Travel Tuesdays: Molasses and Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Writing about ginger cookies and gingersnaps made me realize I've been deprived of molasses, and I finally went and bought some. And now that I think about it, I've actually seen molasses being made!

It was on a family road trip to Ratnagiri - a fascinating place on the west coast of India, with a history that includes everything from delicious mangoes (I could wax poetic about Alphonso mangoes for days, and would recommend that everyone should brave the Indian summer heat to drown themselves in their deliciousness - even if you melt to death, it will be a sweet sweet way to go) to being the birthplace of Lokmanya Tilak to having been the home of exiled Burmese King Thebaw.

Travel Tuesdays: Paris je t'aime I (Touristy Must-Dos)

I consider myself definitely a francophile, and even more so, a Paris-ophile. Each time I've been there something in my heart sings (thankfully - for others - the singing doesn't make its way up to my throat where it would inevitably die a strangled croaky death before assaulting the ears of passersby), and I've been fortunate enough to have lived there on multiple occasions. Plus, going to Fete Paradiso recently inspired a nostalgic mood leading to some browsing amongst my old photos from lovely days spent there. As I was looking through all of those memories, I started thinking about my favorite things in one of my favorite cities. And so, a series within a series - here's Paris je t'aime Part I - Tourity Must-Dos for Travel Tuesdays! 

Touristy must-dos

The Sacre Coeur and walking around Montmartre: an absolutely beautiful church set up on high in the midst of the only "village" left in Paris. The church area is now more of a fun picnic/tourist/hang out destination (in fact, watch out for broken beer bottles) rather than anything very religious, but to enter the church you still have to keep your shoulders covered - and gentlemen, hats off please!

Travel Tuesdays: Top Ten Travel Tips

Some day I hope that the list of places I've enjoyed will outnumber the list of places on my "to go" list. Isn't traveling always such a thrill? From that first little spark in your mind, where you think "oh hey that sounds cool" to the insane amounts of time spent researching travel deals and details about where you're going (apparently the anticipation of the vacation is just as, if not more, important as the vacation itself!), to the actual plane ride (okay maybe the plane ride isn't quite the thrilling-est, but more of a necessary evil) to first setting foot in an unknown world, and eventually to reciting the stories of your travels to (hopefully) eager listeners.

I've especially been thinking of travel because we've got a trip coming up that I'm really looking forward to, so of course it's coloring everything I do.

And so, I'm starting a series called Travel Tuesdays. Going forward, each Tuesday I'll post something travel-related. Perhaps a list of my favorite things in a city I love, or maybe just a travel-related article I've come across in my browsing of the vast interwebs. And so, without further ado, to kick off Travel Tuesdays, here's my Top Ten list for a perfect vacation!

Kerala Backwaters