Beneath the veil

My fantasy fades
As the stories flow
From the innocent
lips of the wounded.

To normalize a horror story
that repeats itself,
some call it the news
but for so many refugees
it is just their reality.

A buddhist would say
without suffering,
we would not be this way -
human that is.

But many do not have to wear
the scars of their suffering
on their cheeks,
or bodies.
A wire lashing
or knife attack.

When the pregnant child
with a toddler by her side,
stared at me through hardened eyes
and told me a tale
of the traumatised;
A father who raped her
A husband who fled
A mother who shunned her
And left her for dead.

Listening to the wounds
of the stateless
first brought tears to my eyes
But it has since become,
normalized.

Light workers
in a dark room
in a dark world
like the monsoon
that ruthlessly falls
on bare trees

Such is nature,
such is life
and Ignorance is bliss.
But when the veil lifts
the light either blinds
or you pull down the blinds
or wear tinted lenses
to protect your eyes
from the fateful moment
that you realize,
the screen before
through which you saw
was made of real.lies.

Perspective shifted,
veil lifted.

Chronicles in the clouds #2

Happy boys

The Tibetan Kitchen

It's our second weekend here and due to the rarity of the occasion, they are usually filled up from start to finish with a new and exciting adventure... The first weekend we checked out 'The Tibetan Kitchen' for our first meal out of bounds; the luxury of so much choice on a vegetarian menu was both exciting and overwhelming but I finally made a choice, deciding to indulge in the notorious spinach and cheese momo's (tibetan dumplings) that had begun arriving on everyone's table and creamy Palak (spinach)/ Butter paneer curry. Despite the 2 hour wait, conversation filled the gap and we went home that night with bloated belly's and no regrets, ready for the following day.

A monkey through the rubbish

Fruit stalls in McLeod

The next morning, we started off on a long walk to Mcleod Ganj, the home of the Dalai Lama. We kept up a staggered pace, unable to resist capturing the beauty of our surroundings on each of our 40+ cameras (so it took a while)...
We wandered along the long, empty stretch of road in between infinite pine trees and then the energy sped up as we reached town, monkeys began appearing with baby's on their back, climbing among piles of unprocessed rubbish, a behavior that's become so sadly normalized. Along the busy street we weaved in-between shoppers and my eyes were magnetically drawn to the odd flash of deep red robes, as resident monks went about their day.

A flash of red

Roasted corn

Resisting the temptation of all the beautiful Tibetan ornaments, gems and clothes was a mission - but we saved our limited time (& money) and soon reached the circular path that lead to the Dalai Lama's residence. The concrete path lead into the jungle where prayer flags were strewn in all directions; the jumble of sounds from town soon relaxed and mantra wheels began appearing along

Mantra wheels

the sides of stone walls. On each wheel was written a mantra/ prayer, and as you spun each one, the mantra was released. The beauty & interactive nature of the walk kept one present the whole time and our excited conversations faded through a hush, into silence.
We respected the Buddhist tradition of walking around the temples 3 times clockwise (a form of circumambulation) and reading the plaques on which horrific and inspiring stories of monks & lamas were written.

The wall of faces

Prayer flags & I

The mindful walk (also called 'Kinhin' in Zen Buddhism) continued and we reached the wall of photo's that suddenly brought back an eery memory... It reminded me of the S21 Prison in Siem Reap/ Cambodia: lines of faces were framed beneath a cabinet, illustrating all the Tibetans that had self-annihilated in protest of the extreme oppression that the country is facing by the Chinese. Most of the people on the wall ranged from 12 years old to 80+ and had inflicted suffering that I can't even begin to fathom, burning themselves alive.

O, M & I taking a picture with a few
strangers and our funny friend

The individuals that had escaped Tibet, had trekked across the Himalayas (a dangerous and illegal journey that can last 3 months) to reach Dharamshala, India. My heart swelled with pain at the torturous thought of what was currently happening in Tibet: the country behind invisible bars... what a jaded view of China I now have. When i went home that day I did a short 'metta' meditation, sending the oppressors love & compassion, for how can one bring down a super-power with more hatred & fear, draining emotions that I'm sure they already have in abundance.
We continued the walk around the circle and put down our cameras at the request of the signs leading into the Dalai Lama's residence... The words 'Please be silent' didn't seem to gain a lot of respect from the swarming tourists and the number of photographs we were asked to partake in alongside young men soon became tiring (and slightly uncomfortable), so we curved our way back into town and returned to our 'regular' for lunch... Just as my Veg. Thali was arriving, the clouds rose up dramatically behind the corrugated iron rooftop, swallowing the view.. we took out our cameras and captured another magical show of black hawks swooping through a grey sky.

Recipe of the Day: Spinach and Cheese Momo's
http://www.yowangdu.com/tibetan-food/spinach-and-cheese-momos.html 

Cambodian romance

Colourful juices

'Air Asia flight AK1473 is ready to board, please proceed to the departure gates', the ladies voice echoes across the airport (funny how it's usually a woman's voice - but that can be saved for another post) we sit, in a weird delusional/ buzzed state, after an early start and a large coffee. I can't believe our Christmas holiday is over already. But I don't feel that usual dread of having to go back to work or school, because the adventures just keep on rolling - much to the envy of the three other members of my family, hehe. So our trip - this is going to be a long one, but I'll try to keep it as concise as possible. .

The streets of P.P

As everyone knows the cheapest flights are usually at the most difficult hours, so we board our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Pen at 4am,  everyone appearing slightly bedraggled and zombie-like, I'm getting used to this look. This was mum and I's second trip to Cambodia, the first was the beginning of a love affair, the second is when the romance really kicked off. We lead the way as soon as we got to the airport, feeling fairly empowered as we grinned with the knowledge of the prices to pay and the places to go - we took the boys to our favourite little boutiquey cafe for a yummy brunch, introducing them to a beautiful Cambodian morning. Fresh beetroot, carrot, ginger and apple juices arrived, the colours vibrant against the white table cloth. The food followed suit, with a light start of soups, salads, fish and sweet potato rosti's. There was plenty of time for a taste of Khmer so a spot of western didn't seem a crime.  After dumping our stuff in the room, the family split according to sexes, the boys dossed in front of the TV, grinning from ear to ear as they melted contently into their beds, and us girls went to our favourite, and very dangerous shop Ambre, for an indulgent spree. We arrived back about  4 hours later, sweaty and tired but refreshed after a king coconut break, opening the door, the boys lay in exactly the same position we'd left them in, I smiled.

Spiders straight from the kitchen
eek!

My mind roamed free as I inhaled a few flower girl fumes and we went to a beautiful local Khmer restaurant that gave it's profits to street orphans - the heart put into the food was evident as we munched down on masaman curry, Asian greens and so much more. We fell asleep satiated and happy to be there. The next morning we made our way to Kep, a little seaside town near Kampot where the French influence is large with the beautiful architecture and French boutiques. We had to give the boys a taste of the notorious Kampot pepper crab, a meal where you remain totally present as you use your fingers to delicately discover the fresh meat underneath the hard, red shell. Your eyes widening as you crunch down on a fresh, green piece of Kampot pepper, little yelps coming out from everyone in turn as a prick from a claw or leg was felt. It's funny being back in Asia, and having to slow down from the fast paced London vibe. Getting used to slower service at restaurants and testing your patience as the orders repeatedly come back wrong or different to what you expected - laughing about it's the easiest way out, compared to the simmering anger that my brother was experiencing opposite me. We all slumped down onto the round, comfy deck chairs by the pool for an afternoon siesta. I awoke to see everyone snoozing around me, and slid quietly into the water. The clouds were positioned in such a way that only a triangular shaped slither allowed you to see the glow of the setting sun. As it lowered it looked like the eye of an elephant, but warm, rich and knowing - a serene ending to a full-on day.

Cooking Kampot crabs

Lilo action

After us girls found a happy place with our morning yoga, we ventured to 'rabbit island', walking away from the crowds to find a tranquil, empty area on the white, sandy beach. I took off my dress and lathered myself in sun cream  laughing at mum's comment towards me "oh darling you're a beautiful colour, ivory almost" - secretly praying  that the ivory would shift up on the colour scale post-Cambodia. I swam out and for hours I felt like a child again, rolling around, making weird shapes and thinking weird things, with no one but the fish to judge you or tell you what's wrong or right. I lay floating above the turquoise water, my head half submerged - underneath the surface it always amazes me that there's a whole other world, the distant sounds of boats, fish pecking on coral or swishing through the water as their way of making their presence known. And then above water you have the birds, the people, the wind, cicada's and crickets screaming their tunes.  The sun zapped our energy and our water so we went in search of something yummy. Starting off with fresh juicy watermelons, green papaya salad followed, king coconut and a variety of grilled seafood and Cambodian goodness - everything coming to a 'hefty' sum of $10 - I love it here.

Rabbit island

New years eve was never so relaxed, we played cards, we ate amazing food, restaurant hopping for tastes of it all and sipping on cocktails before snuggling up in bed. I walked out onto our veranda and lit my last cigarette of 2012, reflecting on the craziest year of my life and wondering what 2013 would hold. The next morning I felt utterly grateful for the clear head and the intact memories of the night before, a first for a long time. My dad was quick to slip into his seargent major role and hurry us all into the taxi to get to the beach in good time. So we gulped down our breakfast - scrambled eggs with the unesacary addition of a mountain of MSG, and we were finally off to Otres beach, (what Phuket was 20 years ago - basic and beautiful).

Coconuts

To entertain the young 'un in the car we played 'guess what I'm thinking', the game being constantly interrupted by fits of laughter as the realization of the ADD and 'out of it-ness' of every member of our family became increasingly apparant. 'Is it a metal?' 'Yes' 'Is it a parakeet ' ..  'Really?'.. The tyres hit bumpy ground as we veered off the road towards our little Robinson Crusoe beach huts. The picturesque Google image of white sandy beaches, tanned tourists and sparkling seas greeted us. Driving passed 'happy herb pizza' and 'mushroom point' made me giggle.

A bit of sibling bondage during a
civilized massage

I always discuss with friends how school zaps a lot of pleasure out of reading because so much text is unwillingly forced down our throats. But not having school, and taking the time to get into a good book is so worth it. This holiday I excitedly raced through 3, 'Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change' by Pema Chodron- An easy and concise read that teaches you the principles of Buddhism in a very relate-able manner - an appropriate title given my fear of instability that's now been thankfully lifted for the time being, a quote that I love is "Chaos should be regarded as extremely good news" - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (it explains why in the book). It taught me my most recent spiritual discovery, almost a form of meditation that can help in the most trying times - 'Tonglen' that I've been practising a lot lately. It's a Tibetan word meaning 'sending and receiving , look it up if you're interested, but the four basic steps are 1) to pause, 2) to visualize, feel your inhale as being heavy and your exhale being light, 3) breathing in the pain, and breathing out the relief and 4) expanding the situation to all those feeling the same way.

Cocktails

 The other two books weren't quite as spiritually enlightening, but sexually - haha E.L James does soft porn well. I was given the book as a slight joke, and I rolled my eyes at the thought of reading it, but after the first 3 pages I was hooked, and finished 2 books out of the 3 in two days. 'Fifty Shades of Grey' - the ultimate girly book. Most of my imagination from my childhood comes from books, and that's what makes them magic; your imagination can go so much further than any special affects created on a screen. It's sad how we, well I, mindlessly sit in front of the TV so much more often than fully engrossing myself in a book. Falling in love with a character, or a certain Mr. Grey, and closing the book with tears streaming down my face just because of a few words printed on a page - the magic that writing can do. I put the book down and swung side to side in our hammock, with a little spliff and cold soda water with a slice of lime.

Asian greenery

Our hut

The spliff didn't turn out to be such a good idea, we sat at the table for dinner and our lovely Scottish waiter Andrew approached our table for our order. 'Patrick and the 3 J's what would you like", everyone made their requests and the attention was shifted to me, causing a 5 minute, non-stop outburst of laughter. You know those moments when there's nothing to laugh about but you just can't stop yourself? And the realization that nothing's funny makes you laugh even more? Luckily it was slightly contagious and mum started as well - I didn't manage to make my order so mum thankfully made it for me. Andrew walked away smirking, and the boys blushed beetroot red, lowering their heads down on the table, 'I'm so embarrassed Jake' was all dad could say, and they looked at each other and shook their heads as our laughs slowly died down. The next few days were lazy as everyone wound down and got into their groove, with no game consoles or computers in reach. Yoga and sea swims for exercise and a little kayak down the nearby lagoon to see the bird life and the mangroves.. expecting to find ourselves in a peaceful paradise we ended up in a sewage dump, laughing and frantically trying to turn around without splashing the water everywhere, it was a funny site. The girls on one kayak, rowing in-sync and the boys on another, the dynamic was hilarious, mum constantly chirping in with 'pull up from your naval point, straight backs guys! open your heart centre' and Jake's response 'shut-up mum my back's fine!' Dad motored along in their kayak as my brother sat back proving to be as useful as a wet paper bag as he picked up on the sergeant major vibe,  shouting orders at everyone to row faster - we ended up tossing him out when we reached the sea.

A smile

In psychology you learn about 'in-groups' and 'out-groups', it's so fun being back with the family as the dynamic shifted between girls vs. boys to parents vs. kids to father and daughter vs. mother and son - it was endless and all such a light hearted laugh. Our taxi ride back to Phnom Pen was the cherry on top as we battled to understand the taxi driver who refused to speak to us, apart from his occasional phone conversations in which everyone in the car went into a shocked silence as he screamed in Khmer to whoever was on the other side of the line. We arrived at our hotel 2 hours late, having gone slightly crazy with cabin-fever, to crash out on soft white pillows as we enjoyed a final spot of luxury, what a happy ending. I look down at my arm, I'm not quite 50 shades darker but it's better than ivory at least  'Please turn off all electrical devices as we prepare for take-off', time to go!


Recipe of the day: Cha Traop Dot (pork and eggplant)

http://www.food.com/recipe/cha-traop-dot-cambodian-eggplant-pork-stir-fry-228764

Cambodia: Day 3

Mum and I on bikes

We decided a break from the tour guide was necessary, and as we live in such a hot country with not much opportunity for riding bicycles around busy roads, today we’d explore Angkor-Wat and it’s neighbour Angkor-Thom on the bicycles that were available at the guest house. I love building up great momentum and just gliding along a flat surface with the wind blowing through your hair, ah. My road sense was put to the test as we went straight into fast paced Cambodian traffic and Cinderella carriages, my mother was not impressed with my signalling skills. But come on, if you’re used to flicking a switch for signal lights to go on, and haven’t ridden a bike in ages, sticking your arm out and balancing a bike with motorbikes circling you is a bit nerve racking. I got the hang of it after a while and we had a nice cycle around the ancient city of Angkor-Wat, walking at some points and cycling at others.

The view of Angkor Thom from the top

It was nice to appreciate the detail on the temples without having to absorb constant stories about old gods and deities.. As our bums slowly became more numb and our stomachs began to growl we headed to the ‘Angkor cafe’ to have a light bite of tofu salad and fresh vietnemese spring rolls. The fresh veg feeling light in our stomachs, meaning we didn’t have to worry about any flat tires along the way! After cycling around a little more, we climbed to the tallest tower in Angkor Thom, looking over the entire ancient city. It was quite magical and surreal looking at all these old ruined that had that ancient charm but to think about what they must’ve been like in their heyday full of jewels and painted beautifully with lovely dressed servents and workers floating around the well kept grounds while water cleansed the dried reservoirs. 

Descending the steep steps

We finally cycled back after a refreshing break of King coconut (one of the most vitamin rich drinks by the way! One coconut contains all the nutrients you need for an entire meal!) The cycle home seemed far longer than the cycle we’d done earlier, and the heavy traffic became bothersome as our patience levels went down. The dust in our eyes, the inability to ask for proper directions home, going back and forth along a long unknown road and constantly seeing this huge image of the queen of Cambodia (who’s birthday it happened to be on that day) who looks surprisingly western (we found out she was half French half Vietnamese which explains the slightly mixed look) got the better of us, but after asking a few people for directions we finally got back to the guest house and returned the bikes.

We rested and showered the days exercise off us, before dining at a poor choice on my part - an Indian restaurant. Mushy tomato with balls of chicken was ‘butter chicken’ and blended spinach with rubbery cheese was ‘panneer in spinach curry’, the naan and misi-roti (roti made from chickpea flower) wasn’t bad.. but the mars bar we munched on at home infront of the documentary ‘The September Issue’ elicited much more pleasure than the meal.


Recipe of the day: Asian tofu salad
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/asian_tofu_salad.html

Cambodia: Day 2

A Temple at a distance

Another awesome tree!

Cambodian Siestas

The next day we’d planned to wake up at 7:45 so we could get an ‘early’ start on the next day of temples and whatever else Siem-Reap had to offer. We had a delicious breakfast of fresh local fruits (white dragon fruit, juicy yellow mango, ripe banana’s and green melon), covered in creamy yogurt with toasted oats, sunflower seeds and raisins. We drank hot ginger tea and fresh king coconut. A big breakfast to set us up for our first full day in Cambodia.

A glimpse of orange

A very sweet little girl

We first made our way to ‘the river of a thousand lingums’, we had to walk uphill for 1800m to this rather average stream with a lot of round shapes carved into the stone and a depiction of shiva and the gods on one side of a huge rock. This water was believed to be holy water, and the king would swim in it to cure him of his lepracy – i cheekily reached over the rope blocking off the stream and splashed a little on my hands and arms, if this was holy water there was no chance i was missing its benefits!

Glutinous vegetarian dumplings

We walked down passed deep and shallow caves in which monks used to sit and meditate, the crumbling ceilings looked a bit dangerous to repeat this but the thought of meditating in these caves by a running waterfall was lovely. We stood by the waterfall for a while, soaking in the fresh energy, before descending back to where we’d started. Our tummy’s were grumbling so we stopped at a restaurant and ate fried morning glory (a lovely crisp green vegetable) with white rice and minced pork omelette. We had two more temples to get through and as awful as it sounds, the thought of more temples wasn’t too exciting as the excitement slightly wears off after about 7.

Foetus eggs :s

The lingum's in the river

The temples were beautiful, one was situated in a jungle that was hidden surrounded by a reservoir and cornered off by four big stone elephants – it was beautiful, but returning back to the guest house for a rest was lovely too.

Chilling on a tree

 Skyping with my boyfriend brought back a sense of home and I enjoyed reciprocating what i could remember from the experiences of the day – the great thing about exploring is there’s always interesting stories to tell. That evening we went for a Khmer meal again, we hadn’t tired of the food yet and wanted to get as much in while we could! We ate a delicious set of food served in a round bamboo basket with different sections consisting of about 8 choices, eggplant with pork, amok fish salad, sweet beef, rice, spring rolls, satay, the list went on. Dessert wasn’t necessary as the sweetness of all of the food still resonated on our palettes.

Over-exposed by the waterfall

The delicious Khmer meal

That evening we lay in bed and watched ‘Julie and Julia’, as much as i love being outdoors and active, bumming around in bed is so nice! Any movie with a focus on food is one to watch, and ‘Julie and Julia’ was much enjoyed. I loved the fact that it was a true story also, there’s something nice knowing that what you’re watching actually happened and isn’t just another Hollywood fantasy. It also inspired me to write this blog – thanks Julie.


Recipe of the day: Fresh Khmer spring rolls
http://theyoungrens.com/blog/casa_de_youngren/recipe-sunday/recipe-sunday-khmer-spring-rolls/

Hong Kong: Day 3.. and a bit

Mushroom roots

Food food food

One of Ten

Hong Kong from the Peaks

Artsy trees

The next morning our friends whom we were staying with had arrived home, so we caught up over a civilized coffee and a bowl of muesli and fruit – the comfort food that I could not live without. We established that the next order of business was to explore ‘the Peaks’, the highest point of Hong Kong that lies above the mist line. We drove up windy roads and began our walk, along the peak of a mountain with rainforest on either side of us, and colonial style houses scattered along the route. The route consisted of a circle, but due to my mother and I’s flawed sense of direction, we somehow veered off this path ending at a dead end – before turning back we enjoyed a 30 minute meditation in one of the royal gardens along the way; out of the corner of my eye I could see Chinese gardeners peering closely at the strange ‘guilo’ chanting away and staring at the tip of their fingers (Kundalini yoga involves some rather odd actions). The peak cafe provided a delicious post-walk meal of steak sandwiches with chunky chips and ceasar salad with tandoori chicken. The ratio of food to exercise was about 3:1 but the excuse that we were on holiday was enough to justify it in our minds.

Crispy eggplant

The peaks

A much needed break was taken at home, facebook being of utmost priority within that hour, the pages of the book i’d been promising to read were still left unturned. I’d glance at it briefly as my emails loaded and pushed it slightly further out of view: out of site out of mind? The hour whizzed by and we were whisked off to have a 10 course meal with the relatives at a fantastic vegetarian resteraunt my Aunty worked at. We were at first unaware of the fact that the meal consisted of 10 courses and indulged in the fabulous foods: spinach dumplings, crispy aubergine, stuffed mushrooms and crisp peanuts. The realization that there was far more to come causes the speed at which our chopsticks were moving to decrease significantly. It amazed me that half of what I ate tasted like meat – the Chinese have an incredible way of manipulating foods such as the soya bean to create meat or seafood without actually using animal products. The texture and flavour was so similar yet the unfavourable denseness that a lot of meat posseses didn’t exist. The meal continued slowly, allowing us time to digest the food, the hot brown rice tea cleansing our stomachs of the oil. I loved that food was such an important method of bringing this family together, something we all understood and could enjoy together. My sweet uncle duk-yun sat smiling on the side, the language-barrier being of no importance when a simple facial expression or sound could express our sentiments over the delicious food that lay infront of us. Dessert was finally served, a soya custard with fresh mango and a homemade apple pie, the pastry was so light and buttery it melted in your mouth as you crunched down on it.
 We’d arrived at the restaurant with our handbags and left with bags full of odd food supplies... ‘extra’s mints, Chinese crackers and red lava seaweed’ that our relatives had all given to us. The love was felt but the weight limit on our luggage was cause for concern.

Fresh mango pudding

Fresh apple pies
dusted in icing sugar

We stumbled out of the resteraunts, bags in tow and my crazy aunty Kwan-Chi (think of Crunchy) leading the way. As we said goodbye to half of the new gang, Kwan-Chi decided we were off to the night market – our polite rejection was not accepted so we compromised on a quick ‘half an hour’ and then bed. As we arrived we were bustled into the technology shop in which Dart-dart my second cousin was working. Sim cards were swapped between numerous phone’s and before we knew it we’d been led into, want to guess? Another local dessert franchise hidden around the corner between steaming dumplings and Che-Guevara T-shirts. I leaned over to my uncle muttering ‘are you hungry?’ His lightening reply of ‘no’ served to confuse me as he picked up a spoon, i soon realized when Kwan-Chi wants something to happen, there’s no arguing. We forced down a few delicious spoons of fresh mango ice cream and Chinese dumplings before reeling back in our chairs holding our food babies in what bordered on agony.

An art exhibition

Food? Check, Family? Check, Spliff? Check, Attempt at exercise? Check, Shopping? Check. 

One of the beautiful buddha's

'Let us pray'

Serenity?

Golden Buddha's along the path

The next day we decided we should try and experience a tad more of the cultural side of Hong Kong, and on recommendation, ventured up to ‘the temple of 10000 buddha’s’. I held my ground refusing to take a taxi, much against Kwan-Chi’s will, and we walked up and up the shallow stairs with the light reflecting off the thousands of golden buddha’s on either side of us. Each one had a different facial expression, some were old while others were young, some looked more gargoylian and others looked like Buddha. There was a point at which my eyes had to close as the gold hues intensified. A short pit-stop at a vegetarian restaurant along the way, with thousands more buddha’s of all different sizes, the biggest reached the roof and the smallest was comparable to a beetle. We continued to the top where a small waterfall lay, we sat on a rock as it cleansed the mind and allowed us to absorb the many more golden structures that lay around us. Our descent was timed perfectly as the rain began to fall increasingly harder. Only two fit under the umbrella so I took refuge under a police station roof, and stood with the police as nearby local rioters shouted their opinions about the new bridge that was being built in the area. Kwan-Chi and mum appeared huddled under their black umbrella, and we continued towards the station with a firm goal of returning home. Kwan-Chi got her way again however and we ended up sitting at a lovely restaurant eating yum-cha, known as dim-sum universally, it was delicious, fresh steamed charsil and prawn dumplings, fresh green vegetables, noodles and rice and a fried pigeon with its head still intact that made my mother rather squeamish. The meal was appreciated, one can not go to Hong Kong without experiencing yum-cha. It’s a must.

Pigeon in yum cha

Steamed Ha-Gow (prawn dumplings..
 excuse the spelling)

Mum and I

That evening we were taken to dinner by ‘a friend of a friend’, having heard lovely reviews we were anticipating only the best. And to our pleasant surprise that’s what we got; what I most appreciated was his genuine interest in the thoughts and opinions of an 18 year old without brushing off what I had to say, a trait appreciated in any such individual – patience and effort. Following a delicious Szechuan meal (Chinese food from the Szechuan province that typically involves a lot of chilli!) we were taken by our host friends to the FCC for a civilized glass of prosecco and a plate of apple crumble with vanilla ice cream. Being the youngest in their i already felt slightly out of place and accidentally smashing my first glass of prosecco across the bar didn’t help my situation. I was pleasantly surprised by the shoe polisher in the bathroom that included polishing for either black or brown shoes and a creamer. I felt like i’d been transported back into the 20’s – journalists stood around discussing political issues and old newspaper articles scattered the walls, if this was a taste of this world I was rather interested.


Recipe of the day: Pan-fried eggplant (serve with steamed jasmine rice, sweet chilli sauce and soya sauce)
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1950,148172-233197,00.html