I am now a bad aunt to at least six sets of nephews and nieces. I acquired another a new nephew to be a bad aunt to today – he is not new to the world, being around two, but this was the first time I’d seen the son of one of my closest university […]
Job not done
After yesterday, today I signally failed to send off the documents back to Pakistan, as well as to do any work. Instead, I joined the GF (whp had the day off) on a trip to the other side of the Golden Horn. First was lunch in the Grand Bazaar, where I went for a grilled […]
Turkish fare
I have, at least for now, become quite enamoured of a Turkish style breakfast, with lots of fresh fruits and salad and a bit of cheese or yoghurt. This morning breakfast was a platter of peaches, figs, buffalo mozzerella, cucumbers, olives and tomatoes, along with my usual chai. I have decided to have something similar […]
Golden city
Our flat in Istanbul has the most ridiculous views. One series of windows looks out over the Bosphorus, with the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque in clear view. Another window faces down a narrow old street, at the end of which is the Galata tower. In the evenings, at sunset, the coast of Asia […]
Chaand raat
It’s chaand raat in Pakistan, officially if not actually (it should actually have been last night, but the ongoing spat between the Moonsighting Committee and the Minister for Science and Technology led to Eid being declared for tomorrow in Pakistan instead of today). I ended up with something quite similar to the chaand raat of […]
Tatami afternoon
Our guests left this afternoon, but before that we went to a matcha teahouse in an old Japanese house, very rickety indeed, for lunch and tea. Our plan had been to then get the train to the Chimei museum, a somewhat ridiculous seeming place, part US Capitol and part Versailles, with a collection of Western […]
Finger on the pulse
Last night the Boddhisattva and the Woodland Creature came down for the weekend — lovely to see them, also a pleasant reminder that it is much nicer to see friends when one doesn’t live with them. We went for lunch to the nearby noodle spot, slightly better than adequate this time, and then on to […]
Submarining
A small nod to yesterday as I found an attractive squid, waved it at the GF and brought it home for dinner (to eat, not to host). Also had an extended moment of work-related panic as I had to give a quote for a project and, as usual found myself virtually incapable of calculating how […]
Day aquatic
There was an aquatic theme to today, as we went for lunch to renowned old seafood place (founded in 1940, so before the white army retreat into Taiwan) where we had the set menu for two. It began with mullet roe and squid, a crab soup and shrimp rolls, the centrepiece was mud crab on […]
Northern district
This morning we went for an American brunch. It was not bad, nothing to our meal yesterday. Run by a Taiwanese-American and with plenty of other Taiwanese-Americans filling the tables, and the decor and feel was also very American. The GF had a French toast with hash browns, salad and an egg; I had a […]