Weekly Column

YPRES, BELGIUM—This spring has been a long celebration—one after another, in a beautiful blur. It all started with Mardi Gras,…

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.…

(A Life I Didn’t Plan, But Am Grateful to Live) PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— Two full days off. That’s a rarity over…

PETROGNANO, Italy — Something unexpected happened over the course of the last 13 years. A quiet village in the Tuscan…

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY— Since 2017, over 1,350 people have traveled with me on more than 55 trips to seven European countries…

PETROGNANO, TUSCANY—I wear a cap most days with a single word stitched across the front. “Onward.” A guest of mine…

No one signs up for a European tour expecting to have lunch in a stranger’s home in a village so…

SEVILLE— No one expects to use the word romantic when talking about a pig farm. But standing in the soft…

There are only a few moments in life when time slows down enough to let you take it all in.For…

Life tends to deliver milestones in clusters, never spreading them out at a leisurely pace, but stacking them up all…

Some people judge towns by their population. Others point to school systems, parks, water and air quality, or thriving local…