My food and drink page...
My food and drink page...
My food and drink page...
Folks who know me at all know I love to cook, and celebrate fine wines. I've also come to relish tequila, but also have a soft spot for a (very) good bourbon, and a rye mixed drink named the Manhattan. Here in MX, I've met several who are Tequila aficionados , and a neighbor down the street - takes his interest to a whole new level - he buys just distilled blanco tequila, gets a barrel [both easy and amazingly complex at the same time]... and ages his own tequila. Last spring he & his wife invited us over; we had a wonderful dinner, and several Margaritas/shots of different tequilas... A few weeks later, he show up at my door with a 20 liter barrel filled with blanco -- Happy Birthday.
Now, almost 9 months later, I have a delightful Reposado tequila, and put 5 liters into a smaller barrel to age another 3 years [Extra Anejo!]. So I've just started my 2nd generation of Ken's tequila -- and it's been a blast. My "home" made margaritas [literally!] are quite excellent, too.
Barbados - Mushroom Rocks
Lower Antelope Canyon - the Eye
Athens & the Acropolis
The Acropolis from our hotel rooftop restaurant, just after sunset.
Just inside the Acropolis, the Temple of Athena Nike.
The Porch of the Caryatids
The Parthenon
Horse statues from inside the Pantheon.
A carved detail from the Parthenon arch.
A statue from the Parthenon -- original paint still evident.
The arches of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus - an amphitheater outside the Acropolis.
The Metropolitan Church of Athens... modern Greek Orthodox.
A Byzantine era church standing beside the Metropolitan Church of Athens.
The Acropolis at sunrise - our last morning in Athens.
Paros - a paradise in the Cyclades
The view from our patio in Paros.
It's one thing to have "Greek Island" on your bucket list; picking THE island [there are 6,000 or so] wasn't easy. Lucky studied it, thought it through, and decided on the Cyclades group. I had no problem with that. From there, we eliminated the "cruise" destinations -- we had no desire to maneuver around 6 -8,000 marauding strangers in any setting. Then we started looking closely at the more central islands -- and reading VRBO ratings of host locations. We quickly arrived at our location on Paros. The island has easy access to two nearby islands, and the housing we found had simply "exemplary" ratings for our hosts; Vangelis & Tonia (property 1390226 with VRBO). Ratings are nice... but our experience with our hosts surpassed even our highest expectations -- they are fantastic! The condo was wonderful... the town, and restaurants, and view, and shopping and... all superlative.
A windmill on a hilltop near Lefkes.
Sunset through a window of the Agios Focus lighthouse ruin -- on the NW point of the island.
A church on the southern side of Paros
A golden pathway through the rocks to the horizon.
In old town Parikia a grape vine climbs above the narrow alley.
Beautiful flowers at the property we rented - Aperado.
The break wall and 'castle' at the fishing village Naousa.
The beautiful church in Parikia.
The windmill at the harbor in Parikia.
The view east to Naxos to the east of Paros.
The harbor at Naoussa.
Lucky & I with our wonderful hosts Vangelis and Tonia, and their precious children... We're so grateful we found their property on Paros! [[https://www.aperado.gr]]