Inspiration from Italy
Happy New Year!!
Kicking off the new year is always starting with a clean slate! Part of my New Year’s resolution is reconnecting with friends on a personal level again. Slowing down and taking some time to simply share together. With that, allow me to share my holiday break with you.
Family, Travel, FOOD
Every year, usually the day after Christmas, I try to go away with my husband, Michael and our two boys, Maddox and Myles. We love to ski and eat!! Two great things to do as a family together. For one, skiing offers a meditative quality of gliding down the slopes allowing the mind to disconnect from worries, momming, working, deadlines, stresses and immerse in the present together. There’s nothing more beautiful, connecting and powerful as a family.
Chasing the snow:
We are lucky enough to live in Northwestern New Jersey, offering a 40 minute drive to ski on the hills of the Poconos, or a 4-hour drive to White Face Mountain in New York State, or 4 hours to Vermont/New Hampshire mountain ski resorts. I grew up skiing in Vermont and have noticed that Vermont has had less and less snow each year, with average annual snowfall decreasing by 10 inches since 1960. Yikes! While precipitation has steadied, it's been rain more than snow over these last few decades. I feel as though, each year, my family and I are traveling further away to simply chase the snow! This holiday, we went back to Italy to ski the Italian Alps of Cervinia into Zermatt Switzerland via the Matterhorn alpine crossing. It was a dream trip and truly amazing in every way.
The Matterhorn Cervinia Glacier Paradise:
You don’t ski?! Don’t worry!! The Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is truly for everyone. Of course, it attracts skiers from all over the world, but you’ll always see “ski-less” visitors traveling up the gondolas alongside the skiers to simply enjoy the beautiful views! The Glacier Paradise offers a unique, panoramic view of the Alps from the highest viewing platform in Europe, situated at 12,740 feet above sea level, where visitors can see 38 different mountain peaks and 14 glaciers across three countries (Switzerland, Italy, and France), including the iconic Matterhorn itself, all while exploring a fascinating ice cave called the Glacier Palace within the glacier itself. I’ve skied many mountains and this one has taken the cake!! There’s truly nothing like it anywhere else in the world.
Remarkable Rental Rates:
If you do ski or want to learn, I can share that the daily rates for ski rentals and lift tickets are far lower than ski resorts here in the USA. All USA ski resorts are privately owned and therefore, all for profit creating costly fees for daily rentals, as well as lift passes. This makes the sport unaffordable to many families here in the USA, unfortunately. Yet in Italy/Switzerland, the ski resorts are owned by the government. This couples the preservation of the glacier along with the ability to enjoy it as tourists. If the government finds the conditions unsafe for visitors due to extreme weather, they will shut the lifts and gondolas down. The government carefully monitors the melting of the glacier and refreezing to continuously manage the safety of the experience for visitors while also ensuring the glacier is being cared for and not abused by tourism. Privately owned ski resorts simply need to worry about how much money they make daily during peak season! You’ll find the rentals and lift passes less than half the price of popular reports here in the USA. So if you snag a great deal on airfare - this could be an incredibly economic ski trip!
DUDE, the FOOD PLEASE!!
Ah yes, the most important part of any family trip for us is the FOOD!! Italy is not only a favorite place to visit due to my family heritage but also because the food is so incredible. There’s clearly a difference in the quality of food in places like Italy compared to the USA. Everything tastes “better” and “fresher.” My husband and I travel to Italy annually to source Italian Black & White truffles for our truffle salts. Read more about that here. Everything tastes so good in Italy because it's simply so good for you. The meats, the sauces, cheeses, vegetables… it’s all fresh and clean. When I say, “clean” I don’t mean “washed” - I mean without chemicals!! Most foods here in the USA contain harmful chemicals such as pesticides, antibiotics, hormones (in animal products), bisphenol A (BPA), lead, mercury, arsenic, acrylamide, brominated vegetable oil (BVO), artificial colors, certain artificial sweeteners, trans fats, nitrates/nitrites, potassium bromate, propyl paraben, BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), and PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance) to name a few… So many of these chemicals can be found in processed foods we eat daily here in the USA including baby foods. It’s the entire reason I started SALTOPIA 14 years ago: to offer a chemical free salts and seasonings! Ok, I’m done depressing everyone who was enjoying this read. Off my soapbox and onto more happy thoughts from the Italian and Swiss Alps!!
Back to the GRUB:
The beauty of most Italian dishes is in the simplicity of the recipes. There aren’t dozens of ingredients. The recipes are distinctly delicious due to the combinations selected on the simplest level. Raw salmon, chopped and mixed with EVOO, fresh dill and sea salt suddenly become a decadent topper to a delicate cracker. I'm not a huge fan of salmon and yet I made this dish when I got home from our trip using IN A PICKLE and it was pure perfection! As an alternative, try our low sodium option IT'S A CELEBRATION as well. Just as delicious minus the salt!
Rosemary and Parmesan cheese are not only beautiful but can be shaved over beef, chicken, pastas, soups, stews, rice dishes and more. The simplicity of rosemary plus Parmesan cheese are unmistakably the flavor leaders to so many dishes! This is truly how many flavors here at SALTOPIA come to life. Through travels and exploring cultures, I create flavors that bring these experiences directly home for us to enjoy again and again. I love our versions of both a rosemary salt as well as our parmesan black truffle combination when you may not always have access to sprigs of rosemary and chunks of parmesan cheese on hand.
These family bonding trips are our gift each season to one another. Spending time together, enjoying the outdoors, amazing foods is the best gift of all. Plus, each time I travel, I become inspired to create more flavors for SALTOPIA! Win win!