THE "SPICE ROUTE"

In the 16th century, Ferdinand Magellan found the clove. One story I read that kind of stayed with me was his discovery of the "Great Sea" (the Pacific), which, according to his
circumnavigational log, "unmoored a vast wind." He wrote it was almost birdlike sailing.. as the earth's rotational velocity had taken charge east. Guam rose on the horizon... the Philippine trees glared on its shores ... then Indonesia - the cinnamon's vanilla habitat - at long last.
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Portland, Ore. is always a wearing-a-Patagonia-down-vest-chai-tea weather, a high altitude alpine biome with bike lanes and terrific food. Here in New York, well, it's not Portland - but the urban graphics are a Manga, and making chai tea in monologue bubbles is cool, too. Black-and-white ginger and juniper berries. The comic kitchen. Drawing milk to the cup... Magellan never made it back to Europe.