Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s good to be back home in Mississippi. The adjustment period is over. The jet-lag is gone, and I have completely assimilated back into my American work schedule. I just spent a month working in Italy. My friend, business partner, and co-collaborator, Wyatt Waters and I led three groups of 25 people each through Tuscany.Continue reading “Small Italian Spaces”

A few years ago, I spent a week in Northern California with a group of people who were gathered together from all over the country. One afternoon, someone turned to me and asked, “Where do you live?” “Mississippi,” I replied. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said. “Why would you be sorry?” I asked. He stumbled onContinue reading “There’s No Place Like Home”

BARBERINO VAL D’ELSA, TUSCANY— There have probably been times in my life that I thought that I understood “sacrifice.” There might have been times I even thought I made sacrifices. Those times probably had to do with the loss of certain creature comforts, or— more than likely— a lack of material things during leaner times.Continue reading “Sacrifice”

TAVARNELLE VAL D’PESA, ITALY— For the past two decades my body weight has fluctuated substantially, up and down, gaining and losing, in both directions. It’s nothing I’m proud of, but it’s also not something I worry too much about. My personal physician stays on my case about dropping poundage (as he should) and— save theContinue reading “One Who Has Wintered Well”

TAVERNELLE VAL D’PESA, ITALY— Years ago, when I first came to Tuscany, I wrote a few columns about how this area reminded me of home. It spoke to me like no other country or region in Europe. Life in Tuscany moves slower, just like life in the American South. The people seem to stop andContinue reading “Dateline: Tuscany, Deadline: Now”

AMSTERDAM— For the 20 years I have written this column, I have never missed a week. Not one. No matter where I have been in the world, I have always made time to write a thousand words or so about food, travel, and family. Typically, I sit at my desk early Monday morning and awkwardlyContinue reading “Amsterdam”

My wife doesn’t believe in expiration dates. Seriously, she thinks that the “use by” date on a package or carton is merely a suggestion. Last week I found a can of vegetables in the back of the pantry that had expired during the Clinton administration. There are food items in our house that are soContinue reading “Expired”

I was the best man at my best friend’s wedding last weekend. It was a great event, and everyone who knows the bride and groom are extremely happy for both of them— chief among them, me. When my friend and his new bride departed for their car to head to the honeymoon, everyone lit sparklers,Continue reading “Wedding Throws”

My son eats too fast. He likely acquired that habit from his old man. I don’t know from whom I inherited my speed eating. It’s nothing I’m proud of, and in social settings I try my best to slow down. Though my son has one eating speed— full fork ahead. He has been that wayContinue reading “Speed Eating”