In one of the local bays we went snorkeling for a saltwater delicacy – abalone. They are a little more difficult to prepare than oysters or mussels. But done right they are delicious. Preparation Place a thin fillet knife against the inside of the flat portion of the shell and move it inward, cutting the [...]
Wise Wine The Margaret River Region of Western Australia is renown for two things – some of the world’s most consistent big surf off some of the world’s most stunning beaches and wine – who could ask for more? And its traditional to do a ‘vineyard crawl’ when holidaying down here. We called Julie’s dad, [...]
Miquel Hudin, an American with Croatian heritage, and his wife have completed a handy guide to the wines of Dalmatia and Herzegovina. Hopefully this will lead to a greater appreciation for them, and the local producers will enjoy a little healthy criticism. You can find out how to purchase it here. They also publish an [...]
Summer is definitely the ‘festive’ season in Croatia. To attract as many tourists as possible an almost infinite number of events are now organized. Below are the ones we have bumped into over the last 2 weeks. Motovun Film Festival Celebrating its 10th birthday is the Motovun Film Festival. What started as 5 guys with [...]
A new pizzeria just opened in Motovun – Propeler, for which they had a party last weekend. It means Motovun now has 3 places to eat year around – Pod Voltom, Propeler, Mondo (as it is now named – it was Barbacan). Pod Voltom is standard Istrian konoba fare – thick soup, steaks and pastas. [...]
This week we returned to Motovun and Istria; it has been a long time since we were there in the summer. Our house renovation continues under Gino’s supervision in Motovun. The exterior rendering has been completed and the floor structure is in. They have added the interior plasterboard walls and ‘roughed-out’ the electrical and plumbing [...]
An old friend from New York City, the Gregster, dropped in to visit us this weekend. We hadn’t seen him in 7 years – it was great to catchup and talk about the days in NYC – the bars, restaurants and clubs, and playing for the NY Magpies. It was also an excellent opportunity to [...]
During a drive around Istria this weekend we stumbled upon Draguć. Its just another small, picturesque, hill-top Istrian town, with a main street, square, water fountain, dirt streets and church – a dime-a-dozen around the region. But after speaking to the owner of Buffet Zora (shown above), we discovered the town has even more to [...]
We were back up in Motovun again this weekend as our builder, Gino, prepared for demolition in the house we are renovating. From a gastronomic POV, Motovun is known for its truffles. In fact the world’s largest was found in 1999 in the nearby forests – it weighed 1.30 kgs. Given Black truffle sells for [...]
Croatia is a nation of contradictions. On Sunday we went to Skradin, a small town on the Krka River, just behind Šibenik, to visit Vina Bibich, run by Alen, a local wine producer and chef about whom we had heard great things. We wanted to try the local red wine, debit. Unfortunately everything is still [...]
