Author: Ms. R.

Chef Marc Lepine describes Atelier Restaurant in Ottawa, Canada, as a high-end minimalist nook specializing in molecular gastronomy. Since 2008, the restaurant has thrived on Lepine’s signature 12-course blind tasting menu. Pre-pandemic, the grey exterior of the narrow, brick building that houses Atelier provided no hint of the colorful bite plates served inside. Fantastical dishes reminiscent of snow globes, flower arrangements, garlands, and fashion accessories arrived one after the other, each equal parts abstract art and food. When COVID-19……

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The naming of many saber-toothed species—the most famous being the genus Smilodon, or the saber-toothed cat—sounds like a bit of a macabre joke. The pearly grins of these prehistoric predators might have been the last sight of any creatures that got close enough to appreciate them. But not all saber-toothed things were aggressively predatory. Some, like the marsupial Thylacosmilus atrox, may have occupied a different niche. As a new study published in the journal PeerJ reports, the pouched, cat-resembling……

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Near the confluence of Chester Creek and the Delaware River, a small granite monument marks the site of one of the most significant events in the early history of Pennsylvania—the first disembarkment of its founder William Penn.  In a plot of land that throughout history played host to a Swedish tobacco plantation, a Quaker meeting place, railroad waste, the governor’s daughter’s house, and Okehocking tribal land, the site, located in the now-city of Chester, was in the middle of……

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St Anne’s Castle, in Great Leighs, Essex, is supposedly the oldest licensed inn in the country. Though, due to a devastating fire, the current building is less than 100 years old, an inn on the site is recorded in The Domesday Book in 1086 (and others hold claim to the same title). As one might expect for a site with so much history, it is home to many mysteries and alleged hauntings. However, it is outside the walls, just……

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Tucked away in the rolling countryside of northern Sardinia, the Church of the Holy Trinity (Basilica della Santissima Trinità di Saccargia) is a prime example of Pisane Romanesque architecture. Though the black-and-white basilica dates back to the early 12th century, the site upon which it was built was home to religious institutions for far longer, and the ruins of an ancient monastery can still be found on the grounds.  At the time the basilica was erected, the Italian island……

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Accessible only by hiking in and marked only by a graffitied map, Peppersauce Cave feels very different from better-known cave systems that feature guided tours, parking lots, and paths with handrails.  The cave is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona. A 1948 article in The Desert Magazine brought the site, which was reportedly discovered by deer hunters, to the attention of the wider public. You can still see wonders described in the article, including an underground lake, which……

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Located on the Inishowen peninsula, Carndonagh is one of the main towns of County Donegal. In Irish, Carn Domhnach means “the cairn of the church,” and the story says that Saint Patrick himself founded a monastery there. But, in reality, very little is known about this the site and its history, and the building is long gone. The sole remnant of it is its high cross, which suggests that the monastery had reached a certain level of prosperity and……

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