Inquiring Minds

Choosing favourites.

The artistic tastes of Miami, not dissimilar to the city’s thermometers, tend to run high. The city is home to some world-class private art collections, amassed by a few individuals and curated largely by personal taste.

Savouring St. Barths.

Call it a lust for the plate or culinary tourism or whatever you like, but when gourmands travel, they tend to plan by taste. An entire trip can be curated around one very dish—and if that is ever the case at Hôtel Le Toiny on St. Barths, it would surely be its most acclaimed plate.

A project by Ermenegildo Zegna.

Created by Italian textile and menswear company Ermenegildo Zegna, the ZegnArt Public art project was formed with an ambitious objective: to commission a series of public artworks in countries around the world.

The bizarre world of competitive eating.

There have been times when Meredith “Deep Fried Diva” Boxberger is shovelling down a monstrous 72-ounce steak and she thinks, “How’d I ever get to be doing this?” It’s a question often asked of the athletic, 28-year-old competitive eater from Barrie, Ontario.

Scenic glides.

Those European riverboats that slowly make their way down the continent’s beloved waterways are picking up speed. River cruising has become the fastest-growing segment of the cruise industry—and these vessels are not your grandparents’ riverboats.

Potash problems.

In normal times, the business of fertilizer is only slightly more interesting than the soil one spreads it on: one of those super-simple, steady-Eddie, boring-but-profitable businesses every investor loves.

A new star.

Beverly Hills has a new shining star. The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts opened in October in the heart of one of the world’s most desirable zip codes.

Toll to the troll.

Lower than the used-car salesman. Or the telemarketer. The repo man, too. Maybe one notch above that guy from Nigeria who’s always sending you e-mail. That’s a good approximation of the esteem with which the patent troll is held within the pantheon of the world’s professions.

A village oasis.

Rancho La Puerta may well be the original wellness destination, a resort and spa in Tecate, Mexico, just near the U.S. border. It is, and has been, where well-heeled hippies go, ever since it was founded in 1940 by Hungarian philosopher Edmond Szekely and his young bride, Brooklyn-born Deborah Szekely.