So naturally, I caught the overwhelming scent of tender prosciutto and fresh bricks of parmesan a block from Di Bruno Bros and almost melted into the sidewalk.

Di Bruno Bros encourages you to sample anything and everything, and will suggest expert pairings between cheese, meats, and canned goods from their own fresh pesto to the classics like San Marzano canned tomatoes. They also carry a huge selection of homemade pickles (the crunchy ones that still have a hint of cucumber), a variety of stuffed olives, seasoned tomatoes in olive oil, and other brilliant combinations for the meat and cheese plate you’re inevitably going to put together.

Is this porn for you? It's porn for me, too.

Yes, those are buckets of hand-stuffed olives and yes, you can smell those fresh sausages from 2 blocks away. In case you were wondering.

Hello cheddar. Put that on my tab? (I don't know why that man thought it was weird that I was photo-documenting my shopping visit.)

This is what Di Bruno Bros looks like from the outside, on 9th Street. Now go find it.

Now pair all that with a tomato pie from Iannelli’s Bakery about a half mile away, and you’ve got one of the best dining-in dinners to look forward to in Philly. Check out the Bi Bruno Bros blog for some spectacular grilled cheese recipes from April (it was Grilled Cheese Month, duh) to get you going.

And here’s the kicker: Di Bruno Bros offers this brilliant thing called “After Hours.” (Now you’re intrigued.) If you call ahead, you can arrange for you and handful of your friends to stay at the store for the hour after it closes and sample anything you like, for a flat rate. And it’s BYOB. (Are you dying yet?! Here’s the number: (215) 922-2876.)

Don’t live in Philly? (Me neither.) They have a great site to facilitate the shipping—unfortunately you miss out on the smells and the sampling, but the products are top notch and you won’t regret it!

-Tara

Di Bruno Bros has many locations, but the original storefront (and the one I visited) can be found at 930 S. 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145. (215) 922-2876.

Buena onda: the Buenos Aires skyline (overlooking Parque Las Heras)

One of my first and most intriguing impressions of Buenos Aires was how strongly I could feel people’s overall energy for life here. The love for living runs like a current, and I immediately wanted to be in it.

I might not have known the colloquial expression to describe what I was feeling those first couple of days, but I soon learned I had been picking up on the “buena onda” of the city. “Onda” is something locals frequently employ in their speech, most commonly with the “buena” (good) or “mala” (bad) descriptors in front. The word onda in Spanish directly translates to “wave,” though the closest English equivalent my native English-speaking friends here and I have found is “vibes.” For example, someone who is buena onda can be said to give off good vibes, while someone you get a bad feeling about or sense as a negative presence can be considered mala onda. Still, onda extends beyond people. An idea, event, happening, characteristic — one can describe any of it as buena onda or mala onda. For example, the phrase “que buena onda” is a more potent, charged substitute for how great/cool/interesting/insert-positive-adjective-here something can be. Invert it all with mala and you have the opposite.

The key is that onda is all about sensing how things affect us. It is something we all influence and are influenced by, regardless of whether a phrase for it exists in our native language. We always pick up on other people’s energy, for better or worse, and then interpret our personal reaction to that onda and how it makes us feel. Why do we love spending time with certain people? They bring something to our lives. We have fun, we are comfortable, we like who we are with them. They make us laugh, think, dream, learn. One could describe why he or she enjoys a certain person’s company a million ways, or simply say that person is buena onda and encapsulate it all. The same, of course, goes for the opposite with mala onda.

My friends from the U.S. and I jumped on the concept of onda so quickly that by the end of our first week in Buenos Aires we had stuck at the top of our mental list of Highest Compliments Someone Can Pay You the attribution of buena onda. (Take notes, street whistlers/grunters/catcallers of Buenos Aires.) On the flip side, the ultimate insult we took as being called mala onda, because it would mean not only were you sucking, but you were negatively affecting others, too. I realized just how thoroughly we had latched onto the concept of onda when we were walking toward El Caminato in La Boca during our second week sightseeing. We politely declined to enter a leather goods store despite the insistence of the teenage salesperson, and he yelled, “Que mala onda!” after us. “HEY!” We all whipped around as though on cue with the same offended reaction.

I have established my overarching goal for my time in Buenos Aires thanks to the concept, and it is all about buena onda. I want to generate buena onda, be buena onda, surround myself with buena onda and have experiences I can best describe only as, “Que buena onda!”

-Karina

Gentoo penguin on Tay Head, Antarctica. Taken December, 2006.

-Tara

After my parents retired in Naples, Florida, I find myself needing more of these weekends…

Follow me on Instagram: @TaraKalmanson

-Tara

The truth is, many of NYC’s Jewish food institutions like Zabar’s and Barney Greengrass all fetch their smoked salmon varieties from the same high-quality vendors. It’s the preparation of these items that makes the special few stand out.

Nova Scotia salmon sandwich with cream cheese, tomato and onion on a bialy, $14

Four latkes with sides of sour cream and applesauce, $12.50

Chopped herring salad sandwich, with tomato and onion on a bialy, $10

Pastrami salmon with a side of scrambled eggs with onions and an "everything" bagel, $16

Nova Scotia salmon scrambled with eggs and onions, on an "everything" bagel, $15

The service is perhaps the reason Barney Greengrass has been around for a century. Nova Scotia salmon, lox, and Gravlox may be interchangeable anywhere else, but at Barney Greengrass, your waiter will spend as much time as necessary explaining the differences between the three to ensure your sandwich has the right proportion of smoky flavor and salty goodness. (For the record, you can’t go wrong with the three choices anyway.)

In addition to the heavy salmon/lox and egg items on the menu, the smoked fish are a highlight often overlooked during brunch-time in NYC but never in a Jewish deli. (Zabar’s takes its smoked fish seriously enough to make a YouTube video about it.) Barney Greengrass is famous for its sturgeon and has been featured on travel and eating shows for a decade. Its chopped herring salad sandwich ($10, pictured) was featured on The Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate: At A Deli” with Alton Brown, and Anthony Bourdain is a fan of the chopped liver and the scrambled eggs with lox and onions (pictured, $15).

To name not-to-miss menu items would be a crime, so the best I can do is advise that you try a little of everything, from the meaty potato latkes to the bagel sandwiches and lox platters. Just be careful—it’s an addiction! Barney Greengrass’s most famous customers, including Alfred Hitchcock and Al Jolson, used to have his lox and sturgeon flown across the country. The store still fulfills mail orders…

-Tara

Barney Greengrass is located at 541 Amsterdam Avenue, at 86th Street. Open Tues-Sun, 8:30am – 6pm. (To-go opens at 8am.)

Drinking mate in Buenos Aires

Also, Porota, which I reference in the story, is one of my favorite cafes in the city. (Picture below.)

Porota baked goods, by Karina for TKGO

-Karina

While the location and theme at each New York street fair very much influence which booths you’ll find, there are always a few that remind you that you’re in good old Manhattan. When you’ve spent enough weekends at New York street fairs, you start to see a pattern…

MozzArepas are never missing from a street fair, no matter the theme

Corn on the cob can range from the classic, pictured here, to the cheese-and-cumin-coated Mexican version.

Cut watermelon is another crowd favorite on a hot day, as is the smoothie and bubble tea stand.

And of course, the fresh-squeezed lemonade.

The New York Times always sets up shop, just in case you'd like to renew your subscription!

-Tara for TKGO

Live video from your Android device on Ustream

Discovery partnered with SeaWorld San Diego to put together the penguin cam in celebration of Frozen Planet, a show celebrating Antarctica and premiering March 18. If you miss the show, you can watch this penguin live stream through April.

Most of what I saw in Antarctica were the Adelie and Gentoo species, which is what the penguin cam has been showing lately. In case you need a little help identifying which is which, check out the TKGO penguin guide or the Discovery Channel penguin guide. (The Adelies I saw in Antactica did not have orange beaks like the Adelies in the San Diego SeaWorld exhibit, which makes them easier to distinguish from the taller Gentoos!)

Signing off with a favorite TKGO Antarctica shot. Get ready for penguins on March 18!

Adelie penguins embarking on the hunt, in Tay Head, Antarctica, on December 21, 2006

-Tara

-Tara

Outside Willie Mae's in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans

3 pc fried chicken and sides of french fries, green beans and butter beans

Willie Mae's no-frills front dining room

3 pc Fried Chicken: Before

3 pc Fried Chicken: After

Rachel Hobson's first bites of Willie Mae's fried chicken. (Pure ecstacy on her face, in case you didn't notice.)

You will find things like chicken-fried pork chops and some kind of veal on the menu, but that’s not why you came. You came to Willie Mae’s for the fried chicken, and you’re going to order:

• 3 pieces of fried chicken
• a side that comes with your order of fried chicken–your choice between green beans, red beans and rice, butter beans, french fries and a house salad (I recommend the savory butter beans)
• a 75-cent cornbread muffin

The fried chicken looks dark enough to call ‘burnt,’ but don’t be fooled. The melt-in-your-mouth layer of Willie Mae’s secret batter is ultra-thin, intended not only to add a crunch to each bite but also to seal in the juices that tenderize the white and dark meat inside. Each morsel falls off the bone not in a puddle of grease, but with a succulent flavor and texture.

The food comes as its ready, which means your cornbread muffins will come hot out of the oven and your chicken will still be dripping with crispy grease from the fryer. Just the way you like it.

To pay proper tribute to her life-changing experience at Willie Mae’s, my host and former roommate Chenault wrote a haiku:

Fortunately for the Treme neighborhood and Willie Mae, I am far from the first to discover this magical fried chicken wonderland. The Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain visited Willie Mae’s with the infamous Kermit Ruffins, a New Orleans Jazz legend.

While I’m a little jealous we didn’t share a meal with him, we were lucky enough to spot Kermit in person at The Joint, a favorite BBQ restaurant with legendary ribs, in the Bywater a few blocks from Vaughan’s bar where he plays every Thursday night.

Hope y’all had a happy Mardi Gras!

-Tara