knight in shining armor

I do not consider myself to be a girly girl. I am strong and powerful…at least I thought so until I tried on part of my friend’s armor at Potrero War. As she added layer upon layer to my body, I felt the gravitational pull toward the earth. But then came the pièce de résistance:  the helmet. It must have weighed 30 pounds! My little neck could barely hold it up. I now have a newfound respect for warriors — past and present — who don pounds and pounds of armor just to stay safe.

Continue Reading

biscuits

I love biscuits. Buttermilk. Cat’s Head. Angel. (Though I don’t care for a sweet biscuit. I also refuse to taint a crunchy biscuit with gravy. Sacrilege.) But I took them for granted my first 32 years when I lived in the South. You could get frozen biscuits at Wal-Mart. And at every restaurant. But living in San Diego, biscuits are hard to come by. Naturally, one of the few places I’ve found sells sweet biscuits, since the owner is from South Carolina (biscuit recipes vary wildly from one region of the South to another). I’ve learned to make my own…

Continue Reading

anthony bourdain

Anthony Bourdain’s death has reverberated around the globe. People I didn’t even know had heard of him mourn with me that one of the most influential men in travel and food has departed this world. I first glommed on to Bourdain with his show, No Reservations. I’d been an armchair traveler up until then, watching Rachael Ray and Samantha Brown navigate the always-clean and PG worlds of very safe cities around the globe. But Bourdain, man. He dug deep. He got out of the tourist lines and into homes of locals. He ate things I’d never be brave enough to…

Continue Reading