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More about Lydia

It is nice to meet you and thank you for visiting Gwin’s Tiny Kitchen, the place where we enter into an adventure every time we gather. As your tour guide to this adventure, let me introduce myself, my birth name is Lydia and the name I am most referred to as is Mom.

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🍫 Where Does Chocolate Really Come From? A visit

🍫 Where Does Chocolate Really Come From?

A visit to a women-run cocoa farm in the Dominican Republic is a hands-on journey from tree to chocolate and a powerful reminder that chocolate is both agriculture and culture.
What you learn and experience:
🌱 Planting cacao trees – Cacao grows in tropical shade and takes several years before producing pods, making it a long-term investment for farmers.
🥭 Opening fresh cocoa pods – Inside are cacao beans surrounded by sweet, white pulp (the fruit part most people never taste).
🔄 Fermentation & drying – Beans are fermented under banana leaves and dried in the sun, steps that develop chocolate’s aroma and flavor.
🥜 Nibs to paste – Roasted beans are cracked into nibs, then ground into thick cocoa paste — the base of all chocolate.
🍫 Tasting raw cacao – Fresh beans are slimy and sweet at first, but turn intensely bitter when chewed, showing how much processing shapes flavor.

Why it matters:
👩🏽‍🌾 These cooperatives support women-led farming and economic independence.
🌍 You gain a deeper understanding of sustainable agriculture and ethical chocolate production.
🍃 Chocolate stops being just a treat — it becomes a story of land, labor, and community.

Once you experience cacao this way, you’ll never look at a chocolate bar the same again

#eurodam #hollandamericaline #dominicanrepublic #chocolate #cocoafarm

✨ Fruttini by Mo — Paris’ Most Charming Frozen Sur

✨ Fruttini by Mo — Paris’ Most Charming Frozen Surprise ✨

In the heart of Paris sits the sweetest little gem: Fruttini, where fruits become art and dessert becomes an experience. 🍊🍋🍍

Each piece looks like a simple piece of fruit… until you cut into it. Inside? Luxurious, house-made sorbet that tastes like the truest essence of the fruit itself. Nothing artificial, nothing overly sweet — just pure flavor, crafted with French finesse.

My favorite part? The textures. The icy chill of the sorbet, the softness of the fruit shell, and the delicate balance of sweetness make every bite feel like a tiny moment of magic. ✨

It’s refreshing, beautiful, and absolutely worth a stop on your Paris wanderings — especially if you love discovering places that do one thing really well.

🍐 Must-try:
– The pear (iconic!)
– Lemon for classicists
– Passionfruit if you want something bold

Paris never stops surprising… but Fruttini is one of the sweetest surprises of all. 🍓💛

#FruttiniByMo #ParisEats #GwinsTinyKitchen #DessertAdventure #ParisDessert #TravelWithTaste

Where is the best place for hot chocolate 🍫 in Par

Where is the best place for hot chocolate 🍫 in Paris?

Found a little slice of chocolate heaven in Paris: PLAQ Chocolat. 🍫✨
This bean-to-bar atelier is all about stripping chocolate back to its purest form — just cocoa beans, craftsmanship, and flavor. No distractions. No heavy sugars. No gimmicks. Just bare, pure chocolate made right in their Paris workshop.

I tried their hot chocolate with crème, and it tasted like someone melted a single-origin bar straight into the cup. Deep, dark, almost earthy — rich without being overly sweet. If you love true cacao and high-percentage chocolate (think 76%… 84%… even 100%), this is your spot. 🤎

Their concept is rooted in letting the bean speak for itself — celebrating terroir, texture, and the natural flavor of cocoa without masking it. You can even “take the test” in the shop to find your perfect bar based on aroma and taste notes. ✨

📍 4 Rue du Nil (2nd arrondissement)
📍 57 Rue du Cherche-Midi (6th arrondissement)

✨ A heads up for families:
This is not your typical sugary hot cocoa. Kids expecting sweet Swiss Miss vibes may be surprised — but for adults who appreciate the art of chocolate, it’s absolutely worth the visit.

A must-stop for any chocolate lover wandering through Paris. 🍫🇫🇷✨

Czech comfort food with a side of folklore 🇨🇿🍽️ I

Czech comfort food with a side of folklore 🇨🇿🍽️

In Český Krumlov, I slipped into a cozy, wood-paneled tavern called Švejk — and to appreciate this meal, you need to know the story behind the name.

Who is Švejk?
Named after the beloved Czech novel “The Good Soldier Švejk,” this character is a witty, cheerful, slightly mischievous soldier who navigates the absurdities of WWI with humor and heart. He represents the Czech spirit — resilience, laughter, good food, and good beer shared at a pub table. So when you dine at a Švejk restaurant, you’re stepping into that story: humble, honest, and full of heart.

Now, the food… oh my! 💛

🍄 Local Mushroom Soup
Deep, earthy, and rooted in Czech foraging traditions — served with a poached egg and a dollop of sour cream that made every spoonful silky and rich.

🧀 Cheese-Filled Dumpling
A tender dumpling stuffed with cheese and swimming in a tangy curd-style cottage cheese sauce. Comforting, unexpected, and uniquely Czech.

🦌 Wild Boar “Goulash”
Here, goulash leans more toward a savory, gravy-style stew — hearty, peppery, and slow-cooked to perfection. Served with bread dumplings (think edible sponges!) to soak up every drop.

This meal felt like sitting at a Czech family table — rooted in tradition, prepared with love, and seasoned with humor. The kind where you arrive for a dish, but leave with a story.

Have you ever tried Czech comfort food? What dish would you dig into first?

What's the coolest thing in Bratislava? ✨ A Nigh

What's the coolest thing in Bratislava?

✨ A Night at Mirror Bar – Bratislava’s Cocktail Wonderland
Step into Mirror Bar — ranked No. 25 in tworld by The World’s 50 Best Bars — and you’ll quickly see why it’s more than a bar: it’s an immersive sensory experience. 🍸🌿

The design feels like stepping into a modern Art Deco greenhouse: lush greenery hanging above the bar, velvet jewel-tone seating, mirrored floors that reflect the space like a dream, and an enchanted tree anchoring the room with a touch of whimsical elegance. ✨

We gave our bartender a challenge:
💬 “Surprise us… one sweet & sour.”
And he rose to it brilliantly. The cocktail arrived like a mini performance — beautifully balanced, story-driven, and presented with nature-inspired artistry (yes, even served alongside a tiny living g

What I love most is their philosophy: cocktails here aren’t just mixed — they are crafted to spark emotion, curiosity, and memory. The artistry, the storytelling, the flavors… it all lingers long after the 2wlast sip.

If Bratislava is on your list, reserve an evening here. Trust the bartender, lean into the magic, and let the night unfold through flavor and imagination. 🥂✨

#MirrorBarBratislava #50BestBars #BratislavaNights #CocktailArt #

🇵🇹✨ Portuguese food isn’t just “European” — it’s a

🇵🇹✨ Portuguese food isn’t just “European” — it’s a beautiful blend of global influences that tell a story of exploration, trade, and migration.

Our first stop was a tiny café serving fresh-pressed sugar cane juice with a squeeze of lime — a sweet, refreshing nod to tropical roots. Alongside it, a pastel de vento, a flaky hand pie stuffed with meat and cheese, perfectly crispy and comforting.

And the piri piri sauce? Not the same one you find bottled in Europe — this version was bolder, spicier, and kissed with roasted garlic and Brazilian peppers, a reminder of Portugal’s deep culinary connection with its former colonies.

Later, we wandered through a local market filled with Brazilian groceries — vibrant spices, cassava flour, tropical fruit, and the irresistible aroma of pão de queijo (cheese bread) served with guava paste. 🍞🧀🍯

The sweetest connection of all? The Portuguese introduced sugar cultivation to Brazil, and the Brazilians turned it into an art form — proof that food always travels, evolves, and comes home transformed.

#GwinsTinyKitchen #GwinsTravelingKitchen #CulinaryTravel #PortugalEats #BrazilianFlavors #FoodIsCulture #TravelWithTaste #PiriPiri #PaodeQueijo #PasteldeVento #SugarCaneJuice

“In the folds of the Douro Valley, time runs as sl

“In the folds of the Douro Valley, time runs as slow and rich as the wine itself.” 🍷

For over two millennia, these steep terraced hills have nurtured vines that would give birth to one of Portugal’s greatest gifts — Port wine.
From the deep ruby sweetness of a Vintage Port, to the nutty amber of an aged Tawny, and the floral elegance of a chilled White Port, each tells a story of patience, sun, and schist-carved soil.

The Douro Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the oldest demarcated wine region in the world (since 1756) — a place where tradition still guides the hand that tends the vines, and the river carries their story to Porto’s cellars.

Port wine’s color tells the story of how it was aged — and for how long.

Ruby Port 💎
Bright red and youthful — aged mostly in large oak vats for a short time. This limits oxygen exposure, preserving those deep berry tones and fresh fruit flavors. Think cherries, raspberries, and chocolate.

Tawny Port 🍂
Aged for years — sometimes decades — in small oak barrels. The slow oxidation turns the color from ruby red to amber or golden brown. You’ll taste caramel, nuts, and dried fruits — warmth in a glass.

White Port 🌼
Made from white grape varieties and aged in oak, it ranges from pale gold to honeyed amber depending on time spent aging. Often enjoyed chilled as an aperitif or in a tonic cocktail.

Rosé Port 🌸
A newer creation, lightly fermented like rosé wine, keeping its blush pink color and notes of strawberry and vanilla.

Color in Port is all about contact with the grape skins and exposure to oxygen — nature’s slow artistry transforming deep red into gold over time.

✨ Raise a glass to heritage, to craft, and to the magic that happens when time, terroir, and human hands meet.
#GwinsTravelingKitchen #TravelWithTaste #GwinsTinyKitchen #DouroValley #PortWine #PortugalWine #UNESCOHeritage #TravelThroughTaste

🎶🇵🇹 A Meal Wrapped in Music — Fado, Caldo Verde &

🎶🇵🇹 A Meal Wrapped in Music — Fado, Caldo Verde & Port

There are meals that fill you… and then there are meals that move you.
Dinner in a Fado house is both.

The evening began with caldo verde, that humble bowl of comfort found on every Portuguese table — creamy potatoes, ribbons of kale, and smoky chouriço. Simple, earthy, and full of soul — just like the music about to follow.

Then came a glass of Port wine, deep and ruby, sweetened by the warmth of the room and the anticipation of the first notes.
The lights dimmed, conversation faded, and a hush fell over the space.

Two guitars began to play — one bright and metallic, the other steady and soft — before a voice rose, rich with longing and love. That’s Fado: Portugal’s song of saudade, the ache of memory and the beauty of presence. No spotlight, no center stage, lights lower, silence surrounding you making each vibrato and strum of guitar felt and not heard. Your senses become alive.

As the music lingered, so did the flavors — the salt of the soup, the sweetness of the Port, and the feeling that for one small moment, everything was connected.

🖤 To taste, to listen, to feel — that is Portugal.

#GwinsTinyKitchen #TravelWithTaste #Fado #PortugueseCuisine #CaldoVerde #PortWine #LisbonNights #Saudade #FoodAndMusic #CulturalTravel

🇵🇹 Tinned Treasures of Portugal 🐙🐟 In Portugal, c

🇵🇹 Tinned Treasures of Portugal 🐙🐟

In Portugal, canned fish isn’t a shortcut — it’s an art form.
Each tin tells a story of sea, salt, and time. Sardines, squid, octopus, mackerel… preserved at their peak, bathed in olive oil or a delicate sauce, ready to open and savor.

Sadly, most people’s exposure to canned fish begins and ends with tuna — mixed with mayo, hidden beneath condiments. But here, it’s something else entirely. Pure. Honest. Celebrated.

Walk into any Portuguese market and you’ll find entire walls glimmering with vibrant tins — vintage labels, proud heritage, and the quiet rhythm of tradition. It’s not “processed food.” It’s craftsmanship in a can.

Serve it simply: on toast, with lemon, maybe a drizzle of good olive oil. That’s it. Let the ocean speak for itself. 🌊

#travelwithtaste #gwinstravelingkitchen #portugalfoodculture #tinnedfish #conservasportuguesas #seafoodstories #culinaryheritage
📸 Sheri Doe

🌊✨ Viva Gomes – The Invincible Vines of Colares ✨🌊

🌊✨ Viva Gomes – The Invincible Vines of Colares ✨🌊
Here’s to those wild, windswept sands and the vines that refused to bow.
Deep in the westernmost edge of mainland Portugal, in Colares, the grapes don’t grow tall. They grow low — snaking across beach-sand dunes, hugged by the Atlantic’s fog and breeze, planted in ancient clay and limestone beneath metres of golden sand.

🌿 Why so unique? Because when the dreaded pest Phylloxera vastatrix ravaged Europe’s vineyards a century ago, most of the continent’s vines fell. But Colares? The sand was their armour. The root-sucking bug simply couldn’t thrive in those pure sandy terraces — and so the vines stayed ungrafted, true to their own roots.

🍇 The vineyard tradition here is like no other:

Vines trained low, trunk nearly ground-level, clusters barely off the sand, warmed by the reflected sun, cooled by the sea breeze.

Deep trenches are dug to the clay-limestone substrate, vines planted there, then the sand pulled back over them. A desert-coast miracle.

The soil: pure sand (virtually no clay) at the surface, which means no phylloxera, and a terroir that yields saline, crisp, mineral wines with real character.

🍷 So when you raise a glass of the iconic red Ramisco or the white Malvasia de Colares from the historic Adega Viúva Gomes (or simply tip your hat to “Viva Gomes” in gratitude), know you’re tasting resilience, history, and the sheer poetry of nature and human hands.

Here’s to roots that run deep, sand that shields, vines that endure. Raise your glass to the coast. 🍾🌾

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