04.04.13
This week brought more bad news for Carnival Cruises when Triumph, the cruise ship that found itself stranded off the coast of Mexico following an electrical fire in February, broke loose from a dock in Mobile, Alabama yesterday. Adrift for a few hours, the boat has now been secured.
According to NBC News' Tracy Connor, the Coast Guard is currently looking for one shipyard employee who disappeared following the boat's dislodgment. Another worker was rescued from the water after falling in.
As you may recall, Carnival president Gerry Cahill said the company would be looking into its entire fleet following the Triumph incident.
Matt Haber is an editor at travelandleisure.com.
Photo by Paul Brown / Alamy
04.04.13
You’ve got lemon wedges, beer, and a table of freshly steamed, seasoned crustaceans. Now what? Bill Breaux, owner of waterside restaurant Schooners ($$$), a favorite in Oxford, Maryland, shares his tried-and-true method.
1. Place crab belly-side up. Twist legs off at base; set aside. With a paring knife, pull back tab-shaped “apron” at its narrow end.
2. Pick up crab with apron pointing up; using thumbs, pull off top shell and discard. Scrape away gills and other inedible contents.
3. Insert thumbs into center cavity and break body in half. Split each half in two again. Extract the meat and eat.
4. Split claws at joints. Place knife on top of claw and tap with mallet to crack claw. Break apart with fingers and pull out the meat.
5. Separate legs at joints and squeeze each section like a tube of toothpaste to withdraw more meat. Still hungry? Give up and order crab cakes.
Illustations be Michael Hoeweler
04.04.13
The fabulous Jeryl Brunner is releasing her latest book this month: My City, My Los Angeles: Famous People Share Their Favorite Places (Globe Pequot Press, $15). It’s filled with quotes from local tastemakers aaaaand the US Weekly crowd—everyone from Molly Shannon to Usher. Here’s a (condensed) taste:
SUSAN SARANDON “I’m opening a SPiN in downtown LA at the Standard…I would like to get Ping-Pong tables in all the underserved schools that don’t have phys ed programs…we’ll build a little Ping-Pong Nation.”
LUCY LIU “I love a place called Itacho...It’s Japanese tapas so you get to sample everything. Delicious.”
PIERS MORGAN “My favorite place in LA is Manhattan Beach… I like to buy some crab salad from one of the delis [Manhattan Meats], near the promenade, then head down right to the water’s edge, so I can lie on a towel munching my lunch…and plotting global domination.”
Kathryn O'Shea-Evans is an associate editor at Travel + Leisure. Follow her on Twitter @ThePluckyOne.
Photo courtesy of Globe Pequot Press
04.03.13
Have you been hoarding those frequent-flier miles waiting for just the right occasion to use them? How about putting them to a good cause by gifting them to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. The organization is commemorating World Wish Day, April 29th, with a campaign to raise dollars and airline miles for childrens' wishes involving travel. They've even launched a YouTube video explaining the program.
Each year, the foundation grants nearly 14,000 wishes—almost 75 percent of which require air travel. That means that Make-A-Wish uses 2.5 billion airline miles annually at a cost of nearly $40 million.
To continue its mission and help 10,000 children see the ocean, pet a kangaroo, or do anything else they can dream of, the organization is calling on supporters to donate some of those frequent-flier miles they've been racking up. As David Williams, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish America explains, "donating airline miles or dollars will allow us to continue creating thousands of lasting moments for children." More on World Wish Day can be found at the Make-A-Wish Foundation's official site.
Peter Schlesinger is an editorial intern at Travel + Leisure.
Photo by © Jon Feingersh/Blend Images/Corbis
04.03.13
Like millions of Americans, I’m chomping at the bit for Sunday’s season six premier of Mad Men. So ecstatic am I for the gang at Sterling Cooper Draper (Pryce?) to forge into the late-1960’s that I had to mollify my angst in the only appropriate way I knew how: Booze.
One of the hallmarks of the AMC series has been the period-piece cocktails Don Draper, Roger Sterling, Pete Campbell (above) imbibe at bars, dinner parties, soirées, power lunches, and, yes, work. All over country, retro-tipples are chic again, from Mai Tais to Manhattans, becoming part of the show’s defining characteristics. As a proud member of the New York City cocktail tribe and avid fan of the show, I decided to teach myself to joggle a proper drink and learn my jigger from my Boston shaker.
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04.03.13
There are some hotels that immerse guests in local culinary traditions. And others that actually immerse them. Overlooking a national park on Tasmania’s eastern coast, Saffire Freycinet (all-inclusive; $$$$$) offers visits to a nearby marine farm, where a guide suits you up in waders, leads you to a waiting table in a cool, pristine bay, and pulls a handful of Pacific oysters from the water. He swiftly pries the bivalves open and serves them right there with just a squeeze of lemon and a glass of sparkling Tasmanian wine. Silence, stillness, and a dozen creamy oysters from some of the purest water in the world. What better way to get a taste of Tassie?
Photo by Tourism Tasmania & Pure Tasmania
04.03.13
Are the latest beauty and wellness products worthy of a spot in your teensy carry-on? T+L Associate Editor Kathryn O’Shea-Evans shares her take.
The product: Kiss My Face Moisture Shave in Key Lime; $9
Pros: Made of moisturizing olive oil and aloe vera, among other (natural) things, yet smells absolutely delish—just like the key lime pie at Miami’s News Café. Perfect for your next beach trip.
Cons: Doesn’t get foamy like some shave creams. Another problem: it smells so good you might be tempted to eat it!
Verdict: Packable.
Kathryn O'Shea-Evans is an associate editor at Travel + Leisure. Follow her on Twitter @ThePluckyOne.
Photo courtesy of Kiss My Face
04.03.13
We wouldn't blame your assuming that Samoa Air's recent announcement that it will be weighing customers and charging them based on their weight is a belated April Fools' Day stunt, but apparently, it's real.
Reports have been popping up everywhere since the announcement, and the tiny airline's official website confirms the new policy with a statement that reads: "We at Samoa Air are keeping airfares fair, by charging our passengers only for what they weigh. You are the master of your Air'fair', you decide how much (or little) your ticket will cost. No more exorbitant excess baggage fees, or being charged for baggage you may not carry. Your weight plus your baggage items, is what you pay for. Simple."
Is it so simple? Not everyone is pleased with this idea. The Guardian's Ally Fogg wrote that the new policy "panders to a particularly unpleasant trend in modern culture that legitimises and even celebrates fat-shaming and body fascism. At its most crude this is manifest in straightforward cruelty and discrimination."
Chris Langton, head of Samoa Air, defended the idea—and suggested it may be the start of an industry-wide trend—in an Australian radio interview quoted by the BBC: "People generally are bigger, wider and taller than they were 50 years ago… The industry will start looking at this."
Photo by iStockphoto
04.03.13
Buried treasures aren't just for pirate tales: Visitors to New Mexico can now act out their It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World dreams by finding an actual treasure buried somewhere in the hills.
Jeri Clausing of the Associated Press recently reported on Forrest Fenn, an 82-year-old owner of Old Santa Fe Trading Co, a gallery in Santa Fe and author of the self-published a memoir, The Thrill of the Chase. The book details Fenn’s own colorful history from his humble youth in Texas, decorated service in Vietnam, and years of entertaining celebrities like Jackie Onassis in his art galleries, while dropping clues to readers about where he hid a 40-pound chest full of gold, trinkets and exotic jewels. Fenn says the booty is out there, free for the taking, somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe.
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