End of 2007, start of 2008
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, I’ve been a busy girl, touring Ireland for the last two weeks, spending time with family and meeting up with old friends in all corners. This involved being very festive (cough) and doing alot of eating and drinking, great times were had all round.
So, now that I am back, and starting a new year, I can’t help but think what were the highs and what were the lows for 2007? Food highs were trips to Tokyo, Spain & Paris, all fantastic places with food to match. Starting this blog and all the wonderful feedback I have had from you lovely readers, the blogosphere at large has been very inspiring. Menu for Hope was particularly great, raising a grand total of $91,188.00! Thanks to everyone who participated.
Food lows, apologies to anyone from Japan, but I don’t think I will ever quite recover from eating an octopus ball in Tokyo, it looked so delicious but just wasn’t to my taste and gave me quite a shock! I was expecting something quite crispy but contained within was a slimy octopus in what felt like raw egg. Other food lows: the first night I moved flat and couldn’t find the switch to turn on the cooker (I should be too embarassed to disclose this!) and resorting hungrily to a pot noodle, although I did wash that down with a fine glass of malbec :-)
Food news from Christmas? Unfortunately, I had a bit of an accident and tripped over running for my train on the 21st December, resulting in the loss of a fingernail and a very swollen finger, I still can’t take my ring off and that was over two weeks ago! So, I wasn’t much use for chopping but did experiment a little, instead of our usual brussel sprout puree we tried stir frying them with bacon, butter and hazelnuts with great success. Another was celeriac soup with parsley and hazelnut cream, alas, I had no camera but will make it again soon. I spent five days in Dingle in the West of Ireland with some friends, we rented a house and the 5 days involved a lot of good comfort food, like pasta amatricana and vegetarian boston baked beans. Lots of very nice wine was swilled in accompaniment.
Sadly, that’s all over now and I find myself in 2008. 2008, I know, is just a number, but it is a time for new beginings and new focus, even if I am not quite sure what that will involve yet! I am ripe for it though, who knows what’s ahead?
For now, while I gather myself and get ready for my first day back at work, I’ll leave you with some of my fave photos from my highlights of the year, mostly food related as that’s why you’re here. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year to you all!
A Shinto wedding I happened upon in Tokyo at the Meiji-Jingu shrine
Gorgeous food at a local izakaya in Tokyo
A photo with the chef at another Izakaya, he insisted :-)
Prawn sushi in Tokyo
Tomatoes at a Parisian food market
Spices in Granada, Spain
Tapas bar in Granada, Spain
A beach in Dingle, Kerry, where I finished the year… no better place
Comments
happy new year! sad to hear about your takoyaki experience… a severely cooked one from what it sounds! the best sort are crisp on the outside and soft (but not runny… though i think it varies from region to region, like okonomiyaki) and the octopus fresh and ‘al dente’ (can’t think of a better word).
anyways looking forward to more posts.. it’s been rather quiet on your front!
Hi there! Ah, maybe I should give it another try then. I hope to get to Japan again in the near-ish future. Perhaps I could look it up in London. Anywhere you would recommend?
Happy New Year to you too! I have had alot going on in my personal life which has interfered with the blog, but a vague new years resolution involves blogging more often :-)
Sadly I don’t know of any place in London that does good takoyaki! I’ve only ever seen it done in the Brick Lane Sunday Upmarket, which look alright but I haven’t tried it. I don’t think they look crisp enough on the outside, though. Might give it a try later!
lovely photos! the spice market in spain looks like i would fall in love with it. and that prawn sushi looks amazing! whenever i order shellfish sashimi in the u.s., it’s always at least lightly cooked — obviously i have to go to japan!!!