Volt is like a cat. He hates cucumbers/pickles.

Unlike Volt, Drysdale loves them!

After more than a decade in South Korea, returning to the United States to visit carries a faint air of estrangement, as if I were visiting a place that used to belong to me but has since been roughed up and quietly reupholstered. The surprises are not grand or philosophical at this point, but quote everyday.

Naturally, I miss proper Mexican food. That is less a preference than a constitutional requirement.

But the real revelation is in cravings that feel suspiciously like the onset of middle age. Pickled beets. Unadorned hummus. A blunt, unapologetic block of sharp cheddar.

no, not allowed