Weekly Column

ISLE OF MULL, SCOTLAND—There are meals, and then there are journeys disguised as meals. This one began with a boat…

It’s king cake season. Those four words don’t carry a lot of weight across 90% of this country. Though in…

It looks like 2023 will go down as the year of the king cake— at least in my book. I…

NEW ORLEANS— In a poll of national food critics I believe New Orleans would be listed among the top three…

The following is the first in a summer-column series that will cover dining in New Orleans. Over the next four…

This past weekend was a memorable one for our family. Our 26-year old daughter got engaged to her longtime boyfriend.…

Before every party at our house—whether it’s a fundraiser, an engagement, or just another excuse to gather people—my wife finds…

Vacations weren’t part of my childhood the way they were for most kids I knew. While my friends packed up…

Shelby Foote once talked about the time he went to see William Faulkner in Oxford, back when he was still…

Fourteen years ago, my wife, 10-year-old son, 14-year-old daughter, and I packed up a few suitcases, flew to Sweden, picked…

I’ve eaten thousands of meals in restaurants. The ones that have stuck weren’t about the food. What I remember is…

CHICAGO— My wife’s off on a girls’ trip, and my son happened to have two days off work. That was…

Some things in life are constant. For some people it’s a favorite hymn or a favorite breed in a family…

Sometimes I catch flak from my daughter. My wife gives me a hard time, too. They say I overshare on…

We landed in New Orleans on Sunday, which isn’t when most people arrive in New Orleans unless they’ve made a…