Have you had “the best cake in the world”? Valerie Confection’s recreation of the decadent Blum’s Coffee Crunch Cake, made famous by Nora Ephron and available through Goldbelly!? Those are coffee honeycomb chunks that you assemble on the cake, …
3 Black and White Classics for February
The last three films I watched were shot in black and white, a delightful accident that got me to think about why directors today would make such a bold choice. Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth is artfully constructed by …
Groundhog Day: Get Up and Do It Again
For weeks last summer, I woke up around 2:00 am with the same song running through my head. It was Jackson Browne singing The Pretender. Coming to consciousness, I heard: “When the morning light comes streaming in, I’ll get up …
Thank You For Being a Friend, IRL
I had fun producing this latest conversation for Common Sense. We paired three teens with Dr. Lisa Damour and Dr. Cara Natterson on a panel about what’s going on with friendship for kids right now. The best takeways come …
1.28.22
Traveling in Place… for Now
There’s no doubt that changing the scenery in general (and being in nature, in particular) reduces stress and improves our overall mental health. One way to get out from under the crush of pandemic and political news is to make …
1.28.22
Get Lost: Venice Canals + Walk Streets
Venice, CA is very different from Venice, Italy, but exploring its unusual environs makes for a nice hometown adventure. I ventured out for an Omicron distraction, and discovered a cache of nice, new-to-me shops along Lincoln Boulevard, where I parked …
1.28.22
Travel Yearning: Build your 2022 Bucket List
Learn about Context Travel’s OfferingsI’ve had a Scotland trip in mind since before Covid, but haven’t made much progress planning the adventure because I didn’t want to get my hopes up about a journey I might not take for …
1.26.22
Is that the Metaverse out there on the Horizon?
Almost immediately after the pandemic began, my future son-in-law commented that “now our lives will just go digital” and his early prediction that our online existence would become increasingly central to our lives was eerily spot-on. For adolescents, an unavoidable …
1.20.22
Delicious Sure Looks Yummy
Grégory Gadebois, left, and Guillaume de Tonquédec in the movie “Delicious.”(Jérôme Prébois / Nord-Ouest Films)
There is a lot of football going on right now, and IMNO a counter-gridiron strategy is called for. I’ve got a little french souffle …
1.17.22
