Not a religious nor superstitious man, Ilija Pajovic nevertheless puts his hand on the Madonna rock behind the church's altar and makes a wish. Two months later, his wife is pregnant with the son they've longed for eight years. "I'm just saying, it seems like a miracle to me," said Pajovic. "You can see for yourself." So, my wife, Kerry, and I pile...

Having your fortune told by a white java sparrow is the thing to do in Taiwan's capital. Big Luck Master flits out of his cage toward me so I can lean in to whisper in his ear. I feel ridiculous communicating with a white java sparrow this way. But, if I'm to have my fortune told Taipei-style I have to make a feathered friend. We'd been told by Dav...

Head tilted skyward, the rim of the glass hits my lips and the Malort slams into my mouth in one violent shot. I grimace, my eyes water slightly and I finally gag a bit. The disgusting taste lingers. Malort, a Chicago invention of vodka-meets-wormwoodto create a foul- beyond-belief liqueur, has been described alternately as tasting like distilled b...

OK, I know this is going to sound pretentious. But, wine tasting at 39,000 feet really is the best. You see, on a recent Taipei-to-Vancouver flight on Air Canada's new Dreamliner 787-9, my wife, Kerry, and I were fortuitously upgraded to business class. Besides flying in your own pod with a seat that folds down into a completely lie-flat bed for in...

From street food and casual dumplings to gourmet, the capital of Taiwan has it all. Pilgrimage-worthy dumplings, hot-as-hell devil chicken, stinky tofu, elegant Peking duck, lobster in yellow sauce, oyster omelette, fish eggs fried rice, stir-fried cuttlefish, barbecued pork and cool mango ice. Even with just 72-hours in Taipei, my wife Kerry and I...

Ride a Mini Cooper in the Windy City for the best skyline Without hesitation, Rey Rosales declares the view of Chicago is best from Adler Planetarium. So, we all pile into the Mini Cooper to drive southeast through Chicago's famous skyscraper-choked downtown. We pull up at the planetarium psyched to look back across shimmering Lake Michigan's Monro...