A pintxos in time. Or perhaps nine.

A pintxos in time. Or perhaps nine.

These treats are what the residents of Basque country call pintxos (pronounced pinch-oss), the delicious and colourful treats that pass for dinner in the far north of Spain. Here, lunch seems to be the main meal of the day, so by day’s end the locals are looking...
Bilbao Baggins

Bilbao Baggins

Wow. I don’t think I could have been more impressed if I were standing directly across from the Pyramids. Having always been in awe of Frank Gehry, seeing his Guggenheim Museum up close and personal in Bilbao, northern Spain, was almost spiritual in intensity....
ATV: Actual Tuscan Villa

ATV: Actual Tuscan Villa

On the left is the entrance to an actual villa in Tuscany – technically Chianti country, a provincial region in itself – with a bona fide Tuscan out the front. The landscape on the right is the view from the back of the house. This blessed place was my...
When in Pisa …

When in Pisa …

I have a good excuse for my absence for the past week: I have been eating and drinking my way through Tuscany courtesy of my friend Stefano Maccianti, whose second novel is about to be published in Italy (more on that soon), and whose parents happen to own –...
Six degrees of Stockard Channing

Six degrees of Stockard Channing

Sitting in the balcony of Islington’s Almeida Theatre last night, it seemed bizarre that I had flown from New York to London only to watch a great American actress at work. My friend Maria had procured me a ticket to the London season of Clifford Odet’s...
Brooklyn life support

Brooklyn life support

Here are two reasons why my Prospect Heights neighbourhood has been such fun during the year I’ve been living here – the eponymous Cheryl of Cheryl’s Global Soul Cafe on Underhill Street (literally around the corner from my apartment, my home away...