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Sweden: The Ultimate First-World Country

Sweden: The Ultimate First-World Country

We’ve reached Malmo for the second half of our Swedish journey. Here there were only frosty hills, lots of green actually, and it’s a bit warmer than Stockholm. No snow to be found. As we glided to the airport on the Arlanda Airport 20-minute shuttle, I thought about how advanced […]

Video of the Koh Phangan Thai restaurant, Stockholm

Here is what you see and hear as you enter this fantastically wild Thai restaurant in SoFo, one of Stockholm’s coolest neighborhoods. The green curry and baby back ribs were delicious!

Seeing Gamla Stan with Ylva da Silva

Seeing Gamla Stan with Ylva da Silva

Ylva da Silva showed us her hometown this morning. It was brisk, about 20 degrees, and we took off walking to a nearby underground station and then jumping aboard a city bus. We were headed to the Old town, on the island of Gamla Stan, one of fourteen islands that […]

A Christmas Tree with Lit with Candles in Stockholm

A Christmas Tree with Lit with Candles in Stockholm

From my previous trip here to Sweden last December I knew that the holiday of Christmas is celebrated with more vigor and enthusiasm here than in any other country. This darkened nation revels in their candlelit doorways and every window in the city has a triangle of lights or a […]

Settling in to the Hotel Hellsten in Stockholm

Settling in to the Hotel Hellsten in Stockholm

After a train, monorail, two planes, a train and a cab, I’m in my room at the Hotel Hellsten in downtown Stockholm. The temperatures are cold, but there is no snow on the streets here, but it has that feeling in the air that it’s about to snow. At 3:30 […]

"All We Have Is Pasta and Pizza" Say Italians

"All We Have Is Pasta and Pizza" Say Italians

I joined my mom and dad out on their enclosed porch to read a New York Times article about the malaise that is modern Italy. The sleet rained down and it’s quite cozy in here. It seems that everything is going wrong in Cindy’s adopted country…from Europe’s lowest birthrate, to […]

You Think It’s Expensive Here to Ride?

I’m spending part of today with my family in Blawenburg NJ, the town and the house where I grew up. Last night it was nice to see two of my sisters and other relatives gathered around a huge table. I’ve got that familiar pre-trip feeling, trying to make sure I […]

Rushing Out the Door to Stockholm

A nervous end of the day because I’m on the road tomorrow for a week. What did I forget? Tomorrow I begin with an early morning bus ride, Springfield to Port Authority then a visit with an ad agency we work with. Then I meet Val, my mother, at her […]

The Credit Karma Comes Back to Haunt Me

Karma is a funny thing. Today I am experiencing this from my decades-long career in sales. The boomerang is coming around and I can feel it wacking me on the side of the head. It has to do with credit terms and vendor relationships. I used to sell shirts and […]

Want to Make Something Delicious? Umami It!

Yum, yum, UMAMI yum. That’s the new taste sensation, according to a story in yesterday’s WSJ by Katy McLaughlin. It’s a Japanese term coined in the early 20th century by Kikunae Ikeda, a scientist who made the word up based on the word for ‘deliciousness.’ Simply put, it’s the fifth […]

What’s a Five-letter Word that Starts with Q?

What’s a Five-letter Word that Starts with Q?

Last night was a triumph of seven-letter words: Our first Scrabble Tournament at the cafe. I have been talking about this event for months, and it finally happened. In cafe tradition, it was full of energy and life–the kind of spirit I like to think our cafe brings out in […]

The Housecleaner and Cabby with the $700K House

Naira Costa is a house cleaner from Brazil who is a prime example of why the mortgage melt down happened. In yesterday’s WSJ, her story was told and it is a doozy. Through a pastor turned mortgage broker, with her taxi driver husband the pair bought a house in the […]

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