France and Paris are practically synonymous with each other. Tell people you're going to France and the first thing they think of is Paris, "The city of Lights". This is where, in remembrance of Anthony Bourdain, it jumps to a clip of traffic, overweight sweaty businessmen, construction, dog poop on the sidewalk, honking horns, people begging in the streets, the random Parisian smoking a cigarette on the corner, then back to the monologue. Paris is the capital and just like any other major city. Sure, there are the museums and architecture, but this only represents a small portion of France. So when we booked the trip we only planned one night in Paris due its proximity to the airpot. For us, like all of our trips we want to see the real part, in this case the real France.

​All of the rain lately has us feeling lazy, so this week we were looking for an easy and nutritious recipe to make for dinner.  We checked the pantry and realized we had all the ingredients needed to make salmon cakes. One of our favorites, this quick and easy recipe is simple to make and requires only 9 basic ingredients! It’s one of our go-to meals because it’s inexpensive and provides a nutritional punch with omega 3s in the salmon and iodine in the seaweed. 

I want to start this segment out by saying we are not experts. To be honest, we don't know about beer any more than you do. We like to wrap up our meetings with a few beers which led to us talking about them,  so it only made sense for our group of un-beer educated people to give you beer reviews. Making beer is a skilled craft, drinking beer and talking about it is not, so if you are a beer aficionado I suggest stopping here and checking out our travel blogs. None of the beers we talk about are sponsors (but if they want to be we can lie about how great it is, I'm fine with that too) and this is eight people's varying opinions. We decided on seven different aspects to rate the beer, and those are rated 1-10 (1 worst, 10 best). They are averaged and rounded up. We also added hoppiness and bitterness as two categories rated separately (1-10) with hoppiness referring to how many hops, not how much you like it.

Packaging - This is strictly packaging. Will it draw you in when you see it on the shelf?

Looks - This is the beer itself. When you see it poured into a glass, does it look appealing?

Aroma - How does it smell?

Taste - Sounds simple, but once you start analyzing the taste, it is not as easy as it sounds. So, how does it taste?

Smoothness - How smooth is it?

Sessionable - Can you drink this beer all day?
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Overall - Not the official score from the previous questions, but what you think of the beer overall.

​Sitting on the back porch at a family barbecue this weekend I couldn’t help being annoyed by the numerous flies trying to sample my lunch. I felt like I was waving my arms around to keep the flies off of my food more frequently then I could consume it. That’s when my aunt chimed in and said, “We should get a zip lock bag filled with water and a penny to keep the flies away.” I looked around the table at the blank stares. I had never heard that theory and apparently neither had the other guests. It needed some investigation.

We have traveled a decent amount in our lifetime, sometimes work related, or sometimes we simply come across a picture that inspires us and go. Banff was the latter, and to date our favorite trip. When you bring up The Rockies, the conversation typically turns to talking about Colorado. To be fair, the Colorado Rockies are amazing, we spent a few winter trips there and had our share of great sites, however, trying to compare them to the Canadian Rockies is like saying the CFL and NFL are the same thing. With the Canadian Rockies, ironically, being the equivalent to the NFL. There are so many different landscapes in British Columbia, it's like taking a few trips in one. In the same day you can hike through waist deep snow, snowboard, see Volkswagen sized grizzly bears, or take a leisurely canoe ride down the river in 80 degree weather wearing board-shorts and a bikini. The hardest part of experiencing BC is believing what you are seeing. Like most trips, pictures don't do it justice, but that is never more true than here.

If you’ve ever participated in a CSA or grown your own vegetables, you probably know that you’re at the mercy of the garden.  And in the summer, that means squash, and lots of it!  After a while the standard preparation methods (grilling, roasting, sautéing) feel tired and boring.  Having hit that point, we set out to find a recipe that uses a lot of summer vegetables in a way that lets them play a supporting role rather than being the star.  Thai curry provides a bold flavor that plays well with summer vegetables.  Adding in some white fish for protein and serving over rice creates a nourishing and satisfying way of using up all those summer veggies.  However, don’t feel like you’re locked into our recipe. This template can be used to incorporate a variety of proteins and vegetables, so adapt it to suit what you have available!

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Sometimes you end up in places you never imagined you would step foot in. Less than 100 miles from Aleppo and a witness to one of the worst atrocities of our time, is Cyprus, a country that sits on the doorstep of conflict. A desert island scattered with ship wrecks and lush banana farms that stand in sharp contrast to beaches filled with seemingly unaware British tourists, bobbing around in the Mediterranean Sea, sunburnt and happy. Cyprus isn't like any place we have ever visited, an island in search of an identity, yet that is what defines Cyprus.

“Wait, close your eyes and breathe. I smell rain.” is the quote I would expect Lorelai to say if she lived in Florida as opposed to Connecticut. She might also manage a Disney resort instead of the Dragonfly Inn, but I digress. I have vivid memories of stepping outside in the Florida summer, taking a deep breath and saying, “It smells like rain.” What is that smell that precedes our afternoon showers? ​