I was struck by a pang today, realising that in the months ahead I would have no chance for good nihari. There will be meaty food in Lebanon but without mirch masala. There will be mirch masala in Nepal (I assume) but no meat and certainly no nihari. New Zealand and Australia – fug, as […]
Unusual sociability
An Amazon package (two pairs of silk toe socks suitable as liners) arrived later than expected and I went off to Queensway to find myself a Cantonese roast duck from Gold Mine. There was a very long queue but a Chinese briskness to getting people in and out, so it wasn’t more than a 20 […]
Four votes
I met a longstanding client for lunch at the British Library. I’ve worked with him for years now, but this is the first time we met. He studies Ethiopia and was lamenting that he had to redo bits of his recently-completed monograph after the political changes in the country, with Abiy taking power. Fortunately none […]
Story of tonight
Last night we had the Gentleman Friend’s birthday celebration, with a coup scored many months ago: two tickets to Hamilton. He is an obsessive who knows most of the lyrics, so I was extremely pleased to got them, and quite good seats too – right in the middle and very near the front. I was […]
Flying fox
I went for an unproductive yet reviving trip to the centre of town, hoping to try on some shoes and trousers before ordering them online, but didn’t find them. It was reviving as it was the first in a while I’d had time to myself, and a desi meal albeit South Indian (from Saravana Bhavan) […]
Blimp overhead
Yesterday was Friday and after lunch the Gentleman Friend and I went to Westminster. On the way out of the house I glanced at the news to see his press conference with Teresa May had begun and he claimed that the awful interview he’d given the previous night (of which audio recording was online), was […]
Bittersweet symphony
It was an immensely busy work day, and at around 6.30 the Gentleman Friend and I went out looking for somewhere to watch the semi-final match between England and Croatia. The reason for this unusual decision was two-fold: one, so that the GF could share in excitement from fellow Englishfolk – I find it hard […]
Barnsley’s finest
I have a huge amount of work to do, so of course the right thing to do was to suggest that the Gentleman Friend, who was planning to go out to dinner with a friend for the latter’s birthday, instead invite him over and I would make dinner for them. So he did, and instead […]
Into the city
We went into Soho for a lunch to celebrate a birthday, at Xu, a Taiwanese restaurant. Quite nice, not great, though hobbled by one of our party being vegetarian on one hand, and the current London focus on meaty specialities on the other. The Gentleman Friend’s gammy knee gammed up rather badly (after nearly three […]
Home
We watched the football yesterday, and English went through to the semi-finals. I was not particularly interested in Sweden winning so it was easier to support England than usual, however I become increasingly discomforted by all the talk of football coming home, and the fact that all the teams remaining are European. France, Belgium and […]