Poutine — typically a porridge of fries, gravy, and cheese curds — is a dish best served after a night of heavy drinking. Sober, it’s like a MAC truck plowing into your stomach and dumping anvils down your intestines. Despite the gastronomic assault, I love…

On Saturday morning, I gathered with my family, enjoying time with neighbors. We made coffee, shared small talk, and watched as our children looked at an interactive globe we’d bought for our son’s birthday. You spin it around and point a little stylus at countries,…

In May 2023, our family traveled to Denmark. I had recently turned 34, and this was my first trip to Europe. Meanwhile, my son was 1.5 years old. We were affording our child something our younger selves could’ve only dreamt of. Countless areas of Denmark…

When I was a teenager, I dreamt of becoming an actor. I never told anyone. It wasn’t for fame or fortune; rather, the opportunity to wake up each day and be something different, develop a character, and find a new perspective on life. Actors will…

Sweden is known for its meatballs, and we Americans likely know this because of IKEA. The build-it-yourself retailer’s blue and yellow buildings — a curtsey to the Swedish flag — house various culturally informed meals and eats. There are little gummy candies and fika-inspired treats…

I make it a habit not to lie to my son. Well, except for when it comes to Old Saint Nick. We celebrated Christmas in our fractionally Jewish, half-Persian household. Both my wife and I tiptoed into the holiday lore with our four-year-old. It’s the…

Every month, I’ll spend $1020 in premiums for health and dental insurance in 2026. For readers with an employer subsidizing your plan, you might think that only a portion of this $1020 will be my responsibility. But I have some sad news: all of that…

We’re on the precipice of vast interpersonal efficiencies where we quickly ascertain answers, solve our own problems, and avoid the discomfort of human-to-human interaction. We are engineering the end of relationships. I know this because I've lived it — both as a patient and provider…

In the unrelenting chase of what is ‘best,’ many of us can unknowingly allow our lives to become defined by materialism. —Jennifer Breheny Wallace (Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic-and What We Can Do About It) With a zero-, one-, or two-year-old child, the…

Nowhere on planet earth is the love for sports teams greater than in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The city is home to three major professional teams: the Penguins, Pirates, and Steelers. They all share roughly the same colors and temperament of fans — black/gold and rabid, respectively.