Start a Holiday Tradition: Christmas Tamales

Every year on Christmas eve I make tamales for my family and neighbors. It has become a holiday tradition and labor of love and my girlfriends join me with their own recipes in my kitchen. We cook our tamales and socialize and drink and it’s all very festive. In the event you’d like to start a tamale tradition of your own, here’s a great recipe. … Continue reading Start a Holiday Tradition: Christmas Tamales

Facetime Instead of Facebook: 36 Hours in Honolulu

The Sunday New York Times had a feature in its Travel Section today on how to spend 36 hours in Honolulu.  It singled out some of my favorite places like Kapiolani Park, Chinatown and the drive from Hanauma Bay to Waimanalo with stops at Sandy Beach and Makapuu.  With no disrespect to the author, Jocelyn Fujii, I would like to suggest my own itinerary based … Continue reading Facetime Instead of Facebook: 36 Hours in Honolulu

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow. Crunchy numbers A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2010. That’s about 26 full 747s. In 2010, there were 85 new posts, growing the total archive … Continue reading 2010 in review

Christmas Tamales

Every year on Christmas eve I make tamales for my family and neighbors. It has become a holiday tradition and labor of love and my girlfriends join me with their own recipes in my kitchen. We cook our tamales and socialize and it’s all very festive. In the event you’d like to start a tamale tradition of your own, here’s a great recipe. Happy holidays … Continue reading Christmas Tamales

Waste Not, Want Not

The other night my colleagues and I ordered pizza to be delivered to our workplace at the International Broadcast Centre during our shift at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. There have been tons of issues with the catering here so we had food brought in. At the end of the evening there were still four untouched boxes of pizza that were cold and had … Continue reading Waste Not, Want Not

Benchwarmers Bails

Benchwarmers Tavern and Grill opened about a month ago in my Centennial, Colorado neighborhood then just yesterday the restaurant, which was an anchor of the retail complex at Arapahoe and Peoria, closed down.  Apparently they stiffed all their employees as they shut the door.  I heard about it on 9News.  It’s all very puzzling but I wonder if something I witnessed might have been part … Continue reading Benchwarmers Bails

Oil Spill: The Ripple Effect

I finally got to the Gulf coast to work on a story about the oil spill for the PBS Newshour. I didn’t see any oil but what I saw was a a boat load of fear. Correspondent Tom Bearden and I visited Bayou La Batre, Alabama to attend a town hall meeting with Ken Feinberg, the Massachusetts lawyer who must decide how to allocate BP’s … Continue reading Oil Spill: The Ripple Effect

Politics with my Cappuccino

My barista leaned over the counter today.  “What do you think of the MSNBC host who said she hoped it was a Tea Party member rather than a Muslim who set the car bomb in Times Square?”  His colleague at the cappucino maker edged closer to hear what I had to say.  “Well,” I replied, “I wish it was someone from the Tea Party.  It actually kind of … Continue reading Politics with my Cappuccino

Earth Day: From Farm to Table at Yosemite

During the Clinton Administration there was a move to green up the national parks.  One of the mandates was to source food locally.  Today one of the most successful examples of this is Yosemite National Park.  All the concessions are run by Delaware North and it has chosen not to go with commodities but rather to buy the produce, meats, eggs and dairy from local … Continue reading Earth Day: From Farm to Table at Yosemite

What I Learned from Ex-Cons

They were sitting in the living room playing guitars and singing songs about justice and the lack of it.  They had taught themselves to play in prison and they were good.  Dave was in the slammer off and on for 15 years for dealing meth and assorted other felonies.  Ladd served 20 years for being an accessory to murder.  They met in prison and stayed … Continue reading What I Learned from Ex-Cons