I'm proud to say I don't know what the "rule of thirds" is.

 

My photos are purely for fun and I don't have any illusions about having photographic talent or technical abilities. But I do know boring is bad so I try to mix up the photos as much as I can, stirring some old family stuff and travel photos into the self-indulgent flowers and odd angles up the sides of buildings.

 

 

Despite the Flickr username, I live in Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. After 46 of my 71 years here (24 more than I spent in Mississippi), I have to accept that I'm more a Virginian than a Mississippian.

 

Here are the countries I've actually been to:

 

 

None of this foreign travel has been for business and I feel very lucky to have been able to see some of the world -- especially since I was 39 before I ever visited a country that doesn't border the US. But obviously at my age there is a lot of the world that I'll never have enough time (or money) to travel to.

 

Yet even though I'll never see large swaths of the world, I do feel fortunate to have gotten to know people from many different countries. As a volunteer, I have taught English as a Second Language to immigrants in northern Virginia since 1991. I teach the advanced level, so I am able to have in-depth conversations with my students, from whom I have learned an enormous amount about people around the world. Here is a map showing the more than 70 countries from which my students have come:

 

 

Even though I've never physically been to most of these places, I feel as though I have visited many of them through the descriptions of my students ... My conversations with ESL students have included such topics going to the disco in Ulan Bator on Saturday nights, managing the Sarajevo power grid while being besieged by the Serbs, the glories of the fresh meats in the markets in La Paz, summer swims in the river at your grandmother's country home in India, a teenage girl from Lima hiking high to an Andean village with no electricity or running water and having to sleep in the same bed as your Incan grandmother who speaks only Qechuan, cutting firewood in the winter in Nepal, working as a high fashion designer in Seoul, fighting in the Salvadoran army against the guerrillas, seeing starving Korean orphans in the aftermath of the Korean War, running an orphanage in the mountains of Venezuela (and seeing it seized by Hugo Chavez), and what it was like to go from the Ivory Coast to being a student at the Sorbonne, just to touch on a tiny handful of the thousands of memorable stories I have heard.

 

One more. To be able to laugh (!) about the contrast between an air conditioned NOVA condo and less than a year ago daily commutes to the Green Zone, varying your daily bus & taxi route to avoid assassination, and trying to sleep on your roof in 120 degree heat when your wife has allergies and there are desert-fed dust storms and the al-Mahdi army repeatedly sets off roadside bombs and the American helicopters swoop in low to find the terrorists, leading to seriously sleepless nights. .

 

My 34 years as an ESL teacher have been life-enriching and just amazingly fun. And my students' love for this country and its ideals have made me love America more than I ever thought possible.

 

A FEW NOTES ABOUT HOW I USE FLICKR

 

I favorite a lot of pictures, but I actually do look at them. When I get on long conference calls at work, I load the favorites on slideshow and let them roll.

 

By the way, if you don't like having your photos "faved," just let me and I'll remove the favorite. But please don't "block" me. I've learned that Flickr will review and possibly delete your account if you get a certain number of blocks.

 

Likewise, please don't be offended if you have gross inartistic ugly hard-core explicit porn in your favorites list and you add one of my photos with people in it as a favorite and I block you. It's not a criticism of you at all -- I just don't want my photos with people in them included among those types of photos. Likewise, if you have a really stupid user name ("panty lover" or something equally dumb), I'm going to block you because ... well, just because.

 

If I see a Flickr photostream that I think is interesting, I tend to look at the whole thing. I don't know how many other people do this, but if you do it on my photostream, you might want to stop with photos uploaded in 2007. I use Flickr to store lots and lots of boring family photos, but to keep these out of the main photostream I usually put a 2006 upload date on them. I also put duplicative shots, bad vacation shots, etc. with 2006 upload dates on them. So if you go back to 2006 in my photostream, you'll be bored to tears.

 

 

PS - I'm sorry but I don't do "tags."

 

FINALLY, SINCE THIS SEEMS TO BE MY ONLY BLOG, HERE ARE 100 OF MY FAVORITE RESTAURANTS ANYWHERE (not the 100 "best" just 100 that I really liked).

 

All are highly recommended (last update 7/27/2010, so way out of date -- I have noted where I know that a restaurant is out of business as of May 2025):

 

Abe's Barbecue - Clarksdale, Mississippi - This was my late mother-in-law's favorite barbecue place and she'd often have takeout from here waiting for me when we visited. Lightly smoked, but still delicious pork barbecue sandwiches. [most recent meal - about 1996]

 

Al-Ameer - Dearborn, Michigan - Best Lebanese food I've ever had. [only meal - July 2009]

 

Antiochia - Istanbul, Turkey (Beyoglu neighborhood) - Wonderful, friendly restaurant specializing in the cuisine from the region around Antiochia, Turkey. The candied green walnuts are a unique, don't miss dessert. [only meal - March 2010]

 

Arabian Village Restaurant - Dearborn, Michigan - Yemeni food.

 

Asanka Local - Accra, Ghana

 

The Astor - Arlington, Virginia - Mostly take-out Greek food. Superb quality. If we're too tired to cook and want reliable and healthy food, this is where we go. The lamb shank (perhaps not as healthy as the rest of the menu) and the vegetarian sampler are about as good as takeout food can get. [most recent meal - 2010]

 

Black Hoof - Toronto. Great meat restaurant. Vegetarians shouldn't go here. [only meal - July 2009][out of business]

 

Black's Barbecue - Lockhart, Texas - Nationally famous beef brisket that deserves its stellar reputation. [only meal - May 2009]

 

Cafe du Parc - Washington DC - Upscale French bistro food, excellent. [only meal - 2009]

 

Camellia Grill - New Orleans.

 

Casamento's - Classic New Orleans oyster place, superb raw and fried. [last meal - 1989]

 

Cava - Washington, DC. Greek.

 

C.F. Folks - Washington, DC - Downtown plate lunch plate that has been serving tremendous food since about 1983. Different menu every day of the week (Mexican, Cajun, etc.). [most recent meal - 2010][out of business]

 

China Star - Fairfax, Virignia - Authentic Sichuan.

 

City Market - Luling, Texas - Barbecue worth driving hours for. [only meal - May 2009]

 

The Clam Box - Ipswich, Massachusetts.

 

Commander's Palace - New Orleans - My favorite of the "classic" New Orleans places. [most recent meal - 1989]

 

The Crab Pot - Surf City, North Carolina - A shed with screens to keep out the bugs. Consistently good steamed crabs and usually decent fried stuff too. Eating here is the highlight of any trip to Topsail Island. Just don't do something stupid like ordering anything complicated (e.g., crab cakes) [most recent meal - July 2002][out of business]

 

Crechale's - Jackson, MIssissippi - Classic southern steak and seafood place. Good food and great roadhouse atmosphere. [only meal - about 2006 or so]

 

Cuz's - Pounding Mill, Virginia - This is in far southwest Viriginia, about 30 miles off the nearest interstate (I-81), but it's worth a long detour (and they have cabins if you want to sleep over). Cuz's huge menu features both American and Asian cuisine, but the things to go for are the barbecue and the wonderful smoked steak (they smoke a whole sirloin for just an hour to get the smoke flavor and then cook individual steaks to order). [most recent meal - July 2007]]

 

DaMoim - Annandale, Virginia.

 

Dinosaur Bar-B-Q - Syracuse, New York.

 

Doe's Eat Place - Greenville, Mississippi.

 

El Charrito Caminante - Arlington, Virginia - Best taco place I've found in the DC area. Real good. According to the owner, they used to have the good stuff for fillings (like cheeks and brains), but they didn't sell. Now, the most exotic fillings they have are lengua (tongue) and cabrito (baby goat). The steak and cheese and the Salvadoran style chicken sandwich (with boiled egg and bones) are also superb. [most recent meal - 2010][out of business]

 

El Faro - Cadiz, Spain.

 

El Pike - Arlington, Virginia - They still have a sign up for Pike Pizza, but this has been a Bolivian place for at least 15 years now. Their saltenas (beef or chicken pies) are the best I've ever had. Mostly takeout. [most recent meal 2010]

 

El Hidalguense - Houston, Texas - My daughter and I were met at the door with the statement that no one speaks English here and my daughter responded in Spanish "no problemo.' Amazingly good barbecue goat and mutton and, the band dedicated a song to "our American friends in the corner." After the meal was over, they gave us complimentary shots of tequila (Elizabeth was then only 17, so I helped with hers). This place consistently wins critics awards for the best goat in Houston [only meal - 2003]

 

El Indio - San Diego, California.

 

El Pollo Rico - Arlington, Virginia - Peruvian rotisserie-style chicken places are now all over the DC area, but El Pollo Rico remains the best, by far. [most recent meal - 2010]

 

El Tovar Lodge Restaurant - Grand Canyon, Arizona.

 

The Faded Rose - Little Rock, Arkansas.

 

Fat Mac's Rib Shack - Atlanta - Tremendous barbecue place, surprisingly located in an upscale part of Atlanta. [only meal - July 2004]

 

Giordano's Pizza - Chicago - I hesitate to list this one, since (a) the original location at 63d & California on the southwest side seems to be closed, (b) it's a chain, (c) I last ate at the original location in 1978 and I last had pizza at a branch location in 1981, and (d) I can't update my memories due to my current lactose intolerance. But I will anyway, since the stuffed pizza at Giordano's is (or was) without any doubt the best pizza I've ever had in my entire life. [most recent meal at which I ate pizza - 1981]

 

Hai Duong - Falls Church (Eden Center), Virginia - Get the Chao Long (#64) - Rice soup with various pig organs, pig blood, and a great pork sausage. Wonderful. [most recent meal - 2010]

 

Hank's Oyster Bar - Washington, DC

 

Helmand - Baltimore, Maryland.

 

Honey Pig - Annandale, Virginia.

 

Hong Kong Palace - Falls Church, Virginia - Superb genuine blazing hot Sichuanese food (my only complaint is that if you aren't Chinese they're always out of the cow penis dishes). [most recent meal 2010]

 

In-N-Out Burger.

 

Jake's - Del Mar, California.

 

Jaleo - Washington, DC - DC's best tapas bar, though often so crowded you can't hear yourself think. Go at off-hours and you'll eat superbly (get the shark and the shrimp in garlic sauce). [most recent meal - probably 2008 or so]

 

Jaskan Grilli - Helsinki, Finland - Late night, post-drinking food. Huge sandwiches.

 

Johnnie's Bar-B-Q - Tupelo, Mississippi. Get the slugburger, the barbecue sandwich (with lettuce, tomato, and mustard), and the onion rings. Elvis ate here, so you can't go wrong. [only meal - March 2010]

 

KJ Kitchen - Las Vegas - Total surprise. After midnight, stop into this random strip mall Chinese restaurant and find superb cooking, with a focus on frog (which I had) and venison. Honestly, one small meal isn't enough to judge a Chinese restaurant but I was so grateful for this surprisingly good meal, I'm keeping it on my top 100 for at least a while. [only meal - March 2009]

 

Komi - Washington, DC - Really expensive foodie place that's worth it. [only meal - May 2010][out of business]

 

La Carreta Restaurant - Miami - Undoubtedly the best airport food in the country. La Carreta serves superb Cuban food. Go for the ropa vieja (shredded beef). [most recent meal - 2008]

 

Las Cazuelas - San Antonio - We had a lot of great Mexican and Tex-Mex food in San Antonio, but this little family run place was the best. [only meal - May 2009]

 

la Vallesana - St. Louis - Best taco place I've ever eaten at, with lots of great fillings you can almost never find (like cow cheeks, barbacoa, and al pastor). [most recent meal - August 2009]

 

Leatha's Bar-B-Que Inn - Hattiesburg, Mississippi - The invaluable Real Barbecue book by Vince Staten and Greg Johnson lists Leatha's as among their top 25 "as good as we've ever had" barbecue restaurants. I don't think Leatha's barbecue quite reaches that level, at least since it moved to Hattiesburg from Foxworth (my home town), but it is excellent barbecue. The steak is probably even better. [most recent meal - December 2005][moved to Petal, Mississippi]

 

Lebanese Butcher - Our go-to restaurant when we want superb Lebanese sandwiches. The attached butcher shop, whose halal meat comes from their own slaughterhouse, is one of the best things about living in the DC area. [most recent meal - 2010][out of business]

 

Lexington Barbecue (also known as "Lexington No. 1" and "Honey Monk's") - Lexington, North Carolina - Probably one of the five most famous barbecue places in the country and it lives up to the hype. Try to get your waitress to chat with you -- if you're lucky it will be one of the Monk family members and you'll get a real education in barbecue history and technique. [only meal - July 2010]

 

Lou Mitchell's - Chicago. Breakfast!

 

Lusco's - Greenwood, Mississippi.[out of business]

 

Mahogany Lodge - Accra, Ghana.

 

Malaysia Kopitiam - Washington, DC. [out of business]

 

Mandalay - Silver Spring, Maryland.

 

Margie & Ray's - Virginia Beach, Virginia - Fried seafood and steamed crabs. It makes me very happy whenever I can eat at Margie & Ray's.

 

Matuba - Arlington, Virginia - Everyone needs a reliable stand-by for sushi and this is ours. Comfortable and consistently good. The best dish isn't on the menu -- grilled salmon jaw. Ask for it. [most recent meal - 2010][out of business]

 

McCormick & Schmick's - chain. Seafood.

 

McDonald's - Sofia, Bulgaria (or actually anywhere).

 

McLard's Barbecue - Hot Springs, Arkansas - I've only had this wonderful pork barbecue twice, but I'd happily drive 200 miles out of the way to have it again. [most recent meal - probably 1988 or so]

 

Meazza - Falls Church, Virginia - Outstanding Ethiopian in a nice setting. [most recent meal - 2010]

 

Millie's - Richmond, Virginia - Superb haute Southern cuisine in a lovely shabby chic setting. Not cheap, but worth it. [most recent meal - February 2009][out of business]

 

Minh's - Arlington, Virginia - We are fortunate in Northern Virginia to have a huge number of wonderful Vietnamese restaurants. Minh's is a little more elegant than most of them and the food is superb. [most recent meal - 2009][out of business]

 

Momo - Salamanca, Spain.

 

Moonlite Barbecue - Owensboro, Kentucky. Real good mutton barbecue (and other meats as well); superb southern style vegetables. [only meal - July 2005]

 

Mother's - New Orleans - The roast beef po-boy with "debris" (juiice and bits of beef) is perhaps the best sandwich I've ever eaten. [most recent meal - 1989]

 

Nava Thai - Wheaton, Maryland.

 

Oklahoma Joe's - Kansas City, Kansas - Very possibly the best barbecue place in the world. [Now named "Joe's," no "Oklahoma"]

 

Old Hickory Pit - Owensboro, Kentucky - Owensboro and the surrounding region is the only place in the country where mutton is the barbecue meat of choice. We made a brief 12-hour stop in Owensboro a few years ago and hit the three most famous places. The Moonlite is the most famous and it's really really good, especially for the Southern-style vegetables, but the barbecue at Old Hickory Pit is even better. Oddly, the Old Hickory Pit advertises that the Village Voice chose it as the best barbecue in Owensboro. [only meal - July 2005][out of business]

 

Pao! - Manhattan - On our last trip to Manhattan we ate at David Chang's famous Momofuku Ssam and at the authentic Taiwanese places in Flushing and a delicious Nepalese dumpling place in Jackson Heights. But this Portuguese restaurant (Soho, I think) was easily the best meal we had in New York. [only meal - January 2010][out of business]

 

Payne's - Memphis, Tennessee - Barbecue place in a converted service station in mid-city Memphis (in a neighborhood where my cousin, a former prosecutor, lived -- but as she notes, she carried a gun). Memphis has a lot of good barbecue and I can't claim deep knowledge of all the places, but Payne's rib sandwich with mustard relish is superb and my favorite of all the Memphis places I've tried (and much better than the famous Rendezvous, which is overrated). [only meal - about 1998 I'd guess]

 

Polonia - Hamtramck, Michigan - Start with the sampler plate at Polonia Restaurant - potato pancakes, pierogis, and kielbasa. And don't forget the lard with bacon bits. We thought we were too full and were going to skip lunch, but wanted to stop by and just take a look at Polonia. But when we saw the poster on the front saying Tony Bourdain had recently eaten here, we had no choice but to have a little snack. It was tremendous. [only meal - July 2009]

 

Present - Falls Church, Virginia - wonderful haute Vietnamese food. They have four chefs, each of whom specializes in dishes from a different region of Vietnam. [most recent meal - 2010]

 

Quarterdeck - Arlington, Virginia.

 

Railhead Barbecue - Ft. Worth, Texas.

 

Rasika - Washington, DC - Outstanding fancy Indian food. only meal - January 2010

 

Ravi Kabob - Arlington, Virginia - Excellent Pakistani food in an often chaotic setting. Super cheap. [most recent meal - 2010]

 

Ray's Hell Burger - Arlington, Virginia - Lives up to the publicity, made with the trimmings from aged steaks. President Obama has eaten here at least twice now. [most recent meal - 2010][out of business]

 

Ribs n' Bibs - Chicago, Illinois - On 53rd Street in Hyde Park, this was the place where I first had good barbecue (as a law student; contrary to the usual perception, Mississippi does not have a long barbecue tradition). Even better than the excellent ribs here (cooked with hardwood) is the fried chicken dipped in barbecue sauce. The sauce sits on the smoker all day so it is drenched with hickory flavor. [most recent meal - May 2003][out of business]

 

The Ridgewood - Bluff City, Tennessee - This isn't close to anywhere, so you'll have to make it a destination meal, which it should be. Get the pork sandwich. One of the country's top twenty barbecue places. [most recent meal - probably 1990]

 

Rincome Thai - Arlington - Our current go-to favorite for Thai standards done right. [most recent meal - 2010][out of business]

 

Rocklands - DC; Arlington, Virginia; Alexandria, Virginia - By far the best barbecue restaurant in the DC area and one of the best in the country. Bizarrely underrated by local food critics. [most recent meal - 2010]

 

Schwabl's - West Seneca, New York - Beef on weck.

 

7 Mehmet - Antalya, Turkey - Upscale restaurant offering superb regional specialties from across the country. Extremely popular with locals and far from the tourist area of town, so it's also great for people watching. [only meal - March 2010]

 

Shamshiry - Vienna, Virginia.

 

Sims Barbecue - Little Rock, Arkansas. My favorite barbecue place ever (based on probably 50 meals here). Interesting mustard-based sauce. This was reportedly Bill Clinton's favorite barbecue place when he was governor. [most recent meal - 1998, but my daughter ate there in 2007 and says it's still great]

 

Suki Asia - Washington, DC - Tiny place in my office building, mostly takeout. It used to be over-priced sushi and Korean, but about a year ago a young Korean couple took the place over, lowered the prices and tremendously improved the quality. I have the "nuta salad," raw tuna, salmon and cooked shrimp and whitefish over a bed of lettuce about three times a week. Everyone should be so lucky as to have a gem of a lunch place like this in their office building. [most recent meal - today, July 27, 2010][out of business]

 

Tadich Grill - San Francisco.

 

Tallulah - Arlington, Virginia. [out of business]

 

Taqueria la Placita - Hyattsville, Maryland - Authentic Mexican taco place, dirt cheap and amazingly good. Authentic fillings like lengua, cheeks, and head and authentic tacos al pastor. Chaotic and loud, but worth it. [only meal - June 2010]

 

Teddy's Roti Shop - Washington, DC - Better than any of the roti we had in Trinidad.

 

2941 - Falls Church, Virginia - Upscale New American restaurant in a gorgeous setting. Worth the money. [most recent meal - February 2010]

 

Varsity Drive-in - Atlanta.

 

Vidalia - Washington, DC - Haute Southern and really good. Go for the lunch special to save a lot of money. [most recent meal - 2010][out of business]

 

Village Bistro - Arlington, Virginia - This cozy little French bistro never makes the critics' lists but it is delicious (especially the friend oysters). [most recent meal - 2010][out of business]

 

Weenie Beanie - Arlington - Drive-in that's been around since the 1950s. Best half-smokes in the DC area and the barbecue sandwich is ambrosial even though it's cooked with gas.

 

Wilber's Barbecue - Goldsboro, North Carolina - Certainly a top 5 barbecue place, my favorite of all the Carolina places I've eaten. Eastern Carolina style minced pork, with a sauce made solely of vinegar and bird peppers. [most recent meal - 2010]

 

Wink's Barbecue - Salisbury, North Carolina - Excellent East Carolina style barbecue in the North Carolina Piedmont region. The dining area is graced with a huge "WE ARE BLESSED" sign. One local tried to warn us away from here saying the owner was involved in some "unsavory litigation." I can't imagine a more irrelevant fact to mention in making a BBQ restaurant recommendation. [only meal - July 2010][out of business]

 

Zaytinya - Washington, DC - "Mediterranean tapas." Superb, innovative cooking, though often loud and crowded. [most recent meal - probably 2009]