Boat excursions offer a rare chance to see sea mammals up closeULSAN ― It’s spring, and if you are itching to get out of town, Ulsan could be an ideal place to spend a weekend. This suggestion may raise some eyebrows because Ulsan is a city known for its heavy industries. But sometimes one needs to see what’s happening on the far edge of the country, and there is something special about visiting this coastal city at this time of the year.Ulsan has been a driving force behind the country’s indust

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana ― No matter how I searched, the Wi-Fi wasn’t there. No television either. Even my phone, struggling toward two bars, conspired against modernity.But that’s what you pay for at the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center and its 108 wooded acres just south of this state’s flagship university. Not that you pay much. Renting one of the four yurts in these woods costs $65 per night.What you won’t get during your stay: what’s mentioned above. Or soap in the bathroom.What you d

LONDON (AP) ― Coming for the Olympics with money to spend? Then there’s still time to ensure you can take tea at The Ritz, drink at the Savoy’s American bar, or sleep in an Art Deco room at Claridge’s.Most of London’s most exclusive hotels have been booked for the Olympics, snapped up by Olympic officials or companies block-booking rooms for favored customers, but there are still amazing places to stay.That is, if you can afford the bill.“You can still get some rooms in certain periods of the ga

Half-Blood BluesBy Esi Edugyan (Picador) “Half-Blood Blues” takes its title from a jazz disc that doesn’t exist, but you wish you could hear anyway. It was, according to Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan’s version of 20th century European history, secretly recorded in Paris just before the Nazis triumphantly roared through the French capital in June 1940. Two black Baltimore expatriates, Charles “Chip” Jones and Sid Griffiths, played drums and bass, respectively. On lead trumpet was a gifted 20-year

There is a hierarchy of personal catastrophe, an informal but definitive ranking of all the terrible things that can happen, moving through categories that might be labeled “Worst Thing” to “Next-Worst Thing” to “Next-to-Next Worst Thing” and on down the line.At the upper end of that list, most people would probably agree, is losing a child. The world’s normal order ― parents predeceasing children ― is upended.But what happens if the child is indeed lost, but not gone? When the child, that is, t

Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture ExplorationEdited by Glenn D. Paige and Ahn Chung-siSeoul National University PressTo those used to studying the turbulent modern Korean history, which consists of war, division and an ongoing ideological dispute, the term “non-killing Korea” may not ring a bell at first.But the latest book published by the Seoul National University, “Nonkilling Korea: Six Culture Exploration” is what the unfamiliar term is all about: It seeks to discover “nonkilling” or non-violent

Burn Down the GroundBy Kambri Crews (Villard)Kambri Crews’ debut memoir, “Burn Down the Ground,” places her firmly in the company of family-dysfunction specialists such as Augusten Burroughs, Jeannette Walls and, especially, Mary Karr, whose 1995 best-seller “The Liars’ Club” set the bar for tales of dirt-poor Southeast Texas upbringings.The biting humor of “Burn Down the Ground,” along with the author’s smooth, natural storytelling, reflect her adult years ― she’s been an actress, owns her own

Jogaetang is a soup made by boiling whole clams after they have been soaked to expel sediment. Jogaetang has a light, refreshing taste. It is enjoyed after drinking alcohol because clams are high in taurine which is believed to protect the liver.Ingredients● 300g short necked clam, 3 cups water, 2 tsp salt ● 20g small green onion ● 1/2 ea red pepper ● 6 cups water ● 1 clove garlic ● 2 tsp salt 1. Wash and clean the clam’s shell, put in the salt water for 3 hours for the clams spit out watery sed

Take some milk, add a little acid and give the mixture time to do its thing ― who would have thought homemade cheese could be this simple? What with all the equipment and specialized ingredients I’d read about, cheese making sounded like it was better suited to a chemistry lab than my tiny kitchen. That is, until I tried quark.I know. Hear the word “quark” and you may conjure up images of dancing physics particles or “Star Trek” characters. Or winding your way through “Finnegans Wake.” Any of wh

Looking for something different in terms of red wine? Try this lovely 100 percent Mencia aged in French oak from the tiny, highly regarded Algueira winery in Galicia. It tastes of blueberries and blackberries, cool forest and earth. Rich and intense, the 2007 Adega Algueira “Algueira” is reminiscent of a northern Rhone and has the acidity to hold its own against big, bold flavors.● Region: Galicia, Spain● Price: From $25 to $32● Style: Rich and full-bodied● What it goes with: Brisket, calves liv