My family tree is laden with precious stones, flowers, and famous names. There are Pearls and Rubies, Lilies, Roses, Irises, Daisies, and a lot of Violets. On other branches, dangle George Washingtons and Daniel Boones, Benjamin Franklins, Napoleon Bonapartes, Marquis Lafayettes, Abraham Lincolns, Robert E. Lees, Andrew Jacksons, Zachary Taylors, William Henry Harrisons, and a fictional hero, too.
You know how you think you’ll remember a date, but when you go to retrieve it, it just isn’t there? I was having one of those moments. I was trying to get a better picture of my grandmother’s sister Meredith. I knew someone had once tried to snatch her from behind a bank in town, and I knew that the incident happened not too long ago, genealogically speaking—in the 1970s.
This case is a little different from my usual orphan heirloom mysteries, and I suppose I should start out by fessin’ up that I came up a little shy in terms of resolution. But just as I was about to select a typical submission to research, I received an e-mail with a conundrum I simply couldn’t resist.
Who: Alton Brown, author, food-wizard, and television host
What: Looking for food heritage—and real American road food—with his latest show, the Food Network’s Feasting on Asphalt
Why: “For the vast majority of human history, hotels didn’t exist and eating meant lighting a fire,” says Alton.