Cafe do Cais, Portugal. During my first visit to Porto, the northernmost city in Portugal, I strolled through the charming historic neighborhoods and streets lined with beautiful facades, of course, stopping far too frequently to sample freshly baked pastel de nata, the country’s famous custard tart.
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Over the past decades, many European cities and towns undertook robust and sympathetic revitalization programs within their historic centers. By transforming narrow, picturesque streets into human-friendly environments—often restricting vehicular access to the city centers—the notion of a pedestrian zone was re-invented; at least in contemporary terms, as I am not sure that medieval streets were places of visual or olfactic charm.
Continue reading Street pavement: Wittenberg, Germany
Lasagna with radicchio, pancetta and taleggio sauce. Think about your last dining experience at an Italian neighborhood restaurant; crowded atmosphere with frantic waiters, red and white checkered tablecloths, empty Chianti bottles serving as candlestick holders, and vintage photos of Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni splashing in the famous Trevi fountain.
The Paris Metro. Over the years, when visiting cities, one of my favorite pastimes has been to roam deep underground in the metropolitan transit systems of today’s dense urban capitals. Be it Chicago, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, New York, Tokyo, or Paris and metro, métro, MTR, tube, underground or U-Bahn, navigating below street level is fascinating and a reality check on a city’s identity.
Risotto with grilled shrimp and marzipan emulsion. There are few days that I don’t cook an Italian dish; in particular, a risotto or pasta. For the latter, choosing from my local store’s selection of noodles when I know there are 350 types of pasta available worldwide, seriously dwarfs my culinary aspirations and creativity.
About miniature metal buildings. While the practice of architecture can be traced back to the first architectural treatise by Roman architect and author Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, the education of an architect is rather recent in the history of our profession. Morphing from the French Ecole Royale des Arts into the famous Parisian institution of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, this 19th century schooling became the world’s first educational system to train architects. Based on a rigorous curriculum where the professor was master, most future graduates were expected to serve their professional careers completing governmental projects under France’s President Napoleon III.
Shepherd’s Pie. How often have I returned home from work, tired and eager to splurge on dinner at a nearby restaurant? Although it seems like a treat, at the end of each meal, I often wonder if my instincts were correct. Beyond the good company of family and friends, I remind myself that I love to cook and most often can replicate the dish at home through instinct and memory, and at a fraction of the cost.
Gruyère Mushroom Tart. Simply stated, I love to cook. Not only is it therapeutic after a long day at work but it enables me to exercise my intuition through another art form besides architecture.
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Church Architecture of Arantzazu, Basque region. I remember it being a cold and windy November day when I first visited this site; a place of pilgrimage that I had never heard of before. Located in the Basque region of Spain, a short hour north of the medieval city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Arántzazu (1955) is situated at the end of a road, just before touching the clouds and the sky.
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National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. There are many moments in one’s life where emotions take over, but few are so powerful that no matter what you think or what you do, feelings, sentiments, and memories become one in mind and body.