Travelers to Italy looking for a trattoria near the Milan train station can go with confidence to Trattoria La Baita (phone 02-6694173), just around the corner from the station at Via Lepetit 27, corner of Via Vitruvio. On the night we were there in October ’04 it was a cheerful, bustling place without any loud, obnoxious Americans. (Oops, showing my prejudices a bit there.)

The risotto alla campagnola took less than 17 minutes to arrive, so it could not have been made from scratch,...

On a trip to Croatia in June ’04, we found three restaurants which were excellent.

In Krk Town on the island of Krk, we recommend Konoba NONO (Krckih iseljenika 8, Krk, Croatia; phone +3 85 [0] 5 1222 221). It’s just outside the Old City and across a small inlet.

The great-grandson of the founder was spinning noodles on a thin stick for their fabulous goulash in front of a wood-fired, open oven. The very filling goulash with beer cost a bit under $17 for the two of us. When we...

In 2003 my wife was badly “burned” by telephone calls she made to the USA from overseas, so I researched the market and came up with an excellent service: Iscom, Inc. (IsCard.com Division, One Silicon Alley Plaza, 90 William St., Ste. 702, New York, NY 10038; phone 212/324-1100, e-mail info@iscard.com or visit www.iscom.net).

It’s available toll-free in over 50 countries. Sample per-minute rates to the USA include the following: 7¢ from the U.K., 9¢ from Austria and 10¢ from Australia...