A Famous Tart.
Before you get the wrong idea, I’m talking about the kind encased in pastry… Everyone’s heard of the Bakewell tart. Shortcrust pastry, filled with strawberry jam and a sweet almond, eggy mixture. Firm on the outside, crumbly on the inside, topped with thick white icing (I love the satisfying crack as you bite into it) and half a glace cherry. Lovely. The stuff of my … Continue reading A Famous Tart.
Fez Medina – ‘A Thousand Welcomes’.
The medina – a 250-hectare honeycomb of 9,400 streets and alleyways;a warren of dog-leg passages and dead ends; 320 mosques, 5,000 furniture shops and 400,000 people. A map is no help at all. We saw an Italian man trying to scribble his own map at every turning – impossible – so many Mohammeds and Jalils wanting to show you the way, so many souks, shops, … Continue reading Fez Medina – ‘A Thousand Welcomes’.
Carmarthenshire – Coast And Castles.
The farm nestled in a bend on the road – less of a road, more of a lane – narrow, leafy and green. The white-washed stone cottage sat hidden, surrounded by trees, fields, woods and wild flowers. I pushed open the metal gate, and Sally appeared on the doorstep as Merl and Mia, two cocker/springer spaniel crosses bounded towards us. Sally was a stranger, but we were … Continue reading Carmarthenshire – Coast And Castles.
Arrival in Venice.
Tuesday 11 December. ‘Get ready for the coldest day of the year’, announced the ‘Daily Mail’. We weren’t leaving the cold weather behind, Venice will hover slightly above freezing point – ‘but it’ll be prettier’, joked the taxi driver. 7am, cold and dark, and we were on our way to London – the first leg of our journey. Boston train station is never a hive … Continue reading Arrival in Venice.
It’s Five Years Since We Went To Venice….
But it’s etched deep in my memory…. ‘You’re going to Venice when?’, stuttered my sister, ‘but it’ll be cold and flooded and awful’. I’d read an article in a travel magazine that said winter was the time to see Venice at its moody best. Michela, our host, echoed this sentiment and told me – ‘this is Venice of the Venetians, my favourite time’. Not having … Continue reading It’s Five Years Since We Went To Venice….
The May Sumo Tournament.
Written on a piece of cardboard and propped in the sales kiosk: ‘Tickets for Today Sold Out’. It was hard to believe. At 11.00, the hall was practically empty. Just the odd person eating Bento and a couple of bodies seemingly sleeping on the red-cushioned box seats that covered the ground floor. The sumo, though, was in full swing, and had been since 08.30 in … Continue reading The May Sumo Tournament.
Tokyo Haiku.
Buildings dwarf people natural rhythms extant rigid rules govern Continue reading Tokyo Haiku.
In Tokyo With The Aussie Girls.
We didn’t mean to housesit in Tokyo. We were settled in our little house in Kaminoge. But then we saw Doris the labradoodle and Lucy the lagotto on Trusted Housesitters and we couldn’t help ourselves. Maybe we were turning Japanese and succumbing to the kawaii (cute) vibe. We decamped to Yoyogi Uehara. Doris is the oldest. She knows she was ‘first’ and has a regal … Continue reading In Tokyo With The Aussie Girls.
Reflections In Ginza.
Tokyo could make a (window) shopaholic out of me. I don’t want to buy, but I like looking. Ginza is high-end shopping. Bulgari, Cartier, De Beers, Sony, Nissan, Apple, but it was Ito-Ya stationery store that did it for me – these means to a creative end are artworks in themselves. Ink pens and glass pens. A pen care center. A paper concierge. Paper in … Continue reading Reflections In Ginza.
Tsukiji.
‘You’ve got to do it, haven’t you?’ We were standing outside Daiwa Sushi at Tsukiji Fish Market at 5.30 in the morning. Not only were we standing outside, we were waiting in line, and waiting in line to eat sushi for breakfast. Surreal. It was Jim’s idea and I was just rolling with it. We’d been up since 02.30. Tsukiji requires serious effort. We’d met … Continue reading Tsukiji.
Wondering Woman 