All posts tagged: food

CINQUE TERRE, ITALY

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Italy, my favorite place in the world. I’ve been several times at this point, but I still have so much more to see there. This recent trip I decided to explore Cinque Terre for the first time. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small seaside villages on the west coast of Italy. I bought train tickets from Milan to Riomaggiore on the last train out of Milan at night, and the whole trip was supposed to be around 3.5 hours total. I ended up getting off at the wrong station around Genoa and there were no trains the rest of the night, so I had to take a taxi from Genoa to Riommagiore which was around 1.5 hours and 200 EURO. Just my luck, but part of the fun, huh? I arrived in Riomaggiore around 2am (hours later than I was supposed to) and it was a ghost town. If only there was a hidden camera to see me in the middle of the night with two of my huge suitcases nearly sliding down …

CARTAGENA

Published by Nicole Isaacs

I went on a trip to Cartagena last year and did a brief blog post about it. I just came back from another recent trip, so I thought I’d write an updated post on my experience the 2nd time around. Old Town Cartagena is a breathtaking and vibrant city. Inside the walled city, colorful buildings line the narrow streets, fruit and street food vendors sit on every corner, and smiling Palenqueras (Colombian fruit ladies) are waiting to pose for pictures with you…(for 20 mil Colombian pesos of course). It’s strange when you go back to a place for a second time, it never really quite feels like the first. Traveling for a living has taught me a lot. I’ve learned that traveling to a place as a tourist with the excitement of being somewhere new, is a completely different experience than really spending time and immersing yourself in the every day life of the local culture. I’ve been on both sides several times. I would visit somewhere new and I would just be so excited to …

TOP 5 BEST FOODS AT DISNEYLAND

Published by Nicole Isaacs

There are million reasons why you go to Disneyland, it really is the happiest place on earth. Or maybe I’m just a child trapped in a woman’s body, I don’t know. I swear I am just happier there. I don’t think its the same for everyone though, my dad hates Disneyland. Like swore he’ll never go back the last time my mom dragged him there for two days spending the night at Disneyland resort with the family. I don’t think he’s been back since, and this was probably fifteen years ago lol. Every time we had family visitors from Israel, of course they wanted to go to Disneyland, and my dad, trying to be the good host and a good sport that he was, would suck it up one last time (he hoped), always describing waiting in hour long lines to go on a less than 2-minute ride was “torture”. Well, I can’t say the same for myself. I love bringing people there from out of town- I get to relive my childhood all over …

DEAR ANTHONY

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Dear Anthony, I found out the news this morning that you passed. It was the first thing I read when I opened my eyes and it took me several minutes to process. In fact, I think I still am processing everything. It wasn’t until I started reading through all the tribute articles and social media posts that reality finally set in. It seems like we are constantly hearing and reading about celebrity deaths, and surely it all affects you in some way. But this hit me hard. I guess like so many others, I feel like I’ve known you for years, as I’ve followed you on your journey and exploration of the world. I devoted countless days watching marathons of No Reservations and Parts Unknown. I’ve seen every episode. You brought me and so many others on your journey to seek the unknown, to embrace and respect the uniqueness of cultures, to breakdown boundaries and barriers, bringing unity to the world. You brought people together through food, and your aspiration to connect with humanity is admirable. You inspired people to travel, live life to the fullest, and to get out …

LILIA RESTAURANT- BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Lilia is known to be one of the best restaurants in New York. It’s known for amazing Italian food and hard to get a reservation. I recently went and ordered a bunch of dishes off the menu to make sure I tried enough to make a fair judgement on the place, and I left feeling unimpressed. I had high expectations and it definitely didn’t live up to the hype in my humble opinion. Although nothing was bad, nothing was out of this world or mind blowing. I think it’s worth to visit if you have the chance but don’t have the highest expectations because I feel like you’ll leave a little disappointed. Anytime something is super hyped, I feel like it’s always a let down. See the dishes I ordered below. * My favorite dishes were the Squash Filled Ravioli, with Hazelnuts, Parmigiano & Sage, and the Crispy Shrimp with Parsley Aioli. Also the garlic ciabatta bread as an appetizer was delicious!

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA

Published by Nicole Isaacs

This year I visited Cartagena, Colombia and it made my top list of favorite places I’ve visited thus far. I’ve had another insane year of travel, so I’m finally catching up on all my travel posts to wrap up 2017. Because I went with a group, we had a schedule we had to stick to so wasn’t able to venture so much on my own to hit up the best restaurants and food spots so I will be back to create my own Cartagena guide. I plan to go back in 2018, but thought I’d share my pictures from this trip in the meantime. I went to Cartagena with Foray Collective and Maaji Swimwear. I went with a few of my favorite blogger babes and the best word to describe the trip is magical. We stayed in the heart of Cartagena in a beautiful house put together by Maaji, which is a Colombian swimwear brand. The city of Cartagena is colorful with a Spanish charm. It almost feels like you are on a movie set, …

LA QUINTA RESORT & CLUB + L’SPACE GETAWAY, PALM SPRINGS

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Escaped to the desert for a little getaway this past weekend at La Quinta Resort & Club. I was invited by the resort for a weekend escape in partnership with L’Space Swim, to relax and hang out by the pool. I never “relax” on trips so it actually felt like the first time I did in years which was nice. I brought a friend with me and we spent our days relaxing by the pool, had a private meditation session and enjoyed the beautiful spa. Traveling all the time takes a toll on me, so having a few day retreat like this once in a while is much needed for my health lol. I love Palm Springs. My grandparents had a house there so growing up it would be the place where we would have family getaways a few times a year on special occasions. Palm Springs is kind of nostalgic to me. I remember the warm nights spent with my family, spending hours by the pool, going out to dinners and making breakfast all together …

IBIZA + FORMENTERA, SPAIN

Published by Nicole Isaacs

I chose Spain as my summer destination, so had to make a stop in Ibiza to see a few of my friends that were also there for the summer. This was my second time in Ibiza, but I had gone in 2010 when I was a lot younger and had no idea what I was doing back then lol. Now I know how to do it right- a bunch of my friends go every summer and I was with a good group this time who knew all the places to go. We rented an AirBnB villa and also rented a car to get around the island. We stacked up with groceries and booze for the week and spent the days at the villa, and nights out. To be honest, I’m not the biggest drinker or partier anymore, so going out five nights in a row in Ibiza sounded like pure torture to me lol. I went out three of the five nights which was more than enough for me. The clubs there aren’t really my …

MALLORCA, SPAIN

Published by Nicole Isaacs

Mallorca was the final finale of my summer ’17 trip. It was the perfect end to an incredible summer in Europe. I had been to Mallorca in 2010, but only for one night. I spent five nights this time and stayed in an AirBnB in a charming alley in the heart of Palma, which is Mallorca’s capital city. Palma has plenty of shopping, restaurants and bars and it’s so nice to wander and get lost in the streets there. You can pretty much walk everywhere in Palma and it’s a great central location to stay on the island. I also have to recommend Rambla 28 for a fresh and healthy meal. I called it “Mama’s Kitchen” because it was always a woman or her daughter cooking everything in front of you in their little shop that serves healthy toasts, smoothies, salads, and the bombest sweet and savory crepes made from scratch. I literally went there every day for five days straight for a meal. It’s on La Rambla street in the heart of Palma and its …