Destination: Texas

travel: regroup and return (2022)…

Just as the world seemed to be galloping away from the pandemic, it was abruptly unhorsed by Omicron. As the new Covid variant – by far, the most infectious yet, we were told – raced around the globe in late 2021 and early 2022, spreading like glitter among preschoolers, I was on my way to […]

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travel: regroup and return (2022)…

Just as the world seemed to be galloping away from the pandemic, it was abruptly unhorsed by Omicron. As the new Covid variant – by far, the most infectious yet, we were told – raced around the globe in late 2021 and early 2022, spreading like glitter among preschoolers, I was on my way to […]

Continue

travel: field and stream… (2018)

– Some of my happiest moments in 2018 were spent waist-high in cold water.  On especially good days, the sun glinted off the rushing stream, and glistened at the seams of the slow-moving eddies and pools into which my mind swirled.  In those peaceful afternoons, tiny flies hung in the air like a thousand points […]

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travel: field and stream… (2018)

– Some of my happiest moments in 2018 were spent waist-high in cold water.  On especially good days, the sun glinted off the rushing stream, and glistened at the seams of the slow-moving eddies and pools into which my mind swirled.  In those peaceful afternoons, tiny flies hung in the air like a thousand points […]

Continue

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

favorite dishes of 2017…

– I took the lessons I learned in 2016 and applied them to 2017. Staying close to familiar quarters, I continued to bet on sure winners.  They did not disappoint. And, although many of my travel destinations in 2017 were not chosen with great food in mind, I found some great food anyway. Let me […]

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favorite dishes of 2017…

– I took the lessons I learned in 2016 and applied them to 2017. Staying close to familiar quarters, I continued to bet on sure winners.  They did not disappoint. And, although many of my travel destinations in 2017 were not chosen with great food in mind, I found some great food anyway. Let me […]

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 […]

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 […]

Continue

12 days: on the eleventh day of christmas: yu… (2015)

~ A dinner series called the Twelve Days of Christmas hosted by a Jewish chef wouldn’t be complete without Chinese food, right? Enter: Justin Yu. He’s the chef and co-owner of Oxheart, a restaurant in Houston where he has earned national acclaim for his vegetable-focused menu. The last time I was in Houston was in 1988.  So, unfortunately, I haven’t eaten […]

Continue

12 days: on the eleventh day of christmas: yu… (2015)

~ A dinner series called the Twelve Days of Christmas hosted by a Jewish chef wouldn’t be complete without Chinese food, right? Enter: Justin Yu. He’s the chef and co-owner of Oxheart, a restaurant in Houston where he has earned national acclaim for his vegetable-focused menu. The last time I was in Houston was in 1988.  So, unfortunately, I haven’t eaten […]

Continue

the best of 2014: the restaurant edition…

~ The sheer splendor with which my year in dining unfolded made the task of identifying my ten favorite restaurant meals from 2014 an especially difficult one. However, forcing myself to narrow that “wide and rich field” (as I described it in an earlier post) – a process that at moments seemed merciless, requiring me to eliminate extraordinarily good meals that in any other […]

Continue

the best of 2014: the restaurant edition…

~ The sheer splendor with which my year in dining unfolded made the task of identifying my ten favorite restaurant meals from 2014 an especially difficult one. However, forcing myself to narrow that “wide and rich field” (as I described it in an earlier post) – a process that at moments seemed merciless, requiring me to eliminate extraordinarily good meals that in any other […]

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

travel: blurred lines…

~ At the end of each of the last two years, I’ve looked back in awe at a calendar filled with adventures.  At the same time, I’ve stared nervously into the new year, wondering how it might fill up, if at all. We are at the bottom of December, once again.  And, once again, I […]

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travel: blurred lines…

~ At the end of each of the last two years, I’ve looked back in awe at a calendar filled with adventures.  At the same time, I’ve stared nervously into the new year, wondering how it might fill up, if at all. We are at the bottom of December, once again.  And, once again, I […]

Continue

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: 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