We struggle to define American food. Whenever we hear someone complaining that all Americans eat is McDonald’s we’re quick to point out our diets consist of much, much more than just burgers and fries. American cuisine is like America- a mosaic of different tastes, colors, textures and ingredients, but, what is quintessentially American? Traditional Thanksgiving dinner? Meatloaf? It all started somewhere else.
A few weeks ago I began researching foods around the world for an article. My elementary school Thanksgiving play memories came back to me and before I knew it I had rattled off a list of 10 foods native to the Americas. Working to balance the list a little more for the global …

We installed the Linux Ubuntu operating system on our eeePC Netbook just before we departed for Africa. Somewhere around the start of our time in South America our computer, then using MS Windows, developed insomnia where it would wake up from its stand by, or sleep status while closed, inside its case, tucked away in my backpack. Fire was an obvious concern, but we were more worried the computer would fry itself on the inside. Add that to a couchsurf in Argentina where a self-proclaimed ‘Linux Geek’ pointed out that all the applications we were using (since they were all free) ran natively inside Linux.
We took the plunge. Backed up everything. Formatted the hard drive. Erased all our precious …

It’s 1pm and I’m sitting in Danny’s parents kitchen looking out at the backyard. The air conditioning is on, the fridge is fully stocked, the bathrooms have ultra-soft toilet paper,and the toilets are guaranteed to flush. These may sound totally normal to you, but these small conveniences don’t really exist in my world. Every few days we pick ourselves up and move to a new location. Sometimes the electricity doesn’t work for hours, sometimes the water will go out all day, often there isn’t a shred of toilet paper to be found in a public bathroom. Travel is all very exiting, but after 16 months we needed a vacation from our travels.
Vacation means freedom from something: work, duty or responsibility. …

The Tour de France is a huge event in cycling, and as with all sports, advertising plays a big role in the Tour.  Before each stage there’s a “advertiser’s parade” officially called the publicity caravan.  Tour officials call it an essential part of the tour, but we generally love these things for the plethora of junk and candy they throw at you.  Unfortunately we only scored one package of candy and a few free goodies, but it was worth it to see the ridiculous floats and “motivators” do their thing on the business-like streets of Brussels.  Vive le tour!