Dear Friends and Followers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from windy Santa Barbara. We trust you are remaining safe and healthy. Boy, what a year 2020 was! And here we are, already six weeks or so into 2021 with a bit of hope on the horizon. Even though the vaccine rollout is slow and spotty […]
Le Chandeleur
Hello Friends, Campers, and Gourmets! Greetings! Gourmet Girl Denise here from Le Petit Saint Barnabé here in the Loire, France. Today is Le Chandeleur or Candlemass here in France, always celebrated on February 2. Originally it was a religious holiday that celebrated the presentation at the temple of Jesus forty days after his birth, or […]
Camping During COVID Part 5 — Harvest Hosts
Dear Friends and Followers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from Santa Barbara. Happy New Year (almost)! And what a year it’s been. Bring on 2021! Even though we’re not out of the woods yet with COVID, I’m seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s just say I’m optimistic, which is pretty […]
Joyeux Noel and Happy Hanukah!
Hello, fellow campers, wanderers, and food lovers! Well, here we are again ready to celebrate Christmas and the year’s end. This year seems to have gone by very quickly, and maybe that’s a blessing after all. What a year it’s been! We have lost so many souls to the dreaded Covid and the resulting lockdowns […]
Camping During COVID — Part 4
Hello Friends, Foodies, and Fellow Campers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from sunny Santa Barbara. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, however you celebrated during this year of COVID. I stayed low key and cooked a small turkey with my neighbor, ordered sides from Lazy Acres (yum!), and three of us dined al […]
Comfort Food
Hello, fellow campers and food aficionados! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire, France. The nip of late fall early winter is upon us here in the Valley of Kings and it’s time to turn on the heat and start eating comfort food. One of the best and most reasonably priced winter delights that I […]
Stormy Skies
Hello, fellow campers and food aficionados, Well, the weather here in the Loire has certainly slipped into late fall/winter. I awoke this morning to the sound of what seemed like a tornado about to rip my roof off, as an extremely strong wind drove the rain against my windows. My Catalpa tree in the center […]
Camping During COVID — Part 3
Dear Friends and Fellow Adventurers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from sunny and now temperate Santa Barbara. We’ve had some oppressive heat waves the past few weeks. Over now, hopefully, and I trust everyone is still doing well considering the challenges we’re facing at the moment. I’ve written about our stays at Hipcamps before. They […]
The Goat Farm
Hello from the Loire Valley, France! Gourmet Girl Denise here. I hope everyone is having a wonderful late summer/early fall. I know not everyone is, especially since it’s been really hot in Southern California and fires are raging seemingly all over the planet earth. Here in the Loire folks have mentioned to me that the […]
Summer’s End
Hello friends, fellow campers, and gourmets! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire Valley, France. The days are getting noticeably shorter as fall sets in and the swallows and swifts have fledged their young and moved away. Evenings are cool and the veggie garden is pumping out the last of the season’s tomatoes and my […]