The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a  island which lies east of the Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean. Although Puerto Rico is officially United States territory, the island’s unique history has led to the development of cuisine which embraces a variety of cultures.

The original occupants of Puerto Rico were Taíno Indians, who hunted for small mammals, birds and fish, as well as growing a variety of food crops, in particular yam. Later the island fell to Spanish rule, bringing both Spanish ingredients and cuisine, and later African influences arrived from slaves brought to work in the Spanish colonies on the island. Latin American traders and merchants also played their part by introduced previously unknown ingredients such as the chilli pepper to the island.

The name given by Puerto Rican people to their style of cuisine is Comida Criolla. While this translates as “Creole Cooking” the Puerto Rican flavour is distinct from that of the Creole food found in the United States.

Habicheulas con Arroz

Habicheulas con Arroz is simply beans and rice, and is a day to day dish which is served in both family homes and restaurants. White rice is cooked with dried beans and flavourings to create a hearty meal, which is often served with meat.

Arroz con Gandules

Gandules, or pigeon peas in English, are an ingredient which was brought to Spain from Africa. Often considered to be Puerto Rico’s national dish, this is served on special occasions.

Asopao

Asopao is a thick, rice based soup which usually contains chicken and is similar to gumbo. This dish is an important part of the Parrandas celebrations which take place during the festive period in Puerto Rico - similar to carol singing, groups go from house to house to serenade their friends, often until the early hours of the morning. Traditionally, Asapao is served to participants at the end of the night’s partying.

Alcapurrias

Alcapurrias are a Puerto Rican snack food sold by street vendors or served in beach bars to accompany a drink. A batter made from green bananas and a native tuber called taro is wrapped around a tasty meat and vegetable filling before deep frying. Not the healthiest treat, but very much a typical way of eating for the locals.

Mofongo

Mofongo is a very popular dish in Puerto Rico and one that all visitors on the island should try. Every chef has his or her own Mofongo recipe, but the basic dish is made from boiled and mashed plantain, mixed with meat, seafood or vegetables.

Leche Asao

Leche Asao is roast suckling pig, a dish which Puerto Riqueňos serve on special occasions, especially Christmas. The pig is usually cooked a la varitas - over a charcoal grill - on a spit which two people turn to ensure the meat is cooked evenly. The meat is usually rubbed with the Puerto Rico speciality spice blend Adobo Mojado which marinates, flavours and colours the meat.

Arroz Con Dulce

Puerto Rican people enjoy a sweet treat as much as anyone else, and one of the favourites is Arroz Con Dulce. Very similar to the British nursery treat Rice Pudding, Arroz Con Dulce has a delicious tropical twist - it is made from coconut milk. Some chefs add additional flavourings such as lemon or orange peel, rosewater or cinnamon.

After any enjoyable vacation, returning home is inevitably a bit of a come down. You’ve spent a week or more experiencing new things, relaxing and generally forgetting about work and home, then you are straight back into the real world. The post holiday blues, or post holiday depression, is a problem that many people face, and it is all too easy to find yourself resenting your normal life, which is not healthy at all!Here are our top tips to help you chase those holiday blues away.

Pre-plan for an Easy-going Return

There are lots of things you can do to make your return home less of a shock to the system

If possible, plan your return journey to allow some “recovery time” before your go back to work. A couple of days to get unpacked and catch up on what has been going on helps to blur the contrast between holidays and home

Pay any bills that will be due during your vacation or just after your return to prevent nasty surprises

Another great idea is to ask a close friend or family member to pop over to your house on the day of your return. Coming back to a cold house with nothing in the fridge is depressing, so get your friend to switch on the heating, if required, and buy a few fresh groceries for you. Offer to do the same in return when they arrive back from their holidays!

Bring Your Holiday Home

Daily life can see fairly dull and grey after a fortnight of exotic cuisine, adventures and sunshine. However, bring some of those favourite elements of your holiday can lighten your mood and bring extra value to your lifestyle.

If you and your family enjoyed eating local specialities during your holidays, why not try to recreate some of them at home. Many supermarkets are now stocking what once were classed as “exotic ingredients” from olive oil, which was once only sold in pharmacies in the UK, to tropical fruit. Play around with what is available, and get the whole family involved in cooking dishes which spark your holiday nostalgia.

Make your holiday snaps into an attractive collage and place it where it’ll be seen every day. Depending on how creative you are, you might want to do this with digital photos or prints. Every time you look at your artwork, you smile as you remember your holiday.

Holidays are often about trying new things, but when we get home, we fall into the habit of our usual routines. Shake things up by resolving to see or do something new every week. It might be trying an exercise class, going to a different restaurant, attending art exhibitions or even watching a movie you’d normally dismiss. Bringing new and fresh things into your life can extend that feel-good holiday vibe indefinitely!

Plan for Your Next Vacation

If all else fails, starting to plan for your next holiday is a great way to improve your positivity. Rather than just look at brochures and websites about possible destinations, why not turn your planning into a learning experience.

If you have decided what country you are going to, why not learn the language? This might seem like a big goal, but it is a worthwhile one. Your mood will definitely be boosted as you start to pick up phrases and recognise words, and you’ll appreciate all that hard-work when you put your new found skills into practice while on holiday

Another idea is to study the history and culture of the place you plan to visit. Get down to your local library and read up on the people and events which have shaped the country you’ll be travelling too. This is an excellent way to enrich your holiday experience, and will help you beat the boredom that often appears when your next holiday seems a long way away.

At the start of 2011,  food critics and gourmet chefs predicated that 2011 would be the year of offal. Gordon Ramsay and Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall have both spoken in favour of the trend, presenting an array of thought-provoking dishes on their TV shows, and encouraging people to try these (supposedly) underrated ingredients.

Sweetbreads, liver, lights and all those other internal organs may not be of instant appeal, however it seems like that British public are starting to see the advantages of choosing offal during their weekly shop. Nutritionally, offal is high in protein while some types are an excellent source of vitamin B and iron, all of which are essential for a healthy body.

The Guardian newspaper recently reported that eating offal is a “green” or environmental friendly option, promoting reduced food waste for more sustainable living. Additionally, offal is often cheaper than meat such as pork and beef kilo for kilo, but most people are still experimenting with how to cook it, given that it has been one of the least popular elements of the butchers counter for so many years.

Actually, outside of Britain, offal has always been a traditional part of the menu in many different cultures. Travellers to Europe, South America, Africa and Asia are likely to encounter offal on the menu at some stage in their journey, with different regions having their own specialities.

In Lebanon, for example, lamb brain is served as a sandwich filling, while in Mexico, you might be served a cow’s head, a delicacy which includes eyes, tongue and brain. Closer to home, Spanish callos is a rich stew made from tripe, and in France, you’ll see dishes made from lamb trotters or chitterlings. Then of course, there is haggis from Scotland, which is made from multiple types of offal, cooked in a sheep’s stomach for a unique flavour.

While you may be a little hesitant to try offal, it is worth remembering that a few decades back, offal was a key part of traditional British cuisine. Those that are squeamish might like to start with a less adventurous offal dish such as duck liver pate or black sausages made from pig’s blood, which are less threatening that a plate of chitterlings or sweetbreads!

Then why not try some of those foods you’ve scorned since being served them in childhood? Liver cooked with onions and bacon and served with a side dish of  mashed potatoes may have made you cringe when it was served up for school dinners, but cooked properly, it can be tender and melt in your mouth delicious.

It is unlikely that we will see a complete change in British eating habits, to the extent where families are serving offal at home every week. However, a greater knowledge of the ingredients available to us is always beneficial and may even encourage some creative cookery!

What do you think? Do you serve offal at home or order it in restaurants? Does the thought of eating offal disgust you or is it a treat?

If you are looking for something a little different from the run of the mill tourist attractions that you usually visit on your holidays, we’ve got a fantastic suggestion for you - and one that all the family can enjoy.

Remember when you were a child and the idea of buried treasure could occupy your daydreams for hours on end? Geocaching appeals to that sense of mystery and magic, the hope that you will indeed find treasure. Described by its creators as a modern treasure hunt, Geocachers use GPS coordinates listed at www.geocaching.com along with clues to find hidden “caches”.

The joy of Geocaching during a vacation is that you’ll find yourself stepping out of the typical “beach, hotel, theme park” trap that it is easy to get into. The nature of Geocaching usually means that you’ll have to walk or cycle to find the cache, and the people who place caches often try to do so in a place which is beautiful or particularly interesting. The caches themselves don’t tend to contain valuable items, and etiquette dictates that if you want to remove an item from a cache, you should replace it with something of equal value.

Although Geocaching involves the modern element of GPS equipment, there is something about it which involves slowing down, refining your concentration and attention and being aware of your surroundings. For anyone who works at 9 to 5 or in a stressful environment, this simple activity can be a release from the strains of every day life. Your younger family members can also join in the fun - and it is a great way to separate them from their Playstations and social media….

Anyone who has a GPS enabled device such as a TomTom or mobile phone can try Geocaching, and basic membership on the website is free, so all you really need to do is decide which cache you are going to hunt for. There are a growing number of caches in locations all over the world, so wherever your destination for your holidays, you are likely to be able to find a cache near you. Give it a try, and join the thousands of people who have found this hobby to be addictive and rewarding!

Giving a tip, or gratuity, to someone who has provided you with a service is a custom which is widely believed to have originated in the United Kingdom. The story goes that back in the 18^th Century, the thieves had developed their own language in which to tip meant to give. Landlords of pubs and drinking houses adopted this term, and so tipping began. It is often said that the word tips stands for “to insure prompt service” although there is little evidence that this is correct.

Tipping is now a common practice across the globe, but that doesn’t mean that one rule applies everywhere. One of the most confusing and potentially embarrassing problems that today’s international traveller faces is not only how much to tip, but when. Not tipping enough will earn you the scorn of waiting staff in one country, while in other countries, tips are not accepted, putting you in an awkward situation.

To help you navigate this labyrinth of tipping etiquette, we’ve put together a quick guide of tipping etiquette in some of the top holiday destinations across the globe. Treat these tips as guidelines - remember, you don’t have to tip for poor service, and if someone truly goes out of the way to help you, thanking them with a larger gratuity won’t usually be a problem.

United States

The people of the United States have embraced tipping to the point where some employers pay lower wages, presuming that the staff will make up the amount in tips. This applies particularly to waiting staff in restaurants and cafeterias with table service, so be sure to budget for your tips before you travel. Average tip amount is around 15% of the final bill, though it is normal to tip as much as 25% if service was exceptional or you were dining as part of a large group. Some restaurants apply a service charge to the bill, so if you see this listed, there is no need to tip a second time.

Australia & New Zealand

In both Australia and New Zealand, tipping is not usually expected and in some areas may be misunderstood. In restaurants, you can leave a tip of around 10% of the final bill, which will be shared amongst all waiting staff, and some venues will have a tip jar, which you can drop you change into without embarrassment.

Europe

Tipping in Europe is more relaxed than in the United States, and the tendency is to tip around 10% of the bill, or round up to the nearest 5 Euros. Tips should always be given in currency rather than paid along with a credit card payment as this helps to ensure that the staff get them. Again, keep a look out for bills which have service already included.

Asia

Tipping etiquette in Asian countries can be a tricky business, and changing attitudes make it difficult to judge whether your gratuity will be greeted with a frown or a smile. The easiest way to decide whether to tip or not (and this can be applied across the globe) is to watch the locals and follow their lead. In Japan, China and Singapore, tipping is generally a no-no and actually illegal in some places, however in Westernised areas and high end restaurants a service charge may be included on your bill.

South Africa

In South Africa, a tip of between 10-15% is the norm in restaurants, although again, you may wish to increase that amount slightly if  you are given stand out service.

We’ve all hit the ground with a bang at some point in our lives, and no, I’m not talking about our boss refusing us that pay rise or the feeling you when you receive your car insurance bill, I’m talking about treacherous airplane landings. You’ve cruised along happily for the entire flight, eating peanuts and watching bad Adam Sandler movies (is there a good Adam Sandler movie?), when suddenly you’re reminded that you’re sitting aboard a 80,000Kg vessel capable of speeds exceeding 500mph and cruising at 35,000 feet as the pilot grapples with tricky weather conditions, resulting in less than comfortable landing. Read the rest of this entry »

Desynchronsis is the medical term for what most of us would call jet lag. Usually experienced by travellers who have taken a long haul flight which crosses several time zones, jet lag can leave you feeling out of sorts for several days following arrival at your destination. In order to beat jet lag, we look at what causes jet lag, what jet lag feels like and what we can do to prepare ourselves before a long plane journey. Read the rest of this entry »

Halloween or All Hallows Eve is celebrated on the 31^st of October and is traditionally the night when spooks, ghouls and witches roam the earth. Instead of staying at home waiting for trick or treaters, why not make this Halloween one to remember, by taking a break to a spooky location and seeing if you can spot a ghost or two! Here are our top  favourite five haunted places in the United Kingdom, where ghosts and mysteries abound! Read the rest of this entry »

The next time you go on holiday, you might want to think again before jumping directly into that pristine, beautifully made bed. Since the mid 90s, a worrying trend has come to light - the number of Bedbug (Cimicidae) infestations is on the rise. Scientists link the soaring figures to a resistance to pesticides such as DDT, which had succeeded in almost eradicating the creepy crawlies after the 1940s, and increased global travel. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone enjoys watching a good film from time to time, but if you want to take the movie experience further, why not be inspired by the locations used in your favourite flick for your next holiday. Here are four suggestions to inspire your choice - from Spanish deserts masquerading as the American West to mystery and magic in New Zealand.

Almeria - Heaven for Spaghetti Western Fans Read the rest of this entry »