I’m very fortunate..I have clients, who have become friends, who, when traveling around the world, will text me the name of a restaurant or shop that they have stumbled across, or send me the phone number of a great guide.  This week Allan sent me not only an email raving about Gruta de Santo Antonio but also a cache of photographs showing his dinner, the smiling face of the chef, and interiors of Rio’s gem of a restaurant.

Serving Portuguese deliciousness every day of the year, Allan, who knows his food and wine, tells me Gruta de Santo Antonio is right up there with the best.  In other words, a MUST.  So, when staying at Santa Teresa Hotel, this is your first meal out.

http://www.grutadesantoantonio.com.br/v2/

 Recently premiered in NYC, Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a film that inspects the work of world-famous chef Sukiyabashi Jiro through the lens of filmmaker David Gelb. The proprietor of a ten-seat restaurant in a Tokyo subway is known for year-long waiting lists and a tendency to massage octopuses for 40-50 minutes before serving.

At home in Big Sky country…

 One of the transporting qualities of The Ranch at Rock Creek is the vast collection of old photographs and artifacts from the frontier days.  Everywhere you turn, you will find an image which provides a window into another time and place: America’s Old Wild West.  If you have ever dreamed of what life on a ranch would be like – albeit with today’s modern day comforts and some rustic luxury – then head to The Ranch at Rock Creek.  The warm and hospitable staff will make you feel at home, and you will be well-nourished with delicious, regional, gourmet food.  Stay in one of the beautifully appointed rooms in the main lodge, or choose from a wide array of cabins and cottages, tented canvas cabins, or fully equipped log homes.  At your disposal are guides as well as gear for fly-fishing, horseback riding, hiking, mountain biking, swimming, and archery.  When snow blankets the area, activities shift to snowmobiling, snowshoeing, ice-skating, carriage rides, sledding, and cross-country skiing.  Any time of year you can head over to the Ranch’s own Silver Dollar Saloon, where you can bowl, play pool, ping pong or watch a movie in the comfy home movie theater.   And when it is time to really relax you can unwind at the spa, catch-up on some reading (with an exceptionally wide array and quantity of books) or simply enjoy the beauty of nature in this pristine Montana locale.

…Out where the world is in the making,
Where fewer hearts in despair are aching,
That’s where the West begins;
Where there’s more of singing and less of sighing,
Where there’s more of giving and less of buying,
And a man makes friends without half trying —
That’s where the West begins.

Arthur Chapman © 1917-1918

http://www.theranchatrockcreek.com/ 

Reported:  Diane Koones

Drive south on the Coromandel Coast, passing the exquisite shore temples of Mahabalipuram, on down past Auroville, Aurobindo’s ashram, and pause at Pondicherry, a charming city of Indian French fusion.  Turn west here and begin driving through the heartland of Tamil Nadu, a land of temples and villages, ancient, vibrant and enduring.

Arrive at Mangala Heritage Home, a 5-room stylish oasis, that welcomes with great hospitality and guides guests with intelligence and sensibility.

http://www.mangalaheritagehome.in/

One of the loveliest of the ryokans I saw in Japan last week was Beniya Mukayu in the spa town of Yamashiro, Ishikawa Prefecture.  A Relais & Chateau property that has been in the Nakamichi family for four generations, Mukayu carries on a tradition of wellness through waters and balancing therapies that stretches back a thousand years.  Onsen are thermal waters, and Yamashiro onsen are simple, alkaline hot spring waters that are soothing and curative.  Along with communal and private baths, an extensive menu of spa therapies, and personally prepared herbal recipes, are yoga, meditation and delicious, spectacularly presented food gathered from the sea and the mountains.  With only 17 rooms, eight of which are Japanese, Mukayu is also treasure trove of art objects both contemporary and traditional.

The famous Chinese philosopher, Zhuangzi, who lived 2,300 years ago, said “An empty room will be filled with light because of its emptiness,”  words meaning that a mind entirely free of everything exists in a place of nothing, a place belonging to nowhere.  The word, Mukayu, also means non-existence, non-purpose, the natural state as it is.

Richness in emptiness….

These are the concepts that guided Beniya Mukayu’s design.  The resulting ryokan is a blissful creation.

http://www.mukayu.com/english/top.html