Destination: Oslo

favorite desserts of 2017…

– Plums, ashen from the hearth, bleeding into gauzy muslin. Figs, syrupy and charred, nestled in a flakey frame. Saffron suspended in a milky cloud glinting with gold. And apricots, fleshy and warm, hugged in a doughy crust, with ice cream beside; a slice of the great American songbook. These are just a few of […]

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favorite desserts of 2017…

– Plums, ashen from the hearth, bleeding into gauzy muslin. Figs, syrupy and charred, nestled in a flakey frame. Saffron suspended in a milky cloud glinting with gold. And apricots, fleshy and warm, hugged in a doughy crust, with ice cream beside; a slice of the great American songbook. These are just a few of […]

Continue

travel: an education… (2017)

– It has been over a dozen years since I started recording and reporting here.  Yet, despite my dwindling updates, I have not lost enthusiasm or eagerness for it. What little time I manage to devote to writing my blog remains exciting and important to me, because above all, it represents an incredible education. Since […]

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travel: an education… (2017)

– It has been over a dozen years since I started recording and reporting here.  Yet, despite my dwindling updates, I have not lost enthusiasm or eagerness for it. What little time I manage to devote to writing my blog remains exciting and important to me, because above all, it represents an incredible education. Since […]

Continue

travel: hemispheres and horizons…

– The calendar has turned for the twelfth time on this blog, and once again, I find myself nearly immobilized by the daunting task of gathering the previous year in one post.  What has proven perennially to be one of my most challenging exercises, pausing to regroup, reflect, and record at year-end has turned out to be one of the most […]

Continue

travel: hemispheres and horizons…

– The calendar has turned for the twelfth time on this blog, and once again, I find myself nearly immobilized by the daunting task of gathering the previous year in one post.  What has proven perennially to be one of my most challenging exercises, pausing to regroup, reflect, and record at year-end has turned out to be one of the most […]

Continue

best dishes of 2015…

– There was no runaway hit in 2015.  There were quite a few of them. However, whereas in past years, canvassing through hundreds of dishes for my 25 favorite was a particularly difficult task – one that I was often unable to carry out successfully, forcing me to append a spillover list that often included just as […]

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best dishes of 2015…

– There was no runaway hit in 2015.  There were quite a few of them. However, whereas in past years, canvassing through hundreds of dishes for my 25 favorite was a particularly difficult task – one that I was often unable to carry out successfully, forcing me to append a spillover list that often included just as […]

Continue

travel: fairytale…

~ Five years ago today, I walked out of the law firm and into the unknown. What began as a shapeless but exciting restart on life quickly formed into an unexpectedly self-guided and fulfilling journey flooded with amazing people, places, lessons, and adventures.  Year after year, life has exceeded my wildest expectations. While I’ve enjoyed getting lost in the busyness of my new […]

Continue

travel: fairytale…

~ Five years ago today, I walked out of the law firm and into the unknown. What began as a shapeless but exciting restart on life quickly formed into an unexpectedly self-guided and fulfilling journey flooded with amazing people, places, lessons, and adventures.  Year after year, life has exceeded my wildest expectations. While I’ve enjoyed getting lost in the busyness of my new […]

Continue

travel: toward a facile familiarity…

~ The Norwegian Airline strike was a refrain during the latest Friends of Lysverket weekend in Bergen.  It came up repeatedly in conversation. The strike had gone on way too long, keeping thousands of people, including me, suspended in travel limbo.  I had two connecting flights on the airline that week: one to Copenhagen, and one to Oslo, where Christopher Haatuft […]

Continue

travel: toward a facile familiarity…

~ The Norwegian Airline strike was a refrain during the latest Friends of Lysverket weekend in Bergen.  It came up repeatedly in conversation. The strike had gone on way too long, keeping thousands of people, including me, suspended in travel limbo.  I had two connecting flights on the airline that week: one to Copenhagen, and one to Oslo, where Christopher Haatuft […]

Continue

best desserts of 2014…

– My parents, who immigrated to the United States over forty years ago, said that, when they first arrived on these shores, they had no concept of “dessert.”  In Taiwan, where they had spent most of their lives until that point, there were bakeries that sold sweet pastries, and confectioners who made candy. But most of […]

Continue

best desserts of 2014…

– My parents, who immigrated to the United States over forty years ago, said that, when they first arrived on these shores, they had no concept of “dessert.”  In Taiwan, where they had spent most of their lives until that point, there were bakeries that sold sweet pastries, and confectioners who made candy. But most of […]

Continue

travel: leapfrogging…

~ Another year is gone, and I’ve barely written about it.  This is especially sad to me, since so many wonderful things happened. Every year, I pause at calendar’s end to record and remember the anxieties and adventures that made the preceding months memorable, including an accounting of all the restaurants I visited, and my favorite meals and dishes among […]

Continue

travel: leapfrogging…

~ Another year is gone, and I’ve barely written about it.  This is especially sad to me, since so many wonderful things happened. Every year, I pause at calendar’s end to record and remember the anxieties and adventures that made the preceding months memorable, including an accounting of all the restaurants I visited, and my favorite meals and dishes among […]

Continue

12 days: on the tenth day of christmas: holmboe bang… (2014)

~ It had been raining every day for two weeks.  California was finally finding some much-needed relief from a severe, two-year drought. So, when a rare window of blue sky opened up one morning, Cameron Cole Rahtz, the forager for The Restaurant at Meadowood, jumped on the opportunity.  He grabbed Esben Holmboe Bang and me, we grabbed our raincoats, […]

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12 days: on the tenth day of christmas: holmboe bang… (2014)

~ It had been raining every day for two weeks.  California was finally finding some much-needed relief from a severe, two-year drought. So, when a rare window of blue sky opened up one morning, Cameron Cole Rahtz, the forager for The Restaurant at Meadowood, jumped on the opportunity.  He grabbed Esben Holmboe Bang and me, we grabbed our raincoats, […]

Continue

travel: sui generis…

~ At its highest, the Bergen Rail Line climbs 1,300 meters above sea level, making it the highest elevated rail line in Europe.  Running over 480 meters (300 miles), the line anchors at both ends on the coast of Norway. When I last left this blog, I had boarded the train on the west coast in Bergen, […]

Continue

travel: sui generis…

~ At its highest, the Bergen Rail Line climbs 1,300 meters above sea level, making it the highest elevated rail line in Europe.  Running over 480 meters (300 miles), the line anchors at both ends on the coast of Norway. When I last left this blog, I had boarded the train on the west coast in Bergen, […]

Continue