The path to paradise begins in hell. -Dante AlighieriEach time I go to Greece it's as if I fall under a magical spell. It's a place of pristine blue skies, endless sunshine and food that fills both my heart and my belly with nothing but joy. I feel like myself, as well as a better,…
I can't even describe to you how hard I fell for Nashville when I was there about a month ago. The city was gorgeous, lush, green, vibrant--my camera lens and I almost didn't know where to turn first. I'll admit that each time I go to to the south, I'm easily charmed and and pretty…
'Homesick,' said Edith finally. 'Yes.' But she thought of her little house as if it had existed in another life, another dimension. She thought of it as something to which she might never return. The seasons had changed since she last saw it; she was no longer the person who could sit up in bed…
Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. -Proverbs 16:23-25I love holiday weekends. For the past three days, I've been sleeping in and relaxing, hoping that, by Wednesday afternoon when I board the flight to New Orleans, I'll be cough-free and almost 100% healthy. Truth be told, it seems…
Looking at the gloomy sky this morning and the rooftops slickened by rain, it's strange to think that, less than a week ago, the weather was sunny and bright and we were on our way to Half Moon Bay. Needless to say, it's been a long week--one of those weeks that seems endlessly plodding, like…
Two years ago today, on a foggy California day, I put on a nice dress and headed to a Mediterranean restaurant to meet a guy. That guy, as it would turn out, was the Greek. Our first meeting was pleasant, but, looking back now, kind of strange. You see, I had just returned from the…
In fact, she'd long since disposed of her braid and her dimples, and instead toiled for her husband and her mother, raised the children, loyally ran for him, her lord and master, to the fresh food market, didn't have time for anything, and yet miraculously was always everywhere on time (she tried so hard to…
It is a fabulous place when the tide is in, a wave-churned basin, creamy with foam...But when the tide goes out, the little water world becomes quiet and lovely.-John Steinbeck (Cannery Row)While it may not be customary for a couple, right after a move, to go on a little trip, that's exactly what the Greek and…
Chow Mo-wan: In the old days, if someone had a secret they didn't want to share... you know what they did? They went up a mountain, found a tree, carved a hole in it, and whispered the secret into the hole. Then they covered it with mud. And leave the secret there forever. -Wong Kar…
Food for pleasure, and not just nourishment, is best cooked in one's own kitchen and eaten with the feet under one's own table.-Nicolas Freeling (The Kitchen Book)While the meal I'm about to share was not prepared in my own kitchen, I think it's safe to say that Mr. Freeling would nevertheless have approved of how…
Dining with Dostoevsky 