clips

A few things I’ve written recently:

My essay on “The Rise of Restaurant A.D.D.” appears in Food & Wine’s July 2010 issue:

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/the-rise-of-restaurant-add

My story about the Houston food scene ran in the New York Times on Feb. 7, 2o10:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/travel/07choice.html?em

I wrote up some of my favorite spots in Nashville in the March 2010 issue of Travel + Leisure:

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/hot-venues-of-nashville/1

I write a regular column for the cool new travel magazine AFAR, where I interview chefs on their recent international travels and favorite places to eat. So far I’ve done columns on David Chang in Scandinavia, Nate Appleman in Hong Kong, and Zak Pelaccio in San Sebastian, Spain, among others. Stay tuned for more.

What’s the bacon of wine? And what’s the White Castle burger of wine? And why can’t we chill out and talk about wine as easily and happily as we talk about food? From the October 2009 issue of Food & Wine:

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/wines-for-drinking-not-overthinking

I spent part of my childhood in Beirut, and I love it to death—but it’s a mess. Dubai, on the other hand, is not a mess—and therein lies the problem. Here’s a short essay I wrote musing on this contrast for The Economist’s culture site, MoreIntelligentLife.com, in August 2009:

http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/content/salma-abdelnour/beiruts-triumphant-mess

I rode horses, I shot guns, I ate incredibly well, and I did some stargazing, deep in the heart of Texas:

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/cowboy-junkie

I include the following piece here mainly because reporting it inspired me—or pretty much forced me—to cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner by myself, in July (while the November 2008 issue of O was in production). I fed the midsummer turkey dinner to my brother, who was visiting from California. I may do it again someday—just never again in July.

http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200811_omag_thanksgiving_story