Gourmet Living – by Gary Smolker

There Are Many Forms of Gourmet Living

Freedom To Let People Know What You Really Think

and

The Kind of Person You Really Are

Below are photographs of women exercising their right to express their true real unashamed selves; they are exercising their freedom to express who they really are.

I took the photograph below of the woman who is announcing to the world that she is allergic to mornings, after obtaining her permission to do so, while she was standing in line behind me at the check out counter at the local Ralph’s store located a few blocks away from where I live in Van Nuys, California.

I took the picture below of the woman who loves weekends, coffee and dogs, after obtaining her permission to do so, in a coffee shop in the City of Simi while I was waiting in a coffee shop for my GTR to be serviced.

Freedom To Own Property and to Exercise Private Property Rights

I strongly believe in the right to own property and in private property rights.

One of the things I loved about visiting Ouray, Colorado was the number of “No Trespassing” signs I saw there.

I saw the same kind of signs in Colfax, Washington.

 

Freedom To Treat Different People Differently

Freedom To Eat Chocolate

I think one of the most important freedoms a person can exercise is the freedom to eat whatever they want.

Personally, I think chocolate is a health food.

 

Freedom to Travel to See Land Being Farmed

The photographs below were taken by my friend Saeed Yadegar, M.D. on a trip we recently took to Palouse, Washington to see rolling fields of crops growing.

Freedom to Choose to Eat A Variety of Sweet Things

I’ve been told that eating products containing refined sugar, i.e. “sweets”, is harmful to your health; that more people die from eating sugar than from drugs.

But what a way to die.

I get my chocolates from Belgium fix at Lady Chocolat in Los Angeles, California.

I took the photographs below at Lady Chocolat located at 12008 Wilshire Blvd. in West Los Angeles, California.

 

 

 

I took the photographs below pies which were on a desert table while I was having a Sunday brunch at the Swag in Waynesville, North Carolina, which is near the Eastern Border of Tennessee and the Western Border of North Carolina and a few feet away from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I enjoyed a piece of each of the pies pictured below with two of my three daughters and my friends Ray and Sue Woodcock while my daughters and I were staying at the Swag.

I tasted each of the pies shown in the pictures below.

 

 

 

For pure luxury amid the full grandeur of one of the largest varieties of natural beauty in the world, the Swag is one of the places you ought to visit before you die.

The Swag is located a hop skip and away from a forest that contains 125 types of trees, more than 1,300 types of wildflowers and flowering plants, and more than 240 species of birds.

The forest that borders on the Swag is arguably the most diverse temperate forest in the whole world excluding the rain forests.

My Favorite Market in the World Is The Spice Market in Istanbul, Turkey

Below are two pictures of the Spice Market in Istanbul, Turkey, taken by my youngest daughter Leah while Leah and I were shopping in the Spice Market in Istanbul.

My favorite product sold in the Spice Market is raw honeycomb.

I bought a lot of raw honeycomb in the Spice Market in Istanbul, Turkey and brought it back with me to Los Angeles, California when Leah and I came back to the United States.

I had no problem bringing back the raw honeycomb I bought in Istanbul, Turkey to the United States when I entered the United States.

Leah and I flew back to the United States on a Russian plane, a commercial Aeroflot jet which we caught in Moscow at the Moscow Airport on our way back to the United States from Turkey.

 

Freedom to Enjoy A Variety of Desserts

 

 

Freedom to Travel For the Sole Purpose of Enjoying Nature

 

 

Freedom to Own and to Restore Classic Automobiles

  

  

  

     

Freedom To Meet New People

 

 

Freedom to Cook with Gourmet Cooking Wood

What Is A Swag and What Is the Swag?

In the Appalachian Mountains a “swag” is a dip between two mountain peaks not deep enough to be called a gap.

“The Swag” is a famous country inn in the Smoky Mountains.

Locale

The Swag is located in Western North Carolina, on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park contains 500,530 acres, and is 40 times the size of Manhattan.

The Smokies boast more than 1,300 flowering plants, more than 240 species of birds, 125 types of trees and various types of wild animals ranging from black bear to bobcat and wild boar to red wolf, all of which can be seen when one hikes around the Swag or goes next door into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Smoky Mountains have one of the most diverse eco-systems in the world, and is arguably the most diverse temperate forest in the whole world excluding the rain forests.

Two thirds of the American population can drive to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in less than a day and a half.

More people visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park than any other national park.

Each year 8 million visitors visit the Smoky Mountains National Park.

Buildings

The oldest part of the Swag dates to 1795.

Food Service

Full breakfast is served at the Swag from 8 to 10 a.m., Monday through Saturday.

On Sunday only a continental breakfast is served from 8 to 9:30 a.m.

Sunday brunch begins at 11 a.m.

Luncheon is primarily a packed backpack lunch or a picnic lunch or snack lunch.

“High Tea” is served daily from 3 to 5 p.m.

Dinner: Hors d’oeuvres at at 6 p.m. and dinner is served at one seating at 7 p.m.

The food served at the Swag is fabulous.

The Sunday brunch at the Swag is unbelievable.

The dinner menu at the Swag is imaginative, creative and strictly gourmet.

Amenities

The private rooms at the Swag and the locale are soothing, relaxing and gorgeous.

The common areas at the Swag ( dining area, libraries, and grounds) are remarkable.

My Experience at the Swag

I enjoyed every moment of every experience I had while I was at the Swag.

 

 

Copyright © 2016 by Gary S. Smolker, All Rights Reserved