1. This Island is HUGE!
Three months ago, I knew very little about Crete beyond its status as the largest Greek Island. But after spending three days traveling around, I’ve realized just how enormous Crete is. Driving from east to west could take half a day, and a drive from north to south could easily eat up over an hour. Despite its size, however, every inch of the island is incredible, if not slightly redundant.
2. There’s an Off Season
Crete has year-round perfect weather, so I find it surprising that tourists tend to avoid the island during the winter months. As I travel around with my family in December, however, I feel as if the island is ours; I don’t see tourists anywhere. Yesterday was 75 degrees and sunny, but locals were walking around with fur coats and scarves. I’ve been told that the rest of the year is completely different, with overcrowded beaches and overwhelming traffic.
3. The Drivers are Insane
I hear people say this about drivers in NYC, but compared to the locals in Crete, those cabbies are harmless. Cretans are always in a huge rush to get where they’re going, never hesitating about passing a car going only 30 km/h over the speed limit, even if it means risking their lives by crossing into oncoming traffic. “Slow” drivers have the routine down, however, hugging the right shoulder as they drive. I’ve seen hundreds of “mini churches” along the road (they look like elaborate oversized birdhouses), usually positioned on the most dangerous curves–these shrines mark accident scenes, and are installed by the accident victim if they survive, or by relatives if they do not.
4. There are Few American Chain Restaurants
I’ve traveled everywhere from Barcelona to Beijing, and seen plenty of KFC, Starbucks, and McDonald’s restaurants, among others, yet even the capital city of Heraklion has little American influence, at least as far as American chains are concerned. I did see one Starbucks and one McDonald’s in Heraklion, but certainly not in any of the other towns.
5. Nearly Anything Grows on the Island
I wouldn’t be surprised if Crete didn’t import any food at all. Everything is grown, caught, or butchered here, with olives and grapes (wine) being some of the region’s most prominent staples. Nearly every dish is cooked in or prepared with olive oil, from bread to desserts to deep fried mushrooms. Bananas, kiwis, apples, and many more fruits and vegetables are all grown on the island, as are a large variety of herbs, meat, and seafood.
According to the good folks at Wired, a team from Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History used genetic tests to determine the species of fish served as tuna in 31 sushi restaurants. Some restaurants actually served yellowfin tuna, while other restaurants were serving southern bluefin tuna (it’s endangered, but tastes better than yellowfin) or escolar (aka butterfish, which doesn’t taste better than yellowfin). The goal of the experiment wasn’t to expose misleading restaurants, but to improve on DNA barcoding, which can be used to identify fish and fine people who are selling protected species. My question: Where can I find these restaurants serving southern bluefin?
The latest victim of the recession and print media crisis, Gourmet Magazine was honored at a unique tasting at the Mandarin Oriental at Columbus Circle this evening, and I was fortunate enough to have joined in the celebration of the magazine’s 50+ years as a food industry “bible.” Several of the former magazine’s editors were on hand to receive a “Golden Fork” at the fifth annual Great Gathering of Chefs, a food and wine tasting featuring over 100 of NYC’s top chefs. Complete tickets to the tasting and earlier book signing, which ran from 3-8 p.m. and doubled as a benefit for Action Against Hunger, were available for $250.
The tasting featured a variety of appetizers and entrees, including Lobster Bisque and Caviar from The Russian Tea Room (definitely one of my favorites), Sunchoke Veloute Smoked Salmon from Gilt, Long Island Duck from Rouge Tomate, a Braised Pork Belly, Peanut Butter & Jalapeno Jelly Sandwich from Blue Smoke, and a Kanpachi Tiradito from Sushi Samba (its neutral flavors made for the perfect palette cleanser before moving on to dessert), just to name a few. Some of the desserts included a killer Peanut Butter & Jelly Bread Pudding from Dovetail, and Carrot Cake Macarons from Aureole (by far my favorite dessert), with many other petits fours available as well.
The mood at the event was generally upbeat, though some guests and former Gourmet editors appeared emotional during the “Golden Fork” presentation, as one of the food industry’s most recognized publications closed its doors. It was an honor to be able to attend tonight’s event honoring these colleagues; I wish the Gourmet staff the best of luck, and hope that they land on their feet, ready to take on a new challenge in our battered, yet still hopeful industry.
If you happen to be a 10-year-old kid with a T-Mobile Sidekick, then, well, maybe a $100 gift card seems like a fair trade for months of lost personal data. After all, mommy manages your schedule, and it should only take a few minutes to re-enter telephone numbers for those six contacts in your address book. But if that’s not you and you’re one of roughly 800,000 T-Mobile Sidekick customers who may have lost all personal data (contacts, calendars, photos, etc.) during last week’s colossal service outage and server failure, then a $100 gift card offers little more than a bit of closure—if T-Mobile is willing to give away that much cash, then chances are you’re not going to be getting any of that data back. The good news is that you may be able to break your T-Mobile contract and use that $100 to buy a smartphone on another network that lets you back up data to your personal computer, such as the Apple iPhone.
Unfortunately this doesn’t apply to Sidekick customers (Microsoft claims that files on both the Sidekick server and its backup server became corrupt), but this is the perfect opportunity to discuss what should be perhaps the most important step in your daily workflow, especially for anyone who uses a computer or smartphone for work (which these days seems to be most of us): BACKING UP! Some Windows-based computer manufacturers make it fairly painless for you to backup your system daily, but for Mac and iPhone users, it’s really a no-brainer. If you’re not using Time Machine and/or syncing your iPhone with your computer daily, then please, for the love of god, start backing up tonight!
You haven’t heard from me in over a week, but I have a very good excuse: I’ve been in Peru! Full disclosure: I wrote this post a week ago, but literally haven’t had a second free at the computer since I returned. I hear Machu Pichu is incredible, but I didn’t visit. Nor did I journey to the southern metropolis of Lima. I didn’t see the Andes, or the Amazon. No, I spent my week in the department of Tumbes, near the Ecuadorian border—a region of roughly 250,000 that’s barely earned itself a place on the map, let alone the Internet.
My good friend Robyn has called this place home for the last year, serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in nearby Pampas de Hospital, a town of 4,000 that only has running water for a few hours each day, and two paved roads (one of which was recently completed). Cuerpo de Paz placed Robyn in Pampas as a health volunteer, teaching community members about the dangers of AIDS and (a bit) about American culture. This is the real Peru.
As I sit in the bus station awaiting my malodorous chariot to the developed world (Guayaquil, Ecuador) to catch my flight back to the States, I see life in the third world pass me by. After just five minutes at the station, it’s clear just how much I take for granted—I see mototaxis rushing customers around town for 1 sol (about 33 cents), corrupt policemen making their rounds, a pair of emaciated dogs, and a small herd of chickens. I see a man crossing the busy Pan American highway while holding an infant and digging for nasal gold (picking your nose is perfectly acceptable in Peru). I see homes with walls of bamboo and mud. I see countless kilos of refuse. But I don’t see tourists.
The city of Tumbes is no tourist destination—in fact, several guidebooks (and plenty of Internet resources) specifically warn against stopping there! Bus passengers pass through on their way to Lima, some 20 hours to the south, but few people who end up in Tumbes do so intentionally. Think Tijuana, but without the Gringos. The city is dangerous (Robyn wouldn’t let me out of her sight the entire week), but my journey to this developing city makes me appreciate the opportunities we have so much more. I know quite a few people, like myself, who would benefit from living here, if only for a week.
The towns of Punta Sal and Mancora, located on Peru’s northern coast, offer some of the finest beaches in South America. A world-renowned surfing destination with up to 9-foot waves, Mancora is located in the department of Piura. The town draws tourists from the Americas and Europe as well. I visited Mancora towards the end of my Peru trip, after spending several days in the department and city of Tumbes, so I was surprised to see Westerners in northern Peru (I had seen only two “Gringos” in Tumbes). If you happen to be driving from Ecuador to Lima, I’d suggest stopping in Mancora, about 7 hours south of Guayaquil and 90 minutes south of Tumbes.
Just 30 minutes to the north, Punta Sal is an oasis in the department of Tumbes, offering some of the cleanest beaches I’ve seen anywhere in the world, let alone in Peru. While other beaches in the department are very unsafe and littered with garbage, Punta Sal is simply gorgeous. I spent two nights at Club Punta Sal, which was incredibly inexpensive by American standards ($84 per night for a suite, including meals), but out of reach for most Peruvians. It can be difficult to get to the hotel (the nearest airport in Tumbes requires a connection in Lima and is located an hour to the north), but it’s definitely worth the trip if you’re able to stay for several days. Club Punta Sal is far nicer and less expensive than any resorts I’ve visited in Mexico or the Caribbean, with excellent service and amenities.
After a rather uneventful 6-hour LAN flight from New York to Guayaquil, I’ve arrived in Ecuador, only to travel on to Peru later this morning. As the gateway city to the Galapagos, Guayaquil has a fair amount of tourist traffic (or at least my hotel adjacent to the airport does). Besides the Iguana Park, my favorite destination so far is Cerro Santa Ana, seen in the photo above just after sunset last night. The hilltop neighborhood is a popular tourist attraction, with plenty of shops, bars and restaurants. I’ll be spending another night in Guayaquil after my trip to Tumbes, Peru, so hopefully I’ll have more time to explore Cerro Santa Ana next weekend.
I’m heading to Ecuador and Peru for a little over a week, so Tech, Travel & Tuna will (most likely) not be updated until I return.
¡Cuídate!
If the folks behind Colonial Williamsburg (the attraction), your neighborhood renaissance festival, modern-day Holland, and MoMa all got together to plan a two-week event on a somewhat-mysterious, surprisingly large island just off the southern coast of Manhattan, it might look something like the New Island Festival, running from September 10-20 on Governors Island. The event—no, the adventure—combines modern-day Dutch culture (Heineken and clubbing), communal, no-frills meals (around a huge wooden table with 400 strangers), an enormous variety of performances, and an “archaeological dig” (art installation), among others. Daily “passports” are available for $35, and include access to most of the events and concerts (meals, beer, and some high-profile shows cost extra). Unless you’re planning on spending a full day on the Island, which may be a little overwhelming, it may make more sense to buy tickets to individual shows and events, which range in price from $15 (LAN, a concert of sorts with views of the Statue of Liberty) to $30 (Orfeo: Performance and Dinner), rather than going all out on a Passport. The 5-minute ferry to the island runs every few minutes from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, with Water Taxi service available to other points along the Hudson and East Rivers.
No, not right now… unfortunately you (and 90 percent of the people actually in attendance) missed a chance to grab one for this year. My group of four was able to snag one of the eight-compartment bento boxes at the French Institute’s Crossing the Line Opening Celebration yesterday afternoon. The free event, which took place from 2 – 6 p.m. in Central Park’s East Meadow, combined the most awkward of choreographed French dance with a variety of snack-sized treats. The highlight of the afternoon was a very unique bento box, consisting of eight items from eight different master chefs—most were French, with a cookie from David Chang representing NYC.
Despite the modest turnout due to rain, there were still not enough boxes to go around. The group only prepared a small number of boxes—perhaps 100 in all. The method of distribution seemed quite inefficient at first, and should have been an indicator of the limited supply. An MC distracted people by speaking about the boxes while volunteers walked discretely through the rear of the crowd handing out the treats, four at a time, only to those who were standing patiently, or in my case, unaware. My group was able to snag only one box, so we shared—everything from the David Chang marshmallow/corn flake cookie to the Pascal Barbot egg nog was split four ways. Everything was tasty, but the David Chang cookie seemed to be the highlight. I decided to hang on to the custom multi-layered box, dragging it around the city for the rest of the night.
