Posted by Ed Levine, July 4, 2008 at 8:30 AM
I've been up on the Cape all this week and yes, I brought my scale (right). But having the scale with me only begs the question of how often I should weigh myself no matter where I am.
I brought the scale to hold myself accountable for any forays into vacation gluttony I might embark on, but the fact of the matter is that this question of how often I should be getting on the scale has been weighing on me for months.
I know there is no right answer to this almost cosmic question. I last attended a Weight Watchers' meeting 20 years ago, so I don't know where those eminently sensible folks are on this issue now. Other people advocate trying on the same pair of pants or shorts every week to see how snugly they fit, instead of weighing in. Still others say once a week, a third camp advocates weighing yourself every day at the same time.
Here's where I come down on this issue right now (after the jump). Please, serious eaters, let me know if it makes any sense at all.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 2, 2008 at 10:00 AM
I had just "powered off" my "electronic device" for landing on a recent flight and was placing my tray table "in the upright position" while glancing around anxiously for a cabin attendant to relieve me of my soda can and little plastic cup. When she came around with a trash bag, I offered the cup, but she asked for the can as well, placing everything in the same bag. I guess they don't recycle, I thought. What's up with that?!?
Salon's "Ask the Pilot" column (one of my favorite features on that site) tackles the issue in its latest installment.
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Posted by Emily Stone, January 23, 2008 at 10:00 AM
As the chocolate industry becomes more like the wine industry, chocolate tourism is looking more like wine tourism, with trips to chocolate "regions" replacing factory tours. Here are two upcoming options in Central America, each with a few spaces left:
The Ecole Chocolat Master Chocolatier Tour of Costa Rica
April 6–11, 2008; $1,990–$2,390
Steve DeVries (the maverick Colorado chocolate-maker who made an appearance in Mort Rosenblum's book Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light) knows a lot more about Central America than most people in the business. On this trip he's teaming up with the online cooking school Ecole Chocolat and bringing a team of adventurers on a bean-buying excursion to Costa Rica. The trip includes meetings with individual cacao farmers as well as stopovers in Costa Rica's pristine national parks.
The Chocolate Lovers Travel Club in Belize
May 22–29, 2008; $2,177–$2,377
Discover Chocolate author Clay Gordon has an in at the Cotton Tree Lodge, whose chocolate-making classes were written up in the New York Times. The newly minted Chocolate Lovers Travel Club is behind the itinerary, which includes kayaking and hiking, as well as a visit tour of Green and Black's organic chocolate operations in Belize's Punta Gorda. The trip also coincides with the annual Toledo Cacao Festival.
Photographs courtesy of Earl De Berge.
About the author: Emily Stone, a food writer and proprietor of Chocolate in Context, is a chocolate enthusiast, itinerant traveler, and a lover of literature who lives in Pittsburgh.
Posted by Robyn Lee, January 11, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Sara Rosso, also known as Ms. Adventures in Italy, recently came back from her trip to India with beautiful photos and commentary about Indian street food and Indian Chinese cuisine. Sliced ice cream, atomically spicy vegetables, mini potato burgers, fried potato balls—I crave them all. Time to get my butt to India.
You can't visit Bologna without eating tortellini, the local specialty, but why not learn how to make it too? The New York Times lists pasta-making classes in Bologna—perhaps it'll give you an idea for your next vacation.
Posted by Erin Zimmer, November 26, 2007 at 4:30 PM
The only thing better than reading Mark Bittman's Minimalist columns every Wednesday is watching his step-by-step video footage on the New York Times website. And the only thing better than watching from the computer is watching from the air. Yup, ever since Jet Blue and the New York Times shook hands in August, the airline has added a Times on Air station to those mini DirecTV screens. And it’s exactly what it sounds like—the paper (mostly the Arts and Style sections) in television form.
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