Category Archives: Religion & Spirit

Religion & Spirit

Food & Drink, Love & Relationships, Religion & Spirit, Science & Health

Baltimore restaurant owner drove 6 hours to cook for customer with cancer – The Washington Post

Steve Chu, co-owner of Baltimore’s Ekiben restaurant, holds the bag of finished entrees he and business partner Ephrem Abebe, background, made for a customer who has terminal cancer. They are standing in the parking lot of the customer’s Vermont condo building, where they cooked the food on March 13. (Brandon Jones)

By Cathy Free, March 18, 2021 at 3:00 a.m. PDT

The request came in late on a Thursday afternoon to restaurant owner Steve Chu. One of his customers had terminal cancer, and her son-in-law wondered if it would be possible to get the recipe of her favorite broccoli tempura entree so he could make it for her at her home in Vermont.

Chu, 30, specializes in Asian fusion cuisine and is the co-owner of two Ekiben locations in Baltimore. He read the email on March 11 and instantly knew that he could do better, he said.

He quickly replied with an alternative suggestion:

“Thanks for reaching out,” he wrote. “We’d like to meet you in Vermont and make it fresh for you.”

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/03/18/ekiben-restaurant-baltimore-cancer/

Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Food & Drink, Memories & History, Music, Religion & Spirit, Television, Travel

What Travelers Can Expect When Ireland’s Tourism Rebounds


benstevens/Getty Images

COVID-19 continues to pause travel to the island, but you can still enjoy virtual St. Patrick’s Day events

by Jen Murphy, AARP, March 15, 2021

Cobh, Ireland

When the pandemic eases and Americans start exploring again, Tourism Ireland is hoping the Emerald Isle will be at the top of their travel bucket lists.

The United States is Ireland’s second-largest source of visitors, after Great Britain: The country welcomed 1.7 million people from the U.S. in 2019 — up 71 percent from 2014. And those visitors infused nearly $2 billion into the economy.

“The U.S. market is Ireland’s most important source of overseas revenue,” says Alison Metcalfe, executive vice president of Tourism Ireland for the U.S. and Canada.

And a virtual pub night, streamed live from three of Ireland’s most beloved pubs, will be broadcast March 17, complete with performances from the Shamrock Tenors and two members of Riverdance.

There’s also a virtual St. Patrick’s Day festival airing from Dublin this week, “Awaken Ireland!,” with loads of cultural events you can stream online.

Source: What Travelers Can Expect When Ireland’s Tourism Rebounds


Food & Drink, Memories & History, Pleasures, Religion & Spirit

24 Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipes | Food Network

Photo by Matt Armendariz

Corned beef and cabbage is an American favorite on St. Patrick’s Day. Enjoy the classic combination as a traditional plate — or mix it up with inspired ideas for pizza, grilled cheese, hash and more.

Check out the slide show of corned beef and cabbage recipes. And more about St. Patrick’s Day food from Food Network.. https://www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/packages/st-patricks-day

Source: https://www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/photos/corned-beef-and-cabbage-recipes

Current Affairs, Memories & History, Politics, Religion & Spirit, Science & Health

The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers — ProPublica

Heather Davis comforts Madasyn Culver after a youth church service in Hobbs, New Mexico in late February. Credit: Celeste Sloman for ProPublica

by Alec MacGillis

In Hobbs, New Mexico, the high school closed and football was cancelled, while just across the state line in Texas, students seemed to be living nearly normal lives. Here’s how pandemic school closures exact their emotional toll on young people.

Source: The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers — ProPublica

Current Affairs, Memories & History, Religion & Spirit, Science & Health

What it felt like to live through a year of the coronavirus pandemic – Washington Post

Stories of what it felt like to live through the shutdown. Dancing alone, canceling weddings, missing touch, missing one another and feeling alone together.

The coronavirus pandemic brought out stories of profound grief and heroic resolve.

These are not those stories.

Instead, at this one-year mark, Style reporters set out to note some of the other, countless emotions and personal losses: The almost-9-year-old who never felt like she got to be 8. The 102-year-old who lives in mandated isolation. The massage therapist and her customers who simply crave touch.

The couple who postponed their big wedding — and may have to postpone it again. The single person losing her last sense of social contact. The DJ who spins for an empty room. The college freshman who has never set foot on campus.

Shutdowns, lockdowns, quarantines — whatever you called this long and lost time, these stories acknowledge the persistent disconnect, all that absence, and what it feels like to live in a suspended state of mind.

Source: What it felt like to live through a year of the coronavirus pandemic – Washington Post

Memories & History, Religion & Spirit, Science & Health

How to Practice | The New Yorker

What I had didn’t surprise me half as much as how I felt about it.Illustration by Karlotta Freier

By Ann Patchett, March 1, 2021

I wanted to get rid of my possessions, because possessions stood between me and death.

I started thinking about getting our house in order when Tavia’s father died. Tavia, my friend from early childhood (and youth, and middle age, and these years on the downhill slalom), grew up in unit 24-S of the Georgetown condominiums in Nashville. Her father, Kent, had moved there in the seventies, after his divorce, and stayed. Over the years, we had borne witness to every phase of his personal style: Kent as sea captain (navy peacoat, beard, pipe), Kent as the lost child of Studio 54 (purple), Kent as Gordon Gekko (Armani suits, cufflinks, tie bar), Kent as Jane Fonda (tracksuits, matching trainers), Kent as urban cowboy (fifteen pairs of boots, custom-made), and finally, his last iteration, which had, in fact, underlain all previous iterations, Kent as cosmic monk (loose cotton shirts, cotton drawstring pants—he’d put on weight).

Source: How to Practice | The New Yorker