Article appeared in Taste & Travel International Spring 2013 Edition  – We nervously keep our distance as the cellar master at Stari Puntijar Restaurant in Zagreb demonstrates how to open a champagne bottle using an antique sabre – a preprandial flourish I’ll likely not pull out at my next dinner party. He removes the foil, … Read more →

Article appeared in the Toronto Star  Dishes, glasses and menus fly past my head as I try to hold on to my corner spot at the El Rinconcillo bar in Seville, Spain. One man slices jamon, or ham with olympian dexterity, while another chops bread with equal precision. The waiter spins the glasses he has … Read more →

LISBON — It was the beginning of Christmas week, and I was alone in Lisbon. I had come to the Portuguese capital to avoid looking at the same lights and living rooms as the year before. I hadn’t chosen Lisbon because of the weather, but the rain became an intrinsic part of the experience. The showers were warm, gentle, silky, ethereal — I found myself gliding through them, like a canoe on a rainy lake where sky, skin and water merge. By the time Christmas was over, I had memorized the Portuguese … Read more →

Perfect portrait of the rural past Quaint pubs dot quiet backroads. A Big Mac is unknown in a country pub where one old farmer comments, “I don’t think my dog would like it.”  BALLYDEHOB, IRELAND – The farmer, leaning hard on his worn cane, a tweed cap shadowing his brow and an oversized wool jacket … Read more →