Sweet Corn “… Pray what more can a reasonable man desire, in peaceful times, in ordinary noons, than a sufficient number of ears of green sweet corn…”—Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854) My friend Ronnie telephoned the other day. He wanted me to check out his garden. It was nice. There were several varieties of melon, [...]

The World’s Worst Music Video – Funny videos are here

North vs South Weddings While reading the July 27th edition of the New York Times I came across this wedding announcement: “Coleen Mary Jennings and Bethany Ann Mills affirmed their partnership on Wednesday night at Full Moon, a resort in Big Indian, N.Y. Tim Hughes, a friend from San Francisco, and Randy Schwartz, a friend [...]

We’re Number One! (Again) In junior high school pep rallies were mandatory. I never minded them because they were a legitimate excuse to get out of class and hang out in the gymnasium. I never became too lathered up during these proceedings; call it lack of school spirit, absence of general enthusiasm about which grade [...]

A Tale of Two Heavens Blackberry Farm is the most civilized 4,200 acres on the planet. I spent my 10th anniversary at Blackberry Farm a few years ago. I wrote about the visit at length, and continue to talk about it, today. Earlier this month, my wife and I dropped our kids off at summer [...]

Pilgrimages Pilgrimages are typically once-in-a-lifetime events. If one is lucky he orshe might get to make two or three pilgrimages over the course of theirlife. People from all over the world take religious pilgrimages to Israel, Mecca,the Vatican, or Nepal. Golfers live to go to where it all began- St. Andrewsin Scotland. Others would take [...]

Shrimp Season 2008 Mississippi’s shrimp season is open. I was eating oatmeal in my breakfast room watching WLOX’s morning show when the opening-day announcement was made. The television station cut to their on-location camera covering the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and there was one shrimp boat on the water. One boat. I can [...]

What A Wonderful World What a difference a few years make. When my daughter was born— 11 years ago— my wife and I never slowed down. We ate in the same restaurants, visited the same hotels, and flew the same airlines. Other than getting to move to the front of the line when flying Southwest, [...]

The Meat Parade For years I have been hearing about Brazilian steakhouses. I have received several emails and had many discussions with numerous friends and acquaintances about the merits of restaurants that parades protein around the dining room on large metal sticks. “They’re great,” my friends say. “They come to your table with huge skewers [...]

Mexican Cuisine Mexican is my favorite ethnic cuisine. I have vacillated through the years. As a kid, I was into Italian (if you can call spaghetti, lasagna, and pepperoni pizza Italian— and actually, you can’t). In college I was fond of Chinese food, which seemed very exotic at the time. I still like Chinese, but [...]