Continued from:
Down deep, I’m a basically positive person – this makes it relatively easy to take life’s bumps and bruises without emotional trauma – I frequently see value in situations that others fear and avoid. And so it was with The Palace Hotel, the site of the cockroach convention – on that first morning [...]
Archive for March, 2009
“Get ye to the nunnery!”
Posted in Travel Tales, tagged cultural differerences, El Convento, nunnery, Old San Juan, street vendors on March 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
New World Travelers in Old San Juan, or, how the hell do they get that big?
Posted in Travel Tales, tagged air emergencies, Old San Juan, plane travel, Puerto Rico, San Juan, The Palace Hotel, tropical cockroaches on March 23, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I’m sitting here, listening to Cuban music, which for me has so much more listenability (this IS a word -right? Damn you, Spell-Checker!) than any other Hispanic music – all the other stuff seems always to be racing to get somewhere, or in some heroic effort to drown out whatever else was fighting to [...]
So, What’s Your Grocery Mystery?
Posted in Braising, Food, Our Favorite Dishes, tagged "The Cuisines of Mexico", Country Style Ribs, Diana Kennedy, Mexican cooking, picadillo, pork, pork broth on March 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I’d bet we all have our own list of grocery “mysteries” (a grocery mystery is an item whose price defies reason, as in live lobster for $.49 a lb. Or say, potatoes for $5 a lb.). Often, when these mysteries appear, there are obvious reasons, such as season, or some act of nature [...]
What’s in a Name Anyway?
Posted in Food, Opinion, Philosophy, and Assorted BS, Oregon, tagged Douglas fir liqueur, eau de vie, Oregon, pear vinegar, real vinegar, vinegar, vinegar mother on March 15, 2009 | 4 Comments »
I just finished reading a New York Times piece about one of my neighbors up here in the northwest who apparently dabbles in making spirits – the drinking kind. This is certainly not unusual, especially up here in Oregon, where it seems that everyone’s neighbor makes some kind of beverage – but this one [...]
Another Long, Slow Oregon Spring … Again?
Posted in Fruit, Oregon, tagged buds, fruit trees, Oregon, spring on March 10, 2009 | 7 Comments »
As spring begins to unfold in our Oregon neck of the woods, I feel a little like I’m Charlie Brown playing baseball with Lucy again. Every year – whether I recall my habitual error or not – I make the same misjudgment about the Oregon spring! I’m doing it right now – I’m [...]
