The one and only reason I insisted we pass through Louisville on our way to Nashville, was because of the food. It’s completely the fault of a certain Kentuckian cook on YouTube – a skinnier Paula Deen – who made the likes of fried cat fish and chess pie seem so appealing. With this inContinue reading “Day Five: Keep Louisville Weird”
Author Archives: Alice Mulhearn Williams
Day Four: Gateway to the South
We’re late, late, late. The Greyhound leaves in a hour; I’m still trying to construct a sandwich from the hostel’s breakfast buffet; we don’t actually know how to get to the station; and MY GOD, how has my backpack put on 7 lbs? Somehow we manage to make it with 15 minutes to spare –Continue reading “Day Four: Gateway to the South”
Day Three: Frank Lloyd Wright
Completely alone on the 10am train heading out to the suburbs. Hattie is taking a self-guided tour of The Loop and I’m leaving the metropolis in search of architectural genius in Oak Park, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright. I excitedly join a tour of his house and studio but am devastated to discover thatContinue reading “Day Three: Frank Lloyd Wright”
Day Two: The Loop
Oatmeal for breakfast and an early start. We emerge from Monroe subway station into a street shadowed on either side by skyscrapers. There’s an instant likeness to Manhattan, except here the elevated train – the L – rumbles off the ground and mirrored high rises elbow their neo-gothic neighbours. We enter the Chicago Art InstituteContinue reading “Day Two: The Loop”
Day One: Chicago
We wake at 6am to a bedroom of bleary morning light. The District Line rumbles past my window; the radio alarm shrieks into action. Up, dressed, on the tube to Heathrow. It’s Hattie and I and the promise of an adventure, just beyond Gate 29. Plane food is worse than I remember (although IContinue reading “Day One: Chicago”
Why Jamie might have a point.
Jamie Oliver has triggered another class war. In a recent Radio Times interview he more or less stated that the poorest of our society are ignoring the value of good food, in favour of technology and chips. Cue a media backlash culminating in one very loud message: What the hell does he know? Well theContinue reading “Why Jamie might have a point.”
Meet Me in a Dream
“Stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive If you can And meet me in a dream of this hard land” Meet me, Springsteen sings, in a dream of the true America: as rough, as tough, as hard as any other land. In song after song of toil and tears; wartime death and young loss; dreams forgottenContinue reading “Meet Me in a Dream”
Borough does Bastille
We curve around a stall selling some of the finest French brie, then left, past a boulangerie decked out with fairy lights. The shoulders I’m holding onto suddenly accelerate away from me. I run to catch up. Louis Armstrong is caught up with the laughter of the conga line as we speed through Borough Market.Continue reading “Borough does Bastille”
No churn coconut ice cream
“One more minute, oh no oh no, I JUST DON”T KNOW” The young man behind the counter tutted and gestured to the queue winding out of the shop and down the street. “Okay, okay, okay…strawberry” This is one of a few wildly regrettable decisions I’ve made in my life. Strawberry gelato…I had the choice ofContinue reading “No churn coconut ice cream”
Tales From the Italian Kitchen
The woman behind the counter was wearing a loose cotton dress. Her skin was the colour of aged tan leather, but was softened by her smile. She scooped balls of creamy mozzarella di bufula into a bag. This oozing cheese was the work of those weathered hands and it was the best to be foundContinue reading “Tales From the Italian Kitchen”
To The Table 