i spent some time over the past few days up on the travel floor of the bookshop, and starting thinking about food, surrounded as i was by books such as the lonely planet world food series.
so here are (in my opinion) the best cities to eat in
1. Mexico city. from the street food to the restaurants, there is an excellent selection. even the student cantines at la UNAM and colmex can produce cheap and edible things, which, if you are used to MGY's stolovaia, seems like a miracle.
2. bangkok. amazing. in particular i love the breakfasts, most hotels seem to have a table for european food and another for asian, which means i can have rice and vegetables for breakfast and not have people look at me funny.
3.athens. i love the frappes in the summer. and the selection of vegetarian dishes. and the desserts.
4. sofia. up here for many of the same reasons that athens is, but gets high points for its more affordable prices, as well as its good indigenous wine selection.
5. tibilsi. if there is one thing i miss when i am out of the ex soviet orbit it is hachipure and salat po gruzinski. it is also the first thing i order when i get back to any place that has got it. i once even nearly got arrested in paris airport for importing large quantities of georgian cheese. i love aubergines, and georgians put it in averything. mmmm
6. istambul. again, an amazing selection of the vegetables i like. and the desserts...
7. Paris. ok this place doesnt win any points for variety, and can seem very provincial in its culinary taste, but then it would also be hard to find a bad meal here, and there is an ok selection of certain cusines from former colonies/ mandates such as lebanon.
8. budapest. again wins points for its price structure. you can have an excellent meal for the price of a good coffee in london. and the brunch at gundels is one of the best i have had.
9. london: ok, let me clarify this one: i dont like english food, and london has MANY bad restaurants. but these days (unlike during my thatcherite childhood) there are good places to be found as well, and it doesnt suffer from paris's provinciality. quite the opposite: it is really best to avoid the local stuff here and go for the indian. some even claim its indian restaurants are the best in the world.
notes: i am going to mumbai later in the year, so expect changes to the list!
note 2: i hate italian food.
28.1.07
27.1.07
the week gone by
i realise it has been a week since my last entry...but things have gone by rather quickly and i seem to have lost track of time.
i have worked every single day this week in the bookshop, doing overtime to get some much needed cash. in between shifts, i have locked myself in the british library, trying to get some work done on my dissertation, which is after all my supposed purpose for being in this country in the first place.
then on wednesday, razvan moved in. so the rest of my time has been spent smoking romanian cigarettes in the kitchen and having some laughs. last night we went to a turkish bar and had some drinks with some greeks and romanian students from the anthropology phd programme, stumbling home on the horrid english night bus. and then i had to get up and go to work. it was torturous....
i have worked every single day this week in the bookshop, doing overtime to get some much needed cash. in between shifts, i have locked myself in the british library, trying to get some work done on my dissertation, which is after all my supposed purpose for being in this country in the first place.
then on wednesday, razvan moved in. so the rest of my time has been spent smoking romanian cigarettes in the kitchen and having some laughs. last night we went to a turkish bar and had some drinks with some greeks and romanian students from the anthropology phd programme, stumbling home on the horrid english night bus. and then i had to get up and go to work. it was torturous....
21.1.07
back to reality
you know globalisation is truely a fact of life when your elderly father in his 70s, who lives in another country, and doesnt believe in email or mobile phones, calls to ask "who this shilpa shetty character is."
i cant believe this whole debate. i havent got a TV, and i have never seen the show, but even if it is the most amazing one ever broadcast, i still dont understand how it has managed to hog front page news for a week and seemingly obsesses both the indian and british governments. my collegues at work talk about nothing else. i am totally lost.
oi. my holiday is long over now and only slowly am i managing to accept this sad fact. i have been busy the past few days, running around meeting friends of my father, then taking the beast to the vet, then my job....i have got myself transfered to the travel section for the past several nights in a row, most people dont like working up there, but it is definately my favourite place. even if i am stuck in a bookshop, i get to look at really cool pictures form all over the world, real guide books, and plot mental holidays that i dont have the money to take. it is the most painless way to pay the rent, at least to my mind.
i cant believe this whole debate. i havent got a TV, and i have never seen the show, but even if it is the most amazing one ever broadcast, i still dont understand how it has managed to hog front page news for a week and seemingly obsesses both the indian and british governments. my collegues at work talk about nothing else. i am totally lost.
oi. my holiday is long over now and only slowly am i managing to accept this sad fact. i have been busy the past few days, running around meeting friends of my father, then taking the beast to the vet, then my job....i have got myself transfered to the travel section for the past several nights in a row, most people dont like working up there, but it is definately my favourite place. even if i am stuck in a bookshop, i get to look at really cool pictures form all over the world, real guide books, and plot mental holidays that i dont have the money to take. it is the most painless way to pay the rent, at least to my mind.
19.1.07
images of malta
forget the maltese falcons. they apparently have been extinct on the island since the 80s. the place is full of cats. of all the places i have been, i think only mykonos can compete with malta in terms of cats per inhabitant.the island also has extremely odd buses. they are all from england, but were never driven there in my lifetime, these things go back to the 60s! it seems malta must have been at some point for the english what havana is for the canadians: a place to send your old buses...but they are cheap and efficient and got me all over the island, so i wont complain!
israel comes to malta
apparently malta is a popular place for filming movies. no one would tell me the title of the one whose set i kept walking through, but i dont think it would take genius on my part to suppose that the film was israeli?
18.1.07
17.1.07
the lion roared
i was publically humiliated by my own cat
her allergy problems started coming back. when this happens there is nothing to do but take her in to the vet for an injection. my boss recommended a NHS run clinic near to my house and said i might have good luck there. in a way he was right. the british government provides nearly free medical care to pets whose owners are
1. pensioners
2. on benefits.
3. full time unfunded students.
guess which category i fell into!!! so they accepted my animal on presentation of my university information and told me to wait to be called. but i was unaware that for these things it is best to show up and queue an hour or so before the place opens. i showed up right after opening, and the queue was already 3 hours long.....so the beast and i waited. but my furry friend doesnt like being caged up, and i could see she was getting tenser by the moment. at one point a friendly but slightly dumb looking enormous alsatian dog came by and started smelling my cat's cage. my cat had had enough. she stuck her paws through the bars and savagely clawed the alsatian on both sides of his snout. he went wimpering off and put his head under his owners chair.
but the real fun was when they actually took us in to see the doctor. the doctor opened the beasts cage and my cat immediatel lunged at the poor vets throat. she the urinated all over the vet, took a huge shit on the floor, and jumped into a drawer in the vets desk, hissing all the way. the vet tried to get her out with special gloves, but she was a wild beast and it was imposible. then somehow she got into a corner, from where she would stand on her hind legs and make incredible hissing sounds at anyone who came within a metre of her. ultimately it took 3 vets and a strange metal machine to restrain her. the vet refused to see her, and sent me home with tranquilizers and instructions not to come back unless she had been drugged!
i told this story to max, and he was upset: the last time he got ill (hand badly cut open, needed stitches) he had to wait 4.5 hours to be seen by a doctor, and then it was only one. my cat got the attention of three, all free and courtesy of the NHS.
perhaps in this county it is better to be a cat?
her allergy problems started coming back. when this happens there is nothing to do but take her in to the vet for an injection. my boss recommended a NHS run clinic near to my house and said i might have good luck there. in a way he was right. the british government provides nearly free medical care to pets whose owners are
1. pensioners
2. on benefits.
3. full time unfunded students.
guess which category i fell into!!! so they accepted my animal on presentation of my university information and told me to wait to be called. but i was unaware that for these things it is best to show up and queue an hour or so before the place opens. i showed up right after opening, and the queue was already 3 hours long.....so the beast and i waited. but my furry friend doesnt like being caged up, and i could see she was getting tenser by the moment. at one point a friendly but slightly dumb looking enormous alsatian dog came by and started smelling my cat's cage. my cat had had enough. she stuck her paws through the bars and savagely clawed the alsatian on both sides of his snout. he went wimpering off and put his head under his owners chair.
but the real fun was when they actually took us in to see the doctor. the doctor opened the beasts cage and my cat immediatel lunged at the poor vets throat. she the urinated all over the vet, took a huge shit on the floor, and jumped into a drawer in the vets desk, hissing all the way. the vet tried to get her out with special gloves, but she was a wild beast and it was imposible. then somehow she got into a corner, from where she would stand on her hind legs and make incredible hissing sounds at anyone who came within a metre of her. ultimately it took 3 vets and a strange metal machine to restrain her. the vet refused to see her, and sent me home with tranquilizers and instructions not to come back unless she had been drugged!
i told this story to max, and he was upset: the last time he got ill (hand badly cut open, needed stitches) he had to wait 4.5 hours to be seen by a doctor, and then it was only one. my cat got the attention of three, all free and courtesy of the NHS.
perhaps in this county it is better to be a cat?
12.1.07
emptiness
there is no one around.not anywhere
i wandered around all day amongst cats. pictures to them to follow.
i road around on the bus for some time today,the roads are horrid, like provincial south american ones, but the scenery is really beautiful, and it seems to be the best way to see things around the various islands.
the stuff diliberately set up for tourist are mainly kitsch, but some are worthwhile. mainly i am just enjoying relaxing!
reporting from the rock
an interesting place this is. i jumped on a bus this morning and drove around the island. you can do that easily, it isnt very big. i decided to hopp off at mdina, a fortressed city that was once the ancient capital. i wandered around the ancient streets, onto which cars are forbidden: horses are the only transport allowed, which makes perfect sense when you see the size of the streets! i sat down on a bench to change film and was instantly surrounded by 4 cats. i didnt have anything to give them, and felt guilty about it.but, like all the other cats here, they appeared well fed enough, and certainly not in any danger of starving to death. perhaps they were justbored by the utter lack of human beings around this place.
later i moved out of the fortress city and down to rabat where the poor used to live, here the streets were again extremely narrow and winding. i spend a roll of film trying to capture them, but doubt i succeeded in doing the any justice.
from the edges of the city you can see the country side spreading out all around you. it is verdant and rocky at the same time and generally breathtaking. the place is amazingly quiet, one of the quietest places i have ever been. often my steps are the only sound.
later i moved out of the fortress city and down to rabat where the poor used to live, here the streets were again extremely narrow and winding. i spend a roll of film trying to capture them, but doubt i succeeded in doing the any justice.
from the edges of the city you can see the country side spreading out all around you. it is verdant and rocky at the same time and generally breathtaking. the place is amazingly quiet, one of the quietest places i have ever been. often my steps are the only sound.
11.1.07
on a rock, in the middle of the sea
after my exam i needed an escape, to clear my head and have a break from reshelving books.
so i flew to a rock in the mediteranean for 30 pounds return, thanks to my dear friends at the ghetto airlines.
so here i am.
this place is just what i wanted: my mobile is not working, and there is an amazing calm that some mediteranean villages have, where everything goes completely quiet by 8 pm, and you feel like you are the only person in the whole place. i cant understand what the people around me are all saying, but they all understand me effortlessly, so i get my points accross.
last night i went for a walk and saw 2 human beings and 18 cats. i am clearly in good company, suspended here between africa and europe.
so i flew to a rock in the mediteranean for 30 pounds return, thanks to my dear friends at the ghetto airlines.
so here i am.
this place is just what i wanted: my mobile is not working, and there is an amazing calm that some mediteranean villages have, where everything goes completely quiet by 8 pm, and you feel like you are the only person in the whole place. i cant understand what the people around me are all saying, but they all understand me effortlessly, so i get my points accross.
last night i went for a walk and saw 2 human beings and 18 cats. i am clearly in good company, suspended here between africa and europe.
10.1.07
east or west, friends are best
it was christmas (on the orthodox calender) last weekend, and oleg and his wife natasha came from moscow to london to celebrate it. we ended up at a pub, where we were joined by 4 other russians, who were apparently old classmates of oleg's. not surprisingly, we marked this great occasion with large amounts of alcohol and greasy food. we all ate and drank too much and i had great difficulty stumbling home. it was nice to get the latest news from moscow. in the couple of months i have been gone, oleg has ledt his job, and he tells me that masha (another acquaintaince) has too. he is now working on his own stuff, but he has got lots of nice offers to go elsewhere as well, and he has yet to decide what he will actually do, besides drink in london pubs!he brought me tons of dvds, and i look forward to watching them all...when i get the time
and the school has restarted after the winter break. max got back from poland, and we went out to a pub to catch up on the latest from that side of the continent, and i had my Big Exam Part Two with my supervisors and the head of the school i am in. it was a bit odd. i think my supervisor is annoyed with me, but at least i passed in the end....which is i suppose what matters.
and the school has restarted after the winter break. max got back from poland, and we went out to a pub to catch up on the latest from that side of the continent, and i had my Big Exam Part Two with my supervisors and the head of the school i am in. it was a bit odd. i think my supervisor is annoyed with me, but at least i passed in the end....which is i suppose what matters.
4.1.07
HP7
we had a big staff meeting yesterday, with two vital pieces of news for all booksellers:
1 as of midnight the night before, all ISBNs in our search engine had suddenly grow to 13 digits, making things just that extra little bit confusing and
2. 2007 looks to be the year of the last harry potter book, or as the management is calling it the year of HP7. mind you, rowlings publisher has yet to receive the manuscript for this work, and there is still a chance it might not make it out this year at all, but it is ANTICIPATED to come out in the next 12 months, so the company i work for is already devising a strategy for dealing with this. as of next week, we will start informing customers, and giving out harry potter bookmarks. the bosses say this will be bigger than christmas, and will take months of preparation. the employees will more senority who were around for HP6 tell horror stories of having to wear awful tee shirts and being attacked by throngs of little kids. and, of course, on the night the book does finnally come out, we will stay open around the clock. the shop will close at 9 for three hours of preparation, and then reopen at midnight and one minute to start the sales. the boss has already put up a sign up sheet to find out who is willing to work the overnight shift. there is double pay, so naturally i volunteered!
1 as of midnight the night before, all ISBNs in our search engine had suddenly grow to 13 digits, making things just that extra little bit confusing and
2. 2007 looks to be the year of the last harry potter book, or as the management is calling it the year of HP7. mind you, rowlings publisher has yet to receive the manuscript for this work, and there is still a chance it might not make it out this year at all, but it is ANTICIPATED to come out in the next 12 months, so the company i work for is already devising a strategy for dealing with this. as of next week, we will start informing customers, and giving out harry potter bookmarks. the bosses say this will be bigger than christmas, and will take months of preparation. the employees will more senority who were around for HP6 tell horror stories of having to wear awful tee shirts and being attacked by throngs of little kids. and, of course, on the night the book does finnally come out, we will stay open around the clock. the shop will close at 9 for three hours of preparation, and then reopen at midnight and one minute to start the sales. the boss has already put up a sign up sheet to find out who is willing to work the overnight shift. there is double pay, so naturally i volunteered!
3.1.07
bread
since the NHS told me i had to go on a special diet (due to stomach problems, apparently the result of bad genetics) i have been a bit stuck as to what to eat. the doctors told me to avoid eating wheat, which ruled out a seemingly endless list of things i had previously lived on, in particular it meant no longer eating sandwiches for lunch, the most convient thing to have ordinarily.
so one day at work i was telling my collegues about my dietary woes, when connor, one of my collegues, had a brilliant suggestion: buy a bread maker.
so i went to argos, flipped through the catelougue, and following connor's advice got a middle-range machine. i brought it home, read the instructions, dumped in the right ingrediants, just swapping gluten free flour for the regular stuff, and in three hours the whole flat smelled like fresh raisin bread. it was even edible!
so, thanks to connor's ingenious suggestion, i can go back to things like toast and sandwhichs, and start to feel like a normal human being again!
2.1.07
1.1.07
с новым годом!!!
and so, another year is upon us. last year i wrote a lond retrospective on the 2005 which had just ended, but i am not inclined to do so now.
2006 wasnt a bad year, but it wasnt particularly remarkable either. it was spent in the usual places: mainly moscow and london, with visits to paris and budapest...tallinn and minneapolis as well, and some other places i cant remember now.
i got my first book contract, and moved forward slightly with my research, but i have yet to see the book in print, and the research still has a long way to go. so it was sort of a year spent in a holding pattern.
but change is in the air....i have tickets to oman, india, and malta forming a pile on my desk, and some odd plans for the coming months are being floated in my brain.
so lets hope 2007 will be a bit more dynamic.
happy new year everyone!!!!
2006 wasnt a bad year, but it wasnt particularly remarkable either. it was spent in the usual places: mainly moscow and london, with visits to paris and budapest...tallinn and minneapolis as well, and some other places i cant remember now.
i got my first book contract, and moved forward slightly with my research, but i have yet to see the book in print, and the research still has a long way to go. so it was sort of a year spent in a holding pattern.
but change is in the air....i have tickets to oman, india, and malta forming a pile on my desk, and some odd plans for the coming months are being floated in my brain.
so lets hope 2007 will be a bit more dynamic.
happy new year everyone!!!!
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