On the road, a home-cooked meal is an absolute luxury: a respite from the impersonal hotels and convivial but antiseptic restaurants that greet us at the end of each day. In Northern Iraq, we were invited (hooray!) to Hiwa’s house for his casual take on a traditional Middle Eastern dish, dolma. Now, I knew dolma only as stuffed grape leaves. […]
When disaster strikes – particularly when it’s close to home – people feel helpless, sad, and desperate to show their love and support in whatever way they can. In the mountainous region of Amatrice, many Italians rushed in to help look for survivors and comb through debris during the first hours after the quake. But […]
In the Carpathian mountains and surrounding foothills of Western Ukraine, locals make a porridge to get them through the long, dark winters and sustain them from breakfast to dinner. I, of course, ate this gut-bomb porridge in 90 degree heat with a humidity level that makes even the mosquitos sluggish…. but it’s all in the name of […]
On the road, the days are long, the traffic is bad, and we don’t necessarily have time for a meal. I’ll scarf down a falafel or kebab wrap when possible, but in the Egyptian heat, sometimes a cold drink is all you have the time (and the appetite) for! Quite possibly the perfect calorie bomb […]
Every spring, Queen Elizabeth throws three garden parties at Buckingham Palace, where 8,000 invited guests gather for a spot of tea and a healthy dose of British tradition. I managed to wrangle an invite the night before — and spent the morning of the party finding a hat (required) and a “day dress or pants suit” appropriate […]
