Journey to the East
Despite my motto, "The East has ceased," it was a delicate springtime that greeted me in Pennsylvania and New Jersey last week. Dogwood in bloom, azaleas purple through the tracery of pale green just beginning to burst into sight - really lovely. That's the grey-green...
The Wild Soif
Downtown Santa Cruz' impossibly chic and appealing boite, Soif, continues to make us happy. Wine-wise, we've been having lots of fun with whites from Slovenia, and reds from Sicilia. Food-wise, the Soif kitchen — under the guidance of chef Chris Avila — references...
Fracture: Film Noir for Dummies
Even the eloquent face and supple voice of Anthony Hopkins can't save this Absolut vodka commercial masquerading as a cinematic thriller. Even though Ryan Gosling, as the rising legal star assigned to prosecute the murderer, has done his homework at the Don Johnson...
Curry on King Street
Steve Spill is an ace photographer, bon vivant and, as it turns out, can whip up some mean curries when he wants. And he wanted to last week, in the professionally equipped kitchen of the King Street bungalow he shares with his Sylvia. Munching pappodoms and an array...
Mouth Feel
In our house, Green & Black's preternaturally intense combination of dark chocolate, currents and hazelnuts, is considered the ne plus ultra. It rules. Granted this is a chocolate experience with so much gravitas that you really cannot multi-task while you experience...
Inside the Flame
A book of sensory adventure: The rituals, passions and discoveries of an engaged life.