The Traveler's Lunchbox

Fudge and Falling Snow

2008-12-20T16:43:00Z

When I was a kid, there was nothing I wanted more than a white Christmas. Not pink leg warmers, not the latest Debbie Gibson album, and not even a stonewashed denim jacket were higher on my list than waking up on Christmas morning to a world clothed in white. Year after year I went to bed on Christmas Eve praying with all my might for a meteorological miracle (after all, it happened all the time in the movies!), but sadly those balmy California skies never took pity on me, and by the time I finally did get my white Christmas - in Germany, more than a decade later - it was nice, but not nearly as heart-stoppingly wonderful as it surely would have been when I was young.

Top Cookbooks of 2008

2008-12-11T15:03:00Z

2008 may have been a bad year for just about everything else, but it was a great year for cookbooks. Honestly, I can't remember the last time this many gorgeous, fascinating and downright inspiring books hit the shelves in one year. A couple of people I know have suggested that the worse the economy gets, the better the cookbook market will fare, since more people will turn to cooking both out of necessity and as a substitute for more expensive pleasures. I don't know how true that is (particularly since I know other people who are convinced of the opposite), but I'd like to believe it; in fact I'd like to think that no matter what happens we'll never have a shortage of beautiful books to inform and inspire us, to help us get dinner on the table, and to provide us a window into countries and cultures we can only dream about visiting.

Perfect Pecan Pie

2008-11-24T08:11:00Z

Oof, I've gone and done it again, haven't I? Thanksgiving is only three days away and and here I am, bringing you a recipe at the eleventh hour when surely your menu was set in stone weeks ago (it was...wasn't it?). The problem, if you must know, is that I've been having a hard time formulating a balanced, diplomatic description of its merits, something that doesn't start with 'dispose of any other pecan pie recipes currently in your possession', but I don't seem to be able to, so I hope you'll forgive me when I tell you that is exactly what you should do.

Poulet and Presidents

2008-11-07T18:06:00Z

There now, that's better, isn't it? It feels like the world has just heaved a tremendous sigh of relief, and even those of us who tried to bury our heads in the sand and avoid the whole election drama (who, me?) feel like a very heavy weight has been lifted from our shoulders. It's funny, since despite my best efforts to not think too much about it until the whole thing was over (including, for example, forbidding Manuel from sharing the latest poll results he devoured eagerly each morning), I seem to have been reduced to a nervous wreck by this election. On Monday afternoon, for example, I walked into a coffee shop, paid for my cafe au lait, and walked out without my purse. What's more, I didn't even notice until eight o'clock that night when our phone rang and it was one of the staff calling from my cell phone to let me know someone had handed it in.

The Year of Jam

2008-10-25T22:45:00Z

As I get older and the past starts to meld together into one amorphous blob, I find it helps to associate each year with the most important thing that happened. So when I think back to, say, 1999, and remember that that was the year I graduated from college, and remember that 2004 was the year I got married, not only are those dates placed in context again but I can place a whole host of less important events just by association. The funny thing is, though, that I can't always predict what the most important event of any year will be until well after it's over. For example, it should have been a foregone conclusion that 2008 would be remembered as the year we said goodbye to Scotland and moved to Seattle, but lately I'm beginning to have my doubts. Instead, there seems a pretty good chance that it will actually become known as the year I made jam out of everything that crossed my path.

All Spiced Up

2008-10-08T20:15:13Z

Years ago, I told you about my spice bowl. You remember, that big glass bowl I stored my collection of spices in for the better part of seven years; the bowl that I was too embarrassed to show to any of my friends, and which filled my kitchen with a thick cloud of nose-tickling spice dust whenever I opened the cupboard it lived in? Yeah, that one. The one that was - despite the inconvenience of never being able to find what I was looking for, and of poorly-closed bags of cinnamon and sesame seeds slowly leaking their contents into the bottom of the bowl, and of frequently opting to buy a new bag of something rather than go through the effort of seeing if I already had it - the best system for storing and organizing spices I could find.

The Transatlantic Tomato Chase

2008-09-27T21:59:00Z

It would be an exaggeration to say we moved halfway around the world for tomatoes, but it actually isn't as farfetched as you might think. You see, although tomatoes - on the surface - may not seem nearly as important to quality of life as, say, annual sunshine hours or the affordability of healthcare, I challenge you to live without any good ones for seven years and tell me how the quality of your life fares.

Landed

2008-09-18T23:34:36Z

There's No Place Like...

2008-06-28T12:08:07Z

"I would like to spend the whole of my life traveling, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend at home."
- William Hazlitt

Ah, Abruzzo

2008-06-09T17:31:34Z

Sometimes I think I was supposed to be Italian. It's a bit silly, really, since I don't have a drop of Italian blood in me nor do I speak the language or, for that matter, have the metabolism to pack away a plate of pasta at every meal. Even so, I can't come up with any other sensible explanation for why simply being in Italy makes me as happy as it does. In fact, no matter how long I've been away or how many other wonderful places I've been in the meantime, my reaction to Italy is always the same as the very first time I set foot there, when I fell so instantly and hopelessly in love with everything - the fertile technicolor landscapes, the jaw-dropping art and architecture and ruins, the exuberant, hot-blooded people, and of course the abundant, spectacular food - I was afraid my heart might beat right out of my chest.

Name That Gadget...

2008-05-30T13:13:40Z

Okay, I'm back from another assignment and this is a nifty souvenir I picked up. Any idea what it is? (hint: of course it's food related!)

Second-Place Scampi

2008-05-20T15:42:44Z

So, the dust has settled, the paint has dried. I'm not even doing a double take anymore every time I open up this page and see all these unfamiliar shapes and patterns. I must say, I'm very glad that you (well, most of you :) welcomed the change so enthusiastically. Can you believe I very nearly couldn't bring myself to go through with it? I kept thinking that if I wake up one morning a few months from now and can't stand it, it'll look awfully silly to change back. But I guess it's kind of like moving to a new house - as much as you might think you'll never love these walls and carpets as much as the last ones, eventually they do start to feel like home.

New Clothes

2008-05-12T22:44:28Z

Maybe it was the stunningly beautiful weather we had last week that put thoughts of spring wardrobes in my head, or maybe it's just that I have far too many things compelling me to procrastinate at the moment. Whatever the reason, a few days ago I woke up hell-bent on change, and countless hours of tinkering, fiddling and comparing minute adjustments later, this is what resulted. Actually finding a new design I liked only turned out to be only half the battle, though - that cheery orange wallpaper had been around since day one, and saying goodbye was no easy task. Who would have guessed that a few pixels could feel so much like family?

But now that I've taken the plunge I'm feeling much better, so I'd like to invite you all to pull up a chair, grab a cold drink, and watch the paint dry before your eyes (gee that sounds like fun, doesn't it?). Oh, and let me know what you think, of course!

p.s. I've tested it in several broswers, but let me know if you have any technical issues...

Balkan Beauty

2008-05-02T22:03:49Z

Oh, you guys are good. I figured a few of you might get it, but so many? Well, I hope there was at least a little head-scratching required. Greece was certainly a good guess, but according to Wikipedia only shares land borders with four countries, not five. Also, I sneakily added that last clue about never having eaten the country's cuisine before, which you'd know isn't the case for Greece if you'd read this story I posted last September about our brush with death in the Samaria Gorge on Crete. ;)

Back Soon...

2008-04-15T18:36:36Z