The pumpkin pie palaver
If you don't want to mess about with dough and filling, then just buy a pumpkin pie. So says this Centerstage article, listing top Chicago bakeries that can meet your pumpkin pie needs. But what if you live in a land without pumpkin pie? A land where your friends say, "Pumpkin? In a pie? A sweet pie? Not a savory pie?" And a land where, the first time you make one, someone takes one bite of your prize creation and says, "Ugghhh....this pumpkin pie thingy is minging!" (*minging-disgusting, gross, nasty, etc...) Yes, my pal James, bless his honest E

Lovely Lake District
At the end of October I crossed one of the items off my bucket list by finally visiting England's Lake District. We come across this stunning autumnal tree while taking an afternoon hike across hills, pastures and woods between the towns of Windermere and Ambleside. The county of Cumbria, nestled in the very northwestern tip of England, is famed for its lakes, mountains and cou

Knocking 'em dead
I laughed at Travel Editor Lori Rackl's account of seeing the band The Killers in line at an airport in Mexico, and it made me think of my own recent star encounter here in England. Joe and Kevin Jonas take fan questions during the "intimate" pre-concert sound check event, attended by a lucky few hundred little ladies.

Reintroduction
The original idea of this blog was to document--for my many friends and former colleagues in Chicago--my experiences during a year spent volunteering for a church in Nottingham, England. Then I'd return to my life as a Chicago journalist, refreshed and reinvigorated after a year's adventure. That was in the fall of 2007. It is now late November 2009 and I am (ahem) still in England. Ooops. Here's what happened: No, I didn't fall in love, marry a British man and settle down to a life of pastoral English bliss, making friends with the local village post man, butcher and tea shop lady while writing from my quaint thatched roof cottage and raising small, accented and