All posts by Cherese Cobb

Cherese Cobb was raised in Maryville, Tenn. A graduate of Maryville College, she has a B.A. in psychology and art. A bibliophile, she considers herself a professional student, as she has an insatiable curiosity. When she's not freelance writing for newspapers, blogs, magazines, or literary journals, she splits her time between family, photography, and cat-worship and chugs coffee to survive all three.

How to Enjoy Mardi Gras (On a Shoestring Budget)

The Big Easy is one of the most expensive destinationsfor U.S. travelers, and prices usually skyrocket by 300% during the Carnival season and Mardi Gras. At “the greatest free show on earth”, the good times roll. But so do your debit and credit cards. So, what’s a would-be reveler to do? Use these budget-savvy tips to let loose and have fun without breaking your bank. 

Make a Plan

Whether you’re visiting The Backstreet Cultural Museum, joining the Shreve Town Walking Parade, or dancing non-stop at Pygmalion Fest, map out your plans. If you’re going to Bacchus and Endymion, two of the biggest parades of the season, grab a spot at least four hours early because the front-row ends up being four or five people deep. And don’t forget that the weather god is the one who actually rules over the Carnival season. Check the weather forecast: there might be icy sleet or sunny heat.

Check for Cancellations

“February 11 is the first major parade that happens. If you come for that instead of the last weekend, it’s not as expensive because more hotels are available. Then you get to experience the rest of New Orleans as well,” says Kelley Troia from Clandestine. If you’re a carnival reveler who hasn’t sealed the deal on accommodations, don’t worry.  While most five-star hotels are booked by December (and require a four-day minimum stay), you can still check for cancellations and be put on a waiting list. Suburban hotels in Metairie, Kenner, or Gretna also are much cheaper. Even if you can’t secure a keycard, there are plenty of RV campsites and homes (or at least bedrooms) available as the countdown to Mardi Gras madness begins. 

Reboot an Old Costume

Costumes are to Carnival as bacon is to eggs. When it comes to getups, the only rule is that there are no rules. “It’s Halloween times ten,” says Andrea Kolasinski Marcinkus, the Dean of Academic Affairs at The Illinois Institute of Art. “The more brightly colored and crazy, the better.” You can slather yourself in fluorescent body paint and cut-outs from cardboard boxes.  Or you can plunge into your closet and dig out Halloween costumes, ugly Christmas sweaters, or bridesmaid’s dress. Then fire up your glue gun, and stick on sequins, feathers, beads, or rhinestones. If you don’t want to suit up, you’ll blend right in wearing layers of purple, green, and gold. 

Hoof it 

Avoid traffic that makes rush hour seem fun and taxis that get nowhere near the action.  Mardi Gras Virgin? Make sure to slip on a pair of comfy, closed-toes shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty. And stick a couple of band-aids in your back pocket. Got to go faster? Rent a cruiser, tandem, or mountain bike.  They often come with free helmets, locks, baskets, and lights for night riding. Or better yet, use public transportation. A visiTOUR card costs $5 per day and gives you unlimited rides on all buses and streetcars. You also can instantly pay for your fare on the RTA GoMobile app, without the hassle of counting coins and cash. 

Eat Cheap

From wedding cake-flavored “sno-balls” filled with ice cream to po’boys stuffed with shrimp and French fries, New Orleans has some of America’s best grub. Unfortunately, local restaurants usually jack up their prices during Mardi Gras. Want to enjoy it without leaving your wallet hung over?Check for coupons and hit up inexpensive eateries like Café Beignet, Camellia Grill, 13 Monaghan, or The Joint.

Bring a Go Cup 

In New Orleans, you can walk the streets with open containers of alcohol—and not just during Mardi Gras. If you want to take your Hurricanes, Hand Grenades, and store-bought spirits with you from bar to bar or parade to parade, use a plastic “go cup” (no cans or bottles); they’re available at the door of every bar. But they’re the hardest-to-get and most sought-after parade throws. “At a young age, we’re taught to always grab them, even if it meant scuffling under floats and between marching bands,” says Becca Miller, a social media specialist at Pet Paradise Resort. Beware: “there ain’t no place to pee during Mardi Gras Day,” says Benny Grunch. Some places along parade routes sell $5 wristbands that allow unlimited use of their bathrooms. Though, free restrooms are so hard to find that you’ll actually see porta-potties strapped to the back of pickup trucks.

Last Note

While Mardi Gras has a reputation as a laid-back, anything-goes extravaganza, there are some sure-fire ways to get into (legal) trouble. Outside of the French Quarter, it’s illegal to flash your naughty bits for beads.  It’s also possible to be arrested for hitting the bottle too hard. But “you’ve got to be intoxicated where you’re a danger to yourself or others,”  says Nick Gernon, the commander of the New Orleans Police Department’s 8th District. Still, ambulance rides and medical bills are expensive ways to sober up.

10 New Year’s Traditions from Around the World

Smashing plates, burning dummies in the streets, flinging broken appliances through windows—these might sound like alcohol-fueled New Year’s Eve parties, but in other parts of the world, they’re time-honored traditions. Here are 10 fascinating rituals from around the world.

 

Greece

If you thought Santa Claus retired to Cancun—and started surfing to burn off his nearly 336 million cookies—after December 25th, then you forgot about Greece. “Saint Basil the Great gave away all his belongings to the poor. That’s why Greeks believe he’s the Greek Santa Claus,” says Panos Apostolou from SBS Greek. On New Year’s, they set an extra place for him at their tables.  They make donations to charities and give money to their children or their youngest relatives. In some parts of Greece, they also hang wild sea onions, with their bulbs wrapped in foil, above their front doors. Because they continue to grow layers and blossom even when they’re uprooted, they’re said to have magical powers and are symbols of rebirth and good luck.  On Greek Santa Claus’ feast day, parents wake up their children by tapping them on the head with it.

 

Japan

On New Year’s Eve, Japanese families gather together under a heated blanket and watch Kōhaku Uta Gassen,  a special NHK program where popular male and female musicians compete against each other. Then, either for dinner or an evening snack, they slurp year-crossing noodles while wishing for a long life. As midnight nears, Buddhist temples strike their ritual bells with wooden mallets 108 times.  “We symbolically beat out our sins from the past year so we can start the New Year off fresh,” says Reverand Toyokazu Hagio from Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin.

 

South Africa

Does your toaster pop out charcoal on its first setting? Then you might want to adopt this South African New Year’s Eve tradition: toss your old furniture out the window at the stroke of midnight. Dating back to the colonial era, it represents letting go of past sorrows for a more hopeful future. But in Johannesburg, South Africa, residents stockpile pots, old couches, and microwaves. Then they chuck them from high-rise buildings with reckless abandon.

 

Denmark

On December 31st, the Danish have a smashing good time. They round up their broken china and hurl it against their friends’ and families’ doors. (No word on whether they volunteer to clean up the mess after.) A measure of popularity, the piles of broken glass ward off bad spirits and welcome happier vibes in the chaos. The Danish also scramble to the highest viewing points in their living rooms and leap into the new year—literally. “It does help to get any tumbles out of the way, pretty early on in the year,” says Alex Aagaard, a self-proclaimed New Year-ologist from Denmark.

 

Spain

At the stroke of midnight on Nochevieja, the last day of the year, Spaniards eat 12 grapes. Each represents good luck for one month of the coming year. Fleshy, sweet, and pale, almost whitish-green in color, these “lucky grapes”  are wrapped in paper bags in early summer and kept covered as they ripen. “They form a peel that’s much finer by not having to fend off … the rain, the sun, or the wind,” says Uva de Mesa Embolsada Vinalopó, a regulatory officer for the Denominación de Origen. “It also makes them quicker to eat. There’s less to swallow.” In Madrid and Barcelona, Spaniards also drop good luck charms like wedding rings or 2 euros into their Cava before the 12 o’clock toast.

 

Chile

In 1995, a family illegally jumped over a cemetery fence to spend New Year’s Eve near their father’s grave. Moved by their selflessness, local officials permanently open cemeteries on December 31st. Since then, families have been encouraged to decorate their loved ones’ graves with Chilean bellflowers, photos, keepsakes, and other souvenirs. While listening to classical music, they share their dead’s favorite foods like chapaleles and arrollado huaso.  They also light small fires next to their graves and sleep there until sunrise on January 1st.

 

Ecuador

Between Christmas and New Year’s, Donald Trump, Spongebob, Pikachu, and Mickey Mouse appear street side. The life-sized mannequins are stuffed with old newspapers or sawdust. On Los Años Viejos, Ecuadorians parade them through the city while men dress as their “widows” and beg for money. In the middle of the night, they set their effigies on fire. This burns away last year’s trials and tribulations and paves the way for nothing but good luck in the coming year. If they jump over the fire twelve times, they also double their happiness and success.

 

Philippines

Circles make the world go round.  They represent wholeness, the Self, timelessness, and all cyclic movement. On New Year’s Eve, Filipinos place 12 round fruits on their tables, a different one for each month of the coming new year. They also scatter Philippine pisos around the house and stash them in their pockets. This keeps their cash flowing past the stroke of midnight.  Hoping to keep Lady Luck by their sides, Filipinos wear polka dot clothing. They also wear red underwear for love, yellow for happiness, or green for money.

 

Finland

It’s no secret that Finland likes to party, but when it comes to New Year’s, it’s less about the glittery mini-dresses and tulle skirts. Instead, it’s more about predicting their future health, wealth, and happiness with molten tin or lead, a practice known as Molybdomancy.  Miniature tin horseshoes are melted in a pan and then poured into a bucket of cold water. The resulting lump of hardened metal is rotated in candlelight to create shadows. A fragile or broken shape indicates that misfortune may be around the corner.  Ships mean that the person may travel in the new year while keys usually suggest career advancement.

 

Belarus

If you’re wondering whether you’ll say, “I do”, in the new year, you might want to book a flight to Belarus. On New Year’s, single women sit in a circle and piles of corn are set in front of them. Then a rooster is let go. Whichever pile of corn he pecks at first determines who’ll get married first. In another game, married women hide items around their single friends’ houses to search for in a “manhunt”.  If they find a ring, they’ll tie the knot with a handsome man.  If they find bread, they’ll likely marry a rich one.

 

Did any of these New Year’s traditions surprise you? Do they make you want to visit that country and experience them firsthand? Let us know in the comments!

Escape the Cold in the Seychelles

If paradise exists, it’s located roughly 1,000 miles east of Kenya and mainland Africa in the Indian Ocean. Seychelles is a cluster of 115 islands, cays, and atolls. It has talcum-powder beaches lapped by turquoise waters, strange and ancient forests, thriving coral reefs, and a sublime laid-back tempo. Famed for its biodiversity, you can expect to wander among coco-de-mer palms, black parrots, and Aldabra giant tortoises.

 

Anse Intendance

A remote spot nestled in southwest Mahé, Anse Intendance feels like a lost world. It’s got turquoise waters and a mangrove-lined jungle backdrop. Framed by prehistoric-looking granite boulders, it has white coral sands, swaying palm trees, and corner after corner of sun-kissed seclusion.

Though it’s one of Seychelles’ most popular beaches, Anse Intendance doesn’t have a coral reef to protect it from the open ocean. This makes for larger, stronger waves that draw surfers and bodyboarders in droves.

 

Vallée de Mai

“There’s nowhere on earth like the Vallee de Mai,” says Dr. Christopher Kaiser-Bunbury, an ecology professor at The University of Exeter. It’s one of only two places in the world where coco-de-mer palms grow in their natural state. “Their giant leaves blot out the sky,” he says.

Vallée de Mai National Park_Stock Connection

Bird Island

Bird Island is surrounded by water that’s so clear it looks like it’s floating on air. With endless stretches of white sand and coconut palms, the 170-acre coral cay is a birding hotspot. It has a year-round population of more than 20 different bird species, including fairy terns, Eurasian hobbies, and whimbrels.

Bird Island Seychelles

It has a resident pod of spinner dolphins and manta rays. Hawksbill and green sea turtles also lay their eggs here, undisturbed. Aldabra giant tortoises roam safely and freely (and, it must be said, very slowly) around the island, nibbling grasses, woody stems, and leaves. The 550-pound reptiles are an astonishing sight with their huge domed shells, big scaly legs, and oddly ancient faces.

With only 24 bungalows to welcome guests, Bird Island in Seychelles leaves you with a true “castaway” feeling.

 

Anse Source d’Argent

In the age of photo filters, it’s easy to think that Anse Source d’Argent might not live up to its postcard images. However, this public beach in Seychelles doesn’t disappoint. It’s a mixture of emerald waters, incredibly soft, white sands, and pink granite formations that appear to change colors throughout the day. Plus, it’s a mecca for moviemakers. (It was used as a backdrop for Emanuelle, Crusoe, and Castaway, as well as the famous Bacardi ads of the 1990s.)

Anse Source d'Argent

Anse Source d’Argent is quite popular. If the crowds are too much for you, wade south through the shallows. You’ll probably spot endangered humphead wrasses, moray eels, octopus, and even baby blacktip reef sharks (no worries, they’re harmless). Or, take the path along the back of the beach and you’ll feel like you have an uninhabited piece of paradise all to yourself. Here, you’ll also find little, palm-covered shacks, where you can get fresh coconut water and fruit smoothies.

To reach the beach, you’ll have to pay an entrance fee to L’Union Estate, which also entitles you to explore its park and museum, where you can see vanilla plantations, giant tortoises, and an old boatyard.

Le Jardin Du Roi

Sitting on the hilly terrain above Anse Royale, Le Jardin Du Roi is the reconstruction of Pierre Poivre’s 18th-century spice garden. The 23-year-old garden is steeped in the aromas of vanilla, cinnamon, citronella, nutmeg, and clove. Avocado, lychee, starfruit, and macadamia nut trees also throw shade.

Le Jardin Du Roi Spice Garden
Image via Pixabay

Take a guided hike around the 87-acre orchard-crossed-with-forest where you can learn about the spice trade and view artifacts like marble mortars and brass pepper grinders at the planter’s one-room museum.  If you’re feeling peckish, try the Creole-style restaurant with special “Plantation Lunches” served on Sundays.

5 Yoga Poses for People Who Sit A Lot

If you feel like sitting in front of a computer from 9 to 5 is slowly killing you, you’re not too far off. Sitting too much is seriously bad for your health. “[But] yoga can help declutter your mind and allow you to refocus on your priorities. It combats poor posture, muscle soreness, and lower back pain by releasing endorphins into your body’s system,” says Sophie George, the founder of Firefly Yoga. Ready to take a stand? Here are five yoga poses (with modifications) that will undo the damage of your desk job.

 

Standing Forward Bend with Shoulder Opener (Uttanasana)

uttanasana beyond words

Bust workplace anxiety, depression, and insomnia with a standing forward bend. Start in Mountain Pose. Clasp your hands behind your back. Then take a deep breath to open your chest. Exhale and fold forward, letting your head fall toward the ground while shifting your weight to the fronts of your feet. Hold for one minute.

Modifications: Stiff? Use a resistance band to clasp your hands behind your back and bend your elbows.

 

Camel Pose (Ustrasana)

ustrasana beyond words

Relieve neck and back pain by bending into Camel Pose. Begin by kneeling with your knees hip-distance apart. Then rotate your thighs slightly inward, and push your shins and the tops of your feet into the floor. Rest your hands on the back of your pelvis with the bases of your palms on the tops of your buttocks and your fingers pointing down. Stretch your tailbone toward the floor and widen the back of your pelvis. Lean back. Tuck your chin slightly toward your chest and press your palms into your heels. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds.

Modifications: If you’re not flexible, keep your thumbs on your sacrum and pull your lower belly up and in to work your inner thighs and pelvic floor. Prevent lower back pain.  When you bring your fingertips to your heels, curl your toes.

 

Gate Pose (Parighasana)

parighasana beyond words

If you need a little breathing room at the office, you can open up your ribcage and your lungs—relieving asthma, allergies, and colds—with Gate Pose. Kneel on the floor with your hips and buttocks lifted up off your legs.  Then slide your right leg straight out to the side with your foot flat on the floor and your toes facing the side wall. Inhale your left arm, palm upward, toward the ceiling while keeping your right hand resting palm down on your right thigh, shin, or ankle. Then exhale your left arm to the right, dropping it over your ear. Slide your right palm down toward your toes. Keep your chin off of your chest, looking straight ahead.  Hold for up to one minute. Repeat on the other side.

Modifications: Place a folded blanket under your bent knee.

 

Extended Puppy Pose (Uttana Shishosana)

uttana shishosana beyond words

Extended Puppy Pose works the kinks out of your spine and shoulders. Start in Table Top Position. Then slowly walk your hands forward a few inches, lowering your chest down toward the ground.  Gently drop your forehead to the floor. Draw your shoulder blades onto your back and stretch your hips toward the ceiling. Then press into the palms of your hands and lift your elbows and forearms away from the ground. Breathe into your back, feeling your spine lengthen in both directions. Hold for up to a minute.

Modifications: Use a rolled-up blanket or bolster between your thighs and calves.  If you have back spasms, place a yoga block—or large book—between your feet and another between your inner thighs.

 

Reverse Warrior (Viparita Virabhadrasana)

reverse warrior yoga poses

Reverse Warrior clears your mind and skyrockets your confidence, focus, and willpower. Start in Mountain Pose. Then spread your feet 3.5 to 4 feet apart, turning your right foot 90 degrees while pivoting your left foot slightly inwards. Raise your arms out to the side to shoulder height. Exhale and bend your front knee, aligning it directly over the ankle of your front foot. Then flip your right palm over to face the ceiling, and raise your right arm up overhead and begin to reach up and back. Place your left hand, palm down, gently on the outside of your left leg. Keep your hips and shoulders square so that you can achieve a side bend. Tilt your head slightly and bring your gaze to your right hand’s fingertips. Hold for 30 to 45 seconds.

Modifications: If you have tight hips, shorten your stance and straighten your front leg. No upper-body strength?  Place your hands on your hips and work on lifting your chest and lengthening your spine.

The Best Sushi Restaurants in America

Sushi is so common it’s easy for it to become an afterthought — a literal last-minute lunch fix from the Publix around the corner. Of course, the ever-increasing availability of sushi that at least qualifies as edible can only be seen as a good thing. But if you’re really looking to transport your taste buds to Tokyo, you might want to settle in for a night of non-stop, Edomae-style nigiri fueled by junmai daiginjo sake at one of these extraordinary shrines to the art of Japanese seafood: the seven best sushi restaurants in America.

 

Shuko

New York, New York

Shuko sushi
Photo courtesy of Shuko

Chefs Jimmy Lau and Nick Kim sharpened their skills under Masa Takayama, the owner of Masa, a three-Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant in Manhattan, New York. Then they ran their own start-up sushi operation on West 8th Street called Neta. A decade later, they opened Shuko — one of the Big Apple’s hottest and most loved sushi destinations. Unlike the cramped bar at their first restaurant, the C-shaped dining counter here, carved from a solid Tamo Ash that was butterflied, seats 20 people comfortably. The chefs are flanked by a fleet of diligent assistants, including a bewhiskered bartender who mixes exotic cocktails with ten-year-old Armagnac and Japanese tea, then spritzes them with plum-flavored eau-de-vie.

There’s no menu. Shuko elevates fish to an art form. The toro tartare on milk bread and the spicy tuna roll covered with Thai chiles, chopped to bits and ready to set your taste buds on fire, will leave you fondly recalling them for months after they’ve ended.

 

Morio’s Sushi Bistro

Honolulu, Hawaii

Morio's Sushi Bistro
Photo courtesy of Ariana M.

With less than two dozen seats in the entire establishment,Morio’s Sushi Bistro basically caters to those with a four-months-ahead reservation. “The front of the shop looks rather run down,” says Kristine Tan from Honolulu, Hawaii. “However, all the magic is inside of its brick and mortar.” Morio’s Sushi Bistro is a sort of BYOB sushi party. Everyone wears t-shirts and rubbah slippahs. Chef Morio cracks crass one-liners and takes swigs of sake with his guests. A renowned fishmonger who gets first dibs at some of the finest seafood out of Japan, he also crafts sake steamed clams, lobster soup, and shrimp tempura that’s fried in the lightest of batters.  It’ll give you food dreams for weeks.

 

Sushi Ota

San Diego, California

Sushi ota
Photo courtesy of Alexis K.

Parked next door to a 7-Eleven and a Planned Parenthood, Sushi Ota looks like it could be a shady dentist’s office. But this hole-in-the-wall is actually one of the best sushi spots in the Bay area. An army of master chefs, clad in black robes and crown-fitting white hats, serve petite slices of translucent spot prawn along with its deep-fried head. Sushi Ota’s uni is also plucked daily from local waters and is the stuff of legend. “It makes you want to sell all of your possessions to just keep getting another hit of that thick, rich, creamy, and sweet sea urchin,” says Freiler Thompson from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Between the crisp, nubbly octopus fritters and specialty rolls like the Pizza, a California roll topped with eel sauce, that are sold at strip-mall prices, you’ll be so in love with your food that you’ll want to fork it.

 

Toni’s Sushi Bar

Miami, Florida

Toni's Sushi Bar
Photo courtesy of German M.

Sushi has become as prevalent in Miami as flip-flop weddings and golden-thonged bicyclists, with rolls popping up in bodegas and high-end hotels alike. But before all that, Toni’s was churning out high-quality, no-flash sushi in Oriental-style digs (complete with sunken seating and bamboo dividers). South Beach’s first Japanese restaurant, it’s still on the cutting edge — literally. It serves up steaming bowls of soba noodles topped with beef, shrimp, or veggies, plus Tony’s Choice, a single serving of fresh sushi and sashimi artfully arranged atop a bamboo boat. The Washington Avenue restaurant is as notable for what it is — one of the best sushi spots in the Sunshine State — as for what it isn’t: expensive and overblown.

 

Morimoto

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Morimoto sushi
Photo courtesy of Morimoto

The Iron Chef who gave this ultra-modern, color kinetic, Tokyo-in-the-US restaurant its name seldom wields his knives behind Philly’s best sushi joint. “I spend more time cooking at events,” says Masaharu Morimoto. “It’s good to do something different, like creating new menu items. I’ve gotten some ideas from Italian food: for Uni Carbonara, instead of pasta, I use Japanese Inaniwa Udon, thin noodles.” From his infamous fugu (blowfish), prepared three ways in season, to his toro that melts in your mouth like butter, Morimoto’s flagship packs in more species of fish than Finding Nemo. Located a block from Independence Hall on Chestnut Street, the two-story space is a mix between a swanky nightclub and a zen modern art gallery. Unlike most super-fancy joints with a world-famous owner, though, the omakase  won’t put a massive crater in your wallet. Pair it with a “Sakura” — a cosmo made with Sake — or a Rogue Hazelnut beer.

 

Kai Zan

Chicago, Illinois

kai zen sushi
Photo courtesy of Kai Zan

Identical twins Carlo and Melvin Vizconde honed their seafood skills at various sushi gigs before striking out on their own and establishing Kai Zan in a somewhat sleepy Humboldt Park location that wasn’t considered a likely destination for serious raw fish connoisseurs.  And yet, seven years in, this serene 22-seater has established itself as a favorite among sushi snobs for its BYOB policy (limit 2 bottles) and  omakase that includes more food than you can eat — oyster and uni shooters served in ponzu sauce and topped with caviar and quail eggs, seared salmon wrapped around orange-kissed scallops, bite-size rice balls topped with seared tuna, spicy mayo, chili oil, and a creamy wasabi sauce. Then there’s Japanese dezāto like coffee gelatin topped with sweet red beans and whipped cream or green tea ice cream smothered with Anko that’s guaranteed to hit your sweet spot.

 

Nodoguro

Portland, Oregon

Nodoguro sushi
Photo courtesy of Nodoguro

Chef Ryan Roadhouse and his business partner and wife, Elena Roadhouse, specialize in “hardcore” 13, 19, and 25-course omakase that are built around subtle references to artists, fast food chains, or TV shows — including a “Twin Peaks” meal they once cooked at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles for the director David Lynch. At Nodoguro’s ever-changing kappo-style feasts, you might be served a salmon roe “Russian-style” sandwich, a risotto-like uni rice topped with popping roe, or gently crisped Japanese eggplant poached in young miso with a sliver of duck.

It’s hard to say since Roadhouse designs his menu 48 hours before each meal. And he sources some of the rarest ingredients from Japan, found nowhere else in the United States. What’s certain in this “adventurous eaters only” approach to culinary improv? “It encompasses every sense and has the ability to take a person out of place and time,” says one Yelper. “I am still floating on a high from having one of the most exquisite meals of my life.” The Belmont Street restaurant’s reservation books open only once a month, so jump on tickets immediately. Which is to say, check its website for cancellations on the regular if you want to score a seat.

5 Fun and Inexpensive Things to Do in Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta is the best of both worlds—this coastal favorite has golden beaches and tropical jungles, quiet cocktail bars and steamy nightclubs, cobblestone streets and quaint white-washed houses with orange-tiled roofs. On top of all that, it has the same latitude as Hawaii, providing it with year-round balmy temperatures and superabundant sunshine. Whether you’re a city slicker or nature-lover, Puerto Vallarta has something for you. So, amp up your español, dust off your passport, and lighten your luggage. From Bar La Playa to Los Arcos, we’re laying out the top five places that you need to visit in Puerto Vallarta.

 

Bar La Playa

puerto vallarta - Barlaplaya3

Nestled between beachwear and souvenir shops, Bar La Playa is a hidden gem that’ll make you sad when it’s last call. With a ten-seat wooden bar inside and five tables on its sidewalk, it might be tiny, but it fits the party-happy vibe of Vallarta. Even if you don’t visit during happy hour—when margaritas are $1.50 and Mexican beers are 76¢—the bar is packed with regulars that’ll share side-splitting stories and travel tips. “Alex the owner is a master mixologist,” says Mikee Bridges from Ventura, California. His Jell-O shots are served in hollowed out strawberries and watermelon rinds. His cocktails are handmade with fresh ingredients like fruits, herbs, juices, and spices, most of which have comical names like It’s All About the Lavender, Green Peace, and Release the Kraken.

 

Vallarta Botanical Garden

Puerto Vallarta - Vallarta Botanical Gardens4

Just 30 minutes from downtown Puerto Vallarta, you’ll find a landscape of unrivaled natural beauty where you can escape into pockets of still-pristine coastal wilderness. Opening in 2005, the Vallarta Botanical Garden (VBG) is primarily dedicated to preserving native Mexican plants such as strangler figs, prickly pear cactus, wild vanilla, and blue agaves. “There are currently around 200 species of orchids of the more than 1,200 that exist in Mexico,” says Jesús Reyes, the co-founder and general director of the VBG. “Many of the orchids you see here were grown in our in vitro propagation lab.”

You could spend your entire visit learning about the more than eight thousand plant species, but there’s so much more to do here. You can hike through swaths of rainforest on the Jaguar Trail, where squawking groups of Lilac-Crowned Amazon parrots wheel through the sky. Then cool off in the Horcones River. It has pools that are separated by house-sized granite boulders. At the Hacienda de Oro, you can tuck into shrimp stuffed avocados or beer-battered fish tacos while enjoying a gorgeous view of the Sierra Madres. You can also watch 13 species of hummingbirds sip nectar from feeders on the terrace.

 

Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe

puerto vallarta - Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe1
Photo: Bud Ellison

When Vallarta’s skyline ignites into a myriad of colors, just like a brightly colored Mexican serape, the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s crown can be seen miles away. A powerful symbol of Mexican identity and faith, its bells ring 15 and 30 minutes before every mass. Their sound becomes especially inviting during the Feast of Guadalupe that’s held every year from December 1st to the 12th. According to tradition, on December 12, 1531, the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared as a dark-skinned woman who spoke Nahuatl. She asked an Indian peasant named Juan Diego to gather Castilian roses from a hillside and then arranged them in his cloak. When he presented it to his local bishop, the flowers tumbled out, and they discovered a life-size image of the Virgin Mary.

“Our Lady retains her appeal without specifically being anchored in religious tradition,” says John Moran Gonzalez, director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. “ She’s seen as the champion of the underdog, of the Indian, of all those who lack power in society.” That’s why tens of thousands of tourists come from around the world to enjoy this annual festival. They leave Milagros to ask her for healing, protection, and good luck. Fireworks decorate and light up the skies. Aztec warriors dance in the streets, and traditional parades entertain the crowds. The central plaza is also filled to the brim with street vendors selling Mexican folk art, Christmas ornaments, and foodstuffs.

 

Isla Río Cuale

puerto vallarta - ISLA RaO CUALEaa

Isla Río Cuale will make you feel like you have one foot in the jungle and the other in the city. Formed by a huge flood caused by a tornado in October of 1926, it’s densely forested by bamboo, Madras Thorns, Caro Caros, and rubber trees. Locally dubbed the Isla de Gatos, roughly 150 feral cats roam the island. “It’s been a dumping ground for the past 20 or 30 years, and people abandon their cats,” says Jill Goldstein, the founder and executive director of Pause 4 Paws, a Minneapolis-based animal charity. You’ll also see orange-fronted parakeets darting around tree crowns, iguanas sunbathing in trees, and otters smashing clams with rocks.

Reached by swinging bridges, its main attractions are its rustic brick-paved streets surrounded by charming thatched bungalows. It also boasts one of the best two-story flea markets in the world. You’ll find everything from sarapes (blankets with a head opening, worn as a cloak) and huaraches (woven leather sandals) to paper machè figures and blown glass. Venture upstairs for authentic Mexican food like coconut ice cream and chicken tamales. Or view a small collection of Pre-Colombian pottery, tombs, and artifacts with English-translated panels at the Cuale Archaeological Museum. Movie buff?  There’s a statue of John Huston, who directed The Night of the Iguana, starring Richard Burton and Ava Gardner.

 

Los Arcos and El Malecón

“If you come to Vallarta and don’t come to the Malecón, you haven’t been to Vallarta,” says Alberto Garcia, who rounds up visitors for time-share presentations. It’s the heart of Puerto Vallarta and its version of a seaside boardwalk: minus the boards. Stretching from the Hotel Rosita to the Río Cuale, it’s a popular meeting point, featuring dancers and musicians playing traditional Mexican folk music.  From “The Seahorse” to local sand art, it’s like walking through a beach-side sculpture garden.

If you’re looking for a showstopper, watch the Voladores of Papantla: four men dressed in Totonac costumes rotate around a 65-foot pole to summon the four directions of the universe. Dig into grilled corn coated with cheese. Or down a tejuino, a fermented drink that’s made from the same corn dough as tortillas. Then head to Los Arcos. A symbol of the Puerto Vallarta, it’s used during weekends and holidays as an open-air theater for food tastings, sporting events, cultural performances, and festivals.

5 Companies Pushing Against Plastic

Forget diamonds—most plastics are forever.  They coagulate into great floating “garbage patches” that cover large swaths of the Pacific. Plastic-filled waves crash against remote islands and urban beaches, leaving behind 30-ton garbage carpets. By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. Twenty-six million tons of plastic is broken down by sunlight and wave action into rice-sized bits called microplastics, turning the world’s oceans into what scientists call a “plastic soup”. It’s wound up in the stomachs of more than 700 marine species. Nearly 90 percent of seabirds also have plastic in their stomachs; half had dust-sized microplastics—and most were blue, although, some were black or red—in their droppings. “That means that for birds that are colonial, that hang out by the tens of thousands, there is a potential for that poop to make a difference” to our ecosystems.

DavidHolt_Flickr
Photo: David Holt via Flickr

“Let’s face it – plastic is here to stay. It’s the most functional material we’ve ever come up with,” says Dr. John Williams, a UK sustainable plastics expert.  “We depend upon plastics to such an extent that we would literally struggle to live without them. We need to start thinking about what kind of plastics we have to adopt in order to allow better recyclability and recoverability.” Here are five companies that are pushing against plastic.

 

Abeego

Don’t be so clingy. Plastic wrap has been linked to breast and prostate cancers, early female sexual development, birth defects, and kidney damage. While it’s resistant to oils, chemicals, heat, and weathering, it’s not biodegradable. Since you can’t recycle this stretchy plastic, it’s headed straight for the landfill, where it’ll take at least 25 years to break down.

Abeego
Image courtesy of Abeego

That’s why Toni Desrosiers, the founder of Abeego, invented a washable beeswax wrap that protects food like a natural peel or rind. “Each ingredient had to be all natural and in its natural state. Everything had to be edible, have natural preservative qualities, and be approved by the FDA for food contact,” says Desrosiers. Because the average household chucks 1 in 4 produce items into the trash, Abeego keeps food alive. “Meals are the moments you’re nourished and connected to food in a lively, present, or conscious manner.  They fill us for a little while, but these warm, fuzzy moments satiate for years.”

 

Coca-Cola

A million plastic bottles are sold around the world every minute and that number will leap another 20% over the next three years. Commonly made from polyethylene terephthalate, plastic bottles are highly recyclable but can take up to 400 years to decompose.

Diet Coke portfolio
Image courtesy of Coca Cola

That’s why Coca-Cola is spending its green to go greener. The beverage behemoth only uses about 10 percent recycled plastic, but by 2020, it plans to use 30 percent recycled materials as part of a longer-term goal to use 100% recycled plastic.  Pouring $60 million into its first comprehensive U.S. environmental program, Coca-Cola will open a 30-acre recycling plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina—where it’ll produce 100 million pounds of recycled plastic or the equivalent of 2 billion, 20-ounce bottles annually. The company is also trying to raise recycling-awareness with its “Drink2Wear” fashion line of half-cotton, half-plastic tees that feature playful slogans such as “Make Your Plastic Fantastic” and “Rehash Your Trash.”

 

Ikea

“In the U.S., we use 500 million straws a day,”  says Jackie Nunez, the founder of The Last Plastic Straw. “That’s enough straw waste to wrap the circumference of the earth 2.5 times or to fill Yankee Stadium over 9 times in a year.”

Ikea Wood Project
Image courtesy of Ikea

As part of Ikea’s campaign to tackle pollution for profit, it’s swearing off plastic bags, straws, and other single-use plastics like plates, cups, freezer bags, and garbage bags to become “people and planet-positive” by 2030. The Swedish megastore also plans to achieve zero-emissions for home deliveries by 2025 and will continue to increase vegan foods in its stores—which sell a billion Swedish meatballs every year. “Through our size and reach, we’ve got the opportunity to inspire and enable more than one billion people to live better lives within the limits of the planet,” says Torbjörn Lööf, Inter Ikea Group’s CEO.

 

 

Soaper Doaper

The problem with most beauty products is that they’re made of blended materials that can’t be easily recycled. They’re also basically impossible to reclaim if there’s any leftover product in the container.  “Many companies also over-package their products to make them look bigger, or feel more full than they are,” says Marcia Kilgore, the founder of Soaper Duper. “You can actually find very slim ‘weights’ in many packages, giving the illusion of quality when really the weight is just one more thing being thrown into the landfill when the product is used up.”

Soaper Duper
Image courtesy of Soaper Duper

Soaper Doaper’s eco-pop bubble bottles with earth-friendly fillings are nasty-free and don’t cost the earth. They’re made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastics—largely derived from semi-skimmed milk bottles that give the plastic its natural green tint.  “We’re delighted that we’ve saved 2.8 tons of plastic in our first year,” Kilgore says.

 

Starbucks

“Most plastic straws are too lightweight to make it through mechanical recycling sorters, so they end up in landfills and waterways and, eventually, our oceans,” says Dune Ives, the executive director of Lonely Whale. “A straw may be small, but it’s the DNA of carelessness and it just might be a gateway [plastic],” says actor Adrian Grenier of the non-profit Strawless Ocean. That’s why global coffee giant Starbucks “is finally drawing a line in the sand and creating a mold for other large brands to follow.”

Starbucks
Image courtesy of Starbucks

By 2020, it’ll say goodbye to its signature green plastic straws. They’ll be replaced by cold-cup lids that have teardrop-shaped openings about the size of a thumbprint—dubbed “adult sippy cups” by the Internet. A cleaner, less-ridged version of the hot cup lid, they’ll become the standard lid for all iced drinks except Frappuccinos, which will be served with a straw that’s made of compostable plastic, paper, bamboo, steel, or glass.

Featured image: Pixabay

5 Places to See in Bali Besides the Beach

Named the world’s best tourist des­ti­na­tion by TripAd­vi­sor in 2017, Bali, the famed island of the gods, is a living postcard. A 95-mile-wide strip of land located in the Indian Ocean, its mere mention evokes thoughts of a beach bum’s paradise. But Bali is so much more than sun, sea, and salty breezes. It’s a cocktail of culture—a stirring and foreign blend of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Animism. From the Ubud Monkey Forest to Goa Gajah, here are the top five non-beach destinations that’ll get you into a tropical state of mind.

 

Ubud Monkey Forest

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A crab-eating macaque pulls her baby’s tail at the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Padangtegal, Bali| Photo: D.Meutia via Flickr

This cool and dense swath of jungle houses 750 long-tailed Balinese macaques, who swing through the shade, laze along pathways, and feast on sweet potatoes, bananas, papaya leaves, and coconuts. They may be considered sacred because of Hanuman—the Hindu monkey god from the Ramayana, an ancient Indian epic poem—or through their association with the area’s three temples.

Strictly for prayer and built from Majegan, Pura Dalem Agung Padangtegal is the main temple, built for Shiva the destroyer. The widow-witch Rangda flanks its main staircase. The second temple, Pura Beji, features holy water to cleanse the body and soul before worshipping Gangga, the goddess of the river Ganges, and the third temple is Pura Prajapati.

Dedicated to the “lord of all creatures”, it’s surrounded by 115 tree species, including the Banyan, whose leaves are used in cremation ceremonies, and the Pule Bandak, which embodies the spirit of the forest and is used to make traditional masks. “They’re only used inside the temple,” says Emily Perry, a yogini, acupuncturist, and herbalist in Santa Cruz, California.  “An auspicious day is chosen and the Pemangku asks permission of the tree’s spirit to cut a small piece of its wood. The spirit thus remains embodied in the mask.”

 

Mount Batur

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A side view of Mount Batur in Kintamani, Bali | Photo: Castio T. Lauren via Flickr

One of Bali’s four sacred Mountains, Mount Batur is believed to be home of Dewi Danu, the goddess of water. “An active volcano, Mount Batur is a giant bowl. Sitting in the heart of a nine-mile crater, its bottom half is submerged by turquoise waters and a set of volcanic cones juts out of its middle. It’s also covered with bubbling hot springs that cascade over its lower slopes. Sound spectacular? It is. Famous for its sunrise trek, hikers climb for two hours in the pitch black, bumper to bumper over steep, slippery rubble. Once they reach the top, the thick blanket of darkness is replaced by glistening orange and golden rays, bursting from the silhouette of Mount Agung.

 

Goa Gajah

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The entrance of Goa Gajah sanctuary near Ubud, Bali | Photo: Húpàn Lǎo via Flickr

Not far outside of the city of Ubud is a Buddhist-Hindu archeological site known as Goa Gajah, or, the “Elephant Cave”.  Visitors are forgiven for finding this name confusing—there were never any elephants in Bali. The temple’s name might actually come from the nearby Petanu River, which at one time was known as the Elephant River. Or it may be named after Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god of wisdom, prosperity, and new beginnings.

Built around the 11th century,  the site is actually thought to have been a place of meditation and spiritual cleansing, where religious offerings were left. Buddhist monks carved the cave’s face into a demon with bulging eyes staring over the doorway that acts as its screaming mouth. This Hellmouth is surrounded by a sea of rolling flames and smaller sculptures of gods and demons—which were meant to ward off evil rather than invite it.

In front of the barely-lit cave, there are two square bathing pools, featuring six women pouring water out of jars into a central bath. To its left, there’s a statue of Hārītī, a child-devouring ogress who’s said to have been converted from her cannibalistic habits by Buddha. Inside the T-shaped cave lies the fragmentary remains of a triple lingga, the phallic symbol of the Hindu god Shiva, and its female counterpart, the yoni.

 

Bali Bird and Reptile Park

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A Great White Pelican floats on a lake in Bali Bird Park | Photo courtesy of Ashish Gautam via Flickr

Travel from the misty cloud forest of Borneo to the tropical grasslands of the African Savanna at the Bali Bird and Reptile Park. Walk side-by-side with flamingos, cassowaries, crested-cranes, and storks. Listen to the songs of 1,000 birds from 250 species, including the vulnerable Pesquet’s Parrot from New Guinea and the all-but-vanished Bali Mynah. Handfeed pelicans, who have the longest bill of any bird in the world, and rainbow-colored lories. Snap photos with macaws, cockatoos, wreathed hornbills, and a breeding pair of Eclectus Parrots, who’ll perch on your shoulders.

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A water monitor basks on a log | Photo: Cuatrok77 via Flickr

The park’s reptile section includes a serpent cave that holds King Cobras, Mambas, Vipers, and a 26-foot Reticulated Python—one of the largest snakes in captivity. Pet salamanders, water monitors, iguanas, and turtles, or marvel at Komodo dragons: giant monitor lizards that are direct descendants of the dinosaurs that lived nearly 100 million years ago.

 

Ubud Art Market

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Pasar Seni Ubud, an artisan market in the center of Ubud, Bali | Photo: Nicola Lemmon

Featured in the movie Eat Pray Love, the Ubud Art Market is located at the corner of the Ubud Monkey Forest and Jalan Saya Ubud, the main street that runs right through the center of town. It’s a two-story labyrinth of stalls bursting with basket bags, cotton sarongs, silver jewelry, batik fabrics, garuda sculptures, and Kamasan-style paintings.

Open from 6 am to 6 pm, the merchants negotiate with tourists for a living. “To get the best prices, hit the markets as early as physically possible, and ask for the “harga pagi”, i.e., the morning price,” says Geneva Vanderzeil, the author of DIY Fashionista. If you’re finding a steal instead of a deal, head to the stalls upstairs, where you’ll find the same products at a lower price.

*Featured photo: Nicola Lemmon

6 Small Ways to Say I Love You

When was the last time you retweeted your partner’s corny jokes? Gave them a surprise gift—naughty or nice? It might seem small, but in relationships, it’s the little things that bond us together. “Actions really do speak louder than words and many people consider a loving gesture to be as valuable as hearing ‘I love you’,” says Jacqui Gabb, the co-author of the “Enduring Love?” study. “Grand romantic gestures, although appreciated, don’t nurture a relationship as much as bringing your partner a cup of tea in bed or watching TV together.”

Ready to subtly sweep your partner of his or her feet? “The easiest way: find out your partner’s love language. Your other half most likely gives you love the way he or she likes to receive it,” says Jennifer Seip, an Individual, Couple, and Sex Therapist. She also recommends discovering your own love language and jotting down the things that your partner does that make you swoon.

“You may have a primary love language, one or two that you gravitate toward the most, but that just means you should work on the other ones,” adds John Kim, a licensed therapist and the co-founder of JRNI. Here are 6 small ways to speak fluent love, not broken.

 

Words of Affirmation

If your love language is words of affirmation, kind, encouraging, and positive comments can refuel your love tank. While hearing the phrase, “I love you,” is important, hearing the reasons behind that love cranks up your love-o-meter. Insults will leave you with emotional bullet holes that aren’t easily forgotten.

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Make a list of 10 reasons why you love your significant other. Write each one on a separate sticky note and hide them around the house. “I’ll put one on my husband’s steering wheel before work or a lipstick kiss on a sticky note over his sink in the bathroom—my little ways of showing him how much he means to me,” says Stephanie Pass, The Tiptoe Fairy. “A few years ago, Nate gave me a hand-painted jar full of love notes. I still haven’t gotten completely to the bottom of the jar yet.”

 

Quality Time

If your love language is quality time, then conversations and activities—with your cell phone tucked away, your fork and knife down, and your household chores on standby—are your romantic bread and butter. Distractions, postponed dates, or the failure to listen will thrust you into a romantic rut.

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When it comes to exercise, the magic number might be two—as in your partner plus you. “Some of the strongest relationships I’ve seen are those with people who exercise together,” says Shane Allen, a certified personal trainer and sports nutritionist. “Common goals and shared routines are what help make a relationship, as well as our bodies, stronger.” Hit a health club with free babysitting services like Blast Fitness, World Gym, or the YMCA. Rock climbing, AcroYoga, boxing, and weightlifting are workouts with romance built in.

 

Receiving Gifts

Don’t mistake this love language for materialism. In the vernacular of receiving gifts,  nothing says, “I love you,” like the thoughtfulness and effort behind the bow. Whether the gift is small and thrifty or grand and expensive, it shows that you are known, you are cared for, and you are prized above whatever was sacrificed to bring it to you. Missed birthdays, anniversaries, and hasty, thoughtless gifts will poison Cupid’s arrows.

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Create a mixtape.It’s one of the most personal, intimate, and romantic gestures you can do for someone you love. While records and cassettes have been dug out of the dustbin of history, a digital playlist allows you to continually add songs that show how you feel toward each other.

 

Acts of Service

Can scrub-a-dub-dubbing dishes in gawky, rubber gloves really be an expression of love? If you’re a part of the “hate to do the dishes” club, you betcha. If you’re fluent in this love language, you understand taking the burden off your partner’s shoulders speaks volumes. The words he or she most want to hear are “Let me do that for you.” Laziness, broken commitments, and making more work for your lover will cause your wires to cross.

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Make date night a weekly event even if you can’t afford a babysitter.“A date night…conveys to the couple is that they are creating a unique and special space for one another,” says Matt Garrett of Relationships Australia. It doesn’t have to be a full-on, three-course meal with the violinist in the background and a dozen roses. You might, say, fill your couple’s bucket list, watch the sunrise, or play a game of strip scrabble.

 

Physical Touch

“Of all the love languages, touch is the most primal,” says Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages. “It supersedes language and symbolic gestures.” If you speak this love language, you get your jollies—not surprisingly—from skinship. From hot-and-heavy, foot-popping kisses to lingering handshakes, touch is the bedrock that’ll make your bed rock. Physical abuse and neglect will cause your relationship to splinter.

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Even if you’re not a touchy-feely person, you can still celebrate with high fives and fist bumps. “If we’re proud of each other, find something funny, both think the same thing at the same time, think about how much we love each other, or even if we argue and get bored of fighting, it’s ‘boom, fist bump time’,” says Emma W. “It’s…a little sign of what a great team we are and shows that he’s my buddy and teammate forever.”

Supercharge your relationship by giving your partner a regular neck, back, foot, or full body massages. “My husband [Dennis] and I have been massaging each other for ten years now—giving [a muscle-melting] massage is something we do as a treat for the other or when we feel like our marriage needs some extra loving,” says Emma Merkas, the co-founder of Melt: Massage For Couples.

8 Healthy Ginger Recipes to Fire Up Your Diet

Knobby and sometimes intimidating, ginger can fire up your diet and your central nervous system, boosting your metabolism by as much as 20 percent. Once peeled and grated, ginger also can easily be thrown into various sauces, glazes, and marinades: soothing morning sickness, reducing exercise-induced muscle pain, relieving chronic indigestion, lowering blood sugar, and suppressing the growth of cancer cells.

Part of the holy trinity of Asian cooking, if you really enjoy the burn of fresh ginger and want even more, dehydrate it—this causes the spice level to double. Can’t take the heat? “Cut the ginger into coins to perfume a dish with a light ginger flavor with little-to-no burn,” says Hali Bey Ramdene, Kitchn’s Food Director. You can store unpeeled ginger wrapped in plastic in your fridge for three weeks or in your freezer for six months. Need to store peeled or cut chunks? Freeze the nubs or submerge them in vodka.

Tangy freshness, light spiciness, warmth, and mellow sweetness: here are 8 recipes that’ll deliver a fiery punch to your dinner plate.

 

Vegan Carrot-Ginger Soup

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Photo courtesy of Lydia Walshin

What you need:

  • Olive oil
  • Chopped onion
  • Roughly-chopped carrots
  • Grated ginger
  • Thinly-sliced garlic
  • Sweet curry powder
  • Ground coriander
  • Long-grain white, brown, or basmati rice
  • Orange juice
  • Agave nectar
  • Kosher salt
  • Fresh black pepper
  • Pumpkin seeds or chopped flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Pureéd to silky smoothness, Soupchick’s carrot-ginger soup is a mix of spicy and bright ginger root, garden-fresh carrots, and summer citrus topped with crunchy pumpkin seeds. Vegan and gluten-free, with nutty coriander, mild sweet curry powder, and agave nectar—an all-natural sweetener that’s one and a half times sweeter than sugar—will tickle your roughly 10,000 taste buds.

 

Ginger Pear Smoothie

ginger recipes
Photo courtesy of Silk/Danon North America

What you’ll need:

  • Sliced pear
  • Grated ginger
  • A chopped and frozen banana
  • Cinnamon
  • Ground flax
  • Vanilla almond, soy, or coconut milk

Power through your workday with Silk’s ginger pear smoothie. A blend of potassium-rich bananas, antioxidant-packed pears, inflammation-busting ginger, and dairy-free almond milk, this five-minute, 230-calorie smoothie will help you keep your cool.

 

Instant Pot Korean Beef Tacos

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Photo courtesy of Jenna Arend

What you’ll need:

For the Korean beef

  • Canned or fresh pears
  • Fresh ginger
  • Garlic cloves
  • Soy sauce
  • Brown sugar
  • Sesame oil
  • Top sirloin or chuck roast

For the tacos:

  • Chopped cilantro
  • Chopped peanuts
  • Sriracha mayo or yum yum sauce
  • Flour or corn tortillas
  • Kimchi or coleslaw

Fire-eaters, if you can’t beat the heat, join it. Straight out of an instant pot, Pinch of Yum’s food-truck, fusion-style tacos are like edible heatwaves. Gingery, garlicky, melt-in-your-mouth beef is piled onto bendy, pillow-soft tortillas and topped with chopped peanuts, sriracha mayo, and kimchi—a hot and spicy Korean staple made from fermented veggies.

 

Coconut Ginger Sweet Potato Casserole

ginger recipes
Photo courtesy of Diana Johnson

What you’ll need:

  • Sweet potatoes
  • Grated ginger
  • Coconut milk
  • Ground cinnamon
  • Orange zest
  • Orange juice
  • Chopped pecans
  • Chopped candied ginger

While sweet potatoes may have honeyed flavors and velvety textures, they’re not potatoes or yams. They’re actually part of the morning glory family. What’s inside of these gorgeous orange root tubers? Vitamin A, manganese, calcium, fiber, and vitamin C. All the more reason not to confine these root veggies to Thanksgiving day —where they’re topped with cornflakes, pecans, brown sugar, and gooey marshmallows. Eating Richly’s coconut ginger sweet potato casserole features coconut milk, orange juice, chopped pecans, ground cinnamon, and candied ginger that’s at home on any plate at any time of the year.

 

Asian-Style Garlic Ginger Chicken Wings

What you’ll need:

  • Chicken wings
  • 7up regular, ginger ale, club soda, or sparkling wine
  • Soy sauce
  • Sesame oil
  • Grated garlic
  • Grated ginger
  • Sea salt
  • Diced scallions
  • Finely-chopped cilantro

Up your chicken wing game with Dennis Littley’s garlic ginger chicken wing recipe. The finger-lickin’-good chicken is marinated in 7up—Littley’s favorite mixer and childhood friend—for half an hour. Soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper, grated ginger, and grated garlic are roundhouse kicks to your tongue.

 

Homemade Gingerbread Ice Cream

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Photo courtesy of Sue Moran

 What you’ll need:

  • Heavy cream
  • Low-fat milk
  • Sugar
  • Ground ginger
  • Cinnamon
  • Allspice
  • Ground cloves
  • Grated nutmeg
  • Molasses

Beat the heat with The View From the Great Island’s homemade ginger ice cream.   A simple mix of heavy cream, low-fat milk, sugar, molasses, and ground ginger with just a touch of vanilla, its fiery flavor will catapult your taste buds into the magic of Christmastime.

 

Grilled Eggplant with Ginger Dressing

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Photo courtesy of Sarah Gory

What you’ll need:

  • Japanese eggplants
  • Spring onions
  • Fresh ginger
  • Sesame oil
  • Mirin
  • Tamari or soy sauce
  • Rice wine vinegar
  • Sesame seeds
  • Bird’s eye chilies
  • Extra-virgin olive oil
  • Coconut rice

Fire up the grill and your flavor palate. Highgate Hill Kitchen’s Japanese eggplants are cut lengthways, coated with olive oil, and charred for 15 minutes until creamy and tender. Then they’re sprinkled with a flaming-hot ginger sauce and placed on a bed of cooling coconut rice—which is prepared by soaking white rice in coconut milk or cooking it with coconut flakes. Sesame seeds, spring onions, and bird’s eye chilies top this dish off, adding crunch and a rainbow of colors.

 

Asian Pork Meatballs

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Photo courtesy of Colleen Kennedy

What you’ll need:

For the meatballs:

  • Ground pork
  • Minced sweet or red onion
  • Minced garlic
  • Sesame oil
  • Kosher salt and pepper

For the ginger garlic sauce:

  • Sesame oil
  • Minced garlic
  • Minced ginger
  • Red wine vinegar
  • Honey
  • Chili with garlic sauce
  • Cornstarch
  • Fresh cilantro for garnish (optional)

Here’s your go-to, foolproof, Asian-style meatball recipe that you’ll never want to be without. Souffle Bombay’s pork meatballs are stuffed with minced red onion, garlic, and ginger. After being fried in olive oil until golden brown, they’re baked on a sheet pan and slathered in a ginger-honey sauce that has notes of garlic and chili.