rather reader love
“I just spent a week in New York with my husband and son and thought you should know that because of your guide EVERY meal was fantastic. We only chose restaurants from your book and am convinced we never would have found them otherwise. You made our trip perfect...not one bad meal!”Lynne H.
Park City, Utah
September 2011
archives: february 2012
By Bernie Baskin, February 24, 2012, View Comments
Hong Kong, you’ve got some serious nerve. Acting so dark and mysterious and megatropolis'ish – with your spindly cloud-hugging skyscrapers and speed-walking well-heeled charcoal suits and iPads. I know what you really are though.
By Kaie Wellman, February 21, 2012, View Comments
I have a dirty little secret … I'm not a huge lover of chocolate. It's not that I don't like chocolate, I do. But on the scale of things I lust to eat, it falls somewhere around chicken—happy enough to eat it, but it doesn't rock my culinary boat. Here's the kicker though, I find myself compulsively collecting chocolate. Every city I explore, every business that catches my fancy, I've got an eye out for the stuff and invariably I come home with a suitcase chock full of bars, nibs and truffles. Do I eat all this? Holy gut ache, no. I tend to nibble like a house mouse and leave the serious devouring to my husband and kid.
By Bernie Baskin, February 14, 2012, View Comments
When I was eleven my parents built a small wood and wire enclosure behind our house on an empty strip of land we call the cut. Shortly thereafter my mom bought two pygmy goats, cut off their balls and loaded them in the enclosure. My mom recalls thinking that my brother, sister and I needed to see farm animals and have another pet (she’s a vet, she can’t help it). She fed them too much and before long they were huge. I only remember that they were noisy, they butted me with their tiny horns when I got too close and that they pooped small black pellets everywhere.
By Bernie Baskin, February 13, 2012, View Comments
When I was a kid, Sunday afternoons were meant for running around in the woods, cycling at bone crushing speeds down dangerously steep hills, home run derby with tennis balls and makeshift bats, and all the other mayhem that little boys in Arkansas get up to. But somewhere along the way, Sunday afternoons turned into laundry folding, hardware store runs and the weeks forgotten errands. I guess that’s how life goes, but every now and then it’s healthy to get some fresh air and go for a long Sunday afternoon hike. My favorite in Singapore is the Southern Ridges Trail, so a few days ago we saddled up on the motorcycle and drove to the trailhead.
By Bernie Baskin, February 2, 2012, View Comments
Lord I was hungry yesterday afternoon. Not the tinkling hunger that's possible to push aside and ignore ... I'm talking about down on your knees, southern-baptist-gospel-praying-for-forgiveness-amen hungry. Thankfully the rest of the crew here in Singapore were also feeling the hunger pains! So at the end of the day we made our way out to the best hawker center in Singapore - Old Airport Road Hawker Center - and dug into hearty bowls of noodles.