Mention Menton, Often

I've been to some of the best restaurants in the world, and Boston's Menton is one of them. I guess word had spread to the kitchen that I was in the house on Friday night. That's when Chef Barbara Lynch and the Menton team surprised me with this personalized dessert. It even beats that cool night in Radda-in-Chianti, Tuscany when the waitress made a bed for me out of a bread basket and napkins. This is as it should be because, well, I matter. So mention Menton to your friends, often.

Santa Barbara, CA

I decided to join Jessica today to visit with friends in Santa Barbara. It was a pleasant trip until - and this is not easy for me to write - we visited the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito. It's one of the many Ty Warner real estate holdings. Yes, that Ty Warner - the inventor of beanie babies. Truly, he is a God-like figure to those of us with beans as innards. And, as if at the gates of heaven, that's when I saw Waldo (in photo), the world's largest beanie baby. And he's a simian, no less. My monkey life is now complete. Nah!