HEALTH RESORTS—JUST IN TIME PART 1
IF EVER I’VE needed a health resort, it’s now, right?. So I turn to my Cook’s Handbook to see what meets my fancy. It’s a 1905 edition? Whatever. This particular … Continue reading
1939 GOLDEN GATE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION—A TREASURE OF AN ISLAND
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITIONS OFTEN have special features that remain after the expo itself has ended. Seattle’s Space Needle, built for that city’s 1962 World’s Fair, is such an icon. Brussels’ Atomium, … Continue reading
POMPEII—95 OR 1941 YEARS ON
THIS DUAL DATING, almost a century or nearly two millennia, has logic: Pompeii was destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and my primary source for this … Continue reading
AN INSPIRATIONAL OPERA INDEED
OPERAS CAN INSPIRE—but enough to create a country? Yes, the history of Belgium is woven into the obscure La Muette de Portici, The Mute of Portici, an 1828 opera by … Continue reading
SWEDEN, 1923 PART 2
THOUGH IT’S ALMOST a century old now, my Cook’s Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, 1923, is a fine means of catching up with this Scandinavian country. Yesterday in Part 1, we … Continue reading
SWEDEN, 1923 PART 1
WHAT WITH its less than orthodox, and perhaps less than successful, response to the world pandemic, Sweden is much in the news these days. I’m encouraged to learn more about … Continue reading
A POSTCARD STASH
IT IS A commentary on our times that I send few postcards these days. For one, I’m not traveling. Plus, texting and e-mail are so immediately satisfying. And I don’t … Continue reading
CALAIS, THE CHANNEL ISLANDS, HENRY VIII, AND THE NAZIS PART 2
YESTERDAY, HILARY MANTEL’S The Mirror & the Light inspired me to learn more about the Pale of Calais, an English outpost across the Channel during the time of Henry VIII. … Continue reading
CALAIS, THE CHANNEL ISLANDS, HENRY VIII, AND THE NAZIS PART 1
I’M REALLY ENJOYING The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel’s third novel in her Wolf Hall series about Thomas Cromwell. He was Henry VIII’s fixer, sort of like a Trump … Continue reading
THANKS, MARIE, FOR THE TINS
BACK WHEN I made my unorthodox attempt at the Aussie HSP (Halal Snack Pack), I cooked it in a recycled Marie Callender’s pie tin. Well, wouldn’t you know, Rukmini Iyer … Continue reading
