Herbfarm Restaurant, the only AAA five-diamond restaurant north of San Francisco – and, I couldn’t get in. They’re routinely booked up months in advance, and I was there on a weekend. Maybe next trip!

For more information on Washington State wineries visit:

www.washingtonwine.org
Telephone: 1-206-667-9463

The Barrel House
www.thebarrelhouse.net

Claar Cellars
www.claarcellars.com

Washington Hills Winery
www.washingtonhills.com

Three Rivers Winery
www.threeriverswinery.com

Hinzerling
www.hinzerling.com

Hedge Cellars
www.hedgescellars.com

White House Crawford Restaurant
www.whitehousecrawfordrestaurant.com

Chukar Cherries
www.chukar.com

Hanford Engineer Works
www.fws.gov/hanfordreach.com

Columbia River Exhibition Science and Technology
www.crest.org

TriCities
www.visittricities.com

Walla Walla
www.wallawalla.org

Mark A. Anderson Foundry
www.wallawallafoundry.com/fallery/WWFBrochure.pdf

Whitman House
www.nps.govwhmi

Dr. Marcus Whitman
www.whitman.edu/content

Willows Lodge
www.willowslodge.com

The Herb Farm Restaurant
www.theherbfarm.com

You may reach Susan McKee at Susan@globalfoodie.com.

A few years ago, an idea popped into my mind: Methinks I will not die quite happy without having seen something of that Rome of which I have read so much. Of course, that’s not an original thought. In fact, I stole it from the Scottish novelist and poet, Sir Walter Scott.

Roman roads, by Moonjazz (Flickr)

Making a trip to Italy to see Rome is a journey that people who consider themselves educated must do. The art and sculpture, the architectural styles, the dominant religious tradition, the very history of Western Civilization can be traced back to that site as though it were the navel of the universe. Every one soon or late comes round to Rome (Robert Browning, the English poet, said that).  Not that I hadn’t already traveled to Rome – in my mind. All through my decades in school, I’d read about it, saw photographs of it, watched movies about it.

Countless travelers, more literary than I, had been there before to record their experiences. What is there in Rome for me to see that others have not seen before me? What is there for me to touch that others have not touched? What is there for me to feel, to learn, to hear, to know, that shall thrill me before it pass to others? (Mark Twain this time).

Still, as a travel writer, I realized there’s nothing like being there. Knowledge of Rome must be physical, sweated into the system, worked into the brain through the thinning shoe-leather. When it comes to knowing, the senses are more honest than the intelligence. Nothing is more real than the first wall you lean up against sobbing with exhaustion. (so said British author Elizabeth Bowen).

I was ready to do my own sobbing. I had to see Rome for myself.

Even from America, all roads lead to Rome, even when there’s an ocean to traverse.

A nonstop flight … and, there I am in Rome! Whence this excess of joy? What has befallen me? A thousand busy thoughts rush on my mind, a thousand images; and I spring up as girt to run a race! (Samuel Rogers). So much to see and so little time!

I grabbed a couple of guidebooks and threw myself into sightseeing in this eternal city, bound and determined to savor it all.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do – that’s the advice that St. Ambrose gave to St. Augustine back in the 4th century. Who was I to do any differently? I stayed in a hotel owned by Italians, and never, ever ate in a restaurant that welcomed bus tours or posted a big sign that offered an English-language menu.

I threw three coins in the Trevi Fountain and had my picture taken with a “gladiator” outside the Coliseum. I marveled at the Pantheon’s oculus and contemplated the view from the Capitoline Hill. The city was resplendent. Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city (Anatole Broyard).

From the Etruscans to the Black Shirts, from the dank Christian catacombs to the vaulted dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, I raced to see Rome, the city of visible history, where the past of a whole hemisphere seems moving in funeral procession with strange ancestral images and trophies gathered from afar (George Eliot).

Alas! Rome wasn’t built in a day (Jean de la Fontaine), and there was far too much to see and do to pack it into one visit. I’ll have to go back and do more exploring.

The old world stands serenely behind the new, as one mountain yonder towers behind another, more dim and distant. Rome imposes her story still upon this late generation (Henry David Thoreau).

ESSENTIALS:

Rome Tourism (www.romaturismo.it/v2/en/main.asp) gives links to everything you need to know, from accommodations to tours, including some very useful itineraries for either 48 or 96-hour stops, great for a quick visit to the Eternal City. (www.romaturismo.it/v2/romain48ore/en/romain4896ore.html)

Context Rome (www.contextrome.com) arranges tours (and more) in Rome for those who wish more than a superficial look. I took their Vatican tour — and spent almost five hours roaming the museum galleries and then St. Peter’s with a philosophy graduate student from Duke University who was studying Latin in Rome.

Susan McKee can be reached at Susan@globalfoodie.com.

]]> http://globalfoodie.com/2009/07/all-roads-lead-to-rome/feed/ 0 http://globalfoodie.com/2009/05/the-unbearable-and-lengthy-lightness-of-being/ http://globalfoodie.com/2009/05/the-unbearable-and-lengthy-lightness-of-being/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 16:43:02 +0000 globalfoodie http://globalfoodie.com/?p=446

By Susan McKee

Long distance travel requires steel wings and an engine; throw in a few boats and you’ve pretty much exhausted the transportation options. For trips involving distance, taking to the air is a necessity.

One advantage to travel writing is obvious –traveling. Of course, that’s one of the disadvantages as well. When
you’re traveling, you’re not where you’re going, and you’ve left where you’ve been. Transit time is a state of suspended animation.

Take getting to Malaysia; it’s on
the other side of the earth from where I live. East or west it’s still 23 hours
in the air. I flew from Newark to Kuala Lumpur, so the plane stopped in “Dubai to
refuel.

An hour or so in that international airport terminal is just enough time to ogle the jewelry and designer shops and send a postcard. Then it’s back on board to endure the tedium – dropping off to sleep, waking and reading for a bit, then dozing off again.

There’s not much to do other than watch videos when you’re stuck in steerage. Most overseas flights these days have individual television screens, even in coach. But, the choices are often inane, and how many times can you watch the same episodes of popular television sitcoms? I find myself tuning into the map charting the plane’s progress.

Sometimes that’s a mistake.

A recent flight home from Paris to Chicago required a
stopover in Cincinnati. I watched the plane make a 180° turn as it traversed Ohio. We’d been sent away from the airport and were in a holding pattern because earlier airplanes were stacked ahead trying to land in rainy weather (FYI: that’s really bad news when you’re already behind schedule).

Suddenly, there was a sharp, swift sound between a pop and a bang. It was accompanied by a blinding white light. We’d been hit by lightening! The pilot came on the public announcement system to explain, “everything was OK.” I watched the map as we did another about face. Finally we were in the front of the line to land. (Oh, and by the way, I still missed my connecting flight.)

Giant airplanes with hundreds of passengers aren’t the only method of getting around in the air. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, I took a pontoon plane to get from St. Thomas to St. Croix. In Britain, I boarded a 25-seater Sikorski helicopter to get from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly. Outside Melbourne, Australia, I went up in a hot air balloon.

Pontoon planes are hybrids; they land and take off from water. Usually the cockpit is tiny – four cramped seats, and when the engine’s going, it’s very noisy. Both passengers and pilot wear headsets to communicate aloft.

Sightseeing is especially good from pontoon planes, though, because they fly so slowly at such low altitudes. I had a glimpse of the disappearing wetlands along the Gulf Shore of Louisiana. I net a bird’s eye view of the brilliant fall foliage around Maine’s Moosehead Lake in a similar aircraft.

Helicopters come in all sorts and sizes. The Sikorski in England was huge, built originally for military use and reconditioned to fly regularly scheduled service to the islands off Land’s End. The sightseeing helicopter I boarded in Daytona Beach, Fla., seated
just four; but the views of the Atlantic coast and the Daytona Motor Speedway
were terrific.

Hot air balloons are another kind of flight altogether. It’s hard to imagine how they were ever considered as an efficient means of transportation, but they’re great for a morning or evening excursion. Up in the heavens it’s very quiet – except for the occasional roar of the flames let loose to heat the air to keep everything aloft. Of course,
direction is somewhat dependent on the wind, but with a good chase crew on the
ground, all turns out well.

Over the years, I have learned some coping strategies for long airplane flights. I never carry on board more than a backpack that stuffs under the seat in front of me (I don’t want to wrestle with stowing a heavy wheeled case in an overhead bin).

In that backpack, I carry my essentials – the things I positively cannot do without when I land, including an extra pair of contact lenses, my laptop, a paperback book and my notebook, my itinerary, medicine, camera and batteries.

Because I try to sleep as much as I can on the plane, I don’t need many toys in my bag. A bottle of water is essential even though I now have to buy it past security (unless the kindly TSAagent lets me take an empty bottle through security. Snacks are essential and trail mix works best for me. And I don’t forget to walk around occasionally and do
leg exercises to minimize the chances of circulation problems while aloft.

Fortunately, I forget the agonies of travel once I get off the plane. No matter how tedious the flight, how annoying my seatmates, how unappetizing (or expensive) the food or how dehydrating the cabin, I still look forward to my next trip.

After all, it’s only been a century since humans took wing.

Susan McKee can be reached at: Susan@globalfoodie.com

You can’t always get what you want – even in paradise. There I was, sitting on Scilly Cay, anticipating my barbecue-grilled lobster, when bad news arrived. Four patrons had ordered Caribbean Spiny Lobster for lunch. Four critters had been captured – but two had to be released because they were loaded with eggs. On Anguilla, crustaceans with child are spared.
The solution? Each of us would get one-half a lobster and a grilled crayfish.

Of course, I was thinking I’d end up with a mini Missouri crawdad or a slightly heftier Louisiana crawfish, the wimpy freshwater cousins of lobsters. I was surprised to learn that Caribbean crayfish are as large as — lobsters.

It seems there are more than 500 species of crayfish found worldwide. The ones I know best, the American dwarf crayfish, are only about 1-1/3 inches long. The largest, the Tasmanian, weighs up to eight pounds. On Anguilla, the crayfish are somewhere in between.

Eudoxie Wallace, Scilly Cay’s owner, better known simply as “Gorgeous,” confided in us. The secret to the savory shellfish was his proprietary barbecue sauce, of course, it’s the charcoal too. It’s locally made from sea grape, cedar, tamarind and wild mango – all indigenous hardwoods.

When my plate arrived with crustaceans, hot from the oil-drum grill on the beach, I knew I had a feast at hand. Plunging in, I managed to demolish everything, including the pasta salad, fresh fruit and grilled bread, washing it all down with a rum punch that deserves its name and an ice water chaser. I’d been warned about the potency of the punch, especially on a hot summer’s afternoon, so I stuck to one serving.

As I ate, I tried to puzzle out the barbecue sauce – I think I detected hot peppers, a trace of mustard, some peanuts perhaps and a touch of sugar from an orange marmalade. Gorgeous wasn’t talking.

Outlanders often come to Anguilla looking for lobster. A recent poll on an island discussion forum frequented by locals and visitors concluded that the favorite dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner was lobster, with crayfish coming in second.

It doesn’t seem to matter how the crustaceans are prepared. A posting on another Anguillan on-line forum asking for the “best lobster dish” brought more than two dozen suggestions, ranging from Caribbean-grilled with a honey-lemon-rum glaze to the continental combination of lobster ravioli served with melted butter sauce and chunks of lobster.

As a Midwesterner, I must confess my initial ignorance. I thought all crayfish were the same, and that the Anguilla lobster would be just like the crustacean I cracked in Maine. Silly me!

North American fishermen haul in lobsters with big claws from the briny deep. In the Caribbean, they catch the spiny lobster. Both are crawling crustaceans. They are cold-blooded with hard exoskeletons, five pairs of jointed walking legs, segmented bodies, sensory antennae, tail fans and compound eyes on stalks. They can walk forwards, but if they want to move fast, they curl their segmented tails under their bodies to swim backward.

I’d been eating the American lobster – Homarus americanu – with its enlarged claws or pincers. On Anguilla, I came face to face with something new – Panulirus argus. This species, the spiny lobster (also known as the Caribbean or rock lobster) has two ordinary front legs where the claws would be. Its carapace is marked with bright green, blue and yellow spots on an orange or brown shell.

The spiny Lobster defends itself by using its two long, thorny antennae as whips, and adds to its menacing appearance, with rows of short, sharp spines along the length of its tail and body. These crustaceans also have a unique ability to make scary noises by drawing their leathery plectra (protrusions at the base of each antenna) across scaly ridges below their eyes. Anguillans told me it sounds like the screech of a violin bow pulling across a badly tuned string.

Spiny lobsters are found in relatively shallow water in the rocks and coral reefs. They start life in a cluster of 10-20,000 eggs beneath the tail of one female – as was the case in the two who escaped the fire on Scilly Cay that day. When the eggs are ready to hatch, mom releases them in the open sea. Only a handful make it through the perilous journey to maturity. The lucky ones who escape predators and fishermen grow to about 20 inches and weigh about 10 pounds.

I only  had a few days on Anguilla, and wanted to sample as many of these sea creatures as possible.

This is a small island – about sixteen miles long and three miles across – with a year-round population of about 12,000. Development is tightly controlled on this tiny outpost of the British Empire. The Department of Physical Planning is determined to have orderly and sustainable development of Anguilla’s natural resources and infrastructure.

One of the results is Anguilla’s unhurried pace. There’s no rush to do anything here on what’s probably the last unspoiled island in the Caribbean. The airport can handle only small airplanes, so there aren’t any big tour groups. There’s no seaport capable of handling a cruise ship. There are no shopping malls, no thousand-room hotels, no casinos and no fast food restaurants.

With more than 70 dining options, it’s said there are more gourmet restaurants per acre on the island of Anguilla than on the island of Manhattan. In any case, slow food –and slowly eating food – is nothing new here. Expect to linger over your meal, enjoying every bite. I wanted most of my leisurely bites to be shellfish.

When I got to the Altamer Restaurant I was in the mood for something cold. The tropical lobster salad, tossed with fresh papaya, mango, pineapple and kiwi, was just perfect for a sultry noon meal. I especially savored the hand-made mango sorbet for dessert.

At Pimm’s, one of the restaurants at Cap Juluca, I started with an Anguilla Crayfish Dumpling, nestled against carrots, and enoki mushrooms in hon dashi broth before plunging into my main course. I selected the island’s other signature seafood, red snapper, this time steamed and served on a bed of curried cabbage and jasmine-scented rice with a sizzling oriental sauce flavored with teriyaki and soy. The setting was perfect for fish – if my table had been any closer to the edge of the porch, I would have been in the Caribbean myself.

Dinner took almost three hours, but – what the heck! The golden full moon reflected in the water, and the canvas-draped ceilings rippled in the sea breeze. Fans whirled noiselessly overhead.

My last dinner on the island was at Cedar Grove Restaurant in the Rendezvous Bay Hotel. The Anguilla Lobster Cakes were a delectable finale to my seafood feeding frenzy.

GlobalFoodie Details:

Scilly Cay, Island Harbor; (264) 497-5123 or www.anguillaguide.com/scilly

Altamer, Shoal Bay West; (264) 498 4000 or www.altamer.com

Pimm’s, Cap Juluca, Maundays Bay; (264) 497-6666 or www.capjuluca.com/

Cedar Grove Café, Rendezvous Bay, (264) 497-6549 or www.rendezvousbay.com/

The Anguilla Tourist Board, Coronation Avenue, The Valley; (800) 553-4939 or (264) 497-2759

Susan can be reached at: Susan@globalfoodie.com.

Denise Dubé, globalfoodie’s creator and editor, is a food writer who travels – or a traveling foodie who writes. Foods preparation, its origin, smell and presentation are a passion (and obsession) and she enjoys tasting and writing about its cultural nuances. globalfoodie is her baby and food is her muse. It’s also the main reason she needs to lose a few extra pounds. Her work has appeared in Intermezzo, travelgirl, MSNBC.com, National Geographic Traveler and the Boston Globe.  Reach Denise at: Denise@globalfoodie.com.

Ami Hooper is globalfoodie’s creative designer and the cyber brains behind the site. She can be reached at: Ami@globalfoodie.com.

Maureen Costello is a Boston-based freelance journalist who loves writing about food and has  sampled appetizers, main courses, beverages and desserts from almost every ethnic group.  Maureen is passionate about food various flavors and forms,  its cultural meaning, tradition and preparation and is thrilled to share her finds with globalfoodie readers.  She can be reached at: Maureen@globalfoodie.com.

Sue Frause is an award winning freelance journalist and photographer. Her words are on images in print and online and include: the Examiner, True/Slant and she is also a About.com spa website contributor. She’s an avid fan of social networking and writes a blog about all things Canadian called,  Closet Canuck. She’s also an on-air contributor to Around the World Travel Radio. Sue and her husband live on an island in Puget Sound where they tend to their chickens, turkeys, garden and their very own field of dreams. She is a popular guest speaker on travel and other earthly delights and frequently appears as an emcee at community charity events. In addition to her frequent travels, Sue enjoys theater, movies, jazz, fine food, heavenly spas and tiptoeing through the tulips … when they are in bloom.  Sue’s website is www.suefrause.com and she is reachable at: sue@suefrause.com.

Richard Frisbie is a food, wine, and travel writer; a bookseller and publisher of New York centric books; and a professional baker who resides in New York’s Hudson Valley. Online, his articles appear here, on Gather.com, GoNomad.com, travellady.com and the many websites of EDGE Publications. He also writes for regional New York magazines such as Life in the Finger Lakes, and Kaatskill Life.  Richard can be reached at Richard@globalfoodie.com

“Have spoon will travel,” is Kori A. Gaff ’s motto. This 31-year-old Maine native is married to a Marine, and has two small children. She manages to make meals everyone will enjoy by using innovation and simplicity. It’s a gift we all need once in a while. Kori also enjoys cooking for the neighborhood, no matter where she’s stationed. Kori can be reached at: Kori@globalfoodie.com.

Emilie  C. Harting’s articles on culture and ecotourism have appeared in a number of major magazines and newspapers, most recently www.forbestraveler.com,  The Philadelphia Inquirer, and MSNBC. When she’s not walking around the streets of various cities or hiking in the countryside, she can often be found in her kitchen.

Kaye Hurst is a Louisiana southern woman who loves all things food-related — it nourishes her soul and her tastebuds. Cooking is her favorite part of life and she is compelled to share her passion for all things sauteed, braised, boiled or basted. In fact Kaye has more palpations over a recipe-laden cookbook than a steamy romance novel. Celebrations at home always involve good food marinated in comfort and seasoned with love. Kaye can be reached at: Kaye@globalfoodie.com.

Shannon Hurst Lane travels the world in search of inspiring destinations and adventurous moments. She enjoys family travel, romantic escapes, girlfriend getaways, and those all important soul-oh trips. She’s an unofficial ambassador for her home state, Louisiana, where the people don’t eat to live, they live to eat. Contact her at: Shannon@globalfoodie.com.

Keith Kellett, our UK correspondent, is an expert on England’s food history and origin. He can be reached at: Keith@globalfoodie.com.

Vivienne Mackie was born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and later became a clinical psychologist. She switched to counseling foreign students and their families and teaching ESL after moving to the United States. Toting a journal and a Brownie camera, her travels began at 8 when she and her grandmother boarded a ship and journed from Rhodesia to England.  Mackie still travels as often as possible — with a modern camera and better journals. Vivienne, fascinated by different languages and cultures, realized that music and food are a big part of any culture.  Tasting food from different countries, taking pictures of the dishes, and collecting recipes, have become an integral part of any trip. She’ll try (almost) anything at least once but found that willingness put severely to the test in China—-where she did draw the line at cat, dog and snake. Vivienne may be reached at:

Susan McKee is an independent scholar and freelance journalist specializing in history, culture and travel. She can be reached at: Susan@globalfoodie.com.

Rosemary Minati spent her early years working as a pre-school teacher in the New York suburbs. Her tools included a handful of plastic scissors, hundreds of kid-proof glue containers and dollops of creativity. After spending her days feeding her students minds she raced home to feed the family. This should-have-been-a-chef foodie can make a delicious and unforgettable meal-at a moment’s notice and knows no cultural bounds when creating a meal. Rosemary will find New York’s best restaurants, whether in the city or hidden in Westchester County. She’ll also be giving us a heads-up on some of the best cookbooks written. She can be reached at: Rosemary@globalfoodie.com.

Deston Nokes is our western correspondent, this Oregon native knows adventure and food. He can be reached at Deston@globalfoodie.com

Stephanie Oswald:

Wine and the good life are the focus of the Sip & Savor column by Denise Reynolds.  Awarded the grand prize by Wines of France for her writing on French wines, Denise holds an Advanced Sommelier certification. Recently, she garnered another award when she was recognized for her unsurpassed knowledge and contribution on food and wine by Indagare, the premier resource for the world’s most discerning travelers.  “Denise” means Goddess of Wine and so it’s fitting that she can be reached at: Goddessofwine@globalfoodie.com.

Ron Stern, the editor-in-chief of JustSayGo.com, an on-line travel-oriented e-zine, is also the travel columnis for the San Diego Community Newspaper Group, Fifty Plus Marketplace News and The Womens’ Newspaper Group. His articles have appeared in national and regional newspapers and magazines including Shape, Cruise, Frequent Flyer, AAA Motorist, Visit Los Cabos Guide, Destinations West, Key Biscayne and La Jolla Today. Gannett, The Bismarck Tribune, The Jamaican Observer and travel trade magazines have also published his work.  Ron’s other contributions have been noted by PBS, Mobil Travel Guides and his  photography has been used extensively by Jordan Tourism Board. He has traveled extensively and is the author of five books. Ron lives with his wife, Nancy in Fort Collins, Colorado. Email him at Ron@globalfoodie.com.

Peter Francis Battaglia: