It’s a peculiar start to Thanksgiving, to be sitting here on the coast of north Cornwall, looking through my window at the choppy whitecaps of the Camel estuary. Ominous white clouds scud across the blustery blue of the sky, but I heard a local say this morning that it is too breezy for rain. In…

  Again sorry for the silence. Election time is the silly season for political scientists, and things have been rocking around here. I haven’t forgotten my truffle tale, but before any more time gets away from me I wanted to report on the gorgeous meal we had in Alba at Osteria Lalibera, where the food…

The early sun is just touching the far shore of Lake Maggiore, lighting it up with a clear golden glow at odds with the chill breeze in the air. A cold front has blustered its way in over night, and though the sun is out it will be a leather jacket kind of day. This…