Too Special (Or, What You Do When Someone You Love Keeps His Best Work To Himself)
My husband thinks that some things are too special for restaurant service. I think that is exactly why people should get to eat them. On Monday, the argument started again. This time over two trays of focaccia.
What You Should Actually Keep in the House for Hurricane Season in Lahaina
After Hurricane Lala left you without power, cell service or information, you realized that what you had in the house and what you actually needed were two different things. Here’s what you’re changing before the next storm rolls in.
We Interrupt Your Regular Programming
You are here again. Standing in the dark. No power. No phone service. Just a stoic SOS marking the space where cell phone bars used to be. Hurricane Lala didn't just interrupt the plan for this season. It rooted you back in what it means to make Maui home.
This Is How You Arrive in Florence
You have just left your brother-in-law behind in Milan, not knowing how many more days he has to live. What you do know is that your daughter's summer cannot be defined by grief. And that someone in the car needs to hold steady. This is how you arrive in Florence anyway, yellow flowers giving way to rooftops, dread giving way to the city’s gold light, one long night before you understand what tomorrow will bring.
Veramente. The Real Deal.
I have been chasing risotto Milanese for twenty years. Then Veramente finally got it right.
Pizza Fritta: The Danger Is the Point
It will burn you. That is not a warning. That is the promise.
The Duomo, Always
First you see the spires. Just a sliver of them, poking above the rooftops as you turn a corner, silver against the sky.
The Italian Breakfast Is Not What You Think
Everyone does it, the same way, every day, all over Italy. Here is how to do it right.
The South Found Us First
A Napoletano restaurant on a wet Milanese street. Four tables, off-menu antipasti, and a reminder that your first meal in a new place sets the tone.
What Maui Looks Like Right Before You Leave It
Before the emails start and the days accelerate and the restaurant pulls me back into its orbit, I step outside on to the lanai. The pool mirrors the blue above it. The trade winds play on my skin like a whisper. I sit at my table and try to take it all in, the way of chewing slowly when you know the meal is almost over. These are the last mornings. And they alone make it hard to leave.
May-cember Is Real
It is a Tuesday night in early May and I am standing in my daughter's school auditorium, phone in one hand, program in the other, Resy notifications going off in my pocket while I try to be fully present for the last performance of the year. May-cember is real. Here is how I move through it.
I Overpack Every Time. Here Is What I Know Anyway.
The cost of overpacking is not the airline fee. It starts before you ever leave the house, in the weight of too many decisions, the friction of dragging something heavy up stairs built centuries before wheeled luggage existed, and the frustration of arriving somewhere beautiful feeling burdened instead of free. Over years of leaving Maui for long stretches across multiple countries and cultures, I have developed a philosophy that has made me better at it. Not perfect. Better. Here is what I know.
We Don't Take Trips
I stopped asking myself where I want to go a long time ago. Instead I ask who I want to be with. Every departure from Maui, thousands of miles of ocean between us and everyone we love, has to be justified by what is waiting on the other side. This is the most practical travel advice I can offer.
How I Use the NYT 100 Best Restaurants List to Plan a Summer in New York
Every May, without looking for it, the NYT 100 Best Restaurants list finds me. And the thrill lasts about thirty seconds. Then I get to work. Here is the exact system I use to turn a great list into a living tool, and how you can do the same for any city you are planning to spend real time in this summer.
Summer Travel Planning: One City, One Beat (And How I Actually Plan It)
After years of overstacking our summers, too many cities, too much driving, arriving back on Maui hollowed out instead of restored, I stopped building itineraries and started building beats. One city. One purpose. One note in a greater song. Here's how I actually do it, and the simple tools that make it work.
Summer Travel Planning: Why I Book My Return Flight First (And How I Actually Do It) — A Real-Life Strategy from a Maui-Based, World-Traveling Mom
I start every summer trip the same way. With the last flight. The return home. Once that's locked in, dates, destinations, decisions are easier to define. It might sound counterintuitive, but booking the end first is the most practical move I know. Here's why it works, and the tools I'm using to do it smarter than ever.
What I Eat After Service: Spaghetti Carbonara
All night, I was thinking about this. Spaghetti Carbonara, a glass of red, and a quiet moment at the end of service.
What We Ate at Pre-Shift: Pappardelle Fiesolana
A bowl of pappardelle fiesolana eaten together, standing at the bar before service. A Tuscan pasta rooted in cucina povera, paired with Brunello and carried home for dinner.
To Celebrate Earth Day, Start in Your Kitchen
Sustainability doesn’t start with grand gestures. It starts in your kitchen, with how you cook, save, and carry one meal into the next.