I don’t trust people who say they don’t like pizza. Generally, I hate to be critical of others for their tastes. But have you ever met anyone who didn’t like pizza? I’ve met two. One of them gave no reason for disliking pizza and is thus a sociopath. The other was a friend of mine who worked at a pizza place for years. It wasn’t that he didn’t like pizza, but that he had eaten so much of it he couldn’t eat it anymore. That is to say, pizza is maybe too good sometimes. While I can’t speak for others…
Did you know that Tokyo is the most populous metropolitan area in the world? It’s true! But walking around the streets of Tokyo a few summers ago, I don’t think I ever felt overwhelmed. If an endless list of things to do is your thing, like it is mine, then Tokyo, Japan is the place for you. Full disclosure, a lot of these attractions are indefinitely closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but if I could dream, if the world could just be normal again, here’s what I would do for an unforgettable Tokyo summer.
It feels weird complaining about…
I didn’t know when I moved to San Diego that I’d be gaining ten pounds of beer weight. I’d heard of Stone before moving there, a popular IPA, but had no idea of the extent to which San Diego reigns supreme in the beer scene. My friend and I ended up renting an apartment on the outskirts of Little Italy, right next to the Ballast Point brewery. There I discovered that IPAs can be grapefruit flavored. Bitter hops, sour grapes, refreshing citrus — it blew my mind!
Before moving to SD, I was a wine person. But after a year…
Has anyone ever asked you if pizza is a sandwich? I have, and I thought it was a stupid question. Of course, pizza isn’t a sandwich, it’s pizza. But if anything stuffed between two pieces of starch is a sandwich, couldn’t you make a New York slice into a sandwich by folding it in half? You all do that too, right? My least favorite thing about eating New York pizza is trying to keep the grease from running down my arm. I also love a floppy middle. Thus, the fold is essential. …
I have kind of a funny story from a trek I did once. The first day, during the meet and greet, a man introduced himself as “Jungle Man.” That’s it. It was, “Hi, my name is Ashley,” and, “Hi, I’m Emma,” and then there was him. Jungle Man. No other name.
Of course, Jungle Man wasn’t his ‘real’ name, but who cares? He owned the Jungle Man personality big time. For the next five days, we hiked the Salkantay Trail to Machu Picchu. Jungle Man didn’t wear shoes unless the terrain absolutely demanded it. He ate with his bare hands…
I’ve known that I wanted to travel since I first started moving around as a kid. I grew up in a military family that moved around all the time. I moved seven times in seven years, enough that I got used to being the new kid in school. While I resented it at the time, as I got older, I realized how lucky I was to have such a diversity of experiences. I got to live in a range of climates across the US — from the sands of Hawaii to the mountains of Washington state and lowlands of North…
I’ll admit, I had a hard time writing about my experience traveling solo in Japan. I’ve traveled to over fifty countries and going to Japan was the first time I experienced such extreme ‘culture shock.’ Three weeks alone in Tokyo and Kyoto were enough to have me feeling like the loneliest gaijin (foreigner) that ever was.
As a shameless American who loves chatting up strangers, smiling at everyone like an idiot and reveling in their own sense of individuality, making my way through Japan often felt alienating. There were days where it seemed like no one looked my way or…
I love McDonald’s. I’ll say it, I do. I know it’s not exactly cool to like Mickey D’s these days (fun fact, in Australia they call it Mackers), given the whole obesity epidemic and all, but as someone who grew up in the US, McDonald’s will always have a special place in my heart. I don’t care how good my mom’s cooking was. There will always be something magical about stopping to get crispy, greasy, perfectly salted fries on the way home from soccer practice.
Did you know that there’s a legit reason McDonald’s Coca-Cola tastes so good? I thought…
Do you ever get sick of looking something up on the Internet, like “best take out spots in Boston,” only to find an article full of targeted ads and a selection of restaurants that clearly paid the website to feature them? Me too.
I’ll admit, I’ve spent way too much money on food delivery apps lately under the guise that I’m “supporting local restaurants.” Really, I just don’t want to put on pants for a moment longer than it takes to grab a brown bag off of my doorstep.
Anyway, as someone who has ordered take out way too much…
Flatbreads are the perfect addition to any meal, unless you’re a fan of ketosis, then carbs are your mortal enemy. But even if you do follow the Atkin’s diet, flatbreads have to be healthier than regular bread right? I once read that one bagel was the equivalent of five pieces of sliced bread. How would one convert tortillas to, say, sourdough loaves?
Luckily, I’m not counting carbs, because not only do flatbreads make ideal meal companions, but they can encapsulate almost any meal also. I once knew a guy who would turn every box of Chinese leftovers into a quesadilla…
