Destination: Illinois

travel: less twerk, more cook…

– I have neglected my blog. And I am sorry for it. In the months since my trip to Chicago in March (the last, substantive post on this blog), I have seen spring, summer, and autumn happening in fragments all over the Western Hemisphere, both above and below the equator. While I intend to write […]

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travel: less twerk, more cook…

– I have neglected my blog. And I am sorry for it. In the months since my trip to Chicago in March (the last, substantive post on this blog), I have seen spring, summer, and autumn happening in fragments all over the Western Hemisphere, both above and below the equator. While I intend to write […]

Continue

travel: second city…

~ When I left my twenties, I went to Chicago to mark the passing of that decade, and to welcome the next. In the five years since, I’ve kept the tradition, choosing a different city with each new birthday. In 2009, I celebrated in New York; in 2010, in Washington D.C.; and in 2011, Charleston. […]

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travel: second city…

~ When I left my twenties, I went to Chicago to mark the passing of that decade, and to welcome the next. In the five years since, I’ve kept the tradition, choosing a different city with each new birthday. In 2009, I celebrated in New York; in 2010, in Washington D.C.; and in 2011, Charleston. […]

Continue

foreign and domestic…

~ Last year, I quit the firm and lept into a brave new world.  Landing, unexpectedly, in an amazing suitcase party, I traveled, photographed, and ate around the globe, visiting nearly a dozen countries, and just as many states.  I thought I’d never have a year like it again. I was wrong. 2012 has been just as […]

Continue

foreign and domestic…

~ Last year, I quit the firm and lept into a brave new world.  Landing, unexpectedly, in an amazing suitcase party, I traveled, photographed, and ate around the globe, visiting nearly a dozen countries, and just as many states.  I thought I’d never have a year like it again. I was wrong. 2012 has been just as […]

Continue

travel: hot booter an awl…

– My latest trip to Chicago almost didn’t happen. Originally, I was supposed to go in late February, on business. But that trip got canceled. Thankfully, my prepaid hotel and airline reservations were moveable. So, I emailed a few of my friends to see if they could meet me in Chicago in March for an […]

Continue

travel: hot booter an awl…

– My latest trip to Chicago almost didn’t happen. Originally, I was supposed to go in late February, on business. But that trip got canceled. Thankfully, my prepaid hotel and airline reservations were moveable. So, I emailed a few of my friends to see if they could meet me in Chicago in March for an […]

Continue

travel: hipster safari…

– Hyde Park, New York really is as beautiful as they say it is. Even with the trees stripped bare against those bald, russet hills in winter, the Hudson River Valley is breathtaking. To Greystone I’ve been twice, but never to The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). So, when I was asked to photograph the […]

Continue

travel: hipster safari…

– Hyde Park, New York really is as beautiful as they say it is. Even with the trees stripped bare against those bald, russet hills in winter, the Hudson River Valley is breathtaking. To Greystone I’ve been twice, but never to The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). So, when I was asked to photograph the […]

Continue

best dishes of 2011…

(Crispy Pig Ears; Husk) * * * Another December, another set of listicles. Every year for the the past six, I’ve rounded up the best edibles of each and posted them here for posterity. They’ve included a list of my twenty-five favorite dishes, the best dozen desserts, and the top ten restaurant meals of each […]

Continue

best dishes of 2011…

(Crispy Pig Ears; Husk) * * * Another December, another set of listicles. Every year for the the past six, I’ve rounded up the best edibles of each and posted them here for posterity. They’ve included a list of my twenty-five favorite dishes, the best dozen desserts, and the top ten restaurant meals of each […]

Continue

suitcase party…

Eleven months ago, I took a tremendous leap of faith. I quit my job. Life will catch you, my friends reassured. I wasn’t so convinced. I went to Europe soon thereafter, to think, to eat, to explore, and to spectate. Certain that it was my last hurrah for a while, I was thankful for the […]

Continue

suitcase party…

Eleven months ago, I took a tremendous leap of faith. I quit my job. Life will catch you, my friends reassured. I wasn’t so convinced. I went to Europe soon thereafter, to think, to eat, to explore, and to spectate. Certain that it was my last hurrah for a while, I was thankful for the […]

Continue

best of 2010: the restaurant edition…

A blizzard of gastronomic white paper from tastemakers here and there gave this lame-duck week of 2010 a needed dose of excitement, angst, and confusion.  Who doesn’t love rummaging through another’s list of dirtied linens at the end of the year? While I’m a taster, not a tastemaker, I happily add to the storm my […]

Continue

best of 2010: the restaurant edition…

A blizzard of gastronomic white paper from tastemakers here and there gave this lame-duck week of 2010 a needed dose of excitement, angst, and confusion.  Who doesn’t love rummaging through another’s list of dirtied linens at the end of the year? While I’m a taster, not a tastemaker, I happily add to the storm my […]

Continue

best dishes of 2010…

It’s that time of year again when I shock myself into making new year resolutions by taking a look back at all of the food I ate in the last twelve months. Over the past few weeks, I’ve revisited hundreds of dishes and, through some mysterious and highly subjective process that involves memory and mood, […]

Continue

best dishes of 2010…

It’s that time of year again when I shock myself into making new year resolutions by taking a look back at all of the food I ate in the last twelve months. Over the past few weeks, I’ve revisited hundreds of dishes and, through some mysterious and highly subjective process that involves memory and mood, […]

Continue

review: retrospective… (alinea)

Nashville, Tennessee, 2004.  A ruddy-cheeked cherub came out of the kitchen after dinner to say hello. He was just a kid.  I was just a kid. We both loved food. He cooked. I ate.  We started talking. Though our conversation drifted from here to there, it moored mostly around a new restaurant that was opening […]

Continue

review: retrospective… (alinea)

Nashville, Tennessee, 2004.  A ruddy-cheeked cherub came out of the kitchen after dinner to say hello. He was just a kid.  I was just a kid. We both loved food. He cooked. I ate.  We started talking. Though our conversation drifted from here to there, it moored mostly around a new restaurant that was opening […]

Continue