Lately when I bring something home from a trip abroad, it’s almost always been something consumable that won’t end up taking up space on a countertop or buried in a box only to be discovered again years from now. I like to think of myself as a bit of a minimalist, and I thought I’d gotten…
My Travels
Cloudberries + Bread Cheese = A Quintessentially Finnish Dessert
This dessert is about as simple as them come, but surprisingly tasty, and I’ve been told that it’s truly unique to Finland. Cloudberries themselves aren’t unique to Finland. They can be found all over Scandinavia and parts of northern Canada (according to Wikipedia), but apparently this particular preparation is uniquely Finnish. The Super Simple Recipe Ingredients Bread…
Daffodils, Fur Hats & Still Frozen Seas, Spring in Scandinavia
Coming straight from frozen Helsinki back to a warm and sunny SFO was a surprise, in the best possible way. Much like spring itself in Scandinavia was a surprise to me. It’s a combination of sunny skies, blooming yellow and purple bulbs, wipping winds, and still cold temperatures, even including ice in Sweden, Norway,…
I’m in Scandinavia!
I left a couple of days ago for a 10 days of traveling through Scandinavia. It’s kind of a homecoming since I studied abroad in Copenhagen during the fall semester of my junior year in college, and this is my first trip back. I’m starting off in Copenhagen, where I am right now. The picture above…
Visiting the Apartheid Museum — Johannesburg, South Africa
To enter the Apartheid Museum you’re given a ticket. That ticket assigns you a classification and therefore the gate through which you are allowed to enter, Whites or Non-Whites. It’s a poignant way to begin learning about this unparalleled period of South Africa’s history. What struck me initially on my visit was just how much of the…
Johannesburg’s Not-So-Scary Central Business District
Last month I visited Johannesburg, South Africa with AFAR Experiences. It was interesting ahead of the trip to tell people that I was going to South Africa, to Joburg specificially and not Capetown. To be fair, I also wanted to see Capetown, but I only had so many vacation days and safari won out over…
Guess Which City This Is…
Can you guess which city this is just by looking at the photograph above? I couldn’t until I visited it very recently. Here are a couple of hints to help you out… It’s one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the world and home to more than 4 million people. It’s located in the…
Tourists’ Locks of Love in Paris
On a dreary May morning during a recent trip to Paris, I made my way across the Pont des Arts enroute to the Jardin des Tuileries and ultimately the Orangerie for my first viewing of Monet’s famous lilies in all their glory. Somehow I’d missed them on previous trips to Paris, and I wasn’t going to…
What To Do With a Rainy Weekend in San Francisco?
Today is a dreary Sunday in Dallas and the sound of the rain falling on the patio reminded me of this post languishing away in my drafts folder, almost completely forgotten… When I wrote it months ago, the 10 day weather forecast for San Francisco looked pretty gloomy. They were predicting days and days of…
What I Love about San Francisco
While in San Francisco, a quick trip to Whole Foods and dinner with an old friend each brought me face to face with something new, something that provided a window into a new part of the world. I love that feeling, and it tends to throw my research skills into high gear. In this particular…
