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O Parador do Santiago
To walk under the arch into the parador at Santiago de Compostela is to complete a pilgrimage even if only from your car outside the plaza. The old walls of the former hospital calm and heal you with their cool, quiet depths, as they must have travelers and penitents—and kings—centuries ago. We came to Santiago…
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Today At FL340
In the past 10 weeks I’ve crossed the Atlantic four times—twice for work and twice for family matters both sublime and deeply sad. It’s enough to make me think my frequent flyer status is due for an upgrade. But no, those rules have changed, and the means by which we can make airline travel a…
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Post-(Apo)Calypso Cascades
I needed the mountains like oxygen…ironic, since I was already more than a mile high in Denver on that fateful Friday. My heart, already heavy from the loss of Anthony Bourdain that morning, didn’t know even worse news lay ahead: My former brother-in-law, still family, would also count that day as his last. We wound…
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Pliny and the Fig
My craft beer journey began before I knew it, having been introduced to excellent early adopters such as the Boulder Brewing Company and Flying Dog at the tail end of college. Once I found there was life beyond Coors Light, I started reading up on the movement, and soon noted rumors of the best beers…
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Chasing Doug Through SoCal
Hunting down the ghost of a man long gone takes dedication–and fortification–and surely this was a man who would appreciate the drinks taken in his honor. The last steps of Donald Douglas (the man responsible for founding Douglas Aircraft Company and the team that created the DC-3) took place in Southern California. He’d spent much…
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12 Degree & Bluegrass
The June evening still felt warm around the edges as we turned onto Main Street in Louisville (don’t call it “Loo-ee-ville,” BTW). Finding a parking space was deceptively easy that Colorado night, given the normal state of affairs, and a good thing. We had friends playing bluegrass on the front stoop of 12° Brewing. After…
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Raging Bitch Revisited
Back when I lived in Frederick, Maryland, I made happy (hoppy?) acquaintance with the Flying Dog Brewery, founded in Aspen, Colorado, with its brewery positioned in Frederick in 1994. They brew on, creating a wide range of cool beers featuring great Bloom-County-esque label art (think Bill the Cat if he came back as a series…
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Rosé Sparkles & Sushi
I can’t tell you how long I’ve been opposed to cream cheese in sushi…but it’s just plain wrong. And for whatever reason, it’s a real thing in Portugal. They call it “philadelphia,” and it took me some pondering to figure out what they were talking about when I first read it on a menu in…
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G&T On The Burj
Winter ran late that year in Colorado, just like it had one last cold front to throw at us this year in Portugal. The old folks still bundled up…and I’m flashing back to 2015 when I truly grew tired of shoveling snow in March. But the melt comes on quickly, so if you clear the…
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Pumpkin Pie & Chardonnay
As the first shoots of pumpkin plants come up in the our back yard, memories bring a smile to my face. For I know that in six months those promises of pumpkins waiting to be born will turn into the bright orange purée I’ll use to make pumpkin pie. And my favorite tipple to go…