When Mother and I discovered and fell in love with Tolg’s ‘tailor’s cottage’ in 2003, we had no idea that a huge part of our Tolg happiness would be generated by you…
Blog
Recommendations
For me, it’s important to understand how my friends evaluate food just as it’s important to understand how to interpret Yelp or other popular restaurant rating systems in order to gather the desired information. I lunched recently in Paris’s Latin Quarter with friends with whom I periodically dine out. They had just returned from Sicily,… Continue reading Recommendations
Life Surprises
After three successfully completed marriages and a host of other unanticipated twists and turns…
Knut & Ute
Knut and Ute are farmers living in Germany’s Zittau Mountains, a gentle, Catskill-like range that stretches across the ‘Three Corner’ region…
Americans Abroad
Most Americans are descendants of individuals who left their homelands due to discrimination, famine, greed, poverty, war, or (in the case of many with Irish and African roots) colonial dispossession or enslavement. Perhaps the restless longing for a homeland and community—a reassuring sense of rootedness—is what shapes the American character?
The Commission
Monsieur Lacépede knocked lightly so as not to disturb the meeting, pushed the door open with his shoulder, set down a silver tray with Sèvres porcelain – two cups of coffee and a plate with four madeleines – on the table between them, and discreetly departed…
Snow Happy
Here I sit on a friend’s terrace in southern Switzerland’s Lötchental, enjoying a postcard view of the Alps…
Cause and Effect
A friend just sent me an email containing a scan of her most recent black and white drawing. Her drawings and paintings often convey a still, contemplative mood, and this one made me cry unexpectedly…
Wish Fulfillment
Have you ever wished for something for as long as you can remember? Not with an intense, burning desire, but more with a relaxed, unconscious, and unexpectant vigilance…
Mme Chocolat
The sun shone and the humid air felt crisp as I walked down rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, where Hemingway and, earlier, a host of Nordic artists once lived…