Since the early days of the Southern French US colonies, Mardi Gras has been a yearly tradition that even a hurricane could not stop. It’s the historic time of Carnival, the celebration of indulgence and what many might call “sin” before taking on the 40 day fasting from such things we know as Lent. The [...]

Here in Chicago, I look out my window right now and see the streets, sidewalks, and trees covered in a light dusting of snow. Not my favorite time of the year as my mind soars to visions of the warm sun, the smell of the Mediterranean, and the feeling that time has stopped…even for a [...]

This week, much of the world will be celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ with gatherings of food, wine, and gifts.  Then in another week, we’ll get drunk and feed our fill even more as we ring in 2011.  After the festivities, millions then face the New Year a little heavier and feeling guilty.  Gyms [...]

Indian and Arabic food is always a love-hate-not sure ideology with most Americans.  Basically you’ve tried it and loved it, or tried it and hated it, or refuse to try it out of fear of something different.  My experiences with colleagues have usually ended with the “not sure” standpoint where they smell the curry in [...]

For many years we’ve known Sicily mainly through mobster movies like the Godfather series, and while some of those stories strike similarity to reality in the region, there is so much more to Sicily than the mafia.  This quaint island off the tip of the Italian peninsula is an interesting meld of Italian, Greek, Arabic, [...]

Recently, I helped throw what I guess has become a joint “shower” for both a bride and groom.  My longtime best friend Mike and his bride to be Yolanda were given a coed shower, which I’m still not sure what to think of that.  Call me a traditionalist I guess. The maid-of-honor planned out the [...]