Skirting the storms about the magic cottage this morning, I began thinking about seasons in Miami.

Humming Nico’s “The Fairest of the Seasons” (on last.fm here), I thought about how difficult it is to measure time when the leaves are always green.
Other leaves near the magic cottage have small tears, holes, but these have [...]

The plants were shaking off the dew this morning beaded on their ribs;

I wiped the sleep out of my eyes, blinked until the bright spots focused

into lace–the moisture highlighting the web’s edgework.

And straight above me, I watched a snail wend its way on a path edged in light.
With similar determination, here we [...]

I went for a walk this morning, doing sun salutations,

looking at the dew,

laughing as spider webs swayed out of focus…

and this afternoon, digital scholar of note danah Boyd Twittered from the Knight Commission gathering in Aspen; “listening to madeleine albright talk about her pins. today: a spider since we are talking about the web. [...]

“How did you get into photography?” Jessica asked this weekend while we were exploring South Florida’s curious culinary landmarks.
I bought a camera on eBay, I told her, opened the box, attached the lens, and went outside. The first thing I saw was a spider’s web, and I developed that first image of the first [...]

…and so I drove to the end of the turnpike yesterday afternoon, and met Jessica and Al for a tour of South Florida.
Awash in the interesting mix of high and low culture, we arrived at Robert Is Here, the fruit emporium that began in 1959 as a roadside stand.
Perusing stacks of sugarcane that [...]

I have been waiting for it, hoping that I would return from my travels in time.
And as if nudged by the new moon and the total eclipse of the sun, this morning I opened the front door of the magic cottage to see this:

Sometimes the only thing that makes sense about Miami to me [...]

Let’s rescue egg salad from a scoopable deli fixture.

Simple food, my friends. I dressed butter lettuce with oil, scrambled an egg and fried another, so the yolk breaks onto the leaves and completes the dressing. (I also fried some bacon because it’s Friday.)
Note: Salad is originally from the Latin word for salt, [...]

Tuesday morning began in Miami, where I rose at 4 to catch a 6 o’clock to Dallas, then a 9 o’clock to Denver with plenty of time for the RoadFood warrior within to eat cheese enchiladas at Jack-n-Grill where they have “hot daze and chile nights.”

Refusing to choose between, I startled my server (who called [...]

My friend Jenne joined me yesterday morning for a brunch of scrambled eggs, bacon, sautéed potatoes, and summer squash.

Making our way through a bottle of cava, we talked about the week, odds and ends, and decided to meander through the International Mango Festival at Miami’s Fairchild Garden. (Read the rest after the jump)

The other night I introduced a new and rather intriguing friend to my favorite legume: the cranberry bean. (Note: this episode looks much better in HD here.)

A white bean speckled with purple, the cranberry bean is at once homey and elegant–unadorned, a simple meal, or an excellent partner for caramelized onions, corn, and country bacon.
Shelled [...]