In A Tramp Abroad, Mark Twain reccounts his 1878 journey through Europe with his characteristic, and occasionally annoying, curmudgeonly humor. Late in the book, after too many months of fine dining and hotel fare, Twain is clearly longing for “American food and American domestic cookery.” In Chapter XX (pp. 235-241), he launches a mild attack [...]
When I was growing up our cars were transportation, not lust. According to family lore, when my father was a soon-to-be-married young man he used his savings to buy a plot of land instead of a 1958 MG. The family cars that followed were unusual by the standards of 1960s America, but they were hardly [...]
It may seem odd to still be writing about Maine nearly four months after my return from Vactionland, but the Pine Tree State has a way of staying with you. While this is due mostly to the essential quality of the place (see Genius Loci in Acadia), the quantity of made in Maine products that [...]
On an island off the coast of the North American mainland, near the narrows of Somes Sound, across from Norembega Mountain, between Fernald Point and Clark Point, a few steps from the Atlantic, in Southwest Harbor, Maine (at 44.278º North and 68.311º West, to be precise), one is easily, happily, and phenomenologically seduced by the [...]
A damp morning in San Francisco requires a good strong cup of coffee but I had concerns. When I was in Portland I had several lousy lattes. I have no doubt there is fine espresso to be had there, given the caffeine proclivities of the Pacific Northwest, and I am sure that I simply made [...]