By Angela Barbuti

Vinny Guadagnino is living life vicariously through himself. At least that’s what the quote on his Twitter page’s background says. When asked about it, Guadagnino explains that he was only being sarcastic. But it does make a lot of sense that he would be content with his life. At 25, the Jersey Shore veteran was offered a talk show on MTV, where he literally opens the door of his Staten Island home to welcome celebrities for a family-style interview, complete with a home cooked meal by his mother Paola. The Show with Vinny, which airs Thursday nights on MTV, is just the beginning for the Italian-American entertainer. He wants to pursue stand-up comedy, acting, and maybe even get a law degree. But whatever he chooses, he has his family — and now a newfound bunch of celebrity friends — as his biggest fans.

How do you think your Italian heritage plays a role on the show?
We’re not sitting there waving Italian flags around. We like to eat, my mom likes to cook, my uncle likes to drink wine. We like to hang out like a family and keep it real, and I think that’s really what the culture’s all about. And that’s what the show is about too. People are hanging out with an Italian mom — they open up and act very casually.

Your mom is a big part of the show. How is she handling all the fame?
Well she’s been on Jersey Shore, so she’s recognized as Vinny’s mom. I can’t wait till she’s giving autographs — that’s gonna be great. She loves it. My Uncle Nino loves it a little too much — he’s like a fame whore. But my mom, she gets a kick out of it, so I just hope it continues for her.

I think one of the funniest parts of the first episode was when your mom fed Lil Wayne broccoli rabe. What have been your favorite moments on the show this season?
They don’t even know what Italian food is, it’s hilarious. Oh man. Every episode has a funny moment of its own, because you don’t know what each celebrity brings to the table. Little Wayne was awesome and cool; he taught me how to skateboard. With Mindless Behavior, we did a little dance thing. Which each guest, I try to do something funny that they like to do. And I end up failing at it miserably.

How do you prepare for the celebrity interviews?
I do a ton of research. My production company helps me out a lot. But I also go on my own and always try to Google, “things you didn’t know about” the person. Just so when I’m talking to someone, they know that I did my homework and am not just trying to use them for my success. That I’m thoroughly interested in them.

So your guests have no idea what to expect?
No, there’s no pre-interview that says what my questions are going to be. With me, you’re just going to go in there and hangout with a family. It’s all a regular conversation from the top of my head.

Who were you most nervous to interview?
Probably Mark Wahlberg. You know, it’s Mark Wahlberg. He’s a legend and one of my favorite actors. Just to be sitting down with him was an honorary experience for me.

You are very open about dealing with your anxiety and wrote a book about it called Control the Crazy. Does anxiety affect you on this show?
No, it’s actually a perfect cure for my anxiety. When I do a show like Jersey Shore, I don’t have a TV or radio; I can’t read or write. I can’t do anything. I just kind of sit there. But on a show like this, I have to prep, interview. I’m in the zone. I have to be on.

You took the LSAT on the day Jersey Shore premiered. Do you think you’ll ever go to law school?
Umm. I’m trying not to. I like entertaining and being on TV, but I love politics and government. So maybe one day I’ll go back and get the degree just to have it. I like accomplishing things. I liked getting my Bachelor’s degree. That would be another goal to accomplish — a law degree.

You take improv classes at Upright Citizens Brigade.
I do that with standup comedy now, trying to mix that world into my career as well. It helps me a lot with being a talk show host and an actor, and everything in life.

I read you want to do more scripted TV.
Yeah I love scripted TV. That’s my dream job — acting on a regular series. But I also want to stay on MTV. I like this job and being part of that family. Also, I give speeches to students talking about my book. I want to keep that self help, motivation aspect a part of my career.

Where do you live on Staten Island? What are your favorite places there?
I’m in the middle of the island. There are some really good restaurants out here. There’s this little bar called Schaffer’s that’s right down the street from my house. You feel like you’re walking into the 1950’s. There’s this place called Royal Crown that has the best Italian subs you’ll ever have in your life.

I like the quote on your Twitter page. “I live vicariously through myself.”
Oh yeah. [Laughs] I’m just a smart ass and I hate when you go to people’s pages and they’re like, “I’m this, I’m that.” So I just said, “I live vicariously through myself,” which makes no sense at all.

I thought you meant that since you like your life and have such a cool job, you’re living vicariously through yourself.
You know what, I’m gonna go with that. Thank you. I’m gonna keep that. You made it deep for me.

Watch The Show with Vinny on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. on MTV
Follow Vinny on Twitter: @VINNYGUADAGNINO

By Laura Shanahan

I brake for dogs. When I’m walking down the street and spot a great-looking doggy, I can’t resist giving the pooch a good “skritch” under the chin – the animal (and owner) willing.

The last time I did this, my hand came away sticky-wet and – aghhh – smelling like the Gowanus Canal at low tide. Short of the owner warning me of his pet’s Petri-dish mouth, what I would most have wished for was a bottle of Dog Slobber hand sanitizer – and, yes, Virginia, there is such an item. Didn’t know it existed myself until I just spotted the 2-oz. bottle at E.A.T. Gifts (EG), at 1062 Madison Ave., near 81st Street.

EG, as we’ll shorthand it henceforth, is one of those only-in-New-York places, next door to the famous E.A.T. bakery/food shop/catering biz, the premier effort by the equally famous grocery/eatery entrepreneur Eli Zabar. The shops perfectly complement each other. E.A.T. is filled with sweet and savory comestibles, while EG is filled with lots of food-themed novelties (and much more). In short – here’s a simple example – you can buy a chocolate cupcake at the former shop for $4 or a pretty painted plastic version that tops a child’s adjustable ring at the latter for the same price. The ring, however, will theoretically last forever and has zero calories.

But back to the Dog Slobber, (“for fresh, clean hands after contact with pets!”). It’s really your basic hand sanitizer, amusingly presented by the clever Blue Q company, which also offers OCD hand sanitizer, complete with an illustration of a stern-looking doc (shrink?), and Pee-Pee Poo-Poo sanitizer for children, (and the adults who share their sensibilities). They all contain 62 percent ethyl alcohol; your choice, $8.50.

As we slide into the silly season, you won’t find better ways for you or your kids to celebrate than with some little trifle – or big trifle – from EG. A life-size inflatable giraffe? It’s here. (Well, maybe not quite life-size, advises Sean, the store’s manager, of the $75 item. What do I know from non-domesticated animals? I’m a kid from Brooklyn). If you’re wondering what one does with a ginormous giraffe, Sean says, “I’ve sold so many for kids just to put in their room.” There you go.

Little trifles that are popular include the slogan-buttons, at $1.50 to $2 per, perfect for on-lapel opining, proclaiming and professing. “People take hours going through them,” Sean says. Small wonder, with seemingly endless choices that include “I read banned books,” “Avoiding life – one day at a time” and “Peripheral visionary.” Some just let a picture tell a story – though what a cartoon cat perched in a teacup while wearing a top hat, bowtie and monocle means is clearly open to interpretation and thus conversation, n’est-ce pas?

Salted among the stuffed toys, snow globes, miniature glass animals, and gumballs in such flavors as Popcorn & Cola and “extra briny” Pickle, there are some unassailably practical items. Consider the +2.5 magnification “make-up glasses” with a single lens that flips back and forth, depending on which eye is being made up, (“no more smudges! No more mess!”); $8.

Local libraries supportive of midtown renovations, speak out against budget cuts

The New York Public Library system is facing major changes and not everyone is happy about it.

The Committee to Save the New York Public Library (NYPL) has been rallying to stop the Central Library Plan, a plan to consolidate the Mid-Manhattan and the Science, Industry and Business Library into one building. The consolidating, they say would not only cost exorbitant taxpayer money, but would “threaten the 42nd Street Library’s status as one of the world’s great research libraries” and “endanger the architectural integrity of the landmarked building.”

“You don’t update a masterpiece,” wrote Ada Louise Huxtable of the proposed renovations in the Wall Street Journal this past winter.

Angela Montefinise, an NYPL spokesperson, disagrees. Montefinise says, among other pluses, renovations would be a boon to public library branches on the Upper West and Upper East Sides, some of which would greatly benefit from circulating funds.

“One of the benefits of the renovation of 42nd Street is that it would generate $15 million a year annually which can be put right back in the system, including the UWS and UES branches,” explains Montefinise.

Montefinise concedes many of the branches throughout the City are old and in need of repairs, which would be made possible through the plan as well as approximately $260 million of capital work going on around the system.

“While the renovations themselves are happening in midtown, they will benefit the whole system,” she says.

“I think there’s a perception that [the plan] is being done at the expense of other work – that’s incorrect. The funding for that plan is generated from the plan itself — such as real estate sales — and earmarked city money specifically for this project.”

Still, uptown, the consolidation plan is far from many’s minds as they consider more pressing concerns.

Sumie Ota, the network manager in charge of uptown libraries, says while the campaign to oppose major budget cuts is a main issue among library branches, local concerns have more to do with the day-to-day issues of keeping patrons happy.

“As far as allocating funds, the more money the better,” says Ota, “but our biggest concern is keeping the branches open and making our services available. The Central Library Plan is not on our minds.”

“Everyday I see people waiting for us to open our doors or waiting in line for computers,” she adds. “That’s what’s on our minds.”

The budget cuts Ota refers to amount to $47 million, or the largest proposed cut in the library’s history, according to Montefinise.

Montefinise says, in addition to an advocacy campaign to fight the budget cut, there will need to be increased strategic thinking — such as the Central Library Plan itself — as funds are slashed.

Currently, branches across the City are focusing on this effort to reach out to elected officials including sending letters to City Council members to fight the budget cut. The 67th Street library on the Upper East Side, for instance, has already sent over 400 letters to oppose the budget cuts.

The group Citizens Defending Libraries agrees the proposed budget cuts are a major issue currently facing the City’s public library branches.

“Mayor Bloomberg is defunding New York libraries at a time of increasing public use, population growth and increased city wealth, shrinking our library system to create real estate deals for wealthy real estate developers at a time of cutbacks in education and escalating disparities in opportunity,” notes the group.

Ota says there are major projects underway in her network including renovations and restorations, particularly to the Washington Heights and 96th Street branches.

Branch libraries, notes Ota, are also increasing their e-book presence in addition to circulating physical materials, while research libraries are increasingly digitizing their collections.

As far as the future of the consolidation plan, Montefinise maintains it’s never going to be of concern to libraries uptown.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there, and that’s a shame. I think internally employees certainly understand the benefits, and generally support initiatives that generate resources to help them serve the public.”

Photographs of horses.

Pamphlets full of geese.

At the New Yorkers for Clean, Liveable and Safe Streets Mayoral Forum on Animal Rights, the fate of New York’s non-human residents was brought into sharp focus as five candidates for mayor hashed out their light-on-policy thoughts about the place of other species in our society.

The show – which took place at the Union Theological Seminary on Broadway and West 121st – was colorful, and prior to the start of the debate lead organizer Allie Feldman set the tone by putting the office number for Speaker Christine Quinn (absent) on a large screen and instructed those present to call and say “hey, I’m a voter, and I’d like you to pass 86A to stop carriage abuse.”

That message preceded a debate that turned flimsy and pandering, with candidates frequently turning to anecdotes about the places of pets in their lives, rather than giving thoughtful answers to complex questions that all circled, ultimately, around the idea of animal personhood.

The horseless carriage prototype promoted by NYCLASS.

At the surface level, the candidates, (Democrats Bill de Blasio, Bill Thompson, John Liu, Sal Albanese and lone Republican John Catismatidis), were warm; being “pro-animal” is an easy position to claim, and each scrambled for the mantle. Bill de Blasio was the clear favorite of the crowd, and as the sole supporter of the above-mentioned legislation seems likely to receive the group’s endorsement. He whipped up the crowd with the most ardent line of the forum, which he gave in response to a question about the proposal.
“This is inhumane,” said the public advocate, of carriage horses. “It’s in front of our very eyes. We don’t say, ‘look at that, it’s inhumane, but it’s so quaint and historic.’ It doesn’t make any sense.”

Comptroller John Liu meanwhile tacked to his left and was the only candidate who supported legislation to stop “puppy mills” from supplying animals to pet stores. Currently 25 cities in America, (including Los Angeles), have passed laws that mandate pet stores only sell rescue and shelter dogs, in response to high rates of euthanasia and the overpopulation of their animal shelter systems. De Blasio, Albanese, and Thompson hemmed and hawed on whether they’d enact such a measure.

Republican John Catsimatidis, (aka “the Cat-man”, according to his opening statement), struck a more pragmatist, market-driven tone in answer the question, in keeping with his record as the entrepreneur of the race (CEO: Red Apple Group, Gristedes). Arguing that a rescue-dog only policy in city pet stores would drive consumers to nearby counties on Long Island, Cat-man counter-proposed tax-incentives for stores that sell rescue dogs, and free pet-food for the consumers who buy them.

It was a brazenly unsentimental but logical policy idea in a debate full of softball answers, and he was able to sell it well enough to avoid heckles, no small feat for an animal-rights crowd. Unfortunately for Catsimatidis, he brought the boo birds out when discussing the Central Park carriage rides.
“I was raised in New York, and my kids were raised in Central Park. I believe the horses provide a kind of ambiance…you know how much I love animals; I believe they should be safe. I think they should be limited to Central Park. The city should provide barn space, keep all the horses together, make sure they’re safe, make sure they get proper care, and make sure they’re not too old to work. And when those horses are ready to retire, you know what I’d like to do? I’d like to build a small stable and have them as part of the zoo.”

After the boos subsided, the debate moved on. None of the candidates seemed to provide much substance or policy to show true commitment to animal rights, no bold policies were discussed, and the philosophy behind animal advocacy was never really tackled. The group’s champion, Bill de Blasio, went so far as to try to win points for the vegetarianism of his children. By the time they reached closing statements, every candidate had pre-maturely exited the stage except for Comptroller John Liu and darkhorse candidate Sal Albanese.

The Horseless Carriage and the Future of Coachmen
At the NYCLASS forum, moderator Tom Allon repeatedly brought up City Countil Intro 86A, a piece of legislation sponsored by Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito that would phase out horse-drawn carriages in Central Park and replace them with eco-friendly vintage-replica cars. The horse ban legislation has raised some concern amongst councilmembers regarding economic viability. Some in the council have wondered if tourists would be as enamored by the cars as they are by the mares, and – if the tours drop down – there is concern that the jobs of coachmen would be largely cut from the equine-free park.

In response to those concerns, NYCLASS has used private donation money to sponsor a prototype mode, for use in a proposed pilot program. Costing $450,000, they’ve outsourced the construction of the all-electric replica (a done-up 1909 Pierce Arrow) to the Creative Workshop, a small, custom car building franchise based out of Florida. The pilot vehicle will seat eight plus a driver, and has a speaker system built in, so as to allow the driver to safely narrate the park to passengers without taking his eyes from the road.

According to the group’s lead organizer Allie Feldman, 32 councilmembers have signed a letter endorsing the pilot program, including all the councilmembers in the Bronx and Manhattan, save for Speaker Christine Quinn. The pilot program would need the council’s (and Speaker Quinn’s) support for legislation that would allow their prototype vehicle onto the park’s roads, which the horse carriages currently have exclusive domain over.
Speaker Quinn did not return calls for comment.

This past week, despite concerns from the community, Community Board 8 voted in favor of approving the zoning amendment sought by Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) and the City University of New York (CUNY) needed to build a new cancer and educational center on East 73rd Street between York Avenue and the FDR Drive. The local community has been fiercely debating many aspects of the nascent project, and at the committee level, the board had previously voted against approving the zoning change request, citing concerns over traffic, decreased open space, pollution and noise that some say the massive building would bring to the Upper East Side.

At the public hearing last week during the land use committee meeting, cancer survivors and patients testified, urging the community to support the cancer center. In the previous vote, the MSK-CUNY task force committee, led by chair Nick Viest, had turned down the zoning text amendment, but this vote means full approval from the board. Now the project’s Uniform Land Use Review Process application moves ahead for consideration by the Borough President’s office.

The first resolution approved the sale of the site and the zoning map change which would allow the hospital and school to build the new complex in the middle of a previously-industrial zoned area. The board also approved the special permit needed for an accessory parking garage and allowance of sign modifications. The parking garage, according to Sloan Kettering, would create less traffic on the streets as patients and visitors looked for parking spots. In a close vote, 24 board members voted yes, and 17 voted no.
In the second resolution, the community board came up with an alternative text to the zoning text amendment.

The substitute motion, which passed with a slim margin of 23 yes to 20 no, specified the improvement of the Andrew Haswell Green park near the 59th Street Bridge along the FDR Drive. The community board also approved the bulk modifications of the building, which would allow the MSK building to tower 23 stories, and the Hunter building to rise 16 stories tall, under the stipulation that Andrew Haswell Green Park will be the recipient of the proposed improvements. This is an especially important issue for Upper East Siders, who recently learned that their community has some of the least open space citywide.

The recent approval also means that the project’s Uniform Land Use Review Process application moves ahead for consideration by the Borough President’s office.

The results of a recent open space survey found that the Upper East Side is one of the worst neighborhoods in the city for fresh air. At a recent community board meeting, panelists talked about ways to improve upon the lack of greenery in the community. But many residents seem to think that the answer lies within already-existing open space, like the Sutton Place Park along the East River ­— the esplanade in desperate need of a clean-up, and in public land being leased out for private use like the Queensboro Oval, located near the 59th Street Bridge.

“We have plenty of open space. What the public does not have is access to existing public land,” said Monica McLaughlin, an Upper East Side resident. “We do not have a shortage of open space on the Upper East Side. We do have an alienation of public lands by the wealthy.”

Residents are particularly frustrated with the yet-to-be-built new Sutton Place Park, which would run behind One Sutton Place apartment building and connect already-existing open spaces from 56th to 57th Streets. Up until a few years ago, the supposedly public land had been used as a private backyard for residents of the apartment building. But in 2011, community members said “enough is enough” and after four years of trying, won a lawsuit against the Sutton Place South Building Corporation, which requires the building to share the costs with the city of building a brand-new public park on the 10,000 square foot property.

Two years later, however, ground still has not been broken on the project because of negotiation issues with the architect, and the residents association at One Sutton Place.

“We are very keen to make sure the open space comes out of the negotiations. It has to serve the community to the maximum extent possible. We can’t let the community be short changed,” said Lou Sepersky, the vice president of the Sutton Area community organization. “I don’t know where else you’d find space for active use in the community. The area was so densely built, it has become a serious problem.”

According to Sepersky, the problem lies within the co-op owners wanting to build a gate around the park, and have it close at dusk, instead of 9 p.m., which is the norm for city parks. These designs, he said, defeat the purpose of having the public park. The design for the new park was recently rejected a second time by Community Board 6, and by the Design Commission. So it’s back to the drawing board for Sutton Place, and the community organization is meeting with local City Council Member Jessica Lappin this week to discuss the next steps.
But this rectangular piece of land is not the only greenery worth tapping into, according to residents. At the Upper East Side open space panel, many residents brought up the constant question of the Queensboro Oval, a piece of land near the 59th Street bridge, which for most of the year, is enclosed under a dome and leased out to a private tennis club. For the summer, however, the dome is uncovered, and the space is used as a softball field. Residents feel, however, that only letting community members use the supposedly space for two months out of the year is not fair. Patricia Scharlin Taylor, a member of the Sutton Area community organization, thinks that the space could be used as an outdoor market, or as a playground with equipment for adults.

“I would say we’ve got a high proportion of seniors who live in this area and no place for them to go except sit in these hard park benches with very little greenery,” she said.

Sapersky agrees that it’s not just a matter of the lack of green space, community residents need places to be active, as opposed to passively enjoying small gulps of fresh air.

Either way, the NYC Parks Department is not budging on the Queensboro Oval, and says that the tennis club has a licensed agreement with the Parks Department to operate on that site.

Community Boards 6 and 8 are continuing to work on strategies for healthier living on the Upper East Side.

Upper East Side residents at a recent forum hosted by Pledge 2 Protect.
Photo courtesy of Pledge 2 Protect

“I’m proud to be the first elected official in New York City to sign the Pledge 2 Protect the communities of Yorkville and East Harlem from the proposed massive trash station that threatens to destroy our quality of life,” said Kellner, who has spoken vociferously against the plan in the past. “I’ve been fighting to dump the dump every step of the way, and I have no intention of stopping now. I’ve sued the Mayor, launched a lawsuit in federal court, and helped rally grass-roots support against the construction of the garbage station – and I’m going to keep on fighting until this ill-conceived plan is finally trashed once and for all.”

“Please join us as we continue our efforts to stop the 91st Street MTS,” said Lappin. “This is another way you can get involved in the fight.”

“This isn’t some NIMBY issue. This decision has citywide consequences,” said Albanese. “If you believe that folks in public housing have a right to clean air and that students deserve safe streets around their parks, then it’s impossible to look at a transfer station here or in other densely-populated neighborhoods as anything but a bad idea.”

Pledge 2 Protect has been touting studies it commissioned that show the environmental and health impacts that the MTS would have if reopened, and is planning on holding door-to-door pledge signing drives, petitioning other politicians and driving their message to the community through social media.

By Angela Barbuti

You know you’re a frugal traveler if you’ve eaten fried spiders in Cambodia, slept in a Roman convent, and booked a flight with Ryan Air. Matt Gross has done all of the above while penning the Frugal Traveler column for the New York Times from 2006-2010. Now, the man who arguably had “the best job in the world,” is sharing his over 30 years of travel in one book, The Turk Who Loved Apples. At the moment, his longest journey is from the Times Square office of Bon Appetit, where he serves as their web editor, to the Brooklyn home he shares with his wife and two children. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. When asked about his future plans, he said, “Right now, I have a great job, two kids, and a wife to see all the time. Most people want to be on vacation forever. That’s what it feels like right now.”

How did you organize 30 years of travel into one book?

[Laughs] That was the tricky part. I have very broad experiences of travel, but not necessarily very deep. That is, I’ve been lots of places, but never anywhere for more than about two weeks at a time. And I had to figure out some kind of way to tie everything together. I looked at everything I’d done and everything I’d been through and decided that crappy travel [laughs] was the organizing principle. A lot of getting sick, getting lost, being alone, scared, poor and naïve. I started out very innocent to the world and wound up capable of getting dropped off anywhere and getting along.

At the start of your book, you make a bold statement, telling readers that this is the last travel book they will ever need.

Yeah, I would hope so. [Laughs] I like the idea that if someone like me can become a fairly independent traveler and learn to break free of the guide books and the newspaper and magazine articles that tell you how to travel, then anybody should be able to do it. It’s a very personal book, but if it has an effect, I would love for it to give travelers the confidence to do things on their own.

In your book, you mention websites like couchsurfing.com and chowhound.com. In your opinion, what is the best travel site?

Roadsandkingdoms.com is fantastic. It’s full of the quirky and fascinating moments that mean something to travelers. I read it and it makes me want to go places.

At one point, you were spending three to six months a year away from your wife. How does she cope with that?

Pretty well. [Laughs] When I met her, we dated for six weeks and then she moved to France for a year. That sort of set up the pattern of our relationship from the very beginning – that we were going to be together and apart all the time. We don’t have the energy to get worked up about issues like that, so we just deal with it. It makes it so that every time you’re together it’s either a happy reunion or you want to make the most of it because you’re going to be going away again.

You are now the editor of bonappetit.com. How did that job come about?

Last August, after I finished writing the book, I was about to have a second child and realized that it was no longer fair to my wife or me to wonder off for a couple of weeks at a time and leave her in charge of the kids. And I wasn’t making all that much money doing what I was doing. I sent an email out to everyone saying I was looking. Six weeks later I got an email back from a friend in Portland, Oregon, who had put on a big food event with Bon Appetit, saying they were looking for an editor.

Most would be surprised to learn that you were a freelancer when you worked at the Times.

All freelance. You’d have to ask them why that is. [Laughs] But there was never held out the possibility that I’d become a staffer. My last big story, “Lost in Jerusalem,” came out for them in January of 2012. Then I sort of hunkered down to write the book and stopped traveling as much. That’s how most of their travel writers are. From an economic perspective, it makes sense. Travel stories take a lot of time to research and cost a lot of money to produce. And you can’t get that many big stories out of a person per year.

As the Frugal Traveler, you spent 100 dollars per day.

Long summer trips I would try to keep below 100 dollars a day. A hundred dollars a day was my cap, and I would try to shoot for as far under that as I could. Some people would get mad because I said 100 dollars a day and say, “That’s not frugal!”

You got that comment a lot, that you weren’t frugal enough.

Oh, yeah. People would say that all the time. It just depends on your perspective. Some people see “frugal,” and think that’s supposed to mean you’re backpacking and sleeping in a tent and buying loaves of cheap white bread at the supermarket. But then there are people who are on the other side who think that the kind of travel I was doing was hopelessly impoverished. [Laughs] “How can anyone even find a place to sleep for under 300 dollars a night?”

One interesting story you did involved traveling to Tokyo to write about Ramen. What’s one of your favorite articles?

Oh yeah, that was a great story. A lot of the food stuff I did for the Times was good. I did a story with the headline, “Mangia, Mangia!” about eating in Abruzzo with this program called Home Food, which brings you into regular families’ dining rooms. That was amazing.

Where is one place you still haven’t visited that you’d like to someday?

Hmmm. I’d really like to go to New Zealand, but not for any really specific reason. I just think I would like it a lot there. [Laughs]