I know what it looks like. But I am not to blame for what happened to this 1973 Dom Perignon. It was bottled when I was a freshman in college. I came to it late in its life. I believe the provenance was Moët & Chandon at Epernay or Hautvillers to the U.S. distributor in … Continue reading Stuff happens: The maderisation of a fine French champagne
Pay Phone
My first pay phone was inside a glass-and-steel, stand-alone booth in front of a gas station in a small Massachusetts town. It’s possible for an eighth-grader to fall in love, and that’s a hard thing to admit out loud, in so many words, in the kitchen of your home, where there’s only one phone on … Continue reading Pay Phone
First fallen and fallen too soon
Pardon my reveries . . . On a Labor Day hike, I came across this singular orange leaf. The calendar gives us three more weeks of summer, but here, I thought, was a premature sign of fall -- this one orange leaf in a field by a river. It seemed to beckon me, with its … Continue reading First fallen and fallen too soon
Try to understand Trump voters? Uh, no thanks.
Nicholas Kristof, the preachy New York Times columnist, says we should not look down our noses at Trump supporters, that it’s elitist to demean them, that we should try to understand them.I used to worry that we were being too hasty to dismiss the millions of Americans who think Trump should be president, that we … Continue reading Try to understand Trump voters? Uh, no thanks.
“Follow your bliss.”
That phrase has been stuck in my head since I first heard the scholar Joseph Campbell utter it 30-plus years ago during one of Bill Moyers’ PBS interviews. MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of… being helped by hidden hands?CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown … Continue reading “Follow your bliss.”
You don’t need another recipe, except this one: Italian summer carrot salad
Summer Carrot Salad Italiano This Sicilian carrot salad is the most popular dish I make in summer because, whenever I serve it to family or guests, it quickly disappears — “They inhale it” — and people want the recipe. Those are pretty good indicators that you’ve scored a hit. (The photo at top is not … Continue reading You don’t need another recipe, except this one: Italian summer carrot salad
Stop mowing, start planting, and return to the greener, richer used-to-be
Driving through Carroll County one sunny day, I came upon this place where the road crossed the South Branch of the Gunpowder Falls and could not believe what I was seeing — a property that looked like a golf course, except it wasn’t a golf course. It was a vast field without a single tree. … Continue reading Stop mowing, start planting, and return to the greener, richer used-to-be
‘Gotta go,’ Trump says. We certainly hope so.
At a campaign event on Friday in Arizona, Trump got impatient with an endorsement speech by a police union president. He paced behind the guy, peered around him to determine how long the speech would take, then said, "I gotta go." The official, Justin Harris, president of the Arizona Police Association, appeared to shuffle papers … Continue reading ‘Gotta go,’ Trump says. We certainly hope so.
A wind farm, at 7.45 miles, you can barely see
The resistance to wind power in Ocean City, a coastline community that faces an existential threat over the coming decades from sea-level rise, is truly ridiculous. Most ridiculous is the claim that, "The sunrise will never be the same." It's an aesthetic criticism, that 900-foot turbines installed 11 to 20 miles offshore will somehow spoil … Continue reading A wind farm, at 7.45 miles, you can barely see
Are you a health walker?
Jim Burger, photographer, mixologist and mensch to many, walks a lot. He walks from his home in Remington all the way to Camden Yards and Orioles games. I walked with him to Lexington Market and, another day, to Broadway Market. I’ve said this before and written about it: When you walk, you see and appreciate … Continue reading Are you a health walker?
Dan Rodricks 