I enjoy going out and trying different restaurants. Often, I find favorites and would eventually pledge a bit of loyalty whenever I make return visits.

Sometimes, you'll find food items which work best for you, for your tastes. Other times, you end up scratching your head, wondering why this selection was made this way when it could have been made another way. Such is the case with bread and butter. I have never understood why restaurateurs have an obsession...

The Asiatic/Oriental nature of the Russian people, from the steppes on eastward, did not really ever go away. Russia never really joined the West. See, e.g. The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life was about Lev Nussenbaum, a Jewish author from Baku, Azerbeijan, and books written by him, including Blood and Oil in the Orient: My childhood in Baku and my hair-raising escape through the Caucasus and Stalin: The Career Of A Fanatic by Essad Bey a/k/a Lev Nussenbaum,...