We have been living in Italy for six weeks now, which has given us the opportunity to do plenty of grocery shopping in Villa San Giovanni. Here are some observations from trips I have taken to local stores here. 1. Shopping for things in a language I am not...

I never meant to be driving in Italy. When Basil and I visited the country last October, we observed the narrow streets and the cavalier manner in which cars traversed the highways. When we were planning our escape from the states, we booked our first long term stay in...

It is weird living in a place where I know how to navigate so easily. Other places I have resided, whether it was LA, New Jersey, or Ohio, I invested years of time learning where things were. Learning about traffic patterns, what roads or highways are busiest and what...

Steak dinners were a frequent occurrence at my house growing up. As a kid who was privileged enough to come of age in a two-professional-income household, I did not realize the expense of steak versus other meat choices. I understood my father loved steak: he enjoyed picking the cuts...

I didn’t really start learning how to cook until my father died. This is not to say that in the first 22 years of my life I hadn’t prepared food before. I can vividly remember being overjoyed when my mother taught me at the age of six how to...

  From the time I was a very young child, if I apologized to my mother for something, her reply would be: “Don’t be sorry, be careful.” My mother’s retort is a phrase skillfully designed to terrorize the apologizer by implying whatever bad thing that had led to the...

When I lived with my roommates in Pasadena during my early and mid 20s, I came to realize I was more easily startled than most people. A loud noise, like a dish breaking on the counter, or a book falling from the table onto the wooden floor of our...

Basil and I are pulling up to the place where the funeral is being held. The sky outside is the purplish orange of either dawn or dusk: I am not sure which it is because I don’t know what time it is. We are driving a white 2007 Honda...

    1. Take time to plan ahead and get things done the right way. Every time I get ready for a move, I look forward to the opportunity to do things better. To do things the right way. I am going to get started packing early. I am...