Topics

Jan

New Year’s Travel Inspiration

by Meredith Mullins on January 9, 2017

Paul Salopek in eastern Turkey (2014), nearly two years into his walk around the world
© John Stanmeyer/National Geographic Creative

The Out of Eden Walk Around the World

If I had made New Year’s resolutions, “walking around the world” probably would not have been on the list.

A get-off-the-couch, 10,000 steps a day? Maybe. 10 million steps? Not a chance. That would be travel inspiration of the monumental kind.

The 10 million number is not random. Ten million steps is an important milestone for Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Paul Salopek.

Why? He is walking around the world. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

Adventure Travel/On Foot/Worldwide Sites

Jan

An Idiom Abroad

by Joyce McGreevy on January 3, 2017

The statue of the Duke of Wellington in Glasgow shows that Scotland's fashions go beyond the wordplay of clothing idioms. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Trafficking in high fashion, Glasgow style.
The Duke of Wellington monument at the Gallery of Modern Art.
© Joyce McGreevy

A Wordplay Stitch in Time

Sew, a funny thing happened on the way to a textile exhibition. One morning in Glasgow, I stopped at a café to write. The assignment: draft a column about the wordplay of clothing idioms.

I’m no smarty pants, but I hoped to leave readers in stitches so I put on my thinking cap, booted up my laptop, and buckled down to work. As cellphone users aired their dirty linen in public, I felt hampered and wished they would put a sock in it.

Then the barista buttonholed me with a shirty question. Read more...

Joyce McGreevy 4 Comments

Scotland/The World's Art & Design/Wordplay

Dec

You Say Potato . . . I Say Pomme de Terre

by Meredith Mullins on December 12, 2016

Potatoes on French market shelves, showing the cultural heritage of the potato in France. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

How France’s Parmentier Changed the Cultural Heritage of the Potato

Imagine . . .

a world without mountains of crispy French fries,

a holiday dinner minus fluffy clouds of mashed potatoes,

a steak without a baked potato dripping with sour cream,

a plate begging for a huddle of new potatoes with a hint of parsley and butter that launches pomme de terre into the strata of haute cuisine,

silence instead of the crunch of a potato chip while watching a ball game. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 7 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/France

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