Darley Newman of Equitrekking Accepts Taste Hall of Fame Award

Darley Newman of Equitrekking Accepts Taste Hall of Fame Award, presented for the 12th Annual TASTE AWARDS.

Often called “The Oscars of Food, Fashion and Lifestyle Media,” the TASTE AWARDS in Hollywood/Beverly Hills are the premier awards celebrating the year’s best in Food, Fashion, Health, Travel, and Lifestyle programs in Film, Television, Online & Streaming Video, Podcasts, Radio and Photography.

The Awards have included appearances by stars, celebrities, producers and executives from networks and platforms such as the Food Network, the Style Network, Bravo, the Cooking Channel, Sony Pictures, DreamWorks, TLC, Discovery, Lifetime, E! Entertainment Television, PBS, APT, Create TV, NBC, ABC, the CW, HGTV, the Travel Channel, HD Net, Hulu, YouTube, Vimeo, Vice, LiveWell Network, Esquire Network, Bio/FYI Channel, iHeart Radio, HBO, MyxTV, Small Screen Network, StyleHaul, PTA, Zagat, Mode Media, WatchMojo, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Lifetime Network, Buzzed, Vox Media, and more.

www.TheTasteAwards.com

Veggie Hotels is a Coffee Table Guidebook to the Best Vegan Hotels around the World

It’s hard not to love a travel and food book that includes page-sized photographs of beautiful places you can visit and delicious meals that you can eat. Especially if you are a vegetarian or vegan looking for that a special spot where you can be all that you can be without compromising your uniqueness. VEGGIE HOTELS is one of those books.

What is a veggie hotel? The answer a simple, it’s a place where vegetarians like to stay and resort. The luxury guidebook VEGGIE HOTELS is a collection of over 60 vegetarian, vegan, and vegan-friendly hotels and bed-and-breakfasts from all around the world. The hotels range from the United Kingdom to Peru, from Spain to India, from Croatia to do United States. Many profiles also include delicious recipes of a healthy and vegetarian nature, such as fennel in Apple Salad, Black Venere Rice with Carrot Aioli, and Vegan Nut Cutlets with Beet-Horseradish Carpaccio and Quinoa.

An example of hotel selections is the Essentis Ecohotel in Berlin, which is an entirely vegan hotel in the center of the city, and is the first organically-certified hotel in Berlin. The hotel’s restaurant is called Amaranth, and only serves organically-grown and created food.

If you’re looking for something a bit warmer, head down to the Mani-Sonnenlink in Greece. The hotel is considered an oasis built around feng shui principles, and is the first organically-certified hotel in Greece. The location offers both bungalows and apartments. The founders originally installed themselves in Greece to live the simple life of olive farmers, and to follow those daily rhythms and practices. Now, they own the globally-distributed prize-winning organic Mani Olive Oil family of products. The hotel follows that purity of spirit of the olive oil farmer, and is 100% Mediterranean in nature and appeal. The water at this boutique resort is deep blue and turquoise, and is where guests can get together for company, meditation, music, or privacy.

If this wets your appetite, there are plenty more veggie hotels to discover.

Teneues, 978-3961710454, Hardcover, 272 pages‎

Find it here

 

Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel debuts Fredericks for Breakfast and Lunch in San Francisco

The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel in San Francisco recently opened their new eatery called Fredericks.

Fredericks is helmed by Executive Chef Daniel Corey (formerly of Michelin Star LUCE at the InterContinental), paying homage to Frederick C. Clift, the original owner of the property. The restaurant has a black and white floor similar to what adorned the space in the 1920s, as well as neutral walls with exposed brick, also part of the earlier space. The floor itself was the inspiration for the rest of the decor, which features a classical look from the hotel’s original restaurant while echoing the chic feel of modern day San Francisco.

Fredericks has a combination of booth, banquette and square table seating for guests who want to linger, enjoy their meal, and soak up the ambiance. A sampling of the breakfast menu reveals sweet pastries at breakfast such as a Kouign-Amann Baton and savory pastries like the Union Square with Sausage, Hash Browns, Egg & Cheese, as well as tasty offerings such as a Gravlax Plate with Bagel, Salmon, Cream Cheese, Tomato, Red Onion & Capers; Avocado Toast on Sourdough with an 8 Minute Egg; and a California Shakshuka with two Poached Eggs, Tomatoes, Peppers, Cilantro, and Yogurt.

The restaurant also serves lunch, where patrons will find soups and salads including the Kale Salad with Medjool Date, Almonds, Aged White Cheddar and Sherry Vinaigrette, alongside sandwiches and more substantial fare such as Fish Tacos made with Crispy Local Rock Cod, Smoked Jalapeno Crema, &  Marinated Cabbage and a Half-Roasted Chicken with Marble Potatoes and Grilled Lemon.

In addition, in a section with high seating and smaller tables, Fredericks also serves to-go food and drinks – with selections designed to complement the offerings in the Redwood Room – including a high-end coffee program with partner roaster, Peerless, gourmet pastries and snacks, elevated comfort food, and wine, beer and cocktails on tap.

The Clift’s legendary Redwood Room reopened on July 1, 2021 with a new sumptuous food menu, handcrafted cocktails, and a revitalized look. The room retains its namesake redwood walls and glamorous lighting, only undergoing a change in furniture, flooring, and wall art. The new bar is manufactured from an 800-year-old redwood tree found by a custom woodworker in Montana. Also new — original Gustav Klimt paintings [reproductions created by students of Klimt, under his direction] uncovered onsite during the hotel renovations — have been painstakingly restored and re-hung, lending the room an art nouveau ambiance.  Menu items include Warm Orange Pull-Apart Buns with Honey Butter made with honey from The Clift’s own rooftop beehives, Waygu Beef “Double Double” Sliders with White Cheddar and Onion Jam on a Brioche Bun, and Oysters on the Half Shell with Passion Fruit Mignonette and Caviar.  Newer cocktails include an updated Old Fashioned (“The Big Chair”) – a nod to the famed oversized chair that every visitor to The Clift has likely taken a photo with, and “The Mr. Clift”, the lounge’s take on a Manhattan.

More information at:
https://www.redwoodroomsf.com/

Fredericks is open seven days a week, Reservations are not required. https://www.sonesta.com/us/california/san-francisco/clift-royal-sonesta-hotel/fredericks

 

The Benefits of Walking Yourself to Better Health and Fitness

What is one of the most productive and effective ways of exercise? Walking!

Walking in fact is not just one of the most effective ways of exercise, it’s also one of the oldest. Humans are designed to walk, it is how they evolved and thrived. It is how they overcame obstacles in the wild, found food and water, and expanded territory. You could say that in fact humans are literally meant to walk. So if this is true, it’s clear what happens when you don’t do what you’re supposed to do. You are not as healthy, not as fit, and not as happy. This is exactly why walking is great for you.

Some of the benefits of walking include increased cardiovascular and pulmonary fitness for your heart and lungs. Walking also increases provides benefit, which is reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke. It also improves the management of chronic conditions such as hypertension and high cholesterol, as well as decreased joint and muscular pain, stiffness, and diabetes. Plus it can lead to stronger bones and better balance. Mentally, there is nothing more refreshing than taking a nice, calm, and refreshing walk to clear the cobwebs out of your mind, and getting good air into your lungs.

Most cities and states in North America and Europe have parks and hiking trails in which you can get out and walk. California has a lot of great spots where you can walk. In cities like San Francisco, it seems like everyone either walks or hikes on a regular basis. In Los Angeles, there are beautiful places along the boardwalk and the beaches where you can walk and walk and walk.

It is recommended that you walk at least 30 to 45 minutes nearly every day. You don’t have to do it all at once, you can break it up into a 10 minute chunks, but the pace that you set is important. You don’t need to break a sweat, but your goal is to get your heart pumping.

So get out there and take a walk, your body and your mind will thank you

Viva Tequila Festival Mexico Experience Tour Honored by the TASTE AWARDS

Atlanta’s Viva Tequila Festival was honored at this year’s TASTE AWARDS (aka, the TASTY Awards). Often called the “Oscars of Food, Fashion and Lifestyle Media,” this edition of the Taste Awards highlighted Viva Tequila Mexico Experience under the category of OUTSTANDING CULINARY & TRAVEL EXPERIENCE. This year, as for many awards shows, the Taste Awards had a virtual broadcast that reached viewers across the globe, from Japan and South Africa to England, Poland and Italy, and from New Zealand to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

Hosted by wine, beer and spirits purveyor Juan Bonilla, dubbed “Mr. Tequila,” the Viva Tequila Festival Mexico Experience tour takes participants on an exclusive trip down the historic timeline of Mexico’s Tequila Trail, providing in-depth understanding of the different regions that cultivate Tequila, the history of this iconic Mexican spirit and its importance in local, national and international economies.

The Viva Tequila Festival Mexico Experience tour visits several cities, including Tlaquepaque, Tequila, Atotonilco and Guadalajara to provide a local perspective of the manufacturing of Tequila. Participants are able to mingle with locals and admire and shop for unique Mexican works of art, both folk and fine, all while sipping limited edition craft Tequilas from distilleries that embody traditional to modern styles of manufacturing.

Highlights includes visits to the Fortaleza and Don Nacho craft distilleries as well as hacienda of José Cuervo, where participants bottle their own Reserva de la Familia, and enjoy a tasting in the property’s private cellar and then dinner at the Tienda de Raya, both opened exclusively for Viva Tequila Festival.

Tour participants are treated to stays in centuries-old haciendas that were once home to some of Mexico’s wealthiest people. They can enjoy a morning horseback ride at the historic, 17th century Hacienda Labor de Rivera or disconnect and relax with a spa treatment at Hacienda El Carmen Hotel & Spa.

Other winners at this year’s Taste Awards included recipients of the new ANDREW ZIMMERN DISCOVERY AWARD. This award honors the mission to discover new cultures, flavors or talent. The inaugural honorees of this new award are noted chefs Andrew Zimmern and Tyler Florence.

Other well-known personalities who won or were honored at the Taste Awards include Ming Tsai, Selena Gomez, Idris Elba, Dylan Dreyer, Chef John Folse and Lidi Bastianich, along with Bravo’s Top Chef, America’s Test Kitchen, NHK, the Africa Channel and New Soul Kitchen.

The Taste Awards have included appearances by stars, celebrities, producers and executives from networks and platforms such as the Food Network, the Style Network, Bravo, the Cooking Channel, TLC, Discovery, Lifetime, E! Entertainment Television, PBS, Create TV, APT, NBC, ABC, the CW, HGTV, the Travel Channel, HD Net, Hulu, YouTube, Dreamworks, Esquire Network, FYI Network, The History Channel, Bio, iHeart Radio, Sony Pictures, APT, Myx TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime and more. See them at www.TheTasteAwards.com.

For more information on Viva Tequila Festival’s tours, visit www.vivatequilafestival.com.

Fortnum & Mason’s Sailboat Chocolate is Bringing You 99% Emission-Free Luxury Chocolate

If you think things are moving too fast, then Fortnum & Mason has some news for you. They not only get their own chocolate direct from the source in the Caribbean, but they also do it on their own sailboat! That’s right, a slow-going sailboat. A luxury sailboat.

The general idea is that this helps make the brand the world’s first ’farm to store’ 99% emission-free chocolate. The project is a collaboration between Fortnum & Mason, and the Grenada Chocolate Company in partnership with Chantal Coady OBE.

In addition to the wind-powered boats delivering the chocolate made from Trinitario Cocoa beans, they also come in fully-recyclable boxes.

We’re waiting for the client option to sail on the boat in the Caribbean while eating bars of this sustainable chocolate. (hint, hint)