(FUN)DAMENTALS OF CUISINE
HOW ABOUT RETURNING to the fundamentals of cuisine, as described in one of my older cookbooks? Good Housekeeping produced it in 1958, and it shows how healthy meals have evolved … Continue reading
MAY YOHÉ, A TALE OF ADVENTURE–AND HOPE
I POSED AN irresistible challenge to myself in recent tales about massive diamonds: The fabulous Hope Diamond owned by “an American musical theater actress.…” How could this not lead to … Continue reading
MOCK THE PRESIDENT-IN-WANTING?
RECENT NEWS has it that President-in-Wanting Donald Trump’s communications director Sean Spicer complained on national television that people should stop mocking his boss. Pobrecito! I suspect Spicer missed my earlier … Continue reading
MASSIVE DIAMONDS, PART 2
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD wrote a novella about a diamond the size of a mountain. However, the massive diamonds discussed here yesterday aren’t fictional. These Type II diamonds are real, with … Continue reading
FOOTBALL AND A DOXOLOGY
I WAS ENJOYING this year’s BBC World Service Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols from King’s College, Cambridge, and this led me directly to high school football in the 1950s. … Continue reading
RIFFING OFF
I CONFESS TO being sometimes a little behind the identification of trends. For example, in the November 3, 2016, issue of the London Review of Books I learned the term … Continue reading
THINKING–AND THE TURK
HOW DO WE think? In these days of artificial intelligence, not to say unexpected political outcomes, this question is a non-trivial one. A new book on this, and more, is … Continue reading
PATATAS, PIMIENTOS Y LANGOSTINOS
HERE IN THE U.S., the Spanish word langostino describes the squat lobster. It’s neither prawn, nor shrimp, nor a lobster, actually closer to the hermit crab. But our local Trader … Continue reading
WHAT’S UP THERE ON THE MET’S PROSCENIUM ARCH?
DAUGHTER SUZ AND I are regular opera-goers, thanks to the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD presentations in movie theaters around the world. The view of the Met’s Lincoln Center home … Continue reading
PARLY TRAINS
THE UNIQUELY English parly trains, short for parliamentary trains, say so much about this wonderful country. Today, let’s celebrate their history and a link with the gentle humor of Michael … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 