Travel

Sailing with Mickey

18 April 2013 Travel
Thumbnail image for Sailing with Mickey

A week on board taught me why even adult travelers without kids go on Disney cruises and why Disney cruises are so much more expensive: it’s a real luxury travel experience. Who’d have thought? It’s not a natural assumption to think that a boat packed with amped-up kids would demand a Four Seasons-like focus on [...]

Read the full article →

Remembering bread

15 February 2013 Diet
Thumbnail image for Remembering bread

I have a beef with Starbucks, and it’s not about coffee – I’m a tea drinker – it’s about bread. My favorite bread, an old-school, Poilane-like whole wheat levain called pain Pascal at Trader Joe’s, has disappeared, and it turns out Starbucks is responsible for taking away one of the few breads I feel entirely [...]

Read the full article →

Vincenzo’s

4 January 2013 Columbus, OH
Thumbnail image for Vincenzo’s

Columbus, Ohio is a surprisingly great town for food. Ohio is one of the most diverse states in the Midwest, and the Ohio State University, third largest university in enrollment in the country, draws students and faculty from around the world. This is a city that appreciates and supports its food culture, from a lively [...]

Read the full article →

My friend Faith

13 October 2011 Columbus, OH
Thumbnail image for My friend Faith

It’s been a strange, volatile week, starting high, plunging low and ending with the realization that most everything is a high compared to the lows that could be. The week began last Thursday with a rare and exciting treat: lunch with a new friend, the lovely, curious Faith Durand, Managing Editor extraordinaire of my favorite [...]

Read the full article →

Stan’s Donuts

23 August 2011 Food
Thumbnail image for Stan’s Donuts

When we travel back to California, the kids practically sprint out of bed and into the car on the first morning to go to Stan’s Donuts in Santa Clara. Since we’ve been in Ohio, we’ve tried every doughnut place within a reasonable driving distance, from doughnut chains to local bakeries to Amish doughnuts from the [...]

Read the full article →

Greek salad

19 August 2011 Food
Thumbnail image for Greek salad

Greek salad is desert-island food for me – so essentially comforting and nourishing I would gladly eat it for the rest of my hot and solitary days. With the cool green crispness of cucumber, the warm red juiciness of tomato, the dark glossy brininess of olive, and the bright white softness of feta cheese, Greek [...]

Read the full article →

Minty lemonade

4 August 2011 Beverages
Thumbnail image for Minty lemonade

Before there was Silicon Valley, there was an expanse of blossoming fruit trees known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight. A local hardware chain, the aptly named Orchard Supply Hardware, began in 1931 as a farmers’ cooperative. Mountain View is now home to Google and a hub of Silicon Valley activity, but in a 1995 [...]

Read the full article →

Pioneer day

8 June 2011 Columbus, OH
Thumbnail image for Pioneer day

From my elementary school days in California, I remember panning for gold-painted pebbles and taking a field trip to a local Spanish mission, where we learned about making adobe bricks from clay and marveled at how small the Spanish padres must have been to fit into such tiny beds. But for my school kids in [...]

Read the full article →

Japan

18 March 2011 Thoughts
Thumbnail image for Japan

Many thoughts triggered by this past week’s tragic series of events in Japan…earthquakes and memories, stories, fears and hopes. My brief trip to Tokyo and Kyoto in 2001 – I tagged along on my husband’s work trip and spent the days, map in hand, exploring alone. I was charmed by the extreme specialization of Japanese [...]

Read the full article →

Buckeye pride (food, not football)

27 November 2010 Columbus, OH
Thumbnail image for Buckeye pride (food, not football)

I’m not a TV watcher, so I didn’t see the “No Reservations” episode this summer that apparently got some peeps in my current town of Columbus, Ohio all riled up. In this case the drama unfolded not on the TV screen but on the internet.

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries