Some excellent food moments on this all-too-brief trip to our house on the bay. As always, the best fried shrimp on the planet was at the Owl Tap Room. Gary’s Oyster Bar added some new stuff to their menu (Jer had shrimp, grits, sausage and greens) but I stuck with my standby shrimp and mahi…

The house is full of my mom today. The cinnamonny smell of her candied sweet potatoes, the herby aroma of her stuffing. I miss her a lot, but her presence is real at our table.  I’ve always told my food and politics students to sit down with their parents and grandparents and write down the…

First night — score! It is one loooonnngg flight from Chicago to Shanghai — more than 14 hours. And since we essentially fly with the sun, it never gets dark. We step into a time machine at noon on July 28 and step off an hour and 40 minutes later, on July 29. A day…

Love, love, loved my birthday dinner at Yves Camdeborde’s Le Comptoir. Absolutely fabulous. A bottle of champagne from the chef (which Jerry got to drink). Dessert was the only discordant note. The chocolate ice cream with piment d’esplette (spicy!) was good but not the clementine soup it was floating in. Boo. And mango caramels to…

Last night’s blogging experience was so grueling (thank you, Typepad) that I hesitate to try again. At any rate, I’ll keep it short. Great day, perfect weather, fab breakfast, a little shopping ( and a gorgeous new dress to wear to dinner tomorrow), a long trek to a Parisian rock shop and some fun finds,…

There are places I remember and ache to go back to when I am not there. Paris is one of them. With a 60th birthday approaching in a couple of days, there is no where I’d rather be. I’ve tried to write before about what it is that makes Paris capture this New York girl’s…

Cruising out of Vienna at midnight — lights fading in the distance, dancing on the water, air cold and clean, (yes, we have the balcony open so we can stretch out and see the city go by.) Vienna was lovely — graceful and gracious. And cold to the bone with a damp chill that hurts…

Been in Budapest two whole days and starting to adjust to the time difference. We board the riverboat today and spend a week winding our way to Nuremberg, and then to Prague. If it’s anything like the last couple of cruises it will be great. Plus — Christmas markets!! I can’t wait. So far my…

Everyone in Saigon still calls it “Saigon.” So much more melodic and fitting than the clunky “Ho Chi Minh City.” You can really tell the French had a hand in this place. Wide boulevards, lots of green space — an open and pretty city filled incongruously with billions and billions of crazed and overloaded motorbikes….

Another delayed post — this from July 20. Yesterday was a “sea day” in Vietnam and a tummy ache day in my cabin, so not much new to report. Today was a treat, however. Up early and on the tender at 8:15, to catch a rickshaw (bicycle driven this time) for a tour around xxx….

[Another delayed post. Spotty internet. Going to try this without pix.] From our perch in the bow of the boat we can hear the shriek of the anchor and feel the deep shudder of the vessel as they crank up for our departure from Phnom Penh. We make no further stops on land today; we…