Shanghai Noodles with Dry Shrimp

We are all waiting impatiently for that day when we can safely travel again. While we all want to travel, we also desire to protect not only our own health but also the health of people we care about.

As if to whet our appetites (both literally and figuratively), Wild China has reached out with this classic recipe, developed by their culinary consultant, Fuchsia Dunlop.

Fuchsia epitomizes the benefit of using local experts to plan your travels. A chef and award-winning author from England, she has worked with Wild China to help plan culinary adventures for their Virtuoso guests. She lived in Chengdu and became an expert in Sichuanese food, holding the distinction of being the only foreigner ever to graduate from the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. Fuchsia makes regular appearances on TV and radio and was named "Food Journalist of the Year" in 2006 by the British Guild of Food Writers. 

A die-hard foodie, Fuchsia has your taste buds in mind every step of the way, encouraging the expansion of palettes and challenging the scope of traditional cooking.

copyright (c) 2020 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

bouillabaisse for lunch in Cassis

outdoor café in Cassis, France (c) 2019 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

One of the coolest things about a cruise is that you can go to sleep in Italy and wake up in France. Our first stop, after leaving Rome aboard the Seabourn Ovation, was in the port of Bastia (on the north coast of Corsica). The next morning, we awoke in Toulon, a small town in Provence on the Cote d'Azur.

Did you know that we can arrange private shore excursions? You're not limited to the group tours that cruise lines offer. Our visit was designed by Virtuoso onsite We Travel France. It included a wine tasting experience at the E. Bodin winery in Cassis, followed by a visit to the Port de Cassis. My highlight of the day was the utterly fabulous lunch I enjoyed at Chez César. Right on the water, their bouillabaisse was utterly authentic (and unlike what passes for bouillabaisse in the US).

Cassis is a cute town with at least a dozen open-air restaurants overlooking its small harbor. I captured the image above in our free time following lunch. I recommend a visit!

copyright (c) 2019 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.