https://stevedrice.net/ 2026-05-20T01:39:42+00:00 https://stevedrice.net/ https://stevedrice.net/_media/wiki/dokuwiki.svg text/html 2026-05-19T18:21:28+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/books/classic/179 Review of 'War and Peace' War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy The one thing that seems to be notable about this book is it's size though in literary circles it is admired on it's obvious merits. An epic story of the advance of Napoleon to Moscow in the war of 1812 the book follows a number of individuals in how the army's advance effects them all. Interspersed amongst the later part of the story Tolstoy introduces the periodic political chapter (the last chapter, the Second Epilogue, in particul… text/html 2026-05-19T18:19:40+00:00 steve (steve@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/na/usa/texas/journal/page5 Thursday, August 28th, 1997 - San Antonio, Texas 55th World Science Fiction Convention : LoneStarCon II - Day 1 It was a particularly social day today, met lots of people and listened to lots of interesting information. The owner of the motel fulfilled his promise and drove myself and a fellow convention member to the convention center this morning. He is from Ohio and was commenting about the various conventions he has been to. text/html 2026-05-19T18:15:57+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/books/autobiography/662 Review of 'Tolstoy' Tolstoy by Henri Troyat When you say the word “Tolstoy” most people's thoughts will immediately turn to his most famous work “War and Peace”. Likely they will know of it for one thing: It is very long. This is certainly true (see my review text/html 2026-05-17T12:21:44+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/events/england/232 Review of 'Whitchurch Food & Drink Festival' <https://whitchurchtowncouncil.gov.uk/foodanddrink26/> This year saw the return of the one day “Whitchurch Food & Drink Festival” to the small Shropshire town of Whitchurch, about 20 minutes southwest of Nantwich and 35 minutes north of Shrewsbury, England. [Stalls] The festival was free to attend with the main section having security guards checking bags before entry. Parking was a bit tricky with the small car park for the park only holding … text/html 2026-05-17T11:37:38+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/animation/866 Review of 'The Garfield Movie' Not to be confused with the live action 2004 film “Garfield: The Movie”, “The Garfield Movie” is a more recent animation-only story of the lasagne-loving comic sedentary orange tabby cat Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) who lives with his long-suffering (silent) friend, beagle dog Odie ( text/html 2026-05-17T11:05:32+00:00 steve (steve@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/europe/uk/england/coventry/introduction Coventry [Coventry Town Centre] Coventry is a small, thriving city with an easy to navigate city centre that is largely pedestrianised with an interesting mixture of modern concrete and medieval wood structures. The winding roads and lanes make for an interesting stroll with many small chain and local restaurants to choose from. It is located in the west midlands, a short distance south east of text/html 2026-05-17T10:10:12+00:00 steve (steve@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/europe/uk/england/sidebar * England Cities * Birmingham * Blackpool * Coventry * Liverpool * My London * Manchester * Scarborough Counties * Berkshire * Buckinghamshire * Cambridgeshire * Cheshire * Cornwall * Cumbria * Derbyshire * Devon * Dorset * East Sussex * Hampshire * Isle of Wight * Kent * Lancashire * Merseyside * Norfolk * Northamptonshire * Northumberland * North Yorkshire * Oxfordshire * Shropshire * Somerset * South Yorkshire * Staffordshire … text/html 2026-04-29T16:25:45+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/restaurants/portugal/503 Review of 'Foz Do Banho' Located just opposite our hotel at the top of a mountain in Monchique, “Foz Do Banho” obviously sees a lot of foreign visitors but even so they have a good selection of local food and drink. [Main Entrance Area] This small restaurant on the side of the road has space for parking out front along with outdoor seating beside the car park. To the right of the entrance there is a small souvenir shop selling local handcrafts and a lot of stuff with text/html 2026-04-28T18:26:38+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/europe/portugal/introduction Portugal Introduction I have only ever visited Lisbon (Lisboa) and Algarve but I have found the food to be quite good, the climate wonderful and people to be quite warm and welcoming. There are lots of tourists around but the country still manages to maintain a semblance of uniqueness. text/html 2026-04-28T18:26:38+00:00 steve (steve@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/europe/portugal/algarve Algarve [Algarve Scenery - Mountains Everywhere] I stayed in Algarve for a week in 2026 where we stayed in at a resort in the mountains about 45 minutes north of Lagos (pronounced “la-gosh”) and the coast of the Algarve. The region consists of small towns all along the southern coast of text/html 2026-04-26T17:23:56+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/restaurants/portugal/504 Review of 'Time Out Market Lisboa' Located immediately adjacent to the Lisbon Market, Time Out Market Lisbon (Lisboa) is the same as in other cities - A huge hall with a range of local street food vendors in a lively, buzzy atmosphere. You order what you like from any of the stalls, they give you a buzzer, and you return when it buzzes for your food. The variety of food on offer here seems to not as diverse as other locations but the food is excellent. Seating consists of long, high woode… text/html 2026-04-26T14:52:52+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/restaurants/portugal/502 Review of 'O Recanto' On the roads around our hotel at the top of a mountain in Monchique there are a few road-side restaurants that obviously cater to tourists (though this is not a huge tourist area as we are a bit of a distance from the coast) but, surprisingly, also to the local people. These are not fancy by any means but serve simple, local food at reasonable prices. For us it was good to get away from the good, but fairly non-local food in the hotel to try something a bit more authe… text/html 2026-04-25T12:42:23+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/restaurants/portugal/501 Review of 'Casa Do Mar Restaurante & Bar' While wandering through the streets of Lagos on our recent visit we were looking for somewhere serving reasonably authentic local food at reasonably good prices. This is trickier than you might expect as there are lots of places selling fast food and other cuisines but few that actually attempted to serve good quality, Portuguese food. Of course, this is a tourist area so it is still always going to be touristy but we looked anyway and settled on text/html 2026-04-25T12:08:00+00:00 steve (steve@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/restaurants/portugal/introduction Portugal With it's position on the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean you would expect seafood to feature quite highly in Portugal...and you would be right, but there is also a strong history of farming so cured meats and hearty stews are also on the menu.