10 Ways to Beat Jet Lag in Amsterdam

Originally published on EuropeUpClose.com

1. Visit a Coffee Shop (No, not that kind)

Marijuana makes many people tired, so it’s a good idea to stay away from the city’s wickedly popular “coffeeshops”—at least on the first day. Fortunately, Amsterdamers have a love of fine coffee, and micro-roasters are popping up across the city. It’s a little out of the way, but Espresso Fabriek is one of the city’s first micro-roasters, and for two more centrally located roasters, visit Two For Joy or Headfirst Coffee Roasters.

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Culinary Travel Writing and Photography Portfolios

I've recently updated my culinary travel writing and photography portfolios. If you have the time, check them out and tell me what you think!

www.mattiejohnbamman.com

Why Jon Rimmerman is a Rock Star

I found a new hero over the weekend: Jon Rimmerman, founder of Garagiste, a "100% independent, pro-consumer purveyor of wine, food, wisdom, and esoteric tidbits of travel and culture." What's not to love?

Rimmerman is all about high-value wine, and in his recent interview with GQ Magazine, he lists his favorite wine regions for finding high-quality wines for low prices. What do you know—he loves all of the same places that I do! And thanks to his booming success (Garagiste sold $30 million of wine in 2012 according to the New York Times), these beautiful wine regions are getting more attention. In honor of Jon Rimmerman's awesome wine philosophy, here is a collection of Ravenous Traveler articles focused on the wine regions that he and I both love: the Columbia River Gorge, Puglia, Italy, and the wine regions surrounding Cape Town, South Africa. (If only he'd included the wines of Croatia!)

The Columbia River Gorge:
"The Columbia Gorge, in Washington and Oregon, is the most exciting wine region in America," says Rimmerman

Courtesy of Columbia Gorge Winegrowers

Washington Magazine: Pour on Columbia, Drink in the relaxed tasting rooms of the Columbia River Gorge
Travel + Escape: A River Runs Through It: Road Trip in the Columbia Gorge
Ravenous Traveler: Waterfall of Wine Weekend: The Columbia Gorge Passport Tour
Ravenous Traveler: Tips for Wine Tasting in the Columbia Gorge and Hood River
Ravenous Traveler: Hood River Wine Tasting in the Columbia Gorge


Puglia, Italy:
“If you like Zinfandel, try Negroamaro from Puglia, Italy." —Jon Rimmerman

Map of Puglia wine region courtesy of Italian Flavor Consortium

BootsnAll.com: The Budget Traveler's Wine Tasting Guide to Italy
EuropeUpClose.com: Tasting and Talking About Puglia Wine
EuropeUpClose.com: Puglia, Italy’s Summer Food and Wine Festivals
EuropeUpClose.com: Wine Tasting in Puglia, Italy
WhyGo Italy: The Mediterranean Diet in Southern Italy
i-Italy Magazine: Pirro Varone: Organic Wine In Southern Italy
i-Italy Magazine: Southern Italian Cult Wine: Q&A with Sergio Botrugno
i-Italy Magazine: Q&A with Winemaker Massimiliano Apollonio
i-Italy Magazine: Cantine Aperte In Salice Salentino
Ravenous Traveler: Puglia Wine Review
Ravenous Traveler: Guide to Wine Tasting in Puglia
Ravenous Traveler: Puglia's Most Important DOC Wines
Ravenous Traveler: Wine in Puglia: Interview with Valle dell'Asso Winery
Ravenous Traveler: Michele Caló & Figli Winery: Living the American Dream in Italy

Wine Regions surrounding Cape Town, South Africa:
“Cape Town is a mélange of everything a person looks for. It's spiritual. It's edgy. And the wine region is one of the most untapped. —Jon Rimmerman

Viator Travel Blog: Guide to Wine Tasting near Cape Town, South Africa
Travel + Escape: Drinking Up South African History

Waterfront Restaurant & Wine Bar: Presenting Kelowna on a Plate

 Originally published in Northwest Travel Magazine

Farm to Table has come a long way since originating in the 1960s, and today, many of us, especially in the Northwest, expect to find farm-fresh ingredients in a fine-dining setting. Mark Filatow, chef and sommelier at Waterfront Restaurant & Wine Bar, in Kelowna, B.C., certainly has access to advanced cooking techniques and international flavors, but he’s chosen to take farm to table to an entirely new level: back to the basics.

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24 Hours in Zagreb, Croatia

24 Hours in Zagreb, Croatia originally published on EuropeUpClose.com

When I first arrived in Zagreb, Croatia, I immediately felt as though I’d stumbled onto something entirely new: a medium-sized city that had been hidden behind the closed walls of Yugoslavia until its dissolution, and then the following war for independence. I took a deep breath of the fall air and found the aroma of paprika mixed with micro-roaster coffee, and it was enough to awaken all five senses. It turned out I was right: This really was something new.

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Wine Tasting at Hester Creek Winery, Okanagan Valley Part 2

This article is part of The Great Northwest North American Wine Road Trip series, during which we'll visit wine countries in Oregon, British Columbia, and Washington.

As I was saying: Throughout the meal, Roger had given me a great introduction to Hester Creek Winery but we'd only talked business. That's when things got real, and we started to talk about our families. Roger, his wife, and his children all call the Okanagan home, and I told him that my father was wooden sailboat builder and that I grew up in Maine. We began discussing the new forms of publishing—blogs, Twitter, online versions of newspapers, etc.—and I felt that we'd reached a higher plain.

Soon enough, we climbed the hill and entered the modern Hester Creek Winery, replete with a six deluxe guest suites inside of a Mediterranean-style villa. The winery is the ideal base for a trip through the southern Okanagan Valley, and you can find great dining at Terrafina and live music at the winery most Saturdays. Further, Hester Creek Winery hosts cooking classes, which involve creating a four-course meal using fresh Okanagan ingredients in a beautiful kitchen.

 

Showing off the awesome kitchen where Hester Creek holds cooking classes (with wine, duh)

The Hester Creek grounds and vineyards cover 95 acres, and the views from their high up perch overlooking the Golden Mile growing area are mind-bendingly beautiful. The winery takes its name from the original owners of the property, Judge Haines and his daughter Hester. Spending her whole life on the property, Hester played a major role in its development, including giving her name to a stream that runs through it. Hester Creek Winery adopted her name to honor this history, and its cabernet franc vineyard dates all the way back to 1968, making the vines some of the oldest in the region.

The above wine, Hester Creek Winery's 2009 "The Judge," is one of those Okanagan powerhouse reds that the area is developing a reputation for. I dare anyone who loves Napa cabernet sauvignon to sample The Judge and find it lacking. It is an estate red blend, and the blending ratio changes annually (the 2009 The Judge featured merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and cabernet franc). You can taste this wine and others seven days a week in the tasting room, which is open year round, and tastings are free. Moreover, the winery typically serves several "tasting-room-only" wines that can only be purchased direct at the winery. Other wines that stood out to my palate:

• 2012 Pinot Blanc
• 2012 Trebbiano
• 2012 Cabernet Franc Rosé
• 2011 Character Red Blend

Photo courtesy of Hester Creek Winery

Portions of this article included information obtained during a press trip funded by the Thompson Okanagan tourism board.

2014 Portland Events Wall Calendar in Stores Now

The 2014 Portland Events Wall Calendar: Something all cities need, and only Portland, Oregon has (Ok, Austin, too)

I've been a part of the Portland Events Wall Calendar crew since its inception, and, now that we're in our third year (and our calendar has become the all-time, best-selling calendar at Powell's Books!), I thought I'd share it here on Ravenous Traveler. This thing is beautiful, and I wish that I'd had something like it when I'd first moved to Portland (as well as San Francisco, New York, Italy...). It offers hundreds of ideas for fun things to do with the Portland community, and that's what Big Weekend Calendars and the Portland Events Wall Calendar is all about: having fun as a city.

Now in its third year, the Portland Events calendar shares more than 250 Portland-area events and activities with the dates printed right on the calendar. Just hang it up; enjoy the big photos by award-winning local photographer Mark Gamba (Sports Illustrated, National Geographic Adventure, Forbes), and get ready for an entire year of awesome things to do in Portland. Most importantly, the calendar includes dates for Portland events for the entire upcoming year. Yep, that means you will know what's happening in Portland in December 2014 right now.

Portland has so many awesome events, and our city's great organizers are so creative that there's something new every year. I mean, Feast Portland only deputed last year, and now it's one of the most anticipated food events in the country. Along with Feast, the 2014 Portland Events Wall Calendar includes plenty of other food, wine, and beer events—even saké events. In 2014, we feature the Taste of the Nation Portland, PDX Urban Wine Experience, Portland Seafood & Wine Festival, Oregon Brewers Festival, and many more. We also include Portland bike events, from Reach the Beach and the PDX Bicycle Show to the World Naked Bike Ride. Portland running events are there, too—from the Shamrock Run to the Worst Day of the Year Run, and we have Portland-weird events, too, including the Adult Soapbox Derby and the Vampire's Masquerade Ball. Of course, the calendar also has your back when it comes to major events, such as the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade and The Pirate Festival.

Check out how it works: For each calendar month, event names and descriptions up top; dates on the grid below

Our photographer Mark really deserves an extra shout out. Mark Gamba has taken photos for so many amazing groups, including Entertainment Weekly, ESPN, Esquire, Men's Journal, People, Runner's World, Sunset, and the list goes on. His work is featured in museums on both coasts, too. I mean, how many wall calendars come with this level of photography? And Mark shoots sides of Portland that you may not have seen before, whether it's a home-made Halloween graveyard in Milwaukee or zany participants of the Worst Day of the Year Ride crossing the Steel Bridge. For those of you who haven't bought a calendar before, I'll show off a few of the photos from the 2012 and 2013 Portland Events Wall Calendars at the end of this post to give you a better idea of what Mark does.

The 2014 Portland Events wall calendar is sold pretty much everywhere, including:

• Powell' Books
• All New Seasons locations
• All Zupan's Markets locations
• All local Costcos
• All local Whole Foods Markets
• Both Food Front Cooperative groceries
• Mirador Community Store
• The Portland Nursery
• New Renaissance Bookshop
• Alberta Cooperative Grocery 
• Annie Bloom's
• Audubon Society of Portland
• Broadway Books

You can also buy one online here. (By the way, one of the tough knocks about the calendar business is that our Amazon.com reviews do not carry over each year. So, if you've got a moment, please review us and let people others know what you think about the calendar.)

Lastly, I just want to say thank you to all of the people who buy our calendar as well as all of the hard-working event organizers who supply us with their event dates so far in advance (we know it isn't easy!). We get lots of support from local businesses, business owners, websites, food trucks—and we're honored. The calendar is researched and edited by Portlanders; the photographs are taken by a Portland photographer; Portlanders comprise the sales team; and it is printed by Precision Graphics, based in Tualatin. I love our Portland community, and I hope that our calendar can help people connect with all of the creativity in Slabtown.

See you around at: