Category: Explore

Mitsuwa Haul: Bento Accessories!

With Kenzie almost in pre-k, it’s time for me to start packing her lunches.  I’m a fan of the philosophy behind Japanese “obento,” a term that means lunch, but that also describes what lunch...

All of New York

Every time I’ve come to New York, I’ve checked into hotels with rooms the size of closets, where the view is of  brick walls and second-hand, filtered sunlight.  This time, however, is different.  Choice...

Airport Eating

I used to be “that guy,” the one that breezed through the plane door minutes before it closed. Not that I was running late, but because I would time my entrance to reduce the...

Boston: Loads of Lobstah

Every time I head to Boston, I have one thing on my mind.  Lobster.  Some may call it the cockroach of the sea, but as someone who hails from landlocked Chicago, I will gladly...

Minneapolis Meanderings

Minneapolis likely does not rank high on anyone’s list of top ten culinary destinations, but rest assured, if you find yourself in the metropolis one fine summer weekend, all is not lost.  For starters,...

Northeast Wanderings

Wanderlust has subsided since marriage, there’s less motivation to stray far from the comforts of home. Though it was hard to pass up a business class seat on Amtrak’s Northeast regional overnighter from Washington...

Egypt: A Culture of Contrasts

Started off with a lot of apprehension today, but it evaporated like the fog after an hour wandering around Coptic relics in Cairo.  There are so many things I wonder about here, about how...

Giza: Desert City

Imagine a huge sandbox, swirling and rocky, out of which huge, massively organized, contradictory structures arise.  Everything is the color of sand, and yet it is still not warm despite the sun has past...

Cairo, via Istanbul

A day full of new. Of shifting, moving, adapting and finally settling.  Left ORD Friday night, and woke up 10.5 hours later in Istanbul not knowing what to expect.  We checked a couple bags...