Tag: Life & Tradition

A Horrifying Code Film: 1941’s ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’

Halloween has now passed, and with it many horror film screenings. Although this movie genre began in the late 19th century, the term “horror” wasn’t actually applied to motion pictures until the 1930s, when Universal Pictures’ profitable streak of monster movies firmly established American horror films. Then in 1934, the Motion Picture Production Code sent Frankenstein,…


Traveling Back in Time in Southern California’s Conejo Valley

You wouldn’t expect a chunk of the Berlin Wall to be standing in Southern California, amid its beach destinations and fashion-forward cities. But there it is, at the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, perched high above the valley and overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The wall features a graffitied pink butterfly and flowers; the drawing doubtlessly…


German Fisherman Catches Ultra-Rare Bright-Yellow Catfish That Looks Like Giant Banana

A professional angler from Germany reeled in a rare bright-yellow wels catfish—like a giant, writhing banana with gills—while fishing with his twin brother on a lake in the Netherlands. The fisherman from Duisburg, Martin Glatz, on Oct. 4 was testing out a new lure, and at first thought he’d hooked a fish “comparable to a…


New Zealand Couple Unearth ‘Ugly’ 17-Pound Potato—That Could Be the World’s Largest

Colin and Donna Craig-Brown were weeding their garden in New Zealand when Colin’s hoe struck something huge just beneath the soil’s surface. As the couple knelt down and began digging around the object, Colin wondered if it was some kind of strange fungal growth, a giant puffball. After Colin pried it out with his garden…


Squash Your Breakfast

I would have been OK with it if they were stealing our squash to feed their families, but that wasn’t the case. One of the thieves had a Buttercup squash and the other what looked like a Sunshine squash, both of the $4 size. With no time to hide the squash as we drove up,…


Family of 13 Lives in Tent for 3 Months Before Utah Realtor Buys Them Home: ‘A Huge Blessing’

A family of 13 given 30 days’ notice to leave a rented house in Utah suddenly found themselves with nowhere to live. With scant options for a family of their size, they moved into a tent. However, their fortune took a turn when a local real estate agent heard of their plight and offered to buy…


Humble Pie, Grand Appeal

Early fall—before the onset of the holiday crazies—is a great time to relax and get cozy. Apples are at their peak, and rustic, uncomplicated desserts that naturally showcase their flavor and sweetness are par for the course. It’s time for a crostata. A crostata is essentially a free-form tart. It’s easy to make, with no…


American Treasures: Vaudeville, Family Friendly Entertainment

What do Houdini, Bob Hope, and Don the Talking Dog have in common? They all started out in vaudeville. What was vaudeville? The word is French for a kind of comic song, but in North America it came to mean theatrical presentations of unrelated acts—singers, comics, dancers, magicians—and it dominated our popular culture for half…


Episode 8: Spain – El Rincón

The “Semana Santa” belongs to Marqués de Griñón and his family. During the Holy Week, simple meals are traditionally served but the Count has invited the cultural and social elite of Madrid for a Gala Dinner to El Rincon. Star chef Adolfo Muñoz from Toledo captivates the guests with his culinary creations that also showcase…


The Myth of the Perfect Thanksgiving Wine

Almost any wine, red, white, rosé, or even sparkling, will be fine with all the myriad flavors extant on the traditional Thanksgiving table—but there’s one huge proviso: as long as you don’t expect the wine to work with the food. That’s because no single wine will. For decades, I’ve written columns on “what wine goes…