Select Writing

“Funny that Porquerolles is plural. In a way, there are many Porquerolles. There is the obvious, attainable one, crawling with scorched pink Duane Hanson tourists, slurping bubblegum Coco Frio ice-cream and trekking in neon Speedos with Camel packs. More recently and somewhat less attainable are the cliques of collectors and curators and art dealers, clad in head-to-toe black, who descend upon the island like a flock of crows to Villa Carmignac, a farm (the one you see in Godard’s Pierrot le fou) turned eye-catching, futuristic subterranean art museum. And then, finally, there’s the more elusive Porquerolles, that which is rustic, simple, and for the American in me, très très cool.”

— YOLO Journal

“Nami’s Instagram is all tropical foliage, soft pink, glowing girls sipping matcha poolside, ceramic bowls, bamboo whisks, and the impossibly green and ever so photogenic matcha powder. She [The founder] understands that aspiration is part of the sell, especially in a place where matcha isn’t yet a habit. The visual universe is shaped by her background in landscape design and her love of Japanese gardens. Even the name Nami, “wave” in Japanese, nods to Zen garden water patterns and her passion for surfing.”

— Aparté

“We have lunch at Robert and Solange. A pink kaz (a hut) the shade of which is Financial Times pink and the floor of which is sand. Barefoot is the dress code. Solange, a Malagasy, is blunt. Luckily, we know a word or two of Malagasy, which earns us a smile. There is no menu. You go up to the grill and pick out the fish, calamari, and lobster you want. It’s served with green papaya salad and garlic bread. You will want to ask her for the recipe for her confit lemon rinds on the fish, she simply smiles but doesn’t give away her secret. Dessert is Robert’s claim to fame: bananas flambée in cheap clear rum with coconut ice cream. The caramel sticks to your teeth; it’s heaven.”

— Unpublished