This recipe is largely in service of my favorite new technique for peeling tomatoes: with a blowtorch. The tip comes from a book I bought at Maker Faire called Chef’s Secrets, and Chef J. Bryce Whittlesey (who once worked at Keswick Hall near Charlottesville) instructs the reader that the blowtorch option prevents the tomato from [...]

I’ve posted the below review on the Goodreads site; of all the spooky literature I crave in October, this play might be my favorite. Proof: A Play by David Auburn My review on Goodreads rating: 4 of 5 stars “Proof” is ideal for the witching hours of the night, when you cannot sleep, idly flip [...]

I’ve just spent the weekend with hackers at Maker Faire in Austin, Texas. Sitting next to the cool kids from the Austinist, who offered maps to let people draw their area landmarks, I met inventors, idealists, and geeks and told them about the Knight News Challenge. Wandering, I watched as the Austin Metal Authority forged [...]

Each time I visit, I fall harder for Austin, Texas–the pride in local, surfeit of vintage, and funktacular food entice me into scheming ways to make migas my regular breakfast. Yesterday, the delightful Rosental Alves, who directs the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, invited me to talk to his journalism class preceding one [...]

My favorite tweet (read: Twitter update) of recent weeks was Lane Becker’s Thursday: “Can you imagine? A federal government that took typography seriously?” It so happens that Thursday morning I was walking through a Miami airport terminal after my identification and boarding pass were checked five times, and I paused at prints on the walls [...]