Sicily’s location placed the island at the geographical crossroads of pretty much every major empire (save the Mongols) throughout history. At various times, Palermo was ruled by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Germans, Aragonese, and Bourbons, before Sicily finally became a part of unified Italy about 150 years ago. Because of this complex history of upheaval and constant change, there are remnants of past glories and injustices alike evident in the peeling layers of Palermo’s facade.

The Quattro Canti and many of the churches and theaters in town show a heavy baroque influence.

Like much of southern Italy, Palermo is a little rough around the edges and feels slightly more exotic, and slightly less modern, than the rest of Italy.

I love these ornate Tabacchi stands found on so many corners.

The Arab and Byzantine influences are noticeable in the souq-like alleyways that haphazardly and confoundingly shoot off from the main roads. Many are too small for cars, so are by default given over to strictly pedestrian or 2-wheeled locomotion. And nearly everywhere you look, there’s a church of a distinct architectural style peeking out!

The Vucciria Market is an open-air market with fluid boundaries and an old-world feel. It’s a teeming cacophony of buyers and sellers on Saturdays, closed like a hangover on Sunday, and a bit sleepy again on Monday in build up to the weekend’s events. Transactions still have a very old-fashioned feel to them, and you can buy anything from a whole side of beef to a 4 foot long cucumber to a plastic bag full of live snails (a Sicilian delicacy.)

(The snail guy was cranky and wouldn’t let me take a picture of the snails unless I was buying, so needless to say, no snail picture…)

Palermo was also hard hit during World War II. In 1943, Allied forces descended upon Sicily and gained their first piece of European ground back from the Axis powers. In Palermo’s Kalsa neighborhood, adjacent to Vucciria Market, you can still find significant remnants of the immense damage wrought during the war, underpinning the quotidian activities of this vibrant, if somewhat eerie, working class neighborhood.

A 15 minute ride on a public bus takes you to a completely different world: Mondello Beach. Here, the rented yellow umbrellas are plentiful, the boats are old-fashioned, and the water is such a crystal clear turquoise blue that you can see to the bottom. People of all ages bake themselves to a crisp bronze, eat snacks from street carts, and play in the water.

Smitten teenagers lock their love on the rusting pier.

Even the inanimate fish are theatrical.

There are plenty of Sicilian snacks to be had, like panelli (chickpea fritters) or arancini (deep fried risotto balls.) Of course, the beach is hot, so you will probably want gelato! In Palermo they don’t put ice cream in a cone, but rather in something they call a brioche, which is really more like a hamburger bun. Fun to try, but I’ll stick with a cup or cone from now on.

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So consider this a guest post… Garrick, take it away!

GRANADA – Palacio del Patos
This is the place Amy said was way too cool for her.  It is probably the most stylish room I’ve ever stayed in.  In true TabletHotel fashion, style trumped substance, but what a fun place to stay!

GRANADA – Carmen de la Alcubilla del Caracol
This is the best place we stayed in Spain.  Simple, yet tasteful B&B style house with wonderful garden that overlooked the city and the mountains.  The soul of this place is the owner.  Unbeatable.

BARCELONA - Hotel Pulitzer
One of the best hotels we stayed at in Spain.  Everything was flawless: design, cleanliness, service and food.  Amazing rooftop bar.  Located centrally on the Placa Catalunya.  Would stay a month here.

BARCELONA – Cocoon Apartment
We got a studio with private deck from this rental company.  It was located in the uber-hip (think SF Mission District, but more sulking) El Raval neighborhood.

CORDOBA – Palacio del Bailio
Same owners as the Palacio del Patos.  Contemporary modern design.  Built over Roman ruins.  Fabulous garden/pool area.  Check out the pics.  Their amazing.  Again, style over substance, but again, we had a blast.  The food is insanely good.

SEVILLA - Petit Palace
This is probalby the most mediocre hotel of the trip, but was totally fine.  Like a stylish Holiday Inn.  Can’t beat the location, down the street from very fun tapas bars and the famous cathedral.

SEVILLA – Loft 3
This place was too good to be true.  A *beautiful* new condo in a great neighborhood for $150 euros a night!  Way too cheap for this place.  The building incorporates an ancient wall in it’s design.

ALGECIRAS – AC Algeciras
Totally serviceable hotel from ubiquitous chain.  Like the Petit Palace, stylsih but ultimately staid.

MALAGA - Molina Lario
GREAT hotel.  This place was akin to the Hotel Pulitzer in Barcelona.  Totally contemporary design with great food and service.  Highly recommended.

Dar Roumana

FES, MOROCCO - Dar Roumana
Probably the most amazing hotel of our trip.  You have to see it to believe it.  The detail of this refurbished old Dar is astounding.  The staff, food, rooms and common areas were amazing.  Great outdoor, rooftop lounge area with view of the entire medina.  I would go to Morocco again just to stay here.

LONDON – The Hoxton Hotel
This place ruled.  Totally stylish, super cheap (under 99 pounds) and location couldn’t be better.  In the hip Hoxton/Shoreditch area, which is walking distance to all the tourist spots as well.

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This recent trip was my first time in Maui, and the first thing that became clear is that Maui is for locavores. Other than fish, which I assumed would be local, I didn’t imagine the island being so prolific with the livestock and vegetables, but Maui is great in that respect. Grass-fed beef cattle and chickens are raised “up-country” along with asparagus, Maui onions, avocadoes, sweet corn, and much more. They even have a goat cheese dairy on Maui, the cheese of which is featured on many menus. Let me assure you that the local products not only have the feel-good factor of being locally and sustainably produced, they have that all important taste-good factor as well. It goes without saying that the fish you get on Maui is fresh and delicious no matter what.

We were staying at the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua, so most of the places we ate were in that area (west Maui). The Ritz-Carlton is an amazing property which we normally wouldn’t have splurged for, but we got a really good deal as part of an Orbitz package. (I mean a really good deal… the recession is hurting tourism, for sure.) If you can get a good deal there, I highly recommend it.

After a delayed flight, a traffic jam, and a much longer drive to Kapalua than expected… I was starving and cranky. Enter my savior.

Oh wait. Not that savior. (Although it’s comforting to know he’s “coming soon”- like the next summer blockbuster!) This one: ahi poke from The Fish Market.

The Fish Market is in an unassuming strip mall just northwest of Lahaina, on Lower Honoapallini Road. Their ahi poke is excellent- tell them how spicy you want it, and they’ll grab some fresh raw ahi cubes, Maui sweet onion slices, and scallions, then doctor up the mixture with soy sauce and sriracha. I could eat it every morning for breakfast. Did I say “could”? I meant “did”. It’s a small styrofoam cup of heaven. In my starving cranky state, it was one of the best things I had ever eaten. Revisiting in a non-cranky, non-starving, relaxed I’m-on-vacation-in-Hawaii state did not change my view.

Of course, you can’t just keep eating the same poke when you know there are so many pokes out there for you to try. A great place to experiment is Lahaina Farms, which is a Whole Foods-esque Hawaiian grocery store in Lahaina Town (in another strip mall, natch.) Lahaina Farms has a poke counter with 8 different pokes, and the guy will let you, nay, he will encourage you, to try a taste of each and every one before deciding. All of the pokes were fresh and delicious, and the mango black pepper was a standout.

My birthday occurred while we were there, and not being the type to leave things to chance, I had made myself a sunset hour birthday reservation at Merriman’s (great thing about the internet: you can look up the time of sunset in any location in the world, and plan your romantic dinner accordingly.) This was an outstanding meal and one I will definitely repeat on my next trip. Every ingredient on the menu was from Maui- barring a few cases where a few things were from other Hawaiian islands. The service could not have been better, and the food was absolutely delicious. I would highly recommend it. The view wasn’t too shabby either…

Of the sushi places we tried, we liked 2 the best: Kai in the Ritz-Carlton, and Sansei in the same area. Sansei was majorly talked up because it’s good, and because they have some half price thing late at night or at 5 PM, yada yada yada, but I gotta be honest with you- vacation is not the time for worrying about half price or eating dinner at 5. Vacation is for being awesome and doing whatever you feel like. I will say that I think Kai had better quality sushi, but Sansei was more fun. One thing Sansei had was a kick-a$$ Mai Tai- one of the best I’ve ever had. So I would recommend taking a seat at the bar and getting some Mai Tais and their best-known roll, the panko-crusted ahi roll. It’s the best-known for a reason. It’s hella good. Kai is in a beautiful setting above the ocean, and the fish was absolutely fresh and so tasty, especially the sake sashimi. They also had some interesting appetizers, like a scrumptious short rib gyoza.

One day we were really jetlagged and woke up around 5:30 AM. We took a harrowing coastal drive on a 1-lane road to the town of Wailuku for hot malasadas (Portuguese donuts) and coffee from Home Maid Bakery. They only have hot ones between 5-10 AM and 4-10 PM, and you’re definitely gonna want hot ones.

On our last day, we drove through upcountry on the way to the Haleakala Volcano National Park.We passed through several different landscapes on the way up the mountain, with stunning views of Maui all the way up. It was a gorgeous drive but very curvy- luckily we don’t get carsick!

After all the raw fish, we were craving something a little different. We found it in Makawao, a sweet little cowboy town with several art galleries and glassblowers along the main strip. At first blush, we weren’t too sure about the banging screen door and mismatched furniture at Pizza Fresh, but one bite of the pizza and our worries melted away. The owner uses only the freshest ingredients, locally grown when possible, and the crust was perfectly doughy and crispy. It was just what we needed to fuel our hike on martian landscapes of the volcano.

Our last stop before heading to the airport for a red-eye was Mama’s Fish House in Paia, a cute hippie-ish town near the Kahului airport. Mama’s was heartily recommended by a whole bunch of people we know, and not similar people either- folks who have very different ideas about what makes a good dining experience. It’s a little tricky to find, and it’s pretty pricey, but it’s a neat experience. My favorite thing about Mama’s was that for each fish dish listed on the menu, they literally call out the fisherman by name and note where exactly the fish was caught (e.g. “line-caught by John Smith off the Taka Atoll”). I have never seen that on a menu, and I like it!

It happened to be Mother’s Day and an elegantly dressed older woman came by each table to check in- it was Mama herself. This place is so popular and with such a well-defined (read: crazy Tiki Hawaiian) style that I have no doubt Mama has been approached many times about franchising the business. She hasn’t done it, there is only one Mama’s. It’s the real deal.

We enjoyed one last technicolor sunset from the beach at Mama’s before saying Aloha to Maui.

View Maui Eats on Off The (Meat)Hook in a larger map

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American cheese, ham, crusty bread, all pressed in some 1950s machine. Heaven. I think it was only 2 dollars. Swig some cafe con leche along with it, and you’ve got a breakfast of champions. The place ain’t fancy and the people aren’t that nice, but that’s not what you’re after. There will be other tourists there, but plenty of locals too.

La Bombonera is at 259 Calle San Francisco in Old San Juan and open daily from 7:30 AM – 8 PM.

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Their sole purpose is to allow you to bring a little bit of soy sauce with you wherever you go, just in case. They come with a little tiny eye-dropper so you can fill them up with soy sauce. So far they have never leaked and they always make me smile when I pull them out at lunchtime! Something about those vacant, beady eyes and perky ears- they are really endearing little pals to have around.

Eliza got these for a couple bucks at one of my very favorite stores in the world, Daiso Japan. Daiso is kind of like a super cool Japanese Dollar Store, except most things cost two dollars instead of one. Daiso has a crazy cross-section of stuff, from garden supplies to kids’ toys to dishes to cards (many in hilarious Engrish) to fake flowers to, er, individual soy sauce holders. With ten bucks in hand, you can have a GREAT time in there.

There are 3 stores in the Seattle area and 6 in the Bay Area- here’s a list of all U.S. locations.

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And this one, which due to the old-timey script, I first read as “Having laid down the f-word with honor…” but it’s sword. Not fword. Heh.

Yeah, I know. I’m immature. What can I say.

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• single serving glass of wine with sardine-can top from the Muji flagship store

• my favorite- milk in a tube. huh? (ok so it’s condensed milk… but still.)
  

• wasabi-beef flavor chips. yuk.

• a kit to make sushi look like soccer balls, to entice your kid to eat it. you’d have to be a REALLY nice mom or dad to go through all that trouble.

• I have never seen curry like this in Vermont, myself.

• Kobe and Matsuzaka beef for sale at Takashimaya- about $200/lb, raw (they were really mad that I took a picture, but I’m not sure why.)

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It’s a magical rainbow museum!

WOW. I think it’s just mesmerizingly beautiful and totally rainbow-riffic. I loves. It’s in León, Spain, which is in the Northwestern part of Spain, on your way to Portugal. I’m seeing a Castilian road trip in my future.  Why did I waste my last trip to Spain by going to that stupid Bilbao Guggenheim instead of going here?!?!? Just kidding. The Bilbao Guggenheim is super frickin’ awesome… and also worth a trip.

click here to go to the MUSAC website
click here to go to the Guggeneim Bilbao website

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I am constantly reminded of, and delighted by, the great many picturesque and unique things and places one can find in San Francisco and today was no different. We so often stay in our own little microcosms and neighborhoods, and forget to get up and out into the world and enjoy the variety of wonders our fair city holds!

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I will admit that after making this plan I realized that I actually didn’t even know what a Demolition Derby was- I mean, I guess I could have figured it out if I thought about, but I didn’t. I think that’s because I couldn’t have imagined how utterly fun and awesome it is to watch cars crash into each other. So now I know: more or less, a bunch of cars drive around in dirt crashing into each other, until only 1 car is able to move. Pretty straightforward.

Some things we learned:
1. You’re not allowed to hit the driver’s side door on purpose. Anywhere else is OK.
2. Drivers wear helmets and they only carry a small amount of gasoline to prevent fires.
3. If you’re driving in dirt, you don’t actually need tires or wheels- you can do pretty well even when you’re down to the axle.
4. Ideal demographic for DD is Y chromosome, age 3-10. Not to say the adults and females didn’t enjoy it, since everyone did LOVE it. But nothing matched the unbridled, nay, unhinged, enthusiasm of the little boys who were in our group.
5. If someone invites YOU to this type of event, you should definitely try to make it, because it’s pretty much insanely fun and awesome and different.

(These photos are about half mine, and half from my friend Carolyn Laub, who was kind enough to share.)

The DD was a special attraction of the Dixon May Fair. Previous night’s entertainment: ZZ Top.

The cars and trucks line up on the dirt to show themselves off before the crashtastic action starts.

The dollar bill car was an early favorite, until he was decommissioned by a busted radiator.

Try as he might, 68’s driver can’t resuscitate this victim.

Dead cars pile up on the berm while the remaining vehicles continue to smash around.

At the end, since only 1 car is still able to drive, heavy machinery carts the remaining carcasses off the dirt in preparation for the next round.

Mmm… delicious dancing corn dogs.

The pickup truck round about to begin. The announcer is so excited and keeps saying “in my 30 years of doing this, I have NEVER seen a pickup derby, so folks, this is really something special!” So special!

A truck smokes after a front hit and his radiator blows.

When a winner is declared, the drivers take off their helmets and climb out of their trashed trucks.

After 2 rounds, this incredibly tough car finally died- but not before driving around on 1 perpendicular tire, 1 diagonal tire, and 1 bare axle.

Exhaust combined with fire extinguisher blowback flooded the open-air arena with choking smoke.

The event came to an abrupt and unceremonius end when the smoke became so overwhelming and obscuring that patrons ran from the arena coughing and covering their faces.

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