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.
The Table Still Holds: A Storm in Lahaina and the Work of Beginning Again
After days of relentless rain in Lahaina, we found ourselves sitting outside again, propping a handheld on the table and making do. Not everyone on the island had that option. But sometimes, even imperfectly, the table is the one thing that still holds.
On the Daily: Should We Stop for Wine?
A storm on Maui, a flashback to the fires, and the bottle of Tignanello that made the night better.
On the Daily: The Occasional Whopper
By the time we reached the airport for the flight back to Maui, I was a little hungry and a little restless. So I did something I almost never do.I bought a Whopper Jr. with cheese.
On the Daily: March 3, 2026: Midweek, We Feast
Wildly excessive for a Tuesday. And exactly right. The seven-day rhythm of restaurant life doesn’t always leave room for family dinners. Last night, we reclaimed one.
On the Daily: March 2, 2026
I eat at Sale Pepe almost every single day. A forkful at the pass. A bowl before service. A slice after. So when a new menu still makes me excited, it’s a real thing. And in a world that feels unstable, there is something grounding about building a table aligned with season, intention, and restraint.
Day 5: Okra (or Love as Invention)
What does it mean to belong to a food you do not love? For me, that food is okra.
Day 4: Salt Pork (or Love as Preservation)
Before refrigeration, there was smoke. Before abundance, there was salt. Preservation meant survival.
Day 3: Greens (or Love as Restraint)
The work of tending them cannot be rushed. This is love as restraint.
Day 2: Cornbread (or Love as Grounding)
Cornbread as we know it emerged at the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, African ingenuity, and brutal necessity. For some it was accompaniment. For others, survival.
Day 1: Rice (or Love as Survival)
Rice did not arrive in America by accident. It arrived intentionally—carried as knowledge, memory, and a wager on survival.