The barber will see you now. The world will see you next.
PARIS — They are one of the most popular teams at the Olympics. Their hand-eye coordination is off the charts. Their uniforms? Head-to-toe black and tres chic.
Let’s Talk Food: Chicken hekka
My friend Amy Aoyagi mentioned that she misses eating chicken hekka but there are no restaurants in town that serve this dish anymore. This dish was created in the 1880s, probably in the sugar plantation camps. Hekka is the Hiroshima dialect for sukiyaki and is great for sharing. Amy’s memories are eating hekka that was cooked over a hibachi.
Volcano Watch: HVO bids farewell to its Uekahuna location
“Time to go”… words that none of us at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) wanted to hear.
The environmental and personal hazards of frontier tourism
Adventure travelers used to represent an elite group of intrepid travelers willing to go to nearly any extreme in pursuit of an extraordinary trip.
Steves: Amsterdam’s dance of crass and class
Most of Europe’s major cities are a mix of old and new, elegant and rough-edged, traditional and forward-looking — but the contrasts you encounter in Amsterdam are particularly extreme…and unusually fascinating. Amsterdam is a laboratory of progressive living, bottled inside Europe’s most 17th-century city.
How to teach a horse to dance
GUNTHWAITE, England — At the Paris Olympics, hundreds of competitors will try to marry athletic prowess to artistic grace, but only those competing in dressage will attempt it while sitting astride a willful animal.
Tropical Gardening: Consider source when using mulch and compost to improve soils
Many folks are now improving new and established gardens with mulch, but be wary of where you get it. It is possible to spread insects like the coconut rhinoceros beetle, sugarcane borer and fire ants as well as some diseases. The best source of mulch is one you make or one that is not made up of green waste containing beetle infected plant materials.
Travel & Leisure readers pick their No. 1 resort in the US, and it’s in Oceanside, Calif.
SAN DIEGO — It may have taken a quarter century to develop a luxury waterfront hotel in Oceanside, but it’s apparently paid off. The Mission Pacific Beach Resort, which made its debut three years ago, has been named the No. 1 resort in the continental U.S. by Travel and Leisure’s readers.
Volcano Watch: What’s been a movin’ and a shakin’ in Kilauea’s upper East Rift Zone?
The upper East Rift Zone (UERZ) of Kilauea has been shaking more than normal, with nearly 1,500 earthquakes between July 22 and 25. The activity is being closely monitored by USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory staff and prompted closures in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. What is causing it and what should we expect to see happen if it continues?
Steves: Exploring Madrid’s outdoor delights
Spain’s capital, like its population, is relatively young. In medieval times, Madrid was just another village, but under several successive kings it transformed to a European capital. Today the country’s hub is the upbeat, vibrant home of more than 3 million people.
Fans of the Dead come alive in Las Vegas
Midway through their residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas during a record-breaking heat wave, Dead &Company played its jam band specials over the Fourth of July weekend for an eclectic crowd. The band’s audience — some die-hard fans, others just curious — came from all over the country (and the world) to pledge their own form of allegiance.
Let’s Talk Food: American influences in South Korea
Ihave written about how the Portuguese traders had such an influence in Japan, introducing bread and frying which then created manju or anpan, (“pan” comes from the Portuguese word for bread), breaded katsu and tempura. All these adopted foods became very important in Japanese cuisine. Last week I wrote about how the Chinese, Indians, Arabs and the Dutch influenced the foods of Indonesia.
To deter day-trippers, Venice tested a 5 euro entrance fee. Did visitors stay away?
When Venice introduced a 5 euro entrance fee in April, officials said the aim was to dissuade day-trippers from visiting at peak times, in a bid to ease the pressure on beleaguered residents forced to share the fragile Italian city’s limited space and public resources.
Steves: Sampling Athens’ spicier sectors
Iused to think of Athens as a big ugly city with obligatory ancient sights, fine museums, the Plaka (the extremely touristy old center), and not much else. “The joy of Greece is outside of Athens,” I wrote. “See Athens’ museums and scram.”
Is she the oldest person in the Amazon?
JAVARI VALLEY INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil — After more than 100 years in the rainforest, Varî Vãti Marubo walks with a stick and, as she always has, barefoot.
Tropical Gardening: East meets West in Hawaii gardens
In Hawaii, China and Japan, rock and water are used to add interest to the garden. The stone water basins that usually stand outside the teahouses are an example of rock and water used on a small scale. Participants in the tea ceremony first wash their hands and at the same time, symbolically wash away the stain of the noisy and confused outside world. In almost any garden and for whatever reason, the gentle sound and sight of water dripping over cool stones is refreshing.
When even an assassination attempt becomes a concert tee
Of all the images that have flooded the national conversation since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, one in particular was destined to become part of history, the record of this particular national trauma. Taken by Evan Vucci of The Associated Press, it shows Trump with blood streaks on his face, fist raised in the air. Surrounded by a crouching phalanx of Secret Service agents, he seems to be rising up. Behind him, against a bright blue sky, flies an American flag.
How do you tell immigrant stories? Dinaw Mengestu has an answer
Novelist Dinaw Mengestu thinks deeply about how stories are told, especially migrant tales. His earlier books — “The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears,” “How to Read the Air” and “All Our Names” — explored the psychic tolls on Ethiopian immigrants of being adrift in an alien American landscape.
Let’s Talk Food: Foods of Indonesia
The foods of Indonesia are very interesting and rich in history.
Volcano Watch: More shaking on Kilauea’s south flank. Did you feel it?
Island of Hawaii residents are used to feeling the ground shake beneath them. From subtle shakes that feel like wind, to abrupt jolting that knocks dishes off the counter, living on this volcanically active island means accepting that the ground beneath our feet will not always keep still.
