Professional Eater, Storyteller, and Wine Traveler
Rodin Sculpture Garden – Stanford University
Hipstamatic fun photo Friday is a joyful exploration of the depths in iPhone photography that help me to document The Blissful Adventurer. These images represent my particular vision of the images I see and are intended to alter mood and shift perspective. Hipstamatic is an application for mobile phone cameras that has inspired me since its inception and I hope very much it remains a fixture in the app world. [Read more...]
The Blissful Adventurer Top 25 Italy Moments continues with #11 – Siena Church Driving. After our most recent trip to Italia I had to augment my Top 11 posts with some amazing new experiences which blew us away. We have gotten the list together and now we continue with the rest of the story.
Juliet ready to assume her navigator position
#11 Siena Church Driving
I started driving in Italy on a regular basis in 2006. Since then I have driven vans, cars, and bicycles. I have pulled trailers, ridden in dump trucks, and driven cars on and off of very tightly packed ferries. I have used a Euro GPS and a modified American Garmin Nuvi 275. I can say with all certainty none of those experiences prepared me for #11 on my list of Top 25 Italy moments. [Read more...]
“Do I think America belongs in Vietnam? I don’t know, I know I belong in Vietnam, I’ll tell ya that”
One of the great quotes from Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant Full Metal Jacket was used to suggest the potential lunacy of a soldier during the siege of Hue’ city in what the Vietnamese refer to as “The American War.” I have begun with this quote to illustrate my own opinion before, and most certainly after my recent visit to Vietnam. Vietnam is not the jungle den of iniquity carefully constructed in post-war Hollywood, but perhaps the most compelling argument for the resiliency of the human spirit even in the aftermath of human aggression that I have had the privilege to witness in my travels. Beginning here with a quote from a dramatized time that most of the west still equates to Vietnam seems appropriate as it is strewn with misconceptions. The Vietnam that I experienced has taken enormous pride in letting go of any conceptualized victimization and as a nation Vietnam has moved forward to adjust and excel at its most natural talents which stand in stark contrast to the prejudices, anger, and futility of war. [Read more...]
Fascist Brothers in Armed Orgy
I passed by the Buffet da Pepi the night before as I was on a fascist watch along the grand piazzas of modern Trieste. What a pocket of freaks I thought as I stared at tall Italians who only 75 years before were average-sized Austrians. [Read more...]
Making a Living
Bounty hunter #1: You’re wanted, Wales.
Josey Wales: Reckon I’m right popular. You a bounty hunter?
Bounty hunter #1: A man’s got to do something for a living these days.
Josey Wales: Dyin’ ain’t much of a living, boy.- The Outlaw Josey Wales
TUESDAY: I had to come up with a plan. It had to be fate that Malcolm “Blink”ing Gladwell rolled up next to me at the Catalina having what appeared to be a cappuccino while looking nervously at his computer screen. I could leave him alone, or I could see what he was all about. This is Texas, and we are nosy, chatty, and very much want to tell people about ourselves; therefore, if I just start a chat it will either become a legitimate chat, or possibly one of the suicide scenes from Airplane. I took a shot of Rwanda to instill some bravery and —–I quickly decided that if it was fate I would indeed see him here again and we might even have a meaningful chat.
“and now…the rest of the story”
Paul Harvey
Scared to Death
As soon as Gladwell was gone I took a big swig of my now very cold Rwanda and gazed up at the barista. He must have seen the stupid grin on my face because he gave me a “why the hell are you so happy?” look.
Me: Do you know who that was?
Barista: No, should I?
Me: That was Malcolm Gladwell, one of the most important American writers in the world (realizing that was totally sycophantic before it left my mouth)
Barista: Cool, I have seen him in here a few times before
Me: Yeah, I think he is researching here (like I knew something)
Barista: I always thought he was pretty weird-looking.
Me: (Thinking Barista not exactly the picture of normalcy) Yeah, he is amazing..one of my idols…..I decided to announce that I am becoming a writer today and then he appears here man, and I am like, wow this is fate man, this the real fucking deal..seriously Malcolm Gladwell..wait man..wait
Barista: (confused) excuse me?
Me: Sorry dude, gotta get out of here, Gladwell’s coming to dinner (as I am hustling out) [Read more...]
…he smiled to himself, adjusted his laptop screen downward hiding his work, turned his chair in my direction and told me…
Just Threw this Together
MG – I find it curious how often I am asked that question..uhm…uh..
Me – Michael…(beat) don’t worry man I am sure you forget quite a few names
MG – (cutting me off) No I don’t. I forget very few names and even fewer faces
Me – Would you say you had spent 10,000 hours getting to that level of mastery with names? (smiling to myself as I knew I had him on that one)
MG – Yes, for sure. Imagine that I have been writing for the New Yorker since 1996 and imagine the number of interviews I have conducted; with and without the assistance of recording equipment
Me – What are you drinking?
MG – Excuse me?
Me – What kind of coffee drink are you drinking?
MG – Oh, this is a cappuccino with a little less textured milk, so really it is more like a latte’ without so much milk…
Me – Or a cappuccino without schiuma
MG -What was that?
Me – Schiuma, the Italian name for the foam. Italians don’t go down the path of naming things cutely just to make a menu sound better. I mean, an Italian will use many words to describe something, but taking license with the structure of the language seems pretty Anglo [Read more...]
The Top Coffee Shop in Houston
On Tuesday afternoon I went into my beloved Catalina coffee for an afternoon pour-over of their fabulous Rwanda coffee that had recently arrived. I had just eaten a below-average lunch at a “hot” joint on Wash-Av and needed a dose of quality in my diet to assuage the misery in my still hungry stomach. At my sad lunch I had ordered a Ceviche and a Mushroom tamale for my lunch. My server came to my table moments later with tamale in-hand and informed me that the kitchen had dropped my Ceviche and would be re-making it. I informed him very politely that I really wanted the cold ceviche before my warm tamale and he obligingly took it back and very likely stuck in under a lamp. [Read more...]
Local 100% Malvasia Nera in Lecce, Italy
Now comes part 3 of the story. This is my little depiction of life in Puglia, Italy. I mean this is what life is about for me. For those of you a little behind here is
