Fashion and Style

At the Dar es Salaam Serena Hotel  is a gorgeous little seafood place called Jahazi. I loved it so much that I ended up going twice within a span of a few weeks. This review mainly covers the first visit, but I will touch on the second one a little bit. First of all, the ambience was absolutely GORGEOUS! Very deliberately designed, and there's no mistaking that you're in a seafood place while you're there. They had beautiful pictures up on the wall - I fell in love with one, and was quite sad that it wasn't for sale! The picture I fell in love with is the one on the left Jahazi is the kind of place where you're brought complimentary appetisers, sorbets and bread baskets, so that's already a plus! Their bread basket was great! First of all - who doesn't love bread? Secondly, they brought a variety of butters, including garlic butter and seafood butter. I'm incredibly impressed by the self-control I displayed in NOT polishing off the whole thing and then b...

Haven't checked out part 1 and part 2 yet? Make sure you do! April 27, 2016 Happy Anniversary!! We went to town to look for an olive oil tasting, but absolutely nothing opened up till 10. We did go see the amazing Castlello di Amorosa and take pictures. We drove around and ended being the first group at Sterling . What a place! It is more of an experience than a tasting, and what a production. The tour starts with a Gondola ride up to the building on top overlooking all of the vineyards. It�s sort of a Disney effect. We got the extra tastings free with our hotel card and visited the art gallery with my favorite Chagall �Fox with Grapes�. It also included several original Ansell Adams, a Picasso and a Renoir among others. I can�t find our tasting list � but won�t give up! After Sterling, we went to Tra Vigne for a pizza lunch. Our next stop was Rombauer - not really what we expected. The grounds were pretty, but unlike all of our other experiences, the employees weren�t very ...

Sallie Swor is a 9th generation Nashvillian and a dear friend who shares my passion for great food and great wine. When she sent me her travel journal from her recent visit to wine country, I absolutely could NOT resist asking her if I could publish it on my blog- and she said yes! So this post and the next two will feature snippets from her travel journal- I'd love to hear what you think! Sallie Stamps Swor Cooking has not only been my obsession and creative outlet, but also my greatest pleasure for as long as I can remember. Way before the food craze, when most of my friends were poring over Cosmopolitan Magazine, I spent my time engrossed in the latest issue of Gourmet. In my first college apartment, I discovered the thrill of entertaining friends with dinner parties, brunches, picnics � well, just any excuse to cook. I also discovered that no one minded! I have been fortunate to have a career working with students and young adults as a high school counselor and college consulta...

It's been a while since I've had South Indian (yes, that is a bit of a broad generalisation) food and I'm not very familiar with it either, so I decided to try Munch N' Madurai out last week. Located in Ngara, at Mellow Heights, I first came across it when I signed on a new client in the same building. I passed by to pick up a menu, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that Munch N' Madurai served non-vegetarian food (and Punjabi food too). I know it sounds weird, but I've never been to a South Indian restaurant that serves non-veg before. Since I knew I'd be frequenting the building two to three times a week, I planned to go on a specific day last week, and my cousin (of News Cafe review fame) came with me. We went to the restaurant at 2:30, and being a weekday, it was relatively empty. The ambiance of Munch N' Madurai is very low key- think booths and a cafeish vibe. Now, I'm really not a lassi person (which is weird, I know, being Punjabi an...

I'd been to the River Cafe at Karura before with friends, but in my excitement at all the food (no surprises here), absolutely forgot to take usable pictures or make any notes. Fortunately, we decided to have our April YWSE board meeting there, and so I warned all my fellow women in advance- be prepared to eat, so that I can do a review (and boy, did we eat)! You'll also be pleased to know that this time, I remembered to take Bob along (my DSLR who's been in the closet far too long- literally). First of all, for those of you who're not in Nairobi, Karura Forest is an absolutely beautiful location, and is very popular for hiking and events. The River Cafe is a recent addition, and the forest lends to the enchanting ambiance in a way that words can't really fully do justice to. The day we were there for lunch, it started off as being really sunny, but toward the end it became cloudy and rainy- and I LOVED it. The River Cafe is usually pretty busy- reservations need t...