Ever wonder how travel writers manage to come away from a weekend-long reporting trip so full of superlatives and judgments about a city, region, or even a whole country? So do I. What follows is one traveler's unvarnished surface observations, conditional recommendations, and otherwise...

My very non-American boyfriend, when he sees me fiddling with my heart rate monitor before a run or scoping out the nutrition facts on a box of cereal, has a habit of taunting, "Fun isn't fun unless you measure it!"

He's needling me about what he sees as a distinctly...

Rollerbladers and sectional couches aside, there are few things as unfashionable in modern Manhattan as hearty breakfasts.

On weekdays, convenience is king: New Yorkers favor smoothies, breakfast bars, anything that you can ingest while simultaneously tying a necktie, writing an email, and...

Do you ever stop and wonder why certain dishes have earned their cushy status as American icons, while other perfectly lovely ones languish in obscurity?

Chicken noodle soup: perhaps the ultimate American comfort food.

Chicken Parmesan: an Italian-American classic.

Chicken and dumplings: the definition of soul food.

Chicken ballotine:...

Nobody goes to Vail, Colorado to eat. Of this I am certain. People go to Vail to whiz down the side of a mountain on a pair of fiberglass sticks. But eat they must, and dining is where the world-renowned ski resort starts to fall short.

I can't say that...