Holy Hummus, or, I *Heart* Jerusalem

A quick update and some pics.
Greetings from the Holy Land! Spent the last few days wandering all over the old city section of Jerusalem. Stunning place, really, although so very puzzling. The religious energy is intense, and culturally it’s at once open and guarded. But it’s a thrilling place. We’ve also managed to balance out [...]

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VinItaly 2009: Some Impressions

There’s a new post up at Wine & Spirits with some of my impressions from the recent wine fairs in Verona, including VinItaly and Vini Veri. It’s a q&a format although how I managed to squeeze in time to answer everything during a recent marathon tasting of Italian wine in New York is beyond me. [...]

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Pic Post: VinItaly, ViniVeri & Verona

A picture is worth a thousand words. Or at least a glass or two of wine…

Above: An aerial shot of the Tuscan pavilion, always one of the most busy — and ostentatious — at VinItaly.

Above: Brunello producer Le Presi makes a new t-shirt each year for the fair. This year, the theme capitalized on Obama’s [...]

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Too Many Vs

VinItaly+ViniVeri+VinNatur = VVV, wasn’t that a Vin Diesel movie?

Take this as an out of office message of sorts because I leave tomorrow for Verona (another V), and the chaos that awaits me there. If you’re a wino and looking for ways to kill time online, the I suggest spending a while checking out Peter Liem’s [...]

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Happy Hour: Cocktails at PDT

PDT, meaning “please don’t tell”, is an East Village cocktail den that I’ve been meaning to check out for sometime. Since New York is filled with many distractions–many of the edible variety–I usually overlook the vibrant cocktail culture in this town. Besides, PDT mixes up some of the best tipples in Manhattan, so it didn’t [...]

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Lunch Fix: Vietnamese Sandwiches in Murray Hill

Had a quick run over to Baoguette in Murray Hill today for banh mi, or delicious Vietnamese sandwiches typically filled with pork, bbq chicken or even fish.
(Thanks to a tip from the new Tasting Table, both my colleague Chris and I had the skinny on this new place. Apparently so did many other lunching [...]

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Even Old New York

… Was once New Amsterdam.
New York was once one of the gay capitals of the world, and it might still be that, I don’t know. But with places like the Trucks, the Piers and the Rambles, this city really had it going on back in the day.
Enter the contemporary era: Retro bars are all the [...]

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Away From the Office…

Hello Manhattan!

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Up the Mendonoma Coast

We wound down 2008 with a mini-road trip up the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts. Below is Point Arena and its lighthouse, which was unfortunately being renovated when we stopped there. But the hiking along the rocks and cliffs is spectacular!

Right on the countyline between Sonoma and Mendocino is the townlet of Gualala (which some people [...]

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Distractions

(Above: The Catinaccio, or Rosengarten, dolomite formation rises beyond a narrow valley that runs northeast from Bolzano in the Alto Adige. It takes its name from the pink color of the rocks during sunset.)
Back from a lovely trip to Italy’s Alto Adige region where, besides developing an (un)healthy addiction to speck and knödel — canerderli [...]

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