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Garden Variety
Julia Reed 6/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
The summers of my youth were spent largely at the house of our neighbors, who had six children (including three good-looking, much older and very funny boys) and a playroom with a pool table, card table, stereo and ancient refrigerator. Depending on the summer, I was invariably in love with one of the brothers or their friends, and it was in their company that I picked up the skills that have contributed to my good health and happiness ever since: how to kiss, play poker, hold my beer—and hum along to pretty much every song on a nonstop vinyl soundtrack that included, but was not limited to, the Allman Brothers, the Rolling Stones and the Sir Douglas Quintet.
SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL
The Most Important Meal
Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop 5/2/2009 12:00:00 AM
Even guests who never eat breakfast when they're home have trouble resisting a well-appointed breakfast buffet on the road. A recent survey of business and leisure travelers in Asia by Le Méridien hotel group showed that 60 percent of leisure travelers and 40 percent of business ones eat more than usual when traveling, and more than 80 percent favor the buffet breakfast. However, only 38 percent of travelers said they were extremely or very satisfied with what hotels are offering.
SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL
Visiting the Second City
Cathleen McGuigan 5/2/2009 12:00:00 AM
Sicily is a magnet for tourists, with its ruggedly spectacular coastline and ancient Greek and Roman ruins. But many travelers steer clear of Palermo, the island's capital and mafia stronghold. Yet it's a far less expensive destination than Rome. Palermo is one of the world's great "second" cities—like Manchester, England, or Buffalo, New York—that's maybe a little grittier than the better-known cultural capital that overshadows it, but full of its own historic riches. Palermo's civilization reaches at least to the Phoenicians, who settled during the first millennium B.C. From there, the city's timeline looks like a fever chart of invaders, colonists and conquerors. Of its multitude of significant old churches, two overlooking the city's Piazza Bellini perfectly embody the cultural collisions: the starkly beautiful San Cataldo, from the 12th-century Norman conquest, is topped by three small red domes, a reminder of the enduring Arab influence; right next to it, an architectural hodgepodge known as La Martorana contains stunning 12th-century Byzantine gold mosaics as well as Baroque frescoes and froufrou from five centuries later.
HEALTH
A Food-Safety Savior?
3/31/2009 12:00:00 AM
With yet another food recall in the news (this time it's pistachios), Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, now poised to take the helm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will undoubtedly face tough questions at her confirmation hearings about the failed safety record of products like peanut butter, pet food, spinach and tomatoes. The Food and Drug Administration, which is a part of HHS, has responsibility for oversight of the lion's share of the food supply and as such, touches every American three times each day like clockwork, at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
PROJECT GREEN
Crops With Attitude
Mac Margolis 3/14/2009 12:00:00 AM
Africa is no stranger to scourges, but few cause as much ruin as maize streak virus. Spread by the tiny leafhopper bug, MSV plagues farmers across the southern part of the continent, where tens of millions rely on corn for more than half their daily calories. It starts discreetly: a patina of pale circles at the bottom of young leaves. Left untreated, it can destroy entire harvests. "You go into the fields and want to weep," says Jennifer Thomson, a South African molecular biologist and expert on MSV. "You wonder why anyone bothers to plant." Now they may have a reason. Thomson and fellow researchers at the University of Cape Town teamed up with Pannar, an African seed company, to insert mutated DNA from the virus itself plus two other genes into healthy maize, essentially short circuiting the virus's reproductive code and immobilizing the disease. In greenhouse trials, the doctored maize curbed the damage from MSV, and sometimes stopped it cold. If it passes safety tests, it could hit the market within four years. It would be Africa's first homemade genetically modified crop.
COOKBOOKS
Simple Doesn’t Mean Bland
Tara Weingarten 3/7/2009 12:00:00 AM
The superslouching economy is spurring everyone to return to basics—including some of the world's best-known chefs, who are flooding the market with new cookbooks preaching the simple-is-better mantra. Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavors From Simple Ingredients" (crownpublishing.com) gives nearly 100 entertainment-ready recipes that never require a trip to the specialty food market. Dishes include classic coq au vin; mustard-roasted fish, made flavorful with capers, shallots and whole-grain mustard; and a pot roast smothered in gravy enriched by a purée of root vegetables from the pot. Garten's recipes are idiotproof, though they never look quite as good as the book's photos suggest.