Hey friends,

This Tuesday, Chris and I are taking our three kids on a camping trip around Europe for a month (I say camping, but there will be some hotel stays and Airbnbs along the way). The purpose of this trip is to have quality time together as a family, as well as teach our children about the fabulous food cultures (especially baked goodies :)) found around the world. While I know there will be some stunning places along the way, I really do not want this to be a “vanity” trip for the kids. Instead, my goal is that they make memories, gain appreciation for other people and places, and bond. I’m also super excited to have this experience with Chris. We have always loved going on adventures together!

For those of you who like to travel, I will post our general road trip itinerary below, and our detailed itinerary once the trip is complete. One of the reasons I’m only sharing the general itinerary is so that if we make improvements, you have the best version to use for your own future trip. Please say a prayer for us as we set out on this crazy European adventure!

European Road Trip Itinerary with Kids – (This makes one gigantic loop)!

Camper/RV rental: Indie Campers

Destination cities/regions:

• Lisbon, Portugal
• Madrid, Spain
• Barcelona, Spain
• Provence-Alpes-Cote D’Azure, France (Provence)
• Cannes, France (Day trips: Saint-Tropez and Monaco)
• Florence, Italy
• Lauterbunnen Valley, Switzerland (Day trips: Grindelwald, Bern, Luzern, etc.)
• Baden-Baden, Germany (Day trip: Black Forest National Park)
• Paris, France
• Bordeaux, France
• Bilbao, Spain (northern coastal road)
• Leon, Spain
• Porto, Portugal (Day trip: Nazare lighthouse)
• Lisbon, Portugal

Few tips for your future European road trip:

1. Google Flights is an excellent way to find the lowest airfares. In fact, you can zoom out on the GF map and see rates during your timeframe all over the world. This is how we chose Porto as our starting place for this trip as it was the cheapest spot in Europe to fly into during our selected dates.
2. For families larger than four, Glamping Hub, Hip Camp, and Airbnb are essential. Hotels will make you reserve at least two rooms for groups of four or more which adds up fast. We rented several incredible Airbnbs that are far less expensive than multiple rooms and SO MUCH BETTER!
3. Pack in duffel bags. There isn’t much room on these RVs and when staying in cities you need to take your belongings with you. Duffel bags and backpacks are easier for everyone (kids included) to carry through cities (in route to hotels, etc.) than roller bags. Additionally, they can squish to a small size which is far more practical if driving an RV. Lastly, I must say busting out roller bags at your campsites will make you feel like a total “noob!” Don’t do it.
4. Easy does it! The best tip I can give any parent when taking a long trip like this is to plan your primary destinations well in advance, but keep the “in-between” times loose. Many of us feel compelled to have everything planned out like a trip to Disney, but this isn’t your run-of-the-mill family getaway. Diving five hours and dragging a tired child to a fancy dinner reservation isn’t fun for anyone. Letting the family make a few spontaneous plans during your trip will make for the sweetest memories.

More to come!

Love,

Emily

The post The Ultimate European Road Trip (with Kids) appeared first on Pie Crust and Pixie Dust.

Do you know the difference between Italian gelato and ice cream? I bet you do, but until two weeks ago, I really had no clue. While they are both cold, creamy and delicious, I thought of gelato as being like the complicated, bilingual, well-traveled, private school cousin of ice cream.  Either way, I wanted to learn more about the difference between the two, so I set out to Italy to (celebrate my sweet mom’s birthday) and to interview the absolute authority on Italian gelato, Andrea Fassi.  And friends, let me tell you, in a beautiful century-old gelato shop, on an ancient road in the heart of Rome, not only did I learn about what makes gelato extraordinary, but I also had an unexpected revelation about what makes people extraordinary.  This was a sweet little story that I was eager to come home and share with my children….

—–

Andrea Fassi is the great grandson of Giovanni Fassi, one of the first gelato artisans, (gelatieres) in the world. In 1880, Andrea’s family started the first gelateria (gelato shop) in Rome, Italy, called Palazzo del Freddo di Giovanni, (say that ten times fast)!  Generation after generation the Fassi family has been holding true to their traditional and well-perfected gelato recipes, while pushing the creative envelope with new innovative flavors, each year.  Now as CEO of Palazzo del Freddo de Giovanni, Andrea Fassi is managing not only the current business, but also the imminent expansion of Fassi Gelato around the world.

So there I was in Rome, with a six o’clock meeting set up Andrea Fassi himself, at Palazzo del Freddo di Giovanni, (the gelato lab).  I’m not exactly sure why, but upon arriving, I was expecting a small, quaint gelato shop tucked away in a hidden Rome alley. However, to my surprise, Fassi Gelato Lab was anything but quaint. I walked into a large beautiful old building that was absolutely packed with  customers. The walls were adorned with century old Fassi ads, and beautiful antique gelato equipment.  Take a look at this dreamy place…

Then as I stood in this Italian gelato shop that was like something out of a Nancy Meyers film, here comes Andrea Fassi himself, floating into the shop like he was fresh off a Vespa ride with some super hot Italian lady.  It was one of those moments where everything was like a slow motion music video from back in the day.  He waved his hair out of his face, put his sunglasses on his head, and kindly introduced himself.  Within moments it was clear that we were in the midst the ultimate gelato aficionado.

Andrea was kind enough to take us back to the gelato lab where each day their team of gelatieres make massive quantities of fresh and even seasonal gelato.  Here is a peek a the lab…

As we walked with Andrea through the gelato lab, I was met with a few surprises along the way.  Andrea explained how the process used to make gelato a century ago, is quite similar to how Fassi gelato is still made to this day.  I was also surprised at how little equipment was required to produce such diverse flavors, and vast quantities of gelato.  I was expecting a huge array of mixers and machines, and while the equipment they did have was huge and state-of-the-art, it was minimal.

The biggest surprise however was when I began to ask Andrea about what goes into gelato, and the differences between ice cream and gelato.  It turns out that while I thought of gelato as being the complex, extra fancy version of ice cream, it’s quite the opposite.

What makes gelato so great is actually the low quantity and high quality of the ingredients, (the Fassi family even sources cows from far in the Italian Alps because their diet produces such delicious milk).  Simple ingredients + best quality possible + love (of course) = extraordinary gelato.

Hmmmm.  This got me thinking.  Don’t you think that some of the best things in life are like gelato?  They aren’t fussy or complex, but simple and of really good quality.  See, when something is truly good, it doesn’t need a lot of extras.

In fact, as a mom, I was eager to share this little revelation with my children.  I want my kids to know that what makes them so great is the goodness they have on the inside.  They don’t have to try hard to be great.  They don’t have to be like someone else, wear fancy clothes, or have certain things.  They have the best quality ingredients on the inside, and that is more than enough.  Any other bells and whistles are just the whipped cream on top!

Anyways, after our tour of the Fassi Gelateria, Andrea Fassi was kind enough to let us try any of the gelato flavors they had in the store.  DREAM COME TRUE!  We were obsessed with the fruit flavors which were like nothing else I’ve ever tried.  This gelato tasted as if the berries were picked that day, (and they quite likely may have been).  We also tried various rich flavors like, mocha, chocolate and several others.  This gelato was so extraordinary that we found ourselves sitting at a table with tons of melted gelato, because we were savoring each bite so slowly.  Quality problem, you guys!  It is just…that…good.

In the end I was left with an experience that will stick with me for the rest of my life.  Not only was the experience that Andrea gave us beyond anything imaginable, but I was reminded that the best things in life are like gelato.  Sweet, simple, made with love, and of great quality.

I want to give my most sincere thanks to Andrea Fassi and the Fassi family for their generosity and hospitality.  You truly welcomed us like family.   We will be waiting to have your fabulous Italian gelato here in the United States sometime very soon!

Palazzo del Freddo di Giovanni

Principe Eugenio street, 65
00185 Rome
Phone +39 06 4464740
Fax +39 06 49383354

The post Off to Italy to Interview The Gelato Authority, Andrea Fassi appeared first on Pie Crust and Pixie Dust.

In a total stroke of luck, my husband and I recently had the opportunity to take a road trip around the perimeter of Ireland.  During our trip, we toured castles, got pooped on by a fertilizer tractor (long story), saw countless cute little fat sheep, and met incredible people.  However one unexpected experience that we truly enjoyed, was getting to visit family owned bakeries all over the Emerald Isle.  Take a look at some of the sweet bakeries we visited along the way….

We loved how all of these bakeries varied in their style both inside and out.  However, despite their uniqueness from one another, it didn’t take long before we noticed one item that each bakery consistently had on hand… Irish Soda Bread.  I suddenly found myself on a quest to learn more about this tasty bread, and the story behind its rise in popularity across Ireland.

It turns out that Irish soda bread did not originate in Ireland, but became a staple of Irish kitchens and culture during The Potato Famine of 1845.  The bread was popularized due to it’s simple, widely accessible ingredients including baking soda as a leavening agent, versus yeast. Since the famine, Irish soda bread or “brown bread” has become a part of Irish culinary culture, and is considered a “kitchen table bread” in many homes.

Okay, time out.  Let’s just think about that for a moment….  This brown bread saved thousands of people from starvation. Imagine what it would have been like to raise a family in such difficult times.  What a bread… What an impact.  I couldn’t help but think that this was a recipe that I should try at home with my kids.  It is simple to prepare, and the history of the bread is something my kids needed to hear.

So in celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day this week, our family embarked on a soda bread baking adventure.  The recipe we put together was an accumulation of many different traditional soda bread recipes, but we added brown sugar and butter (because we’re southerners) to give the bread a hint of additional flavor and sweetness.  Sorry, Ireland!

This really was an easy and fun baking project for the kids and me.  The bread turned out great, and I whipped in a little history lesson for the #momwin!   My girls thought it was pretty cool that such a simple bread played such a significant part in saving families from hunger.  It turns out, you really can bake history!

Ireland is such a lovely place, and if you haven’t been you should go.  And if you do go, don’t forget to stop in a few bakeries along the way.  We hope baking this Irish soda bread recipe becomes a great Saint Patrick’s Day tradition for your family!

For more information, check out The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread.

Print

Irish Soda Bread

Simple Irish Soda Bread Recipe.  We love serving this traditional bread with butter and honey.

Ingredients

• 3 cups wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Combine dry ingredients in a stand mixer.
• Add in remaining ingredients and gently combine.
• Take dough out and carefully knead.
• Let chill for 30 minutes.
• Place dough in greased loaf pan and cover with foil.  
• Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, or until a toothpick comes out dry.  

Tagged under: Irish Soda Bread Recipe

The post Easy Irish Soda Bread Recipe appeared first on Pie Crust and Pixie Dust.

For the last 25 years, the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina has hosted the National Gingerbread House Competition.  The competition began as a community gathering, and over two decades has become one of the most noteworthy holiday baking events in the country.  This year, our family was lucky enough to visit the Omni Grove Park Inn to celebrate the competition and sit down with recently awarded “Top Pastry Chef in the United States,” and Executive Pastry Chef at the Grove Park Inn, Chef John Cook. The purpose of our interview was to learn about the competition as well as Chef Cook’s top tips on building gingerbread houses of our own.

The opportunity to learn tips on building gingerbread houses from one of the best pastry chefs in the nation was great.  However, without even intending to, Chef cook served up advice that would inspire the children and me far beyond the four walls of a gingerbread house.  He gave us a recipe for success.

——-

If you haven’t visited the Omni Grove Park Inn, you must plan a trip!  We love the hotel at any time of the year, but there is something magical about this place during the holidays.  The Inn is over a century old, and sits perched in a historic Asheville neighborhood, with panoramic views of the  Appalachian mountains.  The outside as well as the lobby of the hotel is constructed with massive boulders, and is an amazing example of original Arts and Crafts architecture perfectly preserved in time.  During the holidays, the lobby is filled with families sipping hot chocolate from a full-sized cocoa “shop” made entirely of gingerbread.  Yep, the shop is made of gingerbread!  The visitors sit around the huge Christmas tree, in rocking chairs around the two enormous fireplaces, or out on the heated back portico watching the sunset over the mountains.

If you visit The Grove Park Inn during the holidays, you will literally feel like you are in your very own Hallmark holiday movie.  You know you love those movies, we won’t judge.

The hotel has a 40,000 square foot subterranean spa as well as several shops, restaurants and a coffee shop.  We met with Chef Cook and Director of Public Relations, Tracey Johnston-Crum outside the coffee shop.  When Chef Cook sat down, he explained that he was taking a break from baking thousands of gingerbread cookies with his team for the holiday guests.  After learning all about the pastry program at the hotel, I asked Chef Cook what it took to build a great gingerbread house?  I explained that for many of us, the idea of creating a gingerbread house from scratch is a huge challenge, especially when baking with kids.  With ease, Chef Cook said the following:

How to build a gingerbread house from scratch:

1. Establish a Goal:  What do you want your gingerbread house to look like?
2. Create a Visual Strategy: Create the gingerbread house you want to make out of paper  before you begin baking.  This will allow you to know what size your walls, roof and other components need to be.
3. Be Patient:  Bake your gingerbread low and slow.  Additionally, once your gingerbread is baked, let it dry out like a Biscotti.  Although this requires patience, it’s worth it to ensure your gingerbread are strong enough to build upon.
4. Teamwork: Having a good team in place will help you once all of the pieces start coming together.
5. Prepare for Mishaps:   You don’t want to be defeated if a wall of your gingerbread house collapses.  Consider preparing extra pieces, just in case things go off course.  Remember, proper preparation prevents poor performance!
6. Consider the Long Term:  How the gingerbread house will hold up over time? What do you need to do to make sure your creation doesn’t all fall apart over time?

It didn’t take long for me to see the metaphor in all of this!  I hope my children remember this recipe for success if they ever decide to start a business or when they are faced with a personal or professional challenge in the future.  We whole heartedly accepted Chef Cook’s advice as it relates to baking and as it relates to life in general.   Here is how our gingerbread house turned out after following the advice from Chef Cook.

Our Goal: Rainbow Row House

Paper Strategy:

Patience:  We used this EASY recipe and baked it low and slow.

Teamwork and a good plan for keeping it together!  Our Charleston inspired Gingerbread House.

We had such a blast celebrating the 25th Annual National Gingerbread Competition at The Grove Park Inn.  The gingerbread houses were so inspirational, and the beauty and hospitality of the resort was unforgettable.   We hope you give building your own gingerbread house a try.  I truly believe that by way of these six tips to building (anything) gingerbread houses, you will find it to be a fun family tradition.

Many thanks to Director of Public Relations, Tracey Johnston-Crum, Chef John Cook, and the kind staff of the Omni Grove Park Inn.

Happy holidays,

Emily

Snapshots from the 25th Annual National Gingerbread House Competition:

The post Omni Grove Park Inn: Recipe for Success appeared first on Pie Crust and Pixie Dust.

Following in the footsteps of my daughter, I hopped from stone-to-stone, ensuring not to step on any cracks in the rocky pathway.  We played under Redwood trees at the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.  How in the world did we end up there?  Well, we were on a quest.  A quest to learn about the origins of the unwarranted outcast of baking…..  The fortune Cookie.

A while back, we ordered asian food from one of our favorite delivery places in Charleston.  As I took the food containers out of the bags, there were two sad little fortune cookies that fell onto the counter.  My youngest daughter asked me to read her fortune, and in lieu of reading lotto numbers and a silly proverb, I cracked open the cookie and made up a fortune that suited her a little better.  I have always thought that opening a fortune cookie provides a little opportunity to encourage a child in a fun way.  Anyways, after “reading” her fortune, I got to thinking, what’s the deal with these little cookies, anyways?  Where did they originate and how did they become so popular?

Well, we did a little research and packed our bags for California….

It turns out that while fortune cookies are most popular in Chinese restaurants, they actually originated in Japan.  In 1906, an immigrant from Japan named Suyeichi Okamura opened a Japanese bakery in San Francisco.  Suyeichi’s bakery, Benkyodo supplied fortune cookies to Makoto Hagiwara, the director of the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park.  Over time, with so many visitors to the park, the fortune cookie’s popularity began to soar.  So of course, one of the most important places we visited on our quest for fortune cookie knowledge was San Francisco’s beautiful Japanese Tea Garden.

Next, we visited a local fortune cookie bakery called “The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.”  Here, we learned about the techniques of folding fortune cookies, and sampled flavor variations such as chocolate, green tea and strawberry fortune cookies.  Goodness gracious, these cookies are so underrated!  We left with about a hundred cookies, including one fortune cookie that was the size of my daughter’s head.

Skilled with a newfound folding technique and a ton of inspiration, we decided to bake fortune cookies of our very own once we returned home.  The folding technique we observed at The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory took a little bit of practice, but once we got the hang of it, the cookies looked and tasted great!

In the end, this was one of the most fun baking projects we have ever completed.  If you have the opportunity to learn about the history of certain foods, go for it.  It is amazing where your curiosity can lead you.  In the end, we all had an unforgettable trip, and memories to last a lifetime.

We love this little recipe, and hope you enjoy making customized fortune cookies with the kids in your life!

*Please send us your favorite foodie travel story, and we will post highlights on the blog!

The post Fortune Cookie Quest appeared first on Pie Crust and Pixie Dust.

The Greenbrier resort is stunning from the outside.  The hotel is nestled so proudly into the mountains of West Virginia.  Yet as incredible as it is on the outside, it is what is behind it’s walls, underneath it’s floors, and behind its doors that truly dazzles.

The purpose of our family’s visit to The Greenbrier, was to learn more about the resort’s famed pastry program led by the world renowned, Chef Jean-Francois Suteau.   We were curious to find out if the resort’s chefs had begun plans for their celebrated Easter display.  Yet in the end,  our visit was so much more than anything we could have ever planned.   Not only was the tour of the massive kitchen, the Congressional Cold War bunker, and the gorgeous colorful palette of rooms impressive, but the genuine hospitality was just as sweet and refined as the famed pastries we sought out during our visit.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by two Directors of Resort Communications,  Mr. Erik Hastings and Mr. Cam Huffman.  After a fascinating historical overview of the resort, we were taken through several opulent dining rooms, back a hallway and to a little black door.

We could have never imagined what we would uncover behind this little modest door….

Mr. Hastings opened the door and led us down a long hallway to the pastry kitchen.  Within the kitchen stood some of the most noteworthy pastry chefs in the world.  There were buckets of chocolate chips, containers of edible gold leaf, sprinkles galore, and the one and only Chef Devin Cowan, (total rockstar). Chef Cowan guided us through the impressive kitchen and behind a hidden corner to a gorgeous hand made sculpture made exclusively from chocolate.  We tasted Macaroons, Opera Cakes, cookies and homemade candies, (it was like a mom-of-three’s ultimate dream come true, y’all)! Overall, the pastry team’s attention to detail, skill and dedication to all things sweet was astounding.  I think the boxes of sprinkles and chocolate chips were far more well-contained than our reactions to this extraordinary operation.

If you have thought about taking your children to visit The Greenbrier, Easter weekend is one of the best  times of the year to make the trip.   During our visit, we learned that the pastry team’s elaborate Easter plans were well underway, and without divulging any details, we think chocolate will play an important roll in this year’s Easter festivities.  In addition to the sweets, the resort has tons of activities planned for families throughout Easter weekend.  The resort is hosting a huge Easter egg hunt, petting zoo, cookie decorating class, woven basket workshop and quite a bit more.  And this is recommendation is coming from another mom, not a spokesperson of any kind for The Greenbrier.

After we left the Greenbrier we were all reminded that no matter how lovely something, someone or some place may be on the outside, it’s what’s on the inside that always matters most.  If you have the opportunity to take a family vacation to The Greenbrier, we would genuinely recommend the trip.  You will be met with layer upon layer of hospitality and beauty from the inside out.

The post It’s what’s on the Inside that Really Counts appeared first on Pie Crust and Pixie Dust.