Nightwol's Blog

Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 10

2011-09-15T21:06:00.000+01:00

Thursday, 15th September, 2011

I did not sleep well the last night. Lisa spent much of the night in the sitting room where she could sleep propped up to ease the coughing which has plagued her for the last day or two. At seven I started pottering around, putting away the bedding and emptying the dishwasher. I made coffee for us both but neither of us felt in the mood to eat anything in the way of breakfast.

We had plenty of time before we had to leave so we were able to finish packing and clearing the place up at a relatively comfortable pace. As she'd promised, Lisa called Perry about an hour before we left. We closed up all the shutters and took out all the trash, loaded up the cool bag with our food for the train and then had nothing left to do but leave.

We walked over to the Gorbella tram stop and rode down to the station with our luggage. We had three pieces each and they were somewhat heavier than when we left England because of the culinary supplies we'd bought to take back with us. We got to the station with over half an hour in hand but eventually our train was given a platform and we struggled down and up the stairs to get over to the right place. The train came in almost at once and we quickly got settled in our seats ready for the seven hour ride to Lille.

Our coach was very sparsely populated as we left Nice to begin trundling along the Mediterranean coast as far as Marsaille. At each stop along the way a few more passengers joined the train. We had smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches for breakfast and soon afterwards Lisa reclined her seat and settled down for a nap.

A big influx of passengers at Toulon left our coach pretty much full and, after Avignon, the train picked up speed for the long run north through France to Marne la Vallée on the outskirts of Paris. We had ham and cheese sandwiches and a couple of pieces of fruit for lunch. There was a mass exodus from the train at Charles de Gaulle airport and only a select few of us continued towards Haut Picardy and Lille.

We arrived at Lille just a few minutes late and made our way up to the waiting room to await the opening of check-in for the Eurostar to London. The train arrived on time and left promptly. The passengers from Paris had already been served dinner so we could not help feeling like late arrivals at a dinner party. After a while I flagged down a purser who then served us a meal with suitably profuse apologies.

The Eurostar was packed and there was quite a stampede on disembarking at St. Pancras but to my dismay King's Cross was even worse: the station was jam packed with people and it was standing room only on the train to Cambridge. It was such a relief to be released from this grim coda to a very pleasant journey from Nice! We got a taxi home, fed the cats and then headed up the street to the Empress to end the evening in congenial surroundings.

Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 9

2011-09-14T20:59:00.000+01:00

Wednesday, 14th September, 2011

In spite of the late night, I woke at seven. I lay quietly with Lisa until about nine before making coffee and taking out the bottles and "emboullages". We talked together about our sense of not having had as much "us" time while here as we would have liked. We determined in future to get up and out earlier so that we would have time to ourselves in the town before meeting up with Perry. We made a quick breakfast and were out around ten thirty.

We got off the tram at the Cathédrale stop and walked down through the main street of the old town, past the familiar shops and the fish market. Once at the Cathedral itself, we zig-zagged back through Vieux Nice to emerge in the Cours Saleya at les Ponchettes. By now the noon-day gun had gone off and the churches rung their agreement as to the hour so we walked directly round Quai Rauba Capeau to Foresta.

After a short chat and some nice cold water, we walked down to Quai Lunel to lunch at the Vesuvio, aka Chez Marinette & Fred. Marinette greeted us all warmly and we were seated at a very nice outside table. We all three consulted the menu but Lisa and Perry both decided to reprise favourite dishes from previous visits: an assiette cannibale (steak tartar and beef carpaccio) for Lisa and lasagne for Perry. I chose the "Joue de Lott" which was monkfish and moules in a creamy sauce flavoured with tarragon and saffron. We ordered a bottle of "Domine de la Croix" a cru classé Côtes de Provence rosé to drink, plus the regulation apple juice for Perry.

My dish was absolutely delicious! We definitely bookended our visit with the two best lunches judged on sheer quality of cooking. Lisa loved hers too and Perry was as satisfied as always with his favourite lasagne. Sitting on the Quai, in the warm sun, in such welcoming surroundings, eating such fine food (and very good wine too!) was heavenly. For dessert, Lisa had ice cream with chantilly cream and so (in the form of a Café Liègeoise) did I, while Perry opted for the "tarte paysanne". Coffee, of course, to finish along with a Limoncello "on the house". Perry graciously allowed me to pick up the bill for the lunch and, at the third attempt to get a card accepted by the machine, so we were able to treat him for once.

Lunch over we walked slowly down to the end of the Quai and then back along Rue de Foresta to Perry's place. There we sat out on the terrace and chatted for a couple of hours while looking out over the port. We ate the water melon that Lisa bought yesterday and Perry produced a half bottle of Champagne to toast Lisa's forthcoming birthday. The last parting is always the hardest but eventually we made our farewells, promising to call tomorrow and, of course, to return in March.

Lisa and I walked along the Quai des Etats-Unis to the Jardin Albert 1er and caught the tram at the Opéra stop. At the Casino on Cessole, we got bread and supplies for tomorrow's train journey. Back in the apartment, we reopened up all of the balcony doors and sat quietly for an hour or two before making a start on the packing. Once we'd made good headway with that, we turned our attention to the task of making the sandwiches for tomorrow. That done, we felt we'd made sufficient preparation for the journey and grazed on a selection of meats, cheeses, olives and tomatoes that we had left over. We felt very relaxed even though very sad that, yet again, we have to tear ourselves away from this place that we love so much.

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Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 8

2011-09-13T20:44:00.001+01:00

Tuesday, 13th September, 2011

Photographic Museum, Nice

Lisa was feeling a little better this morning so, after the usual coffee and breakfast, we got out rather earlier than usual so that we could do some shopping at the Market in the Cours Saleya. We took the tram to the Cathédrale stop and walked through Vieux Nice to the Cours.

Lisa bought plenty of Marsailles soap, herbes de Provence, and paprika from various stalls to take back to the UK and finally a quarter water melon to take to Perry's. Errands complete we treated ourselves to a beer at the Civet de Cours before making our way round to Foresta.

We put the water melon in the fridge and helped ourselves to cold drinks while Perry finished some work on the computer. Our goal for the afternoon was the photographic museum ("Le théâtre de la photographie et de l'image Charles Negre") so we decided to try lunching close by and if unsuccessful close to the museum. We were once again turned away from "G Square" (clearly we do not have the right stuff to be allowed the privilege of access to their tables - fortunately an attitude that is exceedingly rare in Nice) so we took a bus to the Pietonne were we ate at "O'Palermo".

Lisa selected a squid dish, Perry went for the moules (marinières) frîtes and I choose veal escalope à la crème. My veal was delicious and Perry enjoyed his moules but Lisa found her squid overcooked and hence somewhat chewy. I picked a 2010 Bandol rosé and Lisa and I shared a half-bottle of that while Perry stuck with his regular tipple of apple juice. The wine was excellent. For dessert, Perry opted for the tarte tatin with ice cream, Lisa had a Café Liègeoise and I got a panna cotta with strawberry coulis. Coffee, of course, to finish. Apart from Lisa's squid, all was very tasty.

It was just a short walk from the Pietonne across Avenue Jean Médecin to the museum on Boulevard Dubouchage. The current exhibition is entitled "Parcours photographique" and features the work of several photographers capturing different aspects of Nice in a variety of styles. I was especially struck by a series of large, colour prints in a series called "Urbanistique". These showed figures of people juxtaposed in settings at once incongruous and illuminating, such as a pair of depictions of a mountaineering couple posed on ledges high above the railway station, a pianist playing in the middle of the tramway, a skier skiing down the tramway, an angel about to dive into an empty swimming pool, and several more very arresting images of that sort.

We caught a bus back to Place Garibaldi and walked down Ségurane to Foresta. We made plans for the following day (our last before returning home on Thursday) and then collected our shopping but left the melon to share tomorrow. After a beer in the Civet de Garibaldi, we got the tram home and I went up to Monoprix while Lisa called in at Casino on her way back to the apartment.

After a couple of hours or so of chilling, to the accompaniment of some Ron Carter (with and without Jim Hall) on the iPod (the first music we've played on this visit), it was time to have some supper. Lisa prepared a pair of Toulouse sausages fried in onions and each served in a half-baguette slathered with Dijon mustard. These were wonderfully tasty and very satisfying. Thanks to Lisa's Casino expedition, we had a bottle of 2010 Château de l'Aumerade Côtes de Provence rosé to go with supper; very nice indeed!

We stayed up rather later than recently, so it wasn't until 12:30 that we both headed for bed.

Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 7

2011-09-12T19:45:00.001+01:00

Monday, 12th September, 2011

2010 Château Montaurone
Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence rosé

Lisa didn't feel any better this morning so she called Perry to say that we would stay up in Cessole for the day. I made coffee and we walked up to Monoprix via the pharmacy below our apartment where we got a nasal spay for Lisa. We got quite a lot of food for the next couple of days and some olives and mustard to take back to Cambridge. We rested up in the sitting room for a while before having something to eat for lunch at 2pm.

Lisa made us a picnic of reheated roast chicken, bread, cheeses and saucisson which we spread out on the coffee table in the sitting room and ate, mostly with our fingers. We enjoyed a 2010 Coteaux d'Aix en Provence rosé with the lunch.

After a couple of hours sitting with our respective iPads, Lisa (with my assistance) began to prepare dish of eggplant parmagiana which went into the oven to bake for a while. Almost as soon as the apartment was filled with the scent of baked aubergine, it was time to take the dish out and let it cool for a while before serving. The flavour was very intense, with a powerful aubergine taste which I really liked. We had a glass or two each of a 2008 Cahors that we had put by in the cupboard. After two portions each, we were both quite sated with eggplant parmagianna so we called it quits and I cleaned up the kitchen while Lisa snoozed on the couch.

Lisa headed for bed at 10:30 and I followed immediately afterwards.

Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 6

2011-09-11T19:38:00.000+01:00

Sunday, 11th September, 2011

It was very bright this morning and soon very warm. I waited until Lisa was moving about before joining her. I made coffee but she did not want to eat any breakfast. We went up to Monoprix to get some supplies and hoping to be able to get a cold remedy for Lisa but it seems you can't buy such things in supermarkets here the way you can in the UK.

Today being a Sunday, all of the local pharmacies were closed so, once we were on the tram, I called Perry to ask if he knew of one that would be open on a Sunday. He suggested two that might be open in rue Cassini so we rode the tram to Place Garibaldi and went down to the port that way. Both pharmacies were shut but the second at least had a sign in the window listing a few that were open today. We noted that one was back in Avenue Jean Médecin.

Once we got to Foresta, we explained Lisa's plight to Perry and he found some decongestant amongst his supplies of medication from the States. This gave Lisa some immediate relief such that she felt able to go to lunch on the port. By now it was getting quite late but we walked around to the far side and found they had room for us at La Vigna on Quai Deux Emmanuels. We all felt in the mood for fish today: grilled sea bass ("loupe") for Perry, a blanquette of monkfish ("Lott") and salmon filets in a creamy sauce for me, and a mixed seafood grill for Lisa which included salmon, cod, prawns and scallops among others. Lisa and I shared a half-bottle of Côtes de Provence rosé, while Perry had his usual apple juice.

The fish was all extremely good and all three of us were delighted with our meals. The best quality cooking since Le Nautique on Wednesday. For dessert, Perry opted for the chocolate fondant while Lisa and I both chose Café Liegeoise. The desserts and the coffee to finish were well up to scratch so we were very pleased with our whole experience there this afternoon.

We walked slowly back to Foresta by which time it was gone four so, after a short while chatting on the balcony, we retrieved our shopping from Perry's fridge and made our farewells. We stopped for a beer in Place Garibaldi and got a tram from there up to the Jean Médecin stop. We walked further up the street looking for the pharmacy at No. 60. To our great relief, it was indeed open and were able to get some "Actifed" for Lisa's congestion.

We continued up to the Gare Thiers stop where we caught the following tram to Gorbella. This was very full and sweaty and by the time we got in to the apartment we were both drenched in sweat. We did what we could to cool down and Lisa took an Actifed. Then she lay down on the sofa to try to get some sleep and I spent the next hour writing this up to date here.

After a couple of hours, Lisa wanted to eat so I prepared an "assiette de fromage" for each of us with some sliced baguette. We turned in around ten, with Lisa opting to try sleeping in the bedroom, at least to begin with.

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Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 5

2011-09-10T00:03:00.002+01:00

Saturday, 10th September, 2011

Musée Matisse, Cimiez

Yet another bright, sunny and very warm morning! Following our usual routine, we left at 11:45 and took the tram down as far as Opéra from where we walked through the Cours Saleya and round to Foresta via Quai des Etats-Unis and Quai Rauba Capeau. We talked Perry through changing the battery in his camera and inserting and removing the memory card. Perry proposed that we lunch at the "ex-Bliss" on Quai Rauba Capeau before taking a taxi to the Musée Matisse.

What used to the the Bliss is now known as "Leo's" and looks much more modern and "young". The food was good, though, although I don't think I made the best choice in opting for the risotto with mushrooms and truffles. Lisa had a Salade Niçoise and Perry a tomato and mozzarella salad which they both reported to be very good. Lisa and I had crème brûlée for dessert while Perry went for the tarte tatin. Very nice coffee to finish with.

As planned, Perry called for a taxi which took us up the hill to Cimiez and the Musée Matisse. As we walked over to the villa which houses the museum we passed a quintessential French scene of several games of boules in progress under the trees. The museum itself proved to be a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar exhibits which was well worth seeing. After the museum, we walked past the remains of the Roman arena, over to the nearby cemetery to visit the tomb of Matisse which is located in a peaceful, secluded garden away from the main burial ground.

We waited for a long time at the bus stop by the cemetery. Tour buses came and went and we saw a 1950s American Ford Custom sedan being used as a wedding car but no No. 17 bus came by. After an hour we walked a short way down the street to the next road where there were stops for other services and soon caught a bus into the city centre from there. We all alighted together at Avenue Jean Médecin and we saw Perry onto his bus to the port before walking down to Place Masséna for a beer.

We watched a succession of utterly crammed full trams heading towards the port where there was to be a festival tonight. After a while we walked on into the Cours Saleya and Les Ponchettes followed by pizza at La Storia. Lisa had a Cannibale and I had another very meaty one called a Pinocchio. We shared a bottle of Chianti with the pizzas. Towards the end of the meal, Lisa was talked into buying a wooden elephant figure by a Senegalese street trader; she did at least talk him into letting her have it for €10 rather than the €35 he initially asked for.

We walked back to the Opéra tram stop and were treated to a blast from Verdi's Aida as we passed the opera house. Once back at the apartment, we opened all the windows and balcony doors to help cool the place down a bit. At one point we could see and hear the fireworks from the festival at a the port.

I turned in fairly early and Lisa came to bed a little later but she could not sleep as her cold was feeling much worse when she lay down. Eventually, Lisa took her bedding through into the sitting room so that she could lie propped up on the sofa there. That way she did at least get a few hours' sleep.

Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 4

2011-09-09T23:52:00.001+01:00

Friday, 9th September, 2011

Oceanographic Institute, Monaco

The day of our excursion to Monaco started slowly. By the time we had showered and dressed and had breakfast, it was gone twelve before we set out for Gorbella. We got off the tram at Masséna and quickly found the stop where the No. 100 bus to Menton starts. The bus arrived almost immediately and we paid our €1 each and took a pair of seats towards the rear of the bus. The bus takes about an hour to reach Monaco, driving along the corniche by the sea. It was a comfortable ride and the views were magnificent!

We were unsure at which stop in Monaco we should alight and stayed on the bus all the way up Monte Carlo to the tourist office. There we picked up a street plan of Monaco and got directions for how to get from there to the aquarium by taking the No. 1 or 2 bus back to Monaco Ville. Once there it was not clear where we should go but we quickly worked it out with the help of our newly-acquired street plan.

We were pleased to find that the yellow submarine which we remembered from our previous trip is still on display outside the museum. Lisa bought us a baguette sandwich each for lunch which we ate while sitting in the warm sun. Lunch over, we got our admission tickets and climbed the imposing steps to the entrance to the museum. The aquarium is in the basement and the upper two storeys form the Oceanographic museum but much of the latter is currently occupied by an exhibition celebrating the recent wedding of Prince Albert II. As our main reason for coming was to see the aquarium, we headed downstairs into the gloom.

There is a lot to see in a relatively compact area. A large central shark lagoon is flanked by two wings: one for tropical fish and the other for Mediterranean fish. The temperature difference between the two wings is very marked! We spent a good two hours taking in all of the exhibits. The tropical fish were very exotic and brightly coloured while the Mediterranean species were more muted in colour and often quite familiar, many of them from the fishmonger's slab!

We rested our tired feet sitting on benches watching the shark tank for quite a while before taking a look around the upper floors. These were a curious mixture of displays: huge skeletons of whales hung from the ceiling, old fashioned displays in wooden cases and more modern exhibits. I particularly enjoyed seeing the reconstruction of a nineteenth century oceanographic survey ship's laboratory. We exited via the gift shop where I bought the traditional fridge magnet.

By now it was after six so we walked back down from Le Rocher to the Place des Armes where we should have got off the bus from Nice. We quickly located the return stop and a bus arrived almost immediately. In fact TWO arrived simultaneously. We got on the second bus and found seats, though not together. The ride back was as pleasant as the ride out and seemed to pass even more quickly.

We got off at Place Garibaldi and went to the Civette de Garibaldi for a couple of St. Omer "à la pression". After that we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out at the Grand Café de Turin next door. We found a table for two in the open air on the edge of the Place Garibaldi. Lisa went for variety with a mixed platter of raw and cooked seafood whle I kept things simple with a dozen "No. 1" oysters. We shared a bottle of Sancerrre and passed a very pleasant couple of hours in the warm evening. Lisa found her platter quite a lot to deal with so I had three of her eight oysters. The food was wonderfully fresh and a real pleasure to eat. It was a really magical experience.

After coffee, we strolled back across the Place Garibaldi to catch the tram home. We looked through the photos we'd taken today. Inside an aquarium is a difficult place to take pictures and even Lisa, with her DSLR, struggled to get really good shots of the fish we saw. We played iPad games for a while, then I was the first to turn in.

Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 3

2011-09-08T23:36:00.002+01:00

Thursday, 8th September, 2011

Painting at MAMAC

Lisa was the first one up and about this morning and it wasn't until about half past nine that I joined her and put the coffee on. As well as the cooked ham, today we had a lovely block of goat's cheese as part of our breakfast. This went down very well. The morning was bright and sunny from the first and Lisa tried out her new telephoto lens for a while after we'd eaten. We got ourselves out a little earlier this morning and took the tram down to Place Garibaldi. We walked down rue Cassini in the hot sunshine and arrived at Foresta at 12:15.

Perry greeted us and quickly steered us out again because Nicole was busy in the apartment. Nicole has kept house for Perry and Jean for the best part of twenty years now, both at Cessole and Foresta. She is a real treasure and a very pleasant person; she always greets Lisa and I very warmly if we turn up at Foresta while she's there. Perry, though, doesn't like to receive company while Nicole is working so we have got used to being quickly but firmly ushered back out if we arrive while she's there.

We walked up Ségurane to the Place Garibaldi but there was no room for us at the "Square G" restaurant that Perry had hoped would be our lunch venue for the day. Consequently, we walked back down towards the Port to try our luck at "Le Local", an Italian restaurant in rue Rusca which Nicole had recommended. Perry did not seem sure it was a good choice but Lisa and I were game and so we were seated at an outdoor table and checked out the menu. Lisa chose a dish of gnocchi and aubergine as her main course while Perry and I both went for the lasagne with pesto. Before that, however, we agreed to share a platter of cold meat with Lisa as a starter.

There were seven types of Italian charcuterie on the platter including Salami di Napoli, Mortadella, Coppa, a Parma- style cured ham, a sweet sausage, a spicy salami and a cooked ham. A very varied selection but all very good indeed. Our main courses were no less appreciated: Lisa reported that her gnocchi were light and fluffy and that the tomatoes and aubergine in the sauce were delicious. The lasagne was rolled very thin, almost like filo pastry, and very soft without being at all watery. The pesto was pungent and, as did Lisa's dish, included a few whole fresh basil leaves. I felt the food was terrific and very authentic. For dessert, Lisa and I opted for the home-made tiramisu which was served in a small Kilner jar and was wonderfully light with delightfully soft and moist sponge. Perry said that he enjoyed his rum baba too. Coffee to finish was distinctly Italian rather than French. All in all it was a very enjoyable meal: not fine dining like yesterday but good, honest, satisfyingly tasty food that Lisa and I agreed we'd be keen to sample again.

As we had walked to Garibaldi and now almost all the way back to the Port, Perry requested that we take a bus back up to MAMAC: our cultural destination for the afternoon. The current exhibition was unusual in that, rather than focussing on an individual or a small group of artists, it was based around a theme and featured works by a large number of artists unified by the significance of colour in the pieces. Several of the pieces were drawn from the museum's permanent collection and so were familiar to us yet rendered unfamiliar in the altered context. It made for a stimulating and rewarding couple of hours viewing. Out on the terrace, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Assan Smati's sculpture "Dos Santos" was still in place,the two huge wooden pylon figures looking very different in the hot hazy sunshine than they had in the pouring rain back in March.

We walked Perry slowly back to Foresta. He was feeling quite spent. We agreed to meet again the day after tomorrow and that tomorrow would be a good day for Lisa and I to make our excursion to Monaco without him. We showed Perry some recent photos on our iPads, including a few that we'd taken today. Finally we left the poor man alone and, as yesterday, made our way round by the sea-front to the Cours Saleya for a couple of beers, this time at our frequent haunt: les Planchettes. Much heart-to-heart talking ensued without, for once, leading to discord. We strolled through the old town to Place Garibaldi and caught a tram home. No need for Monoprix tonight.

We grazed on a selection of olives, Coppa, carrot sticks with cheese dip, and salty snacks. We cleared most of this away and Lisa retreated to the bedroom with her Kindle while I looked in some old guide books for some information to help deal with the prospect of Monaco on the morrow. By midnight I had done with that and so caught up with my journalling to this point before I too headed for bed.

Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 2

2011-09-07T19:31:00.001+01:00

Wednesday, 7th September, 2011.

Lunch at Le Nautique

There was no school today, so it was unusually quiet at 8:45 when my alarm went off, even though we had left all the windows and balcony doors wide open all night for coolness. As the morning was looking cloudy and cool, I closed up the doors while making coffee for us both.

Breakfast was a simple affair of cream cheese and ham on bread and butter with orange juice. We took our time getting ourselves organised and it was almost noon before we set out for the tram stop over on Gorbella. We rode the tram as far as Place Garibaldi and walked down Ségurane to Foresta. By now the sun had burned off the early morning haze and was quite fiercely bright and delightfully warm.

Perry welcomed us and we passed over our gifts of various quintessentially British biscuits. We chatted for a while and then agreed to go down to Le Nautique on Quai Lunel for lunch. Perry was warmly greeted by the proprietor of the place and we were seated at a table to the rear of the terrace. Lisa and Perry both opted to have the grilled loup (sea bream) while I ordered the risotto St. Jaques (scallops). Lisa and I shared a half of Côtes de Provence rosé. The food was spectacularly good: far better than on our last visit (a year ago - it was closed for refurbishment, read "gutted and rebuilt from the inside out", in March) and back to the excellence of our first visit with Lisa's uncle.

We had desserts (crème caramel for Lisa and I, chocolate fondant for Perry) which were, like the wine, good but not as outstanding as the main dishes. Typically excellent coffee to finish (restaurants in France generally do serve extremely good coffee) with Limoncello "on the house". Although we were so close to the busy Quai, the traffic (apart from the acasional motorcycles) was not disturbing and we enjoyed sitting and talking for a couple of hours out of the direct sun.

Eventually we moved on to make our way gently back up to Foresta where we sorted out Perry's camera battery charger (I'd bought the required adapter with me from England) and continued talking for another hour or more. We made plans for a couple of museum visits but Perry declined to join us on a trip to Monaco to see the aquarium there. Having set a time to meet tomorrow, we made our farewells and walked around Quai Rauba Capeu to the Cours Saleya and had a couple of "Seize" at the Civette de la Cours while sitting in the late afternoon sun and watching the world go by.

We got the tram home from the Cathédrale stop and popped into the Gorbella Monoprix for a few bits and pieces (plus a set of 19cl wine glasses and a bra). We grazed on a selection of snacks, including some fresh prawns which we dipped in cocktail sauce, and I had another beer. Lisa went off for an early night and I turned in some time afterwards.

Nice Journal - Autumn 2011 - 1

2011-09-06T18:46:00.009+01:00

Tuesday, 6th September, 2011.

Begonia at Cessole

Our alarms got us up at 3am so that we would be in time to catch the first train of the day out of Cambridge. Our packing and food for the journey had all been completed the previous day. We managed a smooth exit from the house, one of the least fraught I can remember! We took a taxi to the station and the train down to Tottenham Hale (the first King's Cross train leaves too late to make the connection with the 7:22 Eurostar). From there we took a tube to King's Cross and went straight to the Eurostar terminal in St. Pancras International, checked in and went through the security checks and passport control.

The train to Paris was only about half-full. We ate home-made smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches for breakfast as soon as we were underway. Later we were served croissants and coffee etc. on the train. It was a smooth 2.5hr run through to Gare du Nord then two stops on the RER to Gare de Lyon. There was a short wait for our train to be ready then we had a long hike down the platform to the very front coach of the train.

Unlike the Eurostar, the TGV (which was going on to Ventimiglia, just across the border in Italy) was pretty full. We settled into our comfy seats for the six-hour journey down to Nice. We had brought home-made ham and cheese sandwiches for our lunch and ate these with some fruit and a couple of packs of crisps as we hammered through the French countryside at 300km/hr. Although we had both brought plenty of reading material for the trip, I spent much of the time just watching the scenery fly by outside.

Once we reached Toulon, the speed abated and the frequency of stops increased as we worked our way along the Mediterranean coast. We got to Nice at 5:45pm feeling relaxed and de-stressed by the wonderfully comfortable ride. A short taxi ride up to Cessole and we were done. Nice was very warm and quite humid: a welcome change from the cool, grey weather in the UK and Paris.

Perry had visited the apartment the previous day and left us a begonia pot-plant and a couple of multiple-use tram/bus tickets along with a brief welcome message, and a bottle of rosé in the fridge. How sweet of him! We dumped our luggage and headed straight over to the Monoprix on Gorbella to get something for dinner and breakfast and some beer and snacks. Back home we opened a beer each, turned on the overhead fan, opened up all the doors onto the balconies and got ourselves unpacked. Lisa called Perry to let him know we'd arrived safely and arranged to meet tomorrow.

Dinner was rump steak and a simple salad accompanied by the 2009 Côtes de Rhone rosé "L'emblème du Terroir" that Perry had left us. All very fine indeed!

Dinner over, I loaded the dishwasher and laid out the bedding. I then immediately lay down to sleep. Lisa stayed up for a while in the sitting room and came to bed somewhat later.

A Soggy Day in London Town

2011-06-05T23:59:00.041+01:00

My alarm went off at its normal working day time of 6am but this was a Sunday! Necessary, though if we were to get out on time. Our destination was a day at Lord's Cricket Ground in London to see the third day of the second test match between England and Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Ticket 2011

We'd prepared our lunch and tea the evening before so it was just a question of loading up two cool bags from the fridge and we were ready to go. A cab to the station was the first leg of the journey into London. Time for a coffee at the station before our train pulled in. It was already clear that the warm sun of the last two days had deserted us and we were in for a cool and cloudy day. We had extra clothing layers in our bags to take care of that so we felt well prepared. The train journey into London passed off pleasantly enough then two short tube legs brought us within walking distance of the ground.

All the way from Cambridge we'd been spotting people clearly headed to the same place and as we walked up St. John's Wood Road we were part of a stream of fellow spectators. There was no hold-up getting into the ground, in spite of the security searches of bags and people, and we made our way round behind the stands in search of the staircase leading up to our seats. We had front-row seats in the upper deck of the Compton Stand and so had a superb, uninterrupted view of the entire pitch.

View from our seats

Play resumed with Sri Lanka on 231-1 in their first innings in reply to England's 486. Sangakkara and Dilshan were batting and England's bowlers toiled to dislodge them. Only one wicket (that of Sangakkara) fell in the morning session. Even though things weren't going England's way, we were enjoying the atmosphere and the rare chance to see test cricket in the flesh. At lunch Dilshan and Mehela Jayawardene had taken the Sri Lankan total to 344-2.

Play in progress - morning session

We dove into our cool bags for some grilled chicken and some crudités with blue-cheese dip. There was a ham sandwich each and a selection of cubed cheeses. Quite enough to keep us going for another couple of hours. On the field we were entertained by a traditional Sri Lankan dance and drumming troupe and the usual groups of young school children playing "Quick Cricket".

Sri Lankan Drummers and Dancers

Quick Cricket

Play resumed under increasingly cloudy skies and about thirty minutes into the session, Dilshan received a nasty blow on the hand and took some time to resume playing. He was clearly handicapped by his injury and was out soon after for 193 which was a great shame as he thoroughly deserved to get his double century. After another half hour's play the sprinkles of rain that had come and gone all afternoon got heavy enough for the umpires to take the players off with the score at 372-3 and the famous Lord's hover cover to be brought on to cover the wicket.

Hover cover in position

It didn't seem that there was much prospect of the weather improving significantly and the rest of the covers were gradually brought on too. An early tea was declared. After tea the floodlights were turned on and play did actually resume but a grand total of five balls were bowled, with no addition to the score, before the players were taken off again.

Play in progress - for just five balls

This time it really did look terminal and we decided to cut our losses. As it turned out it was a smart move as there was indeed no further play that day. We walked back down towards the tube station and called in at the Green Man Inn next to Edgware Road (Bakerloo Line) Tube. There, over a few beers, we watched Rafael Nadal's demolition of Roger Federer in the Men's Singles final of the French Open Tennis Championship. Once that match was over we headed back to Cambridge where we finished off the day with a pizza at home.

Scoreboard at close of play

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Ross St,Cambridge,United Kingdom

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 14

2011-04-05T16:46:00.009+01:00

At 7am on Tuesday, 5th April, I made coffee before popping out for some bread. Lisa made sandwiches for the train while I put away the bedding and closed up all the shutters. As always we tried to leave as little as possible for Nicole to clean up after we'd gone. Lisa made a final farewell call to Perry and we were ready to leave. I called for a taxi but after two attempts and two fruitless waits in the call queue we decided to opt for plan B and lug all our stuff over to Gorbella and get the tram down to the station. We'd had taxi trouble getting to the airport in September so Lisa had insisted that we be prepared to get to the station by alternate means.

We left at 9:30 and were pretty heavily laden but we made it to the tram stop OK. To my immense relief, the tram wasn't busy and we got to sit by the door with all our bags for the four stops to "Gare-Thiers". From there it was a short walk to the station and we were soon settled on our seats ready for the off.

Nice - Lille TGV

Our seats were on the lower deck of the rearmost coach of the two coupled TGV trains on platform E and, as we left Nice, were two of only five passengers there. We gradually gained more company as we rolled along the Côte d'Azure towards Marseille where the two trains were due to separate. The front train was bound for Brussels whereas our train was due to terminate at Lille Europe from where we would get the Eurostar to London.

The train seemed much newer than the one that had brought us to Nice from Paris two weeks previously. The French TGVs are such wonderful trains! So smooth that there is no discernible transition from being stationary to moving and so quiet that all the passengers talk in whispers!

We had our breakfast of smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches after passing through Cannes. Lisa is dozing in the window seat and I'm now all caught up to date here. It's just passed noon and we are currently flying through beautiful French countryside in glorious sunshine somewhere before Toulon. Lisa is now reading her Kindle and the lady in the single seat across the aisle from me is playing Scrabble on her iPad so I think I shall go retro and read a paper-based book, Fuchsia Dunlop's "Shark's Fin & Sichuan Pepper", for a while.

* * *

At Marseille there was some delay as the two trains were separated but eventually we departed, reversing out of the platform so that we were now in the leading coach of the train. Lisa declared that now, 1:30, was time for lunch. So we opened up our cold bag and had a few sandwiches each and shared an orange. Now that the TGV is on the high-speed track north of Marsailles, it's racing along at a much faster speed. For Lisa and me it's back to the reading as we approach Avignon!

* * *

I finished the book just before we arrived at Marne-la-Vallée, on the outskirts of Paris, which I visited a couple of times on business back in 1993 when working on the Belgacom project (BNR Europe had a Meridian R&D lab there). After a short leg to Roissy-CDG, we are now on our way to Haute-Picardie: the last stop before we get to Lille. The weather is much cloudier now we are north of the capital; suggestive, perhaps, of what we are returning to in England.

* * *

We arrived at Lille right on time. Check-in for our train to London was not yet open so we waited a while in the waiting room. Finally we got to check in and wait in the featureless waiting room until allowed down onto the platform shortly before the Eurostar arrived from Brussels.

As soon as we were under way we were served a light meal with wine and coffee. It was raining in Lille and there was low white cloud all the way to the coast. By the time we re-emerged in England it was night time. We got into St. Pancras on time and were soon on a train for Cambridge.

And that, dear reader, is all I wrote!

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 13

2011-04-04T16:44:00.006+01:00

Monday, 4th April. Six in the morning is still over an hour before dawn here at this time of year so I came into the lounge and read for an hour before rejoining Lisa in bed for two more hours.

Self Portrait

At nine, I went out to buy bread and some Ibuprofen for Lisa. On my return, I made coffee and rejoined Lisa in bed once more for a pleasant hour or so's lie-in. I made some more coffee while Lisa prepared a mozzarella and tomato salad (complete with basil pesto which she made using a tea cup and a mustard jar as an improvised mortar and pestle!) for breakfast. Breakfast was delicious! The produce here is so fresh and so bursting with flavour that even the simplest of dishes taste extravagantly good!

After breakfast, I loaded the dishwasher, showered and shaved and got dressed to go shopping with Lisa to the Monoprix. We managed to get everything on our list, including a cold-bag to carry our food for tomorrow's 7.5 hour train journey to Lille.

For lunch we had our third helping of fish soup and all its bits. This was as wonderfully tasty as ever. After lunch we did most of our packing for tomorrow (during which the bookmark we'd bought for Perry in Lincoln came to light in the bottom of Lisa's bag) and then Lisa cut up a bunch of vegetables and a chicken which she seasoned and put in a pot with a can of tomatoes and other good stuff.

We let the whole lot bubble for about forty minutes then Lisa removed the vegetables from the pot and added two cut-up potatoes. After another forty minutes she returned the vegetables to the pot and brought everything back to the boil before turning off the gas and leaving the pot to sit on the stove for another hour or so. While all this was going on we variously read, wrote and played a game of Scrabble. Lisa also called Perry as had been arranged yesterday.

Last Night Dinner - Chicken Casserole

When we were ready to eat, Lisa served out the chicken casserole and I opened another bottle of the excellent white Graves that we'd enjoyed so much earlier in the week. As it's our last meal in Nice this visit, we took some photos. The dish was wonderfully tasty and we ate a surprising amount of what had seemed plenty for four! The wine did not disappoint the second time around either. I mentioned during the meal that we have very often ended a visit here with a chicken dish on the last night.

We cleared away and ran the dishwasher but we did not want the day to end so it was not until very late that we finally settled down for our last night at around three o'clock. What was left of the night was undisturbed but did not feature much in the way of sleep either.

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 12

2011-04-03T16:41:00.011+01:00

Sunday, 3rd April, was yet another sunny morning and I made coffee at 9am. We had a breakfast of bread and cheese with more coffee and were out of the apartment soon after 10:30. Considering it's Sunday, we didn't have long to wait for a tram.

Auto Bleue charging & rental point

As it was so sunny and warm, and our last day down in the centre-ville, I insisted that we get off at Massèna and walk along the promenade. As we made our way from the tram to the sea-front, we ran into an "auto bleue" electric vehicle charging and rental point, the first of these that we'd encountered.

Once we were in Perry's apartment I went with him into his study to disconnect and pack away his old computer. After a while, Lisa joined us and all three of us lugged the old PC into the lift and then into Perry's cave.

Back in the apartment, I helped Perry learn how to load photos from his new camera onto the PC hard drive. And, once he'd grasped that, we walked down to Quai Lunel to end the gustatory part of our visit where we'd begun: at chez Marinette and Fred, otherwise known as Le Vesuvio.

Greeted warmly by Marinette, we were seated at a lovely sunny table on the pavement. Perry and I both decided to have the lasagne today, while Lisa choose the "assiette cannibale" of steak tartare on a bed of beef carpaccio. For wine I picked a Chateau Robine (Côtes de Provence) red that was lovely and full. The lasagne lived up to its billing and Lisa declared that the carpaccio was a fitting addition to the tartare. For dessert, Lisa chose the Café Liègeoise, Perry went for a Tarte au Pommes Paysanne and I had one last Tiramisu. Coffees all round and Limoncello "on the house" completed our last meal together.

We walked back to Foresta and Perry phoned for a taxi to take us to the Musée des Beaux Arts at Les Baumettes. Lisa and I had visited here before on our own but hadn't been with Perry before today's visit.

Spread out over two floors with a huge staircase between the two, the Musée des Beaux Arts is full of sculpture and paintings, many of the latter on a truly grand scale. A very impressive collection that it took a good two hours to look through. I was especially taken with several sculptures by Michel de Tarnowsky, including a striking depiction of Marie Bashkirsteff.

Statue by Sacha Sosno

When we'd completed our tour round the collection we walked down the hill a little way to get a No. 10 bus back to the port. On the way down to the bus stop, Perry pointed out the statue (by local artist Sacha Sosno) embedded in the facade of the Elysee Palace Hotel on the Promenade des Anglais. Apparently there is a matching figure at the other end of the building.

After a final few minutes together at Perry's, we made our goodbyes, promising to call tomorrow evening, and walked back round the sea-front to stop off for another couple of beers at l'Eden on our way back to the tram.

Back home we put our feet up, played a game of Scrabble and decided that we didn't want supper. I took myself off to bed just after 11pm and Lisa followed some time later. At some point in the middle of the night I woke up feeling very uncomfortable so I took the splint out and dozed fitfully until about six.

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 11

2011-04-02T16:36:00.005+01:00

Saturday, 2nd April, was the date of the "vide grenier" (literally "attic emptying" or jumble sale) at the school across the road. So the playground was full of trestle tables piled with bric-a-brac and dozens of parents sorting through what was on offer. Unlike a playground full of kids, however, no noise at all reached us from all this activity below!

I made coffee at nine and we got talking. We even had a second cup of coffee each which we took onto the lounge to continue our conversation. As a result we had to make a quick breakfast and an equally quick getaway to be out of the building by 11:30. We got off the tram at Opera and bought Perry a potted Jasmine plant from his favourite gardening store. Then we walked straight through to the sea front and walked all the way round to Foresta in the warm sun on the promenade. We arrived at Perry's at around 12:15.

After some discussion we agreed that we'd eat in Vieux Nice before visiting the Palais Lascaris. So the three of us walked up Segurane to Garibaldi and spent some time looking at the artwork on display there. From there we walked on down through the old town and out onto the Cour Saleya. We waited for more than ten minutes at Bistro Romain but nobody acknowledged us, let alone offered to seat us, so we walked on and out onto the seafront where Lisa and I had been just over an hour before.

We fetched up at Le Bellanda on the Quai des Etats-Unis. We sat outside in hope of sunshine even though the sun was obscured by clouds at the time. We consulted the menu and Perry went for the scallops, Lisa for a stockfish stew and I chose the daube with gnocchi. From the wine list I selected a Bandol Rouge which turned out to be thoroughly excellent and we got through 1.5l of Badoit between us (more than half of it drunk by me!).

All judged the food to be first rate. The daube was dark and rich, unlike the one we make at home, and had two substantial pieces of beef. Very tasty and perfectly accompanied by the floury gnocchi. At dessert time, Perry and I both had the tiramisu (which was pungent and moist the way I like it and had cherries on it and so was the best one this visit since the one at the Vesuvio on our first day more than a week ago now) while Lisa chose a concoction of "white cheese" (seems more like some kind of yoghurt) with fig jam and honey which she really liked but of which she could eat no more than half. Coffee to finish, of course, and Perry allowed us to pick up the bill.

There had been some sun in fits and starts so we didn't rush to finish but at last made our way back into Vieux Nice. Our first port of call was at the Eglise St. Jacques "Le Gesu" in Place Jesus on the Rue Droit where we dutifully looked at the decoration and the painted saints before moving on to the Palais Lascaris.

The Palais Lascaris is a 17th century town house in the rue Droit in the centre of Vieux Nice. It houses a collection of musical instruments and documents from the archives of the Gaveau, Erard and Pleyel companies famous from the eighteenth to the twentieth for their pianos, harps and reproductions of older instruments. In addition to these collections the painted ceilings, tapestries and art works of the Palais itself are very attractive. The house is on four or more levels (of which the bottom three are open to the public) and a feature of the architecture that struck me wad that, although all of the rooms themselves are fully enclosed the staircase that connects them is open to the elements. I guess in a predominantly warm and dry climate this is not a problem. Anyway, the building and its contents are fascinating and it was well worth a visit.

After the Palais Lascaris, we continued a little further along rue Droit and the turned right to climb a stepped street (possibly the rue de Four) to place St Augustine where we looked around another church full of Saints: Eglise St. Martin - St. Augustine. From there we descended rue Sincaire, past the Foreign Legion recruiting office, down to the familiar environs of rue Catherine Segurane and thence back to Perry's.

Perry had done a lot of walking and stairs this afternoon so it was understandable that he was too tired to be shown anything on the computer as previously mooted. So we agreed to come early tomorrow and do the computer work before lunch. After some discussion, we agreed that the Musée des Beaux Arts would be our final cultural objective of this visit.

After we took our leave of Perry we walked back along the Promenade as far as a bar called l'Eden on the Cité du Port section of the Quai des Etats-Unis. Here we sat on the early evening sun for over an hour while sipping a couple of beers each. It was a nice atmosphere with fewer tourists than in the Cour Saleya and we both found it to be very relaxing.

Eventually it was time to continue our stroll along the front and up to the tram stop at Opera. Once back at Gorbella we both went up to Monoprix to get supplies including steak haché for tonight and a chicken for tomorrow.

Lisa duly made a dinner of the steak haché with the rest of her vegetable gratin and some fresh salad leaves. This was as delicious as it sounds and very satisfying.

I cleared up after the meal and we settled down to bed. I tossed and turned for several hours but finally got to sleep for a while before Lisa's alarm went off at 8:30am.

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 10

2011-04-01T16:33:00.007+01:00

Friday, 1st April, was again a warm sunny morning from first thing. I got up and made coffee and we had breakfast but somehow we didn't get out of the apartment until almost 11:30. We got the tram down as far as Opera and walked through the Cour Saleya and round Quai Rauba Capeu to Foresta. On our way through the Cour Saleya we bought some flowers and strawberries for Perry and some rouille spices for Lisa. Lisa also took quite a lot of photos so it was 12:30 by the time we got to Perry's.

We had not noticed the noon-day gun go off and Perry explained that the gun had been fired at 11am today, making a "poisson d'Avril" of the whole town.

Perry proposed that we go over to Villefranche-sur-Mer for lunch so, while we put his flowers in a vase, Perry called for a taxi and we went down to the street to wait for the car. Perry sat up front next to the very talkative driver and the two conversed all the way to Villefranche. We lunched at "Achill's" in the old "Calypso" building right next to the Customs offices on the waterfront. We sat out in the very warm sun and had our lunch.

Perry and Lisa both chose Cannelloni with spinach and cheese on a tomato sauce which they declared to be delicious and both ate all of their very large helpings. I went for the linguine with rabbit in a creamy sauce and did not regret my choice either. At Lisa's behest we did not have wine. For dessert, Perry had his favourite lemon tart, I had a lovely tarte-tatin, and Lisa had lemon and strawberry ice-cream. Coffee all round completed the meal, as ever.

Perry wanted to head back to Nice right after lunch so we took the No. 80 bus from Villefranche. This little bus took a bumpy, twisty route back to Nice, keeping high up the hill away from the sea. Quite unlike the quiet, smooth, sea-side ride of the Renault taxi before lunch. At last we rattled into Nice and changed onto a No. 7 to complete our journey back to the port.

We stayed a little while at Foresta before setting off for Garibaldi. We sat in the sun over a couple of beers and then went over to the Garibaldi Monoprix to shop for dinner before getting the tram home.

Lisa made us a vegetable gratin with canned and fresh tomatoes, aubergine, courgette and onions with fresh Mozarella and grated Grana Padana. This was very richly flavoured and deliciously fresh tasting in spite of being baked for quite some time. Again, Lisa did not want us to have wine with the meal.

I did what little clearing up there was to do after the meal and then settled down for bed. Again I lasted about five hours with the splint before it became too uncomfortable to bear. Tonight, however, I didn't wake Lisa by snoring once I'd taken it out. That was a relief because my teeth felt very sore for several hours after I removed the splint.

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 9

2011-03-31T16:31:00.007+01:00

Thanks to the device, Lisa had a much better night's sleep and awoke on Thursday, 31st March, feeling much refreshed. After I had made coffee as usual, we passed a very pleasant couple of hours in bed before rising soon after ten. Lisa made us cheese omelettes for breakfast.

We were not due to see Perry today, so we had made plans to take an excursion by ourselves to Antibes to see the Picasso museum there. Consequently we took the tram down to Massèna and walked along Av. Félix Faure looking for the bus stop for the Transport Alpes Maritimes (TAM) service 200 that runs between Cannes and Nice. It was very helpful that a 200 bus was waiting at the stop having just got in from Cannes! We boarded and payed our €1 fare and settled down for the ride to Antibes. I had to keep an eye out all the way to keep track of where we were so that we would know when we'd reached Antibes and the correct stop for our destination. We were successful in this and alighted in Av. Aristide Briand just off the Place du General Charles de Gaulle.

Place du General Charles de Gaulle

Lisa was keen to eat immediately so we sat down at the nearest eatery in the Place. This was the Duplex and we ordered a pizza for Lisa and I chose the fish dish of the day (a brace of petit lotte in a moroccan sauce with rice, broccoli and an unannounced langoustine). We had beer rather than wine and Lisa did not want a dessert so we just had a coffee to finish.

Lunch at the Duplex

After a visit to the tourist office (also located in the Place de Gaulle) we set off into the old town to go down to the sea and the Musée Picasso in Chateau Grimaldi next to the Cathedral. The main entrance was not open, so we went around to the rear of the building where a makeshift ticket office had been setup.

Chateau Grimaldi

On the ground floor of the Chateau a number of works by other artists are displayed. The was a Nikki de Sante Paulle snake and several other paintings and sculptures of varying merit. On the upper two floors, the emphasis turns more thoroughly to Picasso with an extensive collection of photos by Jacqueline Picasso and, from much earlier (in 1946), by Michel Sima together with drawings, sculpture and ceramics by Picasso himself.

Les Marionettes by César

There's a lot to see, packed into a fairly small space, including the room that Picasso used as his atelier during the three months he spent working at the Chateau in 1946. It's quite an intense experience to take in so much fascinating work in such a concentrated fashion. Once we'd completed the circuit and doubled back once or twice we spent a while in the bookshop looking at "paint with Picasso" books for kids and the like. Lisa bought some bookmarks and I bought a copy of the museum catalogue in English and an owl fridge magnet (there were several works depicting owls amongst the Picassos as well as some photos of Picasso with owls in the museum's collection).

Owl by Picasso

Back out in the warm, bright sunshine we spent some time on the terrace behind the museum looking at the sculptured housed there and at the view out over the sea and across to Nice. We both took several photographs at this point of the views, the sculpture, the museum building and each other.

Sculpture outside the Musée Picasso

Eventually we managed to drag ourselves away from this magical spot and headed back up the rue de la Republique towards the Place de Gaulle. We stopped of at a brasserie called "Pimms" for a beer while sitting on the sunshine.

Street scene from Brasserie Pimms

As the sun began to go down we made our way the rest of the way up to the Place, via a detour into a very interestingly-stocked stationery store where Lisa bought another fountain pen and a business card wallet in which she aims to house her collection of restaurant cards.

We did not have long to wait at the temporarily relocated bus stop in Blvd. Dugommier before the 200 bus to Nice came along and a crowd of people crammed into it. Lisa managed to secure seats for the two of us and the bus took us back to Nice to arrive around eight o'clock.

We strolled over to the Phnom Penh takeaway on rue de la Prefecture to get some sushi, noodles and crab/prawn rolls. We took these back to Cessole on the tram for dinner with a bottle of Cheverny (Loire) white wine. The sushi was quite reasonable and the rolls tasty but Lisa reported that the noodles were not very good.

Cheverny 2010

By now it was getting late after a fairly full day so we went to bed. I wore my anti-snoring device again but I woke up at 4am feeling very uncomfortable so I took it out and had a slice of bread with Brie. Some time after settling down again, Lisa elbowed me in the ribs again for snoring so I put the device in again until her alarm went off at seven.

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 8

2011-03-30T16:29:00.004+01:00

There were no children at school on Wednesday, 30th, and the day started overcast and dull so we did not get as early a start as we had hoped to make. However we still got to do our usual morning and get out to the tram in time to arrive in the old town around 11am. This gave Lisa an hour to shop for soap, oranges, salt, pepper and Spigol on our way through Cour Saleya and Vieux Nice on our way to Perry's.

We didn't stop for drinks but headed off almost at once to the far side of the port to the Barque Bleu for lunch.

Plaster Figures

As we reached the top of the port we paused briefly to admire two plaster figures high up on an apartment balcony - a kind of three-dimensional trompe-l'oeil.

The weather was still uncertain so we ate inside. Lisa had a grilled aubergine starter as a main course, Perry had moules Siciliennes (in a sauce with tomatoes) and I had Rigatoni in a gorgonzola and cream sauce. The wine was a Coteaux d'Aix en Provence red, very tasty! For dessert, Lisa had coffee ice-cream (not as tasty as yesterday's, she reported), Perry had a lemon meringue pie with a huge mass of meringue topping and I had yet another tiramisu. After coffee we walked up to the colonnade to take a taxi to the Musée Masena.

Musée Masena is housed in what was the home of the mayor of Nice until Napoleon III decided it would make a good home for some spare paintings he had lying around. The villa has recently been restored and the state rooms on the ground floor are worth seeing in their own right for their beautiful decoration. On the upper floor the emphasis is on the art works and the objects associated with the carnival at Nice.

We spent a good two hours looking at the contents and then, after a brief call at the gift shop for a couple of books, we caught a bus back to Seguranne and walked down to Foresta.

We did not stay long at Perry's but soon took our leave and made our way back to Garibaldi where we had a croque monsieur each at the Civette de Garibaldi brasserie. Lisa had a couple of glasses of rosé and I had a beer. We sat on the pavement in the late evening sun and found the atmosphere very much to our liking. Eventually we headed for the tram home.

At the supermarket yesterday evening I had bought all the makings for a repeat of our Soup de Poissons supper so we did not need to shop tonight and headed straight back to the apartment.

The soup was every bit as tasty as before and just as much fun. Definitely a winner in the bang for your bucks stakes! We opened a bottle of rosé that Perry had given us but it was undistinguished stuff so Lisa did not drink more than a couple of glasses.

After dinner we spent a little time preparing the anti-snoring device with which I'd been issued at Papworth. Lisa went to bed soon after that but I stayed up to write in this journal and finish the wine, which became a lot more tasty as it warmed up. Finally I fitted the device and joined Lisa on bed.

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 7

2011-03-29T16:26:00.004+01:00

A sunny morning greeted us again on Tuesday, 29th. Lisa was feeling under the weather so she only had coffee and juice before we set out at 11:30 for Perry's. I ate the usual breakfast of cold meat and tomato on bread.

The sun was lovely and warm as we strolled over to Gorbella to get the tram. We got seats immediately, which isn't always the case, and had our tickets "controlled" for the first time this visit.

To enjoy the sun some more, we alighted at Opera Vielle Ville and walked through the Cour Saleya and Vieux Nice to Place Garibaldi. We still managed to get to Perry's just a few minutes after twelve.

We all walked up the street together to the Port to get the bus to Pastoreli near where we had lunch at Les Epicurienes in Place Wilson. This was quite a posh place in feel but not actually dreadfully pricy. Lisa & Perry both chose the Marmite des Pecheurs while I opted for a sea bass flambéed in anise. My fish was absolutely delicious and I gather that the Marmite was equally first rate though both Lisa & Perry found it too big a portion to finish. We drank a very nice Sancerre with our meal. For dessert, Lisa had coffee ice-cream, Perry had a cream puff called a petit chou and I had the poached pear. The pear was not brilliant but Lisa was ecstatic about her coffee ice-cream with chocolate-covered coffee beans embedded in it. Coffee all round, as ever, to finish. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable meal outside in the sun on the decking terrace surrounded by olive bushes!

Our reason for lunching in this part of town was to visit the nearby photographic museum "Théâtre de la Photographie et de l'image Charles Nègre" at 27 blvd. Duboucharge which was showing an exhibition of the work of the photographer August Sandler under the title "Portraits, paysages, architecture". The bulk of the work on display consisted of portraits and these were far more interesting and effective than the landscapes and photos of Cologne buildings. Many of the people portrayed seemed archetypes, almost stereotypes, of their profession or social position. We passed a very enjoyable two hours in the half dozen rooms of photographs.

We caught a bus back to the port and took a look around the church of Notre Dame du Port on Quai Cassini before returning to Perry's.

It was getting quite late so we were soon on our way round to the Cour Salaya to have a couple of beers in the sun at Les Planchettes and enjoy the antics of a clown/beggar who got people laughing at his antics shadowing passers by and clowning around so that he was worth the couple of euros each that he begged off of most of the watching crowd.

After two beers we walked over to the Opera tram stop (via a souvenir shop to buy some bits and pieces for friends) and got the tram home. From the tram, Lisa came straight back to Cessole and I popped up to Monoprix for a little top-up shopping. We had a game of Scrabble and a few beers and Lisa made us a couple of toasted cheese sandwiches for supper after which we settled down for a relatively early night.

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 6

2011-03-28T16:24:00.002+01:00

Monday, 28th, our first day to ourselves since we arrived, started every bit as wet and dull as yesterday but by the time we had breakfast at 10:30 it was turning sunny and warm.

After coffee, we spent some time over a special breakfast of smoked salmon, cream cheese, lumpfish caviar, capers and bread with juice.

After breakfast we took the tram down to the Jean Médecin stop and spent a while looking around shops in the Nice Etoile mall, including quite a long time in Habitat and a shop full of jokey but cute items of varying utility.

We lunched at a cafe in rue Biscara called Le Cenac. Lisa had steak tatare and I had a salmon steak. The food was good and we had a nice Beaumes de Venise red with our lunch. For dessert, Lisa stuck to crème brûlée and I selected a café gourmand which is a coffee with several embellishments. We had a regular coffee each to finish and declared ourselves well satisfied.

After lunch we continued up the road to FNAC where we looked at stationery, phone cases and camera cases for quite some time. Lisa came away with a new case for her new compact camera and some disposable fountain pens. I bought a cheap Pentel fountain pen and a Moleskine notebook.

After FNAC we walked on up to the Gare Thiers stop and, after letting one full tram go, got on the next one to come home. I went on to Monoprix while Lisa headed back from the tram.

After a rest and a game of Scrabble Lisa set to to prepare the Label Rouge chicken I'd bought for dinner. We seasoned the chicken and roasted it with a couple of jacket potatoes in foil. Lisa combined leaves from a couple of bags of salad in the spinner to have with a mustard dressing. It took until 10pm before all was ready but it was worth it to sit down to a simple supper of roast chicken and baked potato which tasted delicious. We shared a wonderful bottle of 2007 Fronsac claret which complemented the food perfectly.

Fronsac 2007

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 5

2011-03-27T13:57:00.004+01:00

Sunday, 27th, dawned grey and wet and stayed that way all day. As this was the first day of summer time we had "lost" an hour overnight and I made sure the clock and my watch were adjusted accordingly before making the coffee.

After our usual breakfast we ventured out. Today we wore coats for the first time this visit and Lisa took her umbrella. We got off the tram at the Opera Vielle Ville stop and bought a pelargonium for Perry as we walked through Vieux Nice to Place Garibaldi.

Perry seemed very pleased with the plant and promised us that Nicole would repot it and find it an appropriate place on the terrace. We had made plans yesterday to visit the modern art museum (MAMAC) so we walked over to Avenue Saint Jean Baptiste to lunch at a restaurant called Le Rive Droit. Perry had not eaten there before but it had been recommended to him. The name derives from its location on the right bank of the built-over Paillon.

The place has a very modern decor and a more formal feel than the relaxed places around the port. The food is first rate, though, and it's not an expensive place to eat. Lisa had a breaded veal cutlet Milanaise, Perry chose the grilled loup (sea bass) and I opted for ravioli Niçoise.

My dish was like a delicious beef stew with some ravioli, unlike previous versions I've had which were a bowl of ravioli with a little beef stew poured over like a sauce. It tasted superb! Very richly flavoured, not light and delicate like a daube. The other two indicated that they were equally pleased with their choices. Lisa and I shared a nondescript Cotes de Provence red that was offered as an alternative to the Bandol I'd ordered but which was out of stock.

For dessert, Lisa had a pannacotta, I chose the tiramisu and Perry had the chocolate fondant. We finished with coffee of course. Altogether a very fine meal that cost around €60 for three, plus drinks. Definitely somewhere to return to!

After some difficulty finding the entrance to MAMAC, we looked around those parts of the current temporary exhibition that were still open. Sarah Sze was exhibiting a single installation entitled "The Uncountables". This occupied one whole room and filled it with a collection of everyday objects arranged on shelves. It seemed pointless to me! One room was roped off and, on enquiring, we learned that a visitor had caused the installation by Vincent Ganivet to collapse and so his contribution could no longer be seen!

That left Assan Smati who was exhibiting a number of works in five very different genres. A giant pink centaur and a pair of life-size blue horses were sculpted in resin with polished smooth surfaces in flowing lines. I loved these! There were a number of lead sculptures of various subjects which made a feature of being unworked after breaking the mould: the ragged "flash" and the spigots used to fill the mould with lead were all left in place. I found this aspect bizarre and unexplained but one piece in particular, a life-size figure of a knocked-out boxer, was very memorable. A series of giant human heads, sculpted in White plaster on wood and steel frames, seemed to be studies of the same African man in various moods. Attention-grabbing but not something I felt I'd bother to see again. African figures were again the subject of the several paintings in oil on canvas. OK but nothing special.

Dos Santo by Assan Smati

Outside on the platform between MAMAC and the National Theatre was my favourite of Smati's pieces: a sculpture in wood of two giant figures called "Dos Santos" which I take to mean "Two Saints". These looked something like a cross between wooden electricity pylons and stylised Japanese armoured warriors but the proportions of the figures and the way they were arranged so that the composition looked different from every angle was very moving. I really felt like I was in the presence of two giant powerful beings of some kind.

We walked Perry back to his apartment where he was feeling a little out of breath from his exertions. We had previously made plans to give him a break from us tomorrow, a day when he will again have a physiotherapy session, so we agreed to meet again on Tuesday and headed directly back. By now the rain was quite heavy so we needed to dry off a bit once we got back.

We didn't feel like cooking tonight so we had some snacks and some olives. We both read for a while (Lisa is reading Kazuo Ishiguro's book "Never Let Me Go" on which the film we recently saw is based, and I have recently started Fuchsia Dunlop's "Shark Fin and Sichuan Pepper") and played Scrabble and then cribbage before Lisa retired to bed. I wrote this journal up to date here before joining Lisa in the bedroom.

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 4

2011-03-26T13:51:00.007Z

For the third day in a row, Nice treated us to a bright morning on Saturday, 26th, and we did the usual necessaries to get us down to Perry's just a few minutes after noon. Perry had a few family photos to show us before we walked over to the Cour Saleya for lunch at the Pecherie Saleya. That's quite a walk for Perry but he seemed confident and seemed in good shape when we arrived.

Our meal was chosen, ordered and eaten to the background noise of the flower market being cleared away. That made conversation difficult at times, at least for me. We were offered a glass of Champagne "on the house" as a greeting while we looked through the menu.

Once again, after much deliberation, Perry and I opted for the same dish; in this case, sole meurniere. Lisa bucked the trend by choosing a grilled turbot and I selected a Bandol blanc from the wine list. We all agreed that the fish was excellently prepared and very tasty. Lisa and I had creme brûlée for dessert while Perry went for profiteroles. Coffee to finish as usual.

By the time we got back to his place, Perry was very tired so we didn't stay longer than necessary to make plans for tomorrow. By now the sun had given way to dark clouds and it was much cooler so Lisa and I got the tram home without stopping for a beer. We both went up to the supermarket to shop for supper which we planned would be a pre-prepared soup de poissons.

You might describe tonight's supper as a French ready meal: soup de poisson in a bottle from the chilled cabinet, rouille in a jar, a bag of ready made croutons and a bag of grated emmental cheese. Lisa heated the soup very gently over a very low gas until it was warmed through then I stirred in two table spoons of Creme Fraîche. We ladled some soup into our bowls rubbed our croutons with a peeled garlic clove before spreading with rouille and dropping them into the soup topped with a sprinkling of grated cheese. It tasted remarkably good! We had three bowls each (all there was) using all the croutons and about half of the rouille and cheese. So simple to prepare and very little to clear up afterwards! I imagine we'll try doing that again soon!

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 3

2011-03-25T13:50:00.002Z

Friday, 25th started equally sunny and we followed the same morning routine except that we walked around the port to scout out which restaurants were open on the far side. The morning had felt a little cooler than yesterday but down on the port the sun was delightfully warm.

We reported the list of open restaurants to Perry and he chose to be taken to the Marlin which has always been a favourite of us all. Perry was feeling a little frail after his physiotherapy session first thing this morning but he still managed the walk around to the far side of the port very well. At the Marlin we were greeted by a familiar waitress and sat outside in the shade of the awning.

Perry and I both chose the Saint Jacques in a Sauternes sauce while Lisa had a grilled sea bream. I chose a Chateau Roquefueille (Côtes de Provence) blanc which went very well with our dishes. The scallops were amazingly good and the Sauternes sauce very flavourful without overpowering the seafood. Lisa reported that the grilled fish was equally fine. Perry had the last piece of lemon meringue pie for dessert, Lisa chose creme brûlée and I had tiramisu. Coffees and limoncello ("on the house") all round topped off a thoroughly excellent meal which we were pleased to offer Perry as a birthday treat.

By the time we'd returned to Foresta, Perry was feeling tired from the walk around the port and back on top of his physiotherapy session so we did not stay chatting for long but walked up to Place Garibaldi for a beer in the sun before getting the tram home. This time I made sure to pass Lisa the keys before heading up to Monoprix so she was able to head directly back to the apartment.

Among my purchases were a couple of veal escalopes and the makings for a creamy mushroom sauce together with some green beans and a bottle of 2010 Entre deux Mers. This, with some tagliatelle and salad, formed an excellent supper. Lisa pan-fried the veal and made a sauce from the pan juices with onions, garlic, creme fraiche and white vermouth. Lisa was pleased enough with her work to take s few photos!

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 2

2011-03-24T13:44:00.004Z

We awoke on Thursday, 24th to glorious sunshine at 9am and the familiar screams of the children in the school across the street. A breakfast of coffee, clementine juice, Bayonne ham, French bread (the sliced, peasant kind not a baguette or similar stick: those have to be bought immediately before eating to be good) and President butter later and we were all set to head out for the tram that takes us into the centre-ville.

We strolled, reveling in the warm sunshine, down to the port (where we heard the daily noon-day cannon firing which always makes Lisa jump even though she knows full well that it's about to happen!) and over to Perry's place on Rue de Foresta. Nicole, Perry's cleaning lady - who we know well and who has worked for him ever since he moved to Nice twenty years ago - was still hard at work, so we retreated out of her way to Perry's study to chat for a while and make our lunch plans. With much hugging, kissing (BOTH cheeks) and shaking of hands, we left Nicole to her duties and made our way down to the port in search of lunch.

We ate, sitting on the waterfront terrace, at Le Vesuvio on Quai Lunel. A regular haunt where Marinette & Fred greet Perry with delight and even recognise Lisa & me. Perry went for the lasagne, a house speciality, Lisa chose the steak tartare and I enjoyed a dish of veal in a cream and mushroom sauce. A nice white Côtes de Provence went very well with the food. For dessert, Perry opted for the apple tart (a genuine French apple tart is a real work of culinary art!) but Lisa and I both went for the cafe liegeouise: a sundae of intensely flavoured coffee ice cream topped with masses of dramatic but insubstantial whipped cream. Coffee and limoncello ("on the house") to finish by which time it was feeling a little cool to be dining al fresco as the sun had gone behind the Chateau hill and we were left in the shade.

We walked Perry back to his place and, after making plans for his birthday meal tomorrow, Lisa and I left for a stroll along the seafront and a beer in the Cour Saleya on our way back to the tram. The tram was packed, as usual at the end of the afternoon, so we were standing all the way back to our stop.

Lisa headed back to our apartment and I walked on up the hill to Monoprix to get a few essentials, including a cocquelete for tonight's dinner.

As I was queuing at the check-out I noticed Lisa waiting at the back of the store. I had rushed off to the shop without leaving her the apartment keys!

As we had had a good lunch we just had a salad with the roasted chicken for supper and felt quite satisfied. We found the bottle of Cotes de Languedoc I'd chosen rather young but still potable.

Lisa took a shower and washed her hair while I cleaned up and filled the dishwasher and then she headed to bed while I stayed up a while to finish the wine and start this journal.

Nice Journal - Spring 2011 - 1

2011-03-23T13:01:00.005Z

Wednesday, 23rd was a very long day by my standards. My alarm got me up at 5am and we left the house at 6:45 to get the 7:15 train from Cambridge to London. By 9:25 we were on our way to Paris on the Eurostar train. We arrived at Gare du Nord within seconds of the timetabled time and took the RER-D two stops to Gare de Lyon. That station is currently a complete mess, thanks to rebuilding works, but we were eventually able to find our way to the TGV for Nice in time to get settled in our seats well before departure.

Said seats were so comfortable (European high-speed trains are wonderful!) that the next five and a half hours passed blissfully. Having been served a second breakfast at our seats on the London-Paris train, we had to get our lunch from the buffet car on the TGV but, this being a French train, the croque monsieur and pasta salad were of very acceptable quality.

The TGV was non-stop as far as Avignon but, once we reached the Riviera coast, there were many stops before we were delivered to Nice, right on time, at 7:30pm. A short taxi ride up to our apartment on Boulevard de Cessole and the journey was complete: longer (12 hours door-to-door) and more expensive than flying but infinitely less stressful. I don't believe we have ever arrived in Nice in such good shape! We dropped our bags, called Perry to let him know we'd arrived safely and immediately headed over to the neighbourhood Monoprix to shop for dinner and breakfast.

Thanks to the mode of travel, we slotted into "living in Nice" even more immediately than usual. We bought three bags of shopping and schlepped them home. We cooked a dinner of sauteed salmon pavee, tagliatelle sprinkled with grana padana, and a mixed leaf salad with a simple vinaigrette that Lisa rustled up on the spot. We enjoyed a very fine bottle of 2009 white Graves with that.

Dinner over, Lisa cleared up after the meal while I tackled the unpacking (a job she loathes!) and all was done by 1:30am.

Paris with Mary - Monday

2010-01-25T19:35:00.003Z

Paris with Mary by Steve Fagg

Having abandoned this blog in January 2008 at the end of Mary's visit it seems appropriate to begin this attempt to restart with her visit two years later. This time we did something special while Mary was here: we all took a trip on the Eurostar for a three-day, two-night trip to Paris!

Now, Paris is my all-time favourite city but I haven't been able to visit since our trip in July 2002. This has entirely been down to lack of funds but Mary very generously swept this aside by paying for our train tickets and hotel rooms. Given that our hotel, the Normandy, is a four-star establishment located just two blocks north of the rue de Rivoli you can appreciate just what a magnanimous gesture this was!

So, it was with great excitement that we set out, pre-dawn on Monday morning, on the first leg of the journey: the Cambridge Cruiser non-stop service to King's Cross. From King's Cross, it's just a step across the road to St. Pancras International from where the Eurostar services run. Back in 2002, we'd had to cross London to Waterloo to pick up the Eurostar; so already we were having a better experience!

We were travelling on the first "normal" day of Eurostar services after several days of cancellations and service suspensions caused by "the wrong kind of snow" so, although our train was running as scheduled, we knew it was being combined with the previous service and therefore were unsurprised when we were re-allocated to alternative seats on arrival at the International terminal. The terminal looked nice and new but was so jam packed with travellers that it was hard to form any real opinion of the place. Fortunately we didn't have too long to wait before embarking. As we settled into our re-assigned seats I observed that we were in what would normally be first-class accommodation, in spite of having economy class tickets but assumed that this was just a first-class coach that had been re-designated due to the combining of the two train-loads of passengers. You can imagine our delight when it emerged that we were to be treated to the full first class service anyway!

So we had a pretty luxurious ride to Paris and disembarked at Gare du Nord in good spirits. Gare du Nord looked just as it did eight years and more ago and the long queue for taxis was the same old mix of fast movement, animated exchanges and semi-chaos as ever. Our driver seemed to be pretty on the ball and got us to the Normandy in good time through the rush-hour traffic and we were soon checked in and dispatched to our rooms. Although provided with all mod cons, the Normandy could hardly be more unlike a modern identikit business hotel: charming and quirky with meandering corridors that rose and fell by several steps in places and spacious rooms with high ceilings. What a lovely place!

Only having such a short time in the city we wanted to do something useful with our first evening and so, unpacked and freshened up, we met up in the foyer and ventured out to the nearest metro station (Palais Royal Musée du Louvre) emerging at Trocadéro from where we walked down through the Palais de Chaillot and across Pont d'Iena to the Eiffel Tower. Temperatures in Paris were no warmer than those we'd left behind in Cambridge, hovering around zero, and the fountains and pools were frozen solid. In the gathering gloom we didn't have to queue to ascend to the second stage of the tower (the top was not open) and were soon braving the cold and wind to look out over the city as night fell. When we'd done we retreated back across the river, admiring the illuminated tower, and found ourselves a typical Parisian brasserie in which to take an early dinner.

Dinner was at the Café Kleber in Place du Trocadero and we were among the first diners of the evening. Lisa and I started with half a dozen escargots each, prepared in the traditional way with parsley butter, while Mary went for a salad. Lisa followed up with a rump steak while Mary and I plumped for onglet à l'échalote (skirt steak with shallots). The steaks, delightfully rare and juicy, were served with the traditional frîtes and we enjoyed a bottle of Sancerre with all that (Mary's not a red wine person). We passed on dessert and moved straight to coffee (Lisa & I) and hot chocolate (Mary) and Lisa and Mary topped off with a Grand Marnier each.

Dinner over, we took the metro back to the hotel and chatted over a round of drinks in the hotel bar before calling it a night.

Having a Blast with Mary

2008-01-24T23:25:00.007Z

Mary in London
by Lisa Fagg

We had a great deal of fun the last few days in the company of Lisa's college friend, Mary, who flew in from New York to spend a while with us. Mary has long been a great friend of Lisa's and distinguished herself by being the only person to make the trip from the USA to our wedding (all those years ago!). Her visit was planned over the cusp of the New Year and she duly arrived chez-nous on Saturday. That evening we cooked our current favourite dish, the Kingfish Mooli with boiled red rice, on what turned out to be our only evening eating in.

Sunday we all walked along Mill Road into the town centre to show Mary some of the sights. Lunch was at the famous Eagle pub and in the evening we dined at the Loch Fyne restaurant on Trumpington Street. On Monday, I had to go to work but Lisa took the day off to take Mary on a trip into London. They started in Westminster at the Cabinet War Rooms and finished up in Chinatown at the New World restaurant before getting the last train home. In spite of some very wet weather they seemed to have had a good time.

Mary had Tuesday to herself while we were at work and in the evening we rounded off the culinary part of the visit with dinner at our favourite local place: Café Adriatic up on Mill Road. We finished on a gustatory high which was appropriate as it was Mary's birthday. She flew home yesterday leaving behind two very happy hosts who'd enjoyed her stay tremendously and were already looking forward to the next opportunity for meeting up with her.

Couscous and Curry

2008-01-17T21:52:00.006Z

Chicken & Vegetable Couscous
by Steve Fagg

On Saturday we were delighted to play hosts to our friends Frank and Debby. As Debby is a "vegetenarian", as Frank memorably puts it, we were careful to ensure that no dead animals featured in the evening's menu. The centrepiece was a huge platter of couscous with mixed vegetables which seemed to go down well with all concerned.

The following day Lisa and I were in a curry mood and spent several hours preparing a feast of Chettinad chicken curry (one of our favourite dishes from Atul Kochar's "Indian Essence"), Bengali-style Aubergine in Yoghurt (from Anjum Anand's "Indian Food Made Easy"), a Coconut Fish Curry based on Atul Kochar's recipe but made with kingfish, a cucumber raita and a pot of red boiled rice. The only trouble was that by the time we'd brought all this to our groaning board, we were pretty pooped and settled for a simple dinner of just the kingfish mooli and the red boiled rice.

On Tuesday we reprised the couscous dish from Saturday but, true to our omnivorous inclinations, we added some chicken to the mix as shown in the photo at the head of this entry. Yesterday we made a fresh pot of rice (Basmati this time) and refreshed the unused dishes from Sunday night to enjoy a delicious midweek curry for next to no kitchen labour (at least, on the night itself).

We'll be entertaining again this coming weekend as Lisa's great friend Mary is coming over from New York for a few days with us. In fact, rather than writing this, I should be sorting out the spare room this evening to make all ready for her arrival on Saturday!

Belated New Year's Eve

2008-01-07T20:15:00.005Z

Quail and Polenta by Lisa Fagg

We stayed home "à deux" on New Year's Eve, cooked a nice dinner for ourselves and opened a bottle of Champagne to toast the chimes of Big Ben at midnight. At which time Lisa was actually on the phone to her good friend Mary in New York City, so Mary was remotely with us as the New Year arrived in the UK. During that call we arranged a date for Mary to come visit us here in Cambridge in just three weeks' time. More on that in due course, no doubt!

This last weekend we had a kind of belated New Year's party down in London at the home of our dear friends Chris & Tony. Eight of us sat down to a superb dinner of ceviche followed by chicken casserole and several other dishes. A great time was had by all. Sunday, the six of us who stayed the night had a late breakfast and walked up to Alexandra Palace to get some fresh air and stretch our legs.

Lisa and I took a detour on our way home to have dinner in the New World, our favourite restaurant in London's Chinatown. Lisa has blogged elsewhere about Thursday's dinner which was delicious. Wednesday was our first day back at work since 21st December so, instead of cooking for ourselves, we treated ourselves to dinner out at the local "Strada" which, for a chain restaurant, has a relaxing and unhurried atmosphere and even manages a touch of elegance.

Holiday Menus

2008-01-02T21:42:00.008Z

We really went to town with the cooking over this holiday period. We didn't photograph every single dinner but, in truth, they were all very tasty and satisfying. Several of the links below are to entries in Lisa's
A Cook's Journal blog, the others are to photos in my Flikr photostream. The full roll-call is as follows:

Saturday, 22nd December
Steak Frites & Green Beans
Sunday, 23rd December
Pheasant Casserole with Celeriac & Apple Mash and Brussels Sprouts
Monday, 24th December
Lamb Shanks with Colcannon Mash and Carrots
Tuesday, 25th December
Escargots
These were just supposed to be the starter but it turned out this was enough dinner for us tonight
Wednesday, 26th December
Quail Risotto
From the cookbook "Francesco's Kitchen" I gave Lisa for Christmas
Thursday, 27th December
Roast Duck with Brussels Sprouts, Swede & Carrot Mash and Roast Potatoes & Parsnips
This was the main course planned for Christmas Day
Friday, 28th December
Pheasant with Brussels Sprouts, Baby Carrots and Mashed Potatoes
Saturday, 29th December
Spaghetti Carbonara
Sunday, 30th December
Provençal Beef Daube with Baby Carrots, Brussels Sprouts and Baby Potatoes
The daube was actually cooked yesterday and reheated today
Monday, 31st December
Quail on Polenta with Green Beans
Tuesday, 1st January
Partridge on Mashed Potato with Brussels Sprouts

Out and about between Christmas and New Year

2007-12-29T22:36:00.000Z

Bury St. Edmunds by Steve Fagg

Yesterday we took the train out from Cambridge, two stops to the east to the delightful market town of Bury St. Edmunds. As you can see from the photo, we spent some time looking over the famous Abbey ruins. Before this, Lisa bought me a new overcoat, as a belated Christmas present, at a gentlemen's outfitters in the town. We also checked out a couple of cookware shops in the town centre. Before heading for home, we called in for a couple of beers at the Grapes, a pleasant and welcoming pub.

Two days earlier (that's Boxing Day, a.k.a. the "Feast of Stephen") we spent the afternoon walking along the river Cam. We headed north on the west bank from Water Lane and walked up as far as Baits Bite Lock where we crossed over and made our way back south as far as Fen Ditton. By then we were ready for a rest and so sought out a pub. We wound up in the Blue Lion which seemed like a nice place in spite of initially serving us two undrinkably sour pints. Suitably refreshed after an hour or so, we continued home.

On the Threshold

2007-12-23T22:40:00.000Z

El Gordo by steve Fagg

Phew! It's finally up and decorated. Allow me to introduce El Gordo: Steve & Lisa's Christmas Tree 2007. He's a big boy (hence the name) so we have to hope he won't encroach too severely on the kitchen door. Regardless, he's a big part of the Christmas atmosphere that I aim to (re)create each year. Along with "paper chains" (made of metal foil these days), lights in the window, the crib/creche and other decorations. This year (as last) glass tree ornaments have been held back for fear of the havoc Robbie might wreak but our annual special ornament has pride of place, as ever.

Five beautiful ladies by Steve Fagg

As anticipated last time out, on Wednesday evening we had a wonderful time at the Pharmacology Christmas Party in the great hall at Clare College. A champagne reception was followed by a sit-down dinner of smoked salmon terrine followed by honey glazed duck breast in a peach sauce and then another terrine, this time of chocolate and Cointreau. You'd better believe it tasted as good as it sounds! The evening was rounded off in the College cellars with music and dancing until the wee small hours. What better way to confirm that the season of celebration is well and truly under way!

Christmas starts here!

2007-12-17T22:00:00.000Z

Jo, Mei Hua and Brooke by Steve Fagg

Friday marked the start of the Christmas season. Lisa was invited to join the rest of the lab where she worked until this summer as they marked the end of the year with a meal in the Riverside restaurant at the University Centre (or "Grad. Pad" as many of us persist in calling it). As often in such circumatsnces, I tagged along too. The relaxed atmosphere suited the occasion perfectly and the food was much better than I'd had there before. A good (but not stupid) time was had by all.

It says much about the current morale in my own place of work that we'll have no such meal this year, for the first time since I started working there. To compensate, we have a very special Christmas meal to look forward to next week: a party at Clare College organised by Lisa's current Department. More about that, I'm sure, in a future posting.

Saturday was Robbie's first trip back to the vet's in almost a year, to get his vaccination boosters and an anti-flea shot. Later the same day we brought home this year's Christmas tree from the local greengrocer's. For the time being it's parked out in the garden but yours truly has been nominated to get it set up in the house so digits will need to be extracted in the week ahead!

Stew and Stewarding

2007-12-03T21:29:00.000Z

Octopus Stew by Lisa Fagg

Lisa beat me to the punch in blogging yesterday's dinner: a Greek-style octopus stew inspired in no small measure by a dish we enjoyed immensely when we lunched at Taverna Eraina back in August. Read her entry on A Cook's Journal for the details but I have to say that, this time, we really did crack it and achieve the combination of deep, dark flavour and juicy tenderness that (for us) is the essence of this dish. Our friends from London, the ones we expected to be entertaining this weekend and who failed to show up, missed out on a treat and I capitalised by taking the left overs into work for lunch.

On Saturday, Lisa and I were once again stewarding at the Mill Road Winter Fair. This annual event, now in its third year, celebrates the incredible diversity of this corner of Cambridge with businesses and community groups taking the opportunity to present themselves to the ever-increasing numbers of attendees. Lisa and I love living in this area and feel we benefit tremendously from its multi-cultural and local community focussed character, so the least we can do is give up a few hours each December to stand on a freezing street corner in a Hi-Viz vest handing out leaflets and telling folks where the Star Wars Imperial Stormtroopers may be found (I kid you not!). This year, our stint on duty was relatively early in the day so we had time after knocking-off to wander the length of Mill Road and, in particular, enjoy the open studio at the Cemetery Lodge, the Salsa Drummers performing in front of the swimming pool and (most deeply affecting of all) the guided tour of the local Mosque. In the difficult, dark depths of Winter, a little determined effort netted us a sparkling catch of jewel-bright memories. At this time of year that's hugely helpful, like a hill-top cairn in the mist.

Coq au vin

2007-11-15T21:16:00.000Z

Coq au vin by Steve Fagg

Just a short note this week to mark the occasion of Sunday's dinner dish. Coq au vin holds a special place in our gastronomy as it was the signature dish of Lisa's beloved Uncle Jean. Several times his version of this dish, always saved for a special occasion, was the high-point of a visit to Nice for us. And, for Lisa, the association goes back very much further. That this was the first time we'd dared cook this dish since Uncle Jean passed away was highly significant. That we unconsciously chose to do so on the day (11/11) that, here in the UK, goes by the name "Remembrance Day" was, I suspect, not coincidental. Not at all. The food was good. The memories powerful and positive. Such are the pathways of grief.

New Wheels - All Round

2007-11-08T20:57:00.000Z

Lisa's New Bike by Steve Fagg

After several months of indecision, Lisa finally settled on the new bike that she wants. She's opted for a new “everyday” bike to take her to work and back and for riding about town and made her choice last Saturday in Howes Cycles on Regent Street, Cambridge: our cycle suppliers of choice. Her new steed is a Specialized Globe Comp the successor in the Specialized range to the Crossroads bike that Lisa rode for many years. This particular model has an 8-speed hub gear: a technology we’ve both come to love over the last few years for its reliability and ease of maintenance. We picked up the bike yesterday morning (the photo was taken in the shop as Lisa was about to ride off to work) and already I can report that the Lisa is enjoying the new bike's lightness and responsiveness so much that I've got my work cut out to keep up!

Unexpected Rabbit by Steve Fagg

On Tuesday we had a serendipitous dinner of rabbit stew. We're both quite partial to rabbit so an unexpected opportunity to come by a freshly-killed carcass wasn't one to pass up. Lisa has detailed the recipe we used in this entry in A Coook's Journal. As you can see, the presentation was straightforward with boiled spuds and plain vegetables to foreground the meat. The outcome was wonderfully tasty and probably the most tender dish of rabbit we've ever had.

Lisa carves the joint by Steve Fagg

A big feature of our dining this autumn has been slow cooking. This has proved a great way for us to enjoy long-cooked food on mid-week days when we don't have the time to spare in the evening to let something cook for hours. Monday's dinner was a case in point: a slow cooked brisket joint that we put in the oven on a low heat on Sunday to cook overnight. In the morning we just turned the oven off and left the pot undisturbed then, when we got in from work, all we has to do was warm the pot up again (on top of the stove) and prepare some fresh vegetables to go with it. The depth of flavour is completely out of proportion to the minimal effort involved and particularly suits the dark autumn evenings. Delicious!

Culture-Crossing Couples

2007-10-29T22:10:00.000Z

Checking the times of
the last bus by Steve Fagg

It's a cliché to say that the British and Americans are two peoples divided by a common language but often enough Lisa and feel like the living embodiment of this fact. We both claim to speak English but our cultures are much more different than is generally supposed. While this is most often a source of enrichment and expanded horizons, it can also lead to surprisingly difficult frustrations. For that reason we take special pleasure in the company of other cross-cultural couples, whether Anglo-Chinese, Indo-Norwegian or, as in the case of our dinner guests on Saturday, Italian-Korean.

Our Neapolitan friend, Chiara, introduced us to Clemente from Northen Italy last August but it took to now for us to meet his lovely Korean wife Myung Hee. As this was their first time as our guests we subjected them to our signature appetiser of escargots and the main course was pizza, partly contributed by Clemente. Much of the conversation was taken up with comparing notes on our various experiences in getting hooked up with a partner from another culture and how we manage the tensions that cross-cultural living throws up.

Our menu for the evening was conspicuously missing any contribution from Myung Hee's part of the world, so we quickly agreed that our next get-together should rectify that and focus on Korean cuisine. We hope it won't be very long at all before that comes off. As always the talk ran late into the evening and so it came about that, in the photo (taken right at the end of the evening), Lisa is checking the times of the last bus home with our guests: it had already gone, so a taxi was summoned forthwith!

Once More Unto the Breach

2007-10-01T21:01:00.000+01:00

Manhattan Skyline by Lisa Fagg

Tomorrow is the first day of the Michaelmas Full Term at Cambridge, the start of the new academical year. The nature of my job (IT support to the Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies) differs radically between term-time and vacations and Michaelmas is always the most intense and stressful of the three. I had last week off work to take a deep breath before diving in. For most of that week, Lisa was away in New York City visiting her sister and four young nieces and nephews she hadn't previously met. The photo shown was taken from the Staten Island Ferry looking back at the southern tip of Manhattan.

The house here seems very empty when Lisa's away and I find it hard to motivate myself to do more than the basic minimum. I did, though, manage to complete one project that's been pending for more months than I care to think about and put up a new lighting unit in the kitchen to replace the unflattering single fluorescent strip light with a set of six directional halogen lamps. I must be one of the least "handy" people in the country so this simple-sounding task was a major accomplishment in my book!

Lisa returned to the UK on her birthday but was too tired from travelling to celebrate, so we went out to dinner the following evening. The chosen location was Café Adriatic up on Mill Road, one of our favourite local haunts. It didn't disappoint: a low key atmosphere coupled with uncomplicated but well cooked and beautifully presented food and well-judged service was just what we wanted. A relaxing and satisfying evening that, even topped and tailed with Prosecco and Sambuca, didn't cost an arm and a leg.

Barbie-pink pop-up tent

2007-09-10T21:23:00.000+01:00

Lisa Facebooking in the Barbie-pink pop-up tent
by Steve Fagg

"It's very pink!" I said. And so it is. But, hey, if you want to buy a pop-up tent in September you can't afford to be too choosey. The idea is that it'll extend our use of the garden into the early autumn as the weather cools. As you can see from the photo, the WiFi from the house reaches out here so we can e-mail, Flikr, blog or Facebook or just read the paper and listen to TheJazz on the DAB radio Lisa got for my birthday.

Talking of birthdays, yesterday Robbie (our youngest feline) celebrated his first birthday. We're not certain of the actual date but, counting back six weeks from when we first got him (based on how old he appeared to be), we hit on 9/9 as a memorable date to fix as his "official" birthday. Having rescued (in one way or another) all our cats we don't have accurate dates of birth for any of them but we celebrate Thomas on May Bank Holiday and Sofia on 17th January.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere, earlier this evening I uploaded a note about Malcom Saville's Mystery at Witchend to by books blog. Yes, I finally plucked up courage to read to first of the Lone Pine books; almost a year after our inspirational trip to Church Stretton and around forty years since first reading the books. I'm delighted, and not a little relieved, to discover that it was every bit as readable as I'd hoped and remembered. Now I can go on to seek out some more of the titles with confidence that I'll enjoy reading them.

From Physiology to Pharmacology

2007-08-30T20:34:00.000+01:00

Lisa's Farewell Lunch by Steve Fagg

On Tuesday, Lisa started her new job. She now works in the Pharmacology department and, for the first time in her scientific career, has a permanent position. As a big part of her new job is to help prepare the teaching labs for the students’ practicals, her work will now follow the rhythm of the academical year closely, just as mine does.

On learning that her contract in the Physiology department wouldn’t be renewed, Lisa immediately started looking for a new position even though there were still several months to go. Fairly soon, she got fixed up and the new job is based just a few hundred yards down the road from her old lab. Lisa finished work in Physiology on Friday and is desperately sad to be leaving such a great bunch of work mates. We all went out to lunch together on Friday, at the Eraina Taverna in Free School Lane where Lisa was presented with a farewell card and gifts from her erstwhile co-workers.

More farewells that evening at our regular Friday night pub session with the nucleus of what is no longer "Lisa's lab", though I imagine Lisa and I will still show up to keep in touch. Friday was Mei Hua's birthday and (although she'd tried to keep it quiet) we ambushed her with a special ice-cream dessert in the pub. Saturday was business as usual around the house, plus a trip to the vet for Thomas and Sofia for their six-monthly anti-flea injections.

Bank Holiday Sunday on the River - Swan
on the Far Bank by Lisa Fagg

On Sunday we were due to visit the art exhibition at Gravelly Barn to reprise last year's trip but poor weather prospects and a lack of cycling miles in our legs kept us home and we ventured out only as far as the river for a few hours gentle stroll and for Lisa to take some photographs of the wildlife to be found in that vicinity (including yours truly!).

And so to Tuesday, and an early start to get Lisa to Pharmacology to begin her new job on time. It was a huge wrench for her to find her self in unfamiliar surroundings but early indications are that it's a good place to work and there's every chance Lisa will settle down there at least as well as she did in Physiology.

Lousy weather & great company

2007-08-22T23:19:00.001+01:00

We enjoyed our first camping weekend in Willingham so much that we re-booked before we left the camp site to return for the weekend just gone. We set off on Friday with high hopes of repeating the thoroughly pleasant experience of three weeks before. Leaving at 4pm we again rode via Coton, Madingley, Dry Drayton, Oakington, Longstanton and Willingham to Roseberry Tourist Park 1.5 miles out on the Earith Road, arriving at around 6.30pm having covered 16.7 miles in 1:35:42. The weather was cloudy and quite breezy all the way. Our welcome was again very friendly and we quickly pitched the bug and our stand-alone porch. Dinner was grilled lamb kofta patties (which Lisa cooked at home that morning) and basmati rice with shitake mushrooms, peas & mangetous (left over from Thursday night's dinner). We listened to the evening's Prom on the radio during and after dinner. Retreated to the bug and played some dice cricket, Steve finally got Lisa all out for 361 and reached 48 for 1 after 10 overs. And so to bed.

On Saturday we slept late. There had been quite a lot of rain during the night but it was not too wet when we surfaced around nine. I journalled for a while then made coffee in blustery winds under grey skies. Lisa prepared grits for breakfast (on the Trangia) which we ate with eggs fried on the Coleman. Around noon we rode into Willingham to get some food and the Guardian. As the weather was unsettled, we rode straight back to the shelter of the bug and clocked up just 3.15 miles in 18:57. After a lunch of cheese and ham sandwiches, we spent a rainy and windy afternoon in the bug reading the paper. Lisa made us some popcorn at some point. At dinner time we braved the elements to cook some stir-fried beef and vegetables and some basmati rice with mushrooms and spring onions. In spite of the cooking conditions, both huddled under the stand-alone porch at our respective stoves, the food came out well and we enjoyed a very tasty dinner. As night fell and the rain continued, we returned to the bug and listened to some music (Jacques Loussier's Play Bach) while Lisa read her book (Bill Buford's "Heat") and I journaled. When the iPod's battery ran out we set the alarm for 8.00am, turned out the lights and settled down for the night with the rain drumming on the tent.

It was not raining when we awoke but cool and very cloudy and it started to rain again while Lisa was on her weekly Sunday morning call to France. We partook of coffee and then ham & cheese sandwiches for breakfast. Eventually the rain eased of and we set to to break camp and head home after a thoroughly dull weekend. We left the camp site around 3.30pm and retraced our route out from Roseberry Tourist Park, via Willingham, Longstanton, Oakington, Dry Drayton, Madingley and Coton back to Cambridge. We were home by 5.30pm having covered 17.59 miles in 1:44:52 (an average speed of exactly 10.0 mph). Our cycling total for the trip was 37.41 miles ridden in 3:39:31.

Pizza for Mei Hua and April
by Steve Fagg

We had Monday off work and dried out the bug and porch before stowing them away with the rest of the camping gear. Then we set to and prepared to receive two guests for dinner. This is Lisa's last week in her present job and Monday evening was our chance to say farewell to April, a veterinary student from Korea who's been working in Lisa's lab over the summer.

She came over in the early evening with our great friend (and frequent kitchen guest) Mei Hua and we made pizzas together using Lisa's home-made dough and tomato sauce. We prepared three different toppings: the one shown here featured three types of cheese and fresh basil from the garden, the other two pizzas were topped with goats cheese and red onion and pepperoni with anchovy. Before the pizzas we served a mozzarella and tomato salad and a selection of antipasti. The assembled company made short work of the food on offer and the conversation flowed in full flood well into the night.

Art and Sushi

2007-08-13T20:01:00.000+01:00

Friday we again skipped off work in time to be on that 4:15pm Cambridge Cruiser train to London. This time our destination was more central as just five stops on the tube brought us to Piccadilly Circus where we surfaced and strolled along to the Royal Academy (of Art) to take a look at this year's Summer Exhibition. With the best part of a thousand exhibits this annual extravaganza is pretty much a case of Art Overload but great fun for all that. Apart from some amusing and witty video installations, the vast majority of my favourites were among the flood of paintings in the first few rooms. The obvious "star turn" of this year was the 50-canvas Hockney behemoth, Bigger Trees Near Water, that filled an entire wall but there was lots more to appreciate: too much to enumerate and, frankly, probably too much to remember properly, even with the help of the RA's illustrated "Best Of" guide.

Before heading for home, we wanted to eat and soon settled on sushi at a branch of the Yo! Sushi chain of "conveyor belt" sushi bars. This was the first time in several years that we'd had sushi in one of these places. When we lived in Harlow we were often to be found in the Moshi Moshi Sushi bar in Liverpool Street station which was my first introduction to the conveyor belt principle. It was fun to do it again and we piled the plates high as we tucked into a selection of favourites!

Barbecue triple whammy

2007-08-06T19:36:00.000+01:00

I can't quite believe I have no photos from this weekend just gone. I guess there's no enforced correlation between the significance of events and the number of supporting images. Of course there's no reason on earth why there should be but in this case it's particularly a pity.

Friday we left work early and 4:15pm saw us seated on the Cambridge Cruiser non-stop service to London. Two hours later we were knocking on the door of a house in Eastcote on the north-west reaches of the Metropolitan line. We were excitedly greeted at the door by the reason for this trek into parts unknown: my pen-friend of thirty-three years, Louisa. Originally from Singapore and now settled in up-state New York, Louisa was making a visit to these shores with her family and generously invited us to dinner at her sister's house where they were all based.

You can't correspond with someone for over thirty years (even if contact has become sporadic, and mostly electronic, in recent years) without some kind of bond developing and Louisa and I have known each other much longer than either of us has known their respective spouse. I met Louisa in person a few times in the early eighties but this was the first time we'd seen each other in more than twenty years, it was my first chance to meet her husband and kids, and Lisa's first chance to meet any of them. Suffice to say we had a great time: they are all really cool folks.

Surrounded by the sister's eight West Highland White Terriers, we sat out in the extensive back garden and tucked into a seemingly never-ending flow of delicious food, much of it grilled by Louisa's husband on a brand new gas barbecue. All too soon it was time for us to make our exit and retrace our steps to Cambridge. We spent as long travelling as we did at the party but we both agreed it was more than well worth the effort.

Saturday, we were the barbecue hosts as Lisa's friend and sometime colleague, Sandro, paid us a visit. Among other talents, Sandro is a trained Reiki Healer and several years ago Lisa designed a web site for his Reiki work. Having not seen hime for some time, there was much to catch up on and the talk continued all afternoon and on into the evening. At some point it became apparent that the only sensible thing to do was to have dinner together and Lisa set to to work on the barbecue. So, for the second day running, we had grilled dinner al fresco with great company.

And so to yesterday evening, when, as guests of our friends (and my sometime colleagues) Kate & Makram, we completed the hat-trick. We cycled over to their place and were immediately plied with Makram's famously wonderful Hummus and other introductory delicacies while Makram cranked up the barbecue to start grilling kebabs. The food was tasty and authentically middle-eastern so Lisa frequently pumped Makram for details of how his culinary effects were achieved. There seems to be something about eating freshly grilled food in the open air that stimulates conversation and brings on a tremendous sense of well being and comradeship. Not until some time after sunset did we finally take our leave and ride home and head for bed ahead of another working week.

Weekend Getaway

2007-07-30T18:50:00.000+01:00

Bug and porch by Steve Fagg

We had a great weekend away, camping in a village called Willingham just sixteen miles by bike from home. We'd camped here before, seven years ago, when the campsite (Roseberry Tourist Park) was far less well developed than it is these days. Back then, we really did camp in a pear orchard but now the few remaining pear trees are more ornamental.

On Friday, we packed up all our camping gear and loaded up the Galaxies for the first time in almost two years. We left home at 3.30pm and after a little shopping in Cambridge (gas cannisters & bike light) rode via Coton, Madingley, Dry Drayton, Oakington, Longstanton and Willingham (where we shopped for food in the Co-Op) to the campsite 1.5 miles out on the Earith Road. We enjoyed pleasantly warm sun and a gentle breeze all the way and arrived at around 6.30pm having covered 18.79 miles in 1:54:51.

We were treated to a friendly welcome. The tent pitch cost £10.00 per night plus £2.00 extra to leave after noon on the last day. We found a spot and pitched the bug and our stand-alone porch then checked out the immaculate toilet and washing facilities. Dinner was Bachelor's beef flavoured rice to which Lisa added fried minced beef and a chopped up omelette. As the evening was getting cloudy and cooler, we retreated to the bug and played 21 overs of dice cricket, leaving Lisa on 123 for 3, while listening to some music on the radio. And so to sleep. During the night, we spent a while admiring the stars in the cloudless and very dark sky.

On Saturday, we woke to warm sunshine at 8.30am and I journaled for a while, while Lisa snoozed. We breakfasted on fried eggs and bread & butter with tea & coffee and listened to some of the morning's play in the test match (England v. India, second test at Trent Bridge, day two).

Then we got out on our bikes and rode a circular route around some of the local villages. From Willingham we rode to Rampton along a very badly surfaced road. We were intrigued by a thatched house at Rampton with thatch fox on the roof ridge. From Rampton to Longstanton along a near unrideable byway, now split in two by work on the execrable guided busway. We broke for a picnic lunch at Longstanton opposite All Saints' church.

We enjoyed much better roads from here on. From Longstanton to Swavesey and on to Over where we stopped for a while to watch a game of cricket being played on the village green. From Over we rode back to Willingham. After a little shopping in the Co-Op we returned to campsite. The day's trip totalled 15.88 miles, covered in 1:46:41 of riding.

After some downtime with newspaper and popcorn we started on dinner. Tonight's meal was spaghetti (actually Amoy "straight to wok'' thread noodles) with a home-cooked meat sauce we brought with us. Dinner over by 7.30pm we settled down in the bug with tonight's Prom concert on the radio. Finished the evening with some more dice cricket, leaving Lisa on 329 for 7 after 50 overs. And so to bed, with heavy rain falling throughout the night.

The rain cleared up early on Sunday morning and we breakfasted on egg fried rice and scrambled egg under clear skies. We made peanut butter sandwiches for the ride home then began packing up. Sooner than we expected, both Lisa and I had our bikes loaded and ready to go. Stopping at the office on the way out to book a pitch for our next long weekend (in August), we set off for home at 11am. We retraced our route out from Roseberry Tourist Park, via Willingham, Longstanton, Oakington, Dry Drayton, Madingley and Coton back to Cambridge. Back by 2pm (including a shopping stop on Mill Road). Covered 16.67 miles in 1:40:36.

Out total for the trip was 51.34 miles, ridden in 5:22:18.

Perfect Day Out

2007-07-23T22:16:00.000+01:00

Cricket at Lord's: View of the Grandstand by Steve Fagg

Yesterday we made our second trip to Lord's to see a Test Match, just a couple of months after our first visit. We made great efforts to be at the ground for the start of play this time, in spite of the trains being up the creek as usual on a Sunday. What trains there were out of Cambridge were packed with cyclists and their mounts because yesterday was also the date of the annual London-Cambridge cycle ride, something Lisa and I aim to do one of these years. We'd made up our sandwiches and boxes of salad the night before and were able to make a prompt start which, combined with knowing what we were doing, gave us a much less stressful journey.

We arrived with plenty of time to pass through the thorough but very friendly and polite security checks and do a bit of shopping in the Lord's Shop before settling into our seats well before play was due to start. England resumed their second innings on 77-2, 174 ahead, and we got to see the rest of the innings (including a big knock of 134 from Pietersen) which ended on 282 all out. Coming into bat after tea, chasing a score of 379 to win, we saw India get to 137-3 by the close. The cheer when Monty Panesar again claimed the wicket of Tendulkar was almost as loud as that for Pietersen's century!

Throughout the day, the weather was good, the atmosphere great and the cricket competitive. Just the perfect way to spend a summer's day. Lisa often likens going to the cricket as being like going to the beach for the day, in the sense that it's a full day relaxing in the open air with no intrusions from one's everyday routine. We hope to do more of this next year!

Enthusing with a colleague, from Dehli, at work today about how much we'd enjoyed the day I was delighted to learn that he'd been there too: ensconced among the Indian supporters directly across the ground from us. Of course we were each hoping for a different conclusion on today's final day but honour was shared as the match ended in a draw; yes, it's true, cricket really is a game where you can play for five days and still not get a result!

Le Tour comes to town

2007-07-09T19:39:00.000+01:00

Whew! That was the tour that was! For the first time ever, this weekend, the UK hosted the start ("Grand Depart") of the Tour de France with team presentations on Friday and a 7.9km prologue in the streets of central London on Saturday followed by a 203km road stage from London down to Canterbury on Sunday. It's estimated that over a million spectators turned out in London for the start but there was no fairy tale home victory as neither Bradley Wiggins nor David Millar (both much touted prospects beforehand) made it onto the podium.

Sunday's stage was especially interesting to me as the day's race route passed right through the centre of my hometown of Rochester and even within less than a kilometre from the house in Strood where I was born and lived all my childhood. I was glued to the TV throughout the two stages and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the race running through such familiar surroundings and the massive turn out in Kent was great to see. Millar went on a long solo breakaway on stage one which was fun to watch but a crash near the finish meant that again the fancied Brit. (this time, Mark Cavendish) wasn't in contention for the stage win in Canterbury.

Of course I'll be following the race over the next three weeks, as I always do, but this was an extra special few days and I hope the huge (and overwhelmingly positive) media coverage will inspire lots of folks to take an interest in the sport and, more importantly, get out on bikes themselves.

Sampire & Ceramics

2007-06-04T21:27:00.000+01:00

Tuna Salsa Sampire Rice: Lisa's Presentation by Steve Fagg

Friday, after our regular lunchtime visit to the fishmonger on the market, Lisa set to work to put together a very classy meal of tuna, salsa sampire and rice. The tuna steaks were marinated and then briefly char-grilled, the marsh sampire (also bought from the fishmonger) we blanched and tossed in butter and Lisa made a tomato and onion salsa. These elements were composed on the plate as you see, and served with a pot of basmati rice flavoured with fresh garden herbs and cooked in chicken stock. Quite a lot of work for a Friday evening but well worth it!

Saturday we were back on the art trail in Cambridge, this time visiting the small gallery at Kettle's Yard to see an exhibition of ceramics by Edward de Waal that had been featured in the national press. These were delightfully engaging and occasionally slyly humourous works each consisting of numerous ceramic objects (mostly plates, cups and bowls) arranged and placed in the various gallery spaces to wonderful effect. Far, far more rewarding than the disappointing Hodgkin paintings we saw last week. Even better, we learned that there were a few more de Waal pieces that had been installed in the Kettle's Yard House so we went next-door and spent an engrossing couple of hours there enjoying the house as a whole and the de Waal installations in particular. A very fine way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Today (Monday) Lisa had a pre-interview "informal chat" at one of the research centres in the University where she's applying for work. Yes, she's on the job-hunting trail again as her contract in her current post isn't going to be renewed due to funding difficulties. We met up briefly afterwards and, over a coffee, Lisa described a pretty intensive one-to-one grilling by the place that left her feeling shattered; and this is before the panel interview in a few weeks' time. Whew!

In our own backyard

2007-05-30T20:44:00.000+01:00

Saturday we met up with Mei Hua and spent the afternoon in town with her. We started with lunch at Teri-Aki a Japanese sushi and noodle bar. Lisa was especially impressed with the sushi but it was a good thing we weren't in a hurry as the service was surprisingly slow. Mei Hua then gave us a guided tour round the grounds of her college, Magdelene, which has a series of secluded and peaceful gardens along the river.

Then it was off to the main objective of the afternoon: the Fitzwilliam Museum. It's such a cliche, but true, that neither Lisa nor I had set foot inside in spite of passing close by every single working day whereas we happily go to London or abroad to visit places of no greater distinction. What finally drew us in was an exhibition of paintings by Edward Hodgkin which looked and sounded very interesting from the publicity. We found the reality distinctly underwhelming: unusually, the paintings looked much better in photographs than they did in the flesh and none of us could find anything to respond to in the works. We decided that since we were in the museum, we should take in some of the permanent collection and spent quite a while looking mostly at paintings and drawings. There was plenty to enjoy there, including a strong representation of French impressionists. We left vowing to return and see some more.

Cricket at Lord's

2007-05-21T21:56:00.000+01:00

Cricket at Lord's by Lisa Fagg

We had a very full day out yesterday. Friends who were unable to use them had given us tickets to see the cricket match at Lord's, the "headquarters of cricket" in North London. The match was the First Test between England and the West Indies, yesterday was the Fourth Day (of five). Much as we both love the sport and keenly follow the major matches on the radio, neither of us had seen a Test Match before. The weather was kind to us, the atmosphere at the completely full ground was buzzing and we discovered our seats were in near perfect position to enjoy the action on the pitch.

The trains were less kind to us, with engineering works forcing us to take a bus from Stansted to Liverpool Street. One way and other we managed to miss the entire first two hours of play which was the only downside to an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable day. For most of the time we were watching, England were batting and building on their first-innings lead of 116. Kevin Pietersen top-scored with an impressive 109. Once they were 400 in front, England declared and we got to see a couple of overs in which the West Indies scored seven without loss.

Lisa took a ton of photos, of which the one shown is a typical example, and we enjoyed ourselves so much that we immediately resolved to repeat the exercise as soon as possible. As it happens, England are playing the First Test against India at Lord's in two months' time and there are still some tickets available for the Fourth Day (again a Sunday) so I put in our order straight away!

Celebrating 49

2007-05-14T21:48:00.000+01:00

Skate Wing by Steve Fagg

As I entered the last year of my forties, Lisa orchestrated a weekend of celebration meals. On Friday we enjoyed a very special dish of skate wing poached in court-bouillon and served with capers and black butter. This is a recipe from Rick Stein's Seafood book and is our favourite way to prepare skate wing. The longest part of the job is to make the court-bouillon but once that's ready the rest is quite quick and the taste is superb!

Celebration Dinner by Steve Fagg

On Saturday I was treated to dinner out at Café Adriatic, a favourite restaurant of ours in nearby Mill Road. And on Sunday, the day itself, Lisa put together the intricate oriental dish shown here. I don't know what it should be called as Lisa dreamed it up herself. It's based around the thick Japanese Udon noodles that I love and serves these with just about everything that's good to eat with noodles: chicken, prawns, tofu, and more kinds of vegetables than I can keep track of. To bring it all together, there's a soup that's poured over the whole and the entire meal is thus served in a single bowl. Delicious!

Brilliant brill, bicycles and barbecue

2007-04-23T21:38:00.000+01:00

Brilliant Brill by Steve Fagg

Friday lunchtime we visited the local market to se what the fishmonger had to offer. Particularly attractive this week was a beautiful brill, not a fish we know well but, on this occasion, irresistible. We adapted a turbot recipe out of fish guru Rick Stein's Seafood book and braised the brill whole in white wine, adding a sauce of herbs and capers in melted butter once the fish was cooked. Served with asparagus (delicious local stuff, also from the market) and baby new potatoes it made a refined and delicate composition.

We got our leisure cycling off to an early start this year with a gentle ten-mile spin over a favourite local loop via Fulbourn, Teversham, and Cherry Hinton on Easter Sunday. Yesterday we went a step further and extended our route out over the Gog-Magog hills for a rather lumpier twelve mile ride. We enjoyed beautiful weather again, for the third weekend in a row; sunshine always makes life seem more joyful.

After the cycling it was time to get the barbecue fired up for dinner. We'd bought a baby chicken from the local halal butcher on Saturday and Lisa spatchcocked it then rubbed it with a mixture of oil, garlic, herbs and spices. We then set about preparing a batch of Lisa's wonderful coleslaw which was dispatched to the fridge. Once the coals were ready, the chicken was quickly cooked over the hottest part of the fire then brought inside to rest while Lisa cooked corn cobs and more asparagus (it's not at its best for long, so when it's at its peak we can't have too much of it!) on the cooling grill. All assembled it was quite a feast to see out the weekend in style.

And tomorrow the Easter Term begins: tea-break over, back on your heads!

Sunday at Ally Pally

2007-04-16T22:14:00.000+01:00

Sunday at Ally Pally: colourful exterior by Steve Fagg

We spent the weekend visiting our accountant friends Antony & Chris at Muswell Hill. On the Sunday afternoon we walked to nearby Alexandra Palace (familiarly known as "Ally Pally"). This impressive looking building is mostly used as an exhibition centre nowadays but Tony, sorry! ANtony, tells us there are plans to expand the usage.

At one end there is the famous BBC television mast that beams out TV to a wide surrounding area and from where, in 1936, the first public television broadcasts were made. Along one side there's an impressive colonnade and inside, under huge arched glass ceilings, there's even a palm tree growing!

Having admired the building, we spent a pleasant few hours enjoying the sunshine and admiring the views looking out over North London to the City centre skyline. Summer seems to have started nice and early this year!

Flying visit to the Med.

2007-03-28T21:35:00.000+01:00

Day trip to Menton: Cocteau Museum by Steve Fagg

Back to work today having just got home yesterday from a week-long visit to Nice. No time to re-adjust, just "bang!" straight back in harness. We try to get to Nice each year to see Lisa's Uncle who lives on the Port. As usual, we flew out by EasyJet from Stansted and stayed at the "guests" apartment of Lisa's Uncles on Boulevard de Cessole. Each day we took the bus down to the centre of town to do our usual routine of shopping in the old town, walking on the promenade and visiting Lisa's Uncle for lunch. I didn't keep a detailed journal this time but the one I posted after the first of our two trips in 2004 gives a flavour of how we spend our time.

I also didn't take a whole lot of photos this time but, again, there are plenty online from 2004. The one day I did use my camera was on a day trip by bus from Nice to Menton, close to the Italian border. The highlight of our quick visit there was the museum of works by Jean Cocteau housed in a 17th century fort on the sea-front where Cocteau at one time worked. Wonderfully arranged and packed full of typically strong paintings, drawings, ceramics and more it's a concentrated feast of fascinating work. Lisa was more active with her camera, as can be seen here and here.

We normally expect to see plenty of the sun when we visit Nice, even in March (a time of year when we've often visited). This year we hardly saw the sun at all and, though it was certainly warmer than the UK, the cloudy skies did not give us the contrast with home we normally enjoy. That didn't undermine our pleasure in making the visit: we feel very at home in the city and are always assured of the good company of Lisa's Uncle. We'll be back!

How quickly they grow up!

2007-02-12T20:24:00.000Z

Robbie at Five Months by Steve Fagg

It only seems like a few weeks ago that we first met Robbie. Actually, it was almost five months ago now and he's grown tremendously in that time. Although he'll still be a "kitten" for another six months, it's got to the point where we're ready to let him roam the great outdoors. Or nearly so: first the little chap has to take a trip to the vet to get his shots updated, get a microchip implanted and have a little snip done. Then it'll be time to get him trained on the use of the cat-flap and reassure ourselves that he'll come home of his own accord. And all this has to be settled before we head off to Nice next month: we'll be leaving the kitties at home while we're away and they'll be looked after by a friend who'll call in once a day so they'll be on their own recognisance as far as comings and goings are concerned.

A little while ago was the ninth anniversary of Thomas joining us. He was four when we rescued him from the shelter, so he'll be 14 (in May) this year. That hardly seems possible either: on the one hand it feels like he's been around forever, on the other he doesn't strike us as being a senior citizen. I read somewhere that 14 for a cat is something like 70 for us, so he's not doing so badly. Madam Sofia, the third of the menagerie, turned five a week after that and a right grown up little Miss she is too! Sophie joined us when she was about the same age Robbie is now: funny how these things work out.

Mei Hua Cooks Again: the finished dish by Steve Fagg

On the food front we've been enjoying more authentic Chinese home cooking chez-nous thanks to our policy of setting guests to work in the kitchen when they come for dinner. My colleague Emma (Wu Lejun) was here last weekend cooking duck and dumplings and this weekend we again welcomed Mei Hua who constructed the complex but undeniably delicious dish shown in the photo.

Blogging all over the world

2007-02-05T21:58:00.000Z

Just a quick note to say that I created two additional blogs this evening, to run alongside this one. I did consider mixing them all in together but decided their style and subject matter wouldn't sit comfortably alongside these more general ramblings.

First up, I've debuted a blog recording my thoughts on books I've been reading, this is called Nightwol's Books. It continues the similar notes I used to record on the Books Pages of Nightwol's Perch. I'm hoping the blog format will make it easier to add new entries as and when I finish reading each book.

The other new blog will record the fortunes of the Fantasy Cycling Teams Lisa and I have selected for the forthcoming European road racing season. Again this is an offshoot of something I've been keeping track of for some years on dedicated pages of Nightwol's Perch. Last year I maintained a season-long blog of our results using Apple's iWeb component of their iLife suite but that software became desperately unwieldy to use for a blog with over two hundred entries so I won't be using that anymore, big fan of Apple though I be!

Burns Night Dinner

2007-01-29T23:11:00.000Z

Burns Night Dinner
by Steve Fagg.

Now, I'm English (from the far south-east of the country too) and Lisa's a black American so why celebrate Burns Night? After all, what's Burns to us or we to Burns (to mangle Shakespeare)? Hard to say really. Certainly I have fond memories of Burns night celebrations with Scots friends when I was in my twenties and Lisa acquired a taste for haggis and whisky on our honeymoon in Edinburgh. Whatever the source of our enthusiasm, we've made it our custom to dine traditionally on 25th January each year.

This year we enjoyed the best haggis either of us can remember! Brought down from Edinburgh by Lisa's colleague Harry, it had a wonderfully rich flavour and delightful texture. We made our champit tatties (mashed potatoes) and bashed neeps (for which we use swede, which we like to cut with carrot for colour and flavour) but we passed on the bagpipes. Nonetheles, the cooked haggis was brought ceremoniously to the table by the chef and yours truly gave it the traditional address. The Selkirk Grace was said and we tucked in with great gusto. The pungeant haggis is perfectly complemented by the milder tasting vegeatbles and, of course, all is accompanied by many a "wee dram"!

Mei Hua cooks duck

2007-01-22T23:33:00.000Z

Mei Hua cooks duck
by Steve Fagg.

Lisa's work colleague, Mei Hua, came over on Saturday to cook a duck (Chinese style) with us. I say "with us" but in truth Mei Hua ran the show and Lisa and I were her more than willing sous-chefs. To begin with much attention was lavished on the duck itself then, while the duck was roasting, Mei Hua concocted a delicious accompanying dish of mackerel on a bed of sliced vegetables topped with sliced omelette. Not content with that, she whipped up a truly home-style Chinese soup as a starter and then tossed off a dozen pancakes in which to wrap the main course. Stunning food that was matched by the fun and laughter that filled the kitchen all evening long. We can't wait to do it again!

Entertaining Joyce

2007-01-08T21:08:00.000Z

Steve's Genoese Minestrone
by Lisa Fagg.

Lisa's great friend, Joyce, came over from New York on a visit to spend New Year with us. She did the same last year, so we must be doing something right as hosts!

Lisa has written up the New Year's Eve dinner in A Cook's Journal but that was far from the only culinary highlight of the visit. The Genoese minestrone in the photo was prepared by yours truly as a relatively easy-to-eat dinner the day before for Joyce's first (and consequently jet-lagged) evening here. A huge pot of vegetables is gently cooked down to an intensely flavoured soup, laced with pesto and topped with lashings of parmesan cheese.

On New Year's day we worked up an appetite with a stroll across nearby Coldham's Common and then went to work to prepare Jamie's "Incredible baked Lamb shanks", yet another stunningly successful dish from "Cook with Jamie". As Lisa and I were back at work the following day, Joyce turned the tables on us and treated us to dinner out on her. At our suggestion she took us to the Wok & Grill in Trumpington: a pan-East Asian restaurant that
features a deliciously tasty buffet together with a chance to have your own choice of ingredients and sauce stir-fried in front of you by one of the restaurant's chefs. Great fun and hugely popular.

Racking up the holiday food

2006-12-30T10:31:00.000Z

Rack of Lamb
by Steve Fagg.

Our local butcher, Andrew Northrop on Mill Road, Cambridge, is great! We wandered in there on spec., our first post-Christmas shopping venture, and asked about getting a rack of lamb. The request was inspired, yet again, by a recipe in "Cook with Jamie" and we were delighted to be told that we could get one on the spot. The butcher prepared it in the "French trimmed" style and even gave us half a dozen miniature paper chefs' hats to cap the exposed bones.

We followed Jamie's recipe to roast the lamb and make a potato and cauliflower dauphinoise to serve with it. The rosemary (for the lamb) and thyme (for the dauphinoise) came fresh from our garden. Rather than spinach, Jamie's choice of vegetable, Lisa prepared a medley of stir-fried broccoli and french beans.

New Cookbooks Rule!

2006-12-27T23:21:00.001Z

Rump Steak with the Creamiest White
Beans and Leeks by Lisa Fagg

Blackened Pork loin fillets - served
American style by Steve Fagg

Having recived it as a Christmas gift from yours truly, Lisa has been keen to cook from Jamie Oliver's recent book "Cook with Jamie". Last night we indulged in (rump) steak with the cremiest white beans and leeks and tonight we went for the blackened pork (loin) fillets. Both dishes worked well, even with the supermarket meat we used.

Last night's creamiest white beans (we used cannelloni) and leeks were delicious and the leftovers went very well with smoked salmon and cream cheese for breakfast today. Tonight Lisa served the pork with American-style accompaniments: rice cooked with fellini pasta, vegetables blanched and then stir-fried and a tomato and iceberg lettuce salad with a plain viniagrette.

Lisa also received a copy of the River Café Two Easy by Rose Gray & Ruth Rogers of London's River Café, so I epect we'll be dipping into the pages of that in the next few days!

New cat on the block

2006-11-13T14:32:00.000Z

Robbie at six weeks by Lisa Fagg.

Meet Leonardo, Leo for short. Who's now called Robbie, after going through a number of names that refused to stick. This picture was taken the day he arrived, as a six-week old kitten.

When we first took him in, our intention was to find a good home for him: we have two grown cats of our own, after all! We made handful of attempts to offer him to suitable homes, none of which worked out. After a couple of weeks we had to face up to the fact that we'd grown so used to having him around that we weren't keen to see him go. So it was off to the vet with him to get his first round of shots and we officially conceded that we were now a three cat household.

Dream Come True in Shropshire

2006-10-02T16:25:00.000+01:00

Townbrook Hollow by Steve Fagg

With the start of the new academical year looming, Lisa and I squeezed in a trip to Shropshire in the last week of September. Ever since I read Malcolm Saville's "Lone Pine" books as a child I've longed to go there and walk the hills that feature in the stories. That it finally came together, after plans to visit the Chilterns and Brecon Beacons fell through, in the week that Lisa celebrated a landmark birthday was just magical. I booked us in to a guest house in Church Stretton, a town which had the dual advantages af a railway station and direct pedestrian access to the hills I was so keen to explore with Lisa.

So, last Monday, we set off by train from Cambridge and, travelling via Birmingham and Shrewsbury, arrived in Church Stretton in the late afternoon. Checked in to Brookfields Guest House, we strolled across town to the Buck's Head Hotel which seemed the most appealing of guest house proprietor Paul's suggestions for eating in town. We weren't disappointed: the food was better than average pub grub, the Timothy Taylor's Landlord was well kept and the bar where we ate was smoke-free until 9pm.

The BBC Weather Forecast had alerted us to the possibility that Tuesday might be the best day of the week, weather-wise, so on returning from the pub we consulted the guides that Paul lent us to plan a walk that would take full advantage of the good weather in prospect. Breakfast was the traditional guest house "full English" fry-up of eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes. Straight afterwards Lisa & I set out through the town and out the other side towards our objective of the day: the Long Mynd.

Following the route proposed in the guide, we left Church Stretton via Townbrook Hollow and, once we emerged from the woods, immediately found ourselves immersed in the full glory of the wonderful scenery of the hills. The walk up to the valley head was everything I'd been hoping for and the warm sunshine made the experience perfect. As we walked, the changing perspective continually revealed new delights and we spent plenty of time drinking in the views. Unsurprisingly, Lisa's efforts to capture some of this in photographs were more successful than mine but even so they provide only a faint echo of the impact of actually being there.

Once up on the Long Mynd itself we soon found a comfortable spot to break for lunch. We made short work of our sandwiches, had some coffee from our flasks and then lay back to enjoy the sunshine for a while. After a couple of hours rest we gathered ourselves and set off to return to Church Stretton, this time by way of Ashes Hollow. The descent was easy-going in the early stages but there were a few stretches lower down that needed a little more care. We encountered several sets of school children surveying sections of the lower part of the valley. As on the way up, the scenery continually delighted us to the point that it was hard to take it all in. All the way we enjoyed great walking weather so it all added up to a near perfect day in the hills.

The Ordnance Survey map I was using seemed to show a footpath back from the foot of Ashes Hollow to near the starting point of the walk but the guide insisted that there was no viable alternative to the road. After some debate we opted for the road so we walked down into Little Stretton, noting the Ragleth Inn as we passed, and trudged back to Church Stretton. Walking so far on the road in walking boots left us very footsore on our return to the guest house. We rested our weary feet for a couple of hours then headed out to the Buck's Head again for dinner.

Wednesday's weather started out dull and offered little prospect of improvement so we spent the day shopping in Church Stretton and walked (not in boots this time!) out to Little Stretton for a delightful lunch in the Ragleth Inn. Amongst our purchases was a number of local walking guides, including an updated edition of the one we used yesterday. Consulting this we learned that the path shown on the OS map was now the recommended way to finish the walk. We bought a second copy of the guide to donate to the guest house and maybe save future guests from unnecessary sore feet! For the third, and last, time we took dinner in the Buck's Head.

Thursday was Lisa's birthday. Gallantry forbids that I mention the number involved but this was a significant birthday for Lisa. We had booked dinner for the evening in the Ragleth Inn while we were there yesterday and Lisa wanted to spend her birthday out in the hills again. Today we turned our backs on the Long Mynd and headed for the nearby landmark of Caer Caradoc. We scrambled our way up the southern flank and spent a while enjoying the wonderful views from the top before making our way, more gently, down the southerly end of the hill. We broke for lunch at the foot of Willstone Hill. The weather wasn't very warm so we didn't dally long after eating and set off up and over the hill: again a steep ascent was followed by a more gentle walk down the other side to the village of Hope Bowdler. From there we returned to Church Stretton following a path parallel to the road as far as we could before taking to the road itself to get back to the guest house.

We rested and freshened up then set off for Little Stretton again for dinner at the Ragleth Inn. We ate in the dining room rather than out in the bar and enjoyed a very nice three course meal with a decent bottle of wine in a relaxed and un-fussy atmosphere that suited us perfectly. We walked contentedly back to Church Stretton and the guest house for our last night.

On Friday we returned home to Cambridge by train via Newport in Wales and London, thus completing a circular route. On Monday we returned to our jobs uplifted, refreshed and ready to plunge into the new academical year. The trip was every bit as special as we'd been hoping and looking through the dozens of photographs we took while away brings back wonderful memories of those magical few days in Shropshire and has us vowing to return soon and often to this uniquely beautiful part of the world!

The Long Goodbye to Chiara & Other Endings

2006-09-18T00:45:00.000+01:00

Chiara Prepares Pizza by Steve Fagg

Tuesday I was invited out to the local Thai restaurant, Sala Thong, for lunch. Just a few minutes walk from where I work, this is a firm favourite as a lunch destination. The food is arguably the best Thai cuisine to be had in Cambridge and the special lunch menu is extraordinary value for money. Lunch was on Anya, one of the Faculty's departing graduate students, who (having completed her PhD in Japanese studies) will be swapping one Cambridge for another when she takes up a job at Harvard in the near future. On this occasion I opted for the lentil curry and the expected high standard was upheld. The company at lunch was every bit as enjoyable as the food.

Our charming Neapolitan friend Chiara departed this week too, having finally submitted her PhD (also in Japanese studies). On Tuesday she made a farewell visit a casa nostra. Home-made pizza was again the dish of the day and Chiara contributed a special Neapolitan touch to one of the three. The base of Pizza Chiara had a raised rim and the topping consisted of Lisa's tomato sauce, a sprinkling of dried oregano, chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese, anchovies, and torn leaves of fresh basil from our garden. Trust me, it tasted every bit as good as it looks!

Farewell to Chiara continued on Thursday with dinner at Lady Patricia's home in Shelford. Lisa and I met up after work and caught the train to Shelford together, joining the others the "Stone House". Our hostess cooked us all a stunning West African dish of chicken in a peanut sauce accompanied by pasta, runner beans and a dish of shrimp and vegetables. We ate out on the terrace in the early evening and then repaired to the kitchen for coffee. To round out the evening we moved to Patricia's "white" room to watch the 1978 film of "The Thirty-Nine Steps" with Robert Powell and a host of other British stars. The film was tremendous fun, the pace never flagging for a moment and with high tension perfectly balanced by moments of humour all the way up until the climactic scene at Big Ben which was brilliantly done. At last the evening was over and we all caught the train back to Cambridge.

On Friday evening, Lisa, Xavier and I paid our first visit to the revitalised "Castle" in central Cambridge. This is an example of the trend that turns basic pubs into lounge bars and was so recently re-opened that the smell of fresh paint was still very pungent. The service and food were great until we tried to pay our bill and leave, at which point chaos reigned as there seemed to be no record kept of what we'd eaten or drank.It rather spoiled the otherwise very pleasant effect but no doubt the staff will get the kinks in the system ironed out promptly.

For the first time in longer than we can remember, Lisa and I spent the entire weekend a deux at home. Our bikes stayed in the shed and the shops on Mill Road had to survive without our custom for once. Towards the end of Saturday we roused ourselves to action in the kitchen and concocted a "store cupboard" Indian meal of lamb keema, a green bean & sweetcorn korma (created by yours truly) and basmati rice. The combination of the dry keema, the wet korma and the plain rice went very well together.

Sunday continued the low key approach to the weekend. I watched the last two stages of the Vuelta a España (a bicycle race of some note, m'lud!) on Eurosport and was gratified to see riders from my Fantasy Cycling Team continue their domination of the race through to the final stage sprint in central Madrid. An hour's strenuous gardening left us feeling hungry so we set to on the pizza trail yet again and treated ourselves to the same thing we've so recently served our treasured guests chez-nous.

The musical background to most of the weekend was an album by Turkish singer Sezen Aksu which was a gift of Chiara and which seemed to match the prevailing mood perfectly.

Blackberries & Brice

2006-09-11T00:44:00.000+01:00

Blackberries from the Gog Magogs by Steve Fagg

Our culinary week included large quantities of curry left over from Emma's visit and a reprised moussaka, by yours truly, which was a big hit with the lady of the house. On Saturday, Lisa's colleague from Rheims, Xavier, visited for an evening of home-made pizza and a movie. The pizza dough was made using our bread machine and Lisa made a tomato sauce using tomatoes from our garden. The toppings of the three pizzas all began with the tomato sauce and grated mozarella cheese. To these we added (1) Spanish chorizo sausage (2) Greek feta cheese and olives (3) French goats cheese and red onions.

After dinner we settled down with a few beers to enjoy the movie Xavier brought over with him, the hilarious "Brice de Nice" by James Huth starring Jean Dujardin as the eponymous hero. This had us all in stitches, even though Lisa and I were often dependent on the English subtitles. Knowing and loving Nice as we do, we enjoyed the settings and the humour of a surfer dude waiting for his "big wave" in that most placid of bays. I'd highly recomend checking this out on DVD.

Sunday, we reprised last Sunday's ride, into Cherry Hinton along Coldham's Lane and then through Church End and Fulbourn Old Drift up into Fulbourn itself from where we took the Shelford Road over the Gog Magog hills. We paused for a while to collect blackberries for jam and to take some photographs, then continued down into Great Shelford and back up to the Babraham Road and Addenbrooke's. Our way back was then up Mowbray Road and along Coldham's Lane home.

Food & Bicycles

2006-09-04T00:39:00.000+01:00

Foil-baked Sea Bream by Steve Fagg

Reading these entries, you might be forgiven for wondering if there's anything much else in our lives!

This week isn't going to offer much in the way of contradiction either. Early in the week Lisa created a chicken, mushroom and spinach gratin which proved a big hit, served with brown basmati rice. On Saturday we pulled out a lot of curry stops to entertain our Changchun friend, Emma, to dinner. I contributed my masala bhindi and fragrant basmati rice, Lisa cooked the Keralan dish Kochi chicken curry from Atul Kochhar's "Indian Essence" and made a sublime dal tarka with split red lentils, Emma prepared a cooling cucumber and tomato raita, and the feast was rounded out with paratha bread and pickles from Al Amin. We had mango kulfi (Indian ice cream), also from Al Amin, lined up for dessert but Emma pleaded a full stomach so that stayed in the freezer. As usual, the talk continued long after the food was finished and Emma returned home, clutching her share of the Kulfi, a dinner's worth of left-overs from the meal, and a sea bass long after midnight.

The sea bass was one of two that we got from our local East Asian superstore, Cho Me, on Saturday. We enjoyed ours on Sunday evening, baked in foil with herbs from the garden, served with some variety of choi (also from Cho Me) accompanied by a home-grown salad of mixed leaves and tomatoes.

Prior to the sea bass, Sunday had been a bicycle day. My hopes of travellin to London to see the final stage ofthe Tour of Britain and supporting events in the flesh were scotched by our very late night on Saturday but we did watch the BBC coverage of the race on the TV and enjoyed the spectacle of seeing the reigning world champion, Tom Boonen, win the final stage with veteran Brit Roger Hammond second and rising British star Mark Cavendish third. Watching this on the box inspired us to get out on our own wheels and go for a ride. After our exertions last Sunday, we wanted to see how we felt with some local undulations so, after we rode into Cherry Hinton along Coldham's Lane and then through Church End and Fulbourn Old Drift, we climbed up into Fulbourn itself and, from there, took the Shelford Road. This led us over the Gog Magog hills and down into Great Shelford. Our way back was through Trumpington, along Long Road and Queen Edith's Way into Cherry Hinton, then back through Church End and along Coldham's Lane home.

Adventure in search of art

2006-08-28T18:58:00.000+01:00

The Artist and her Work by Steve Fagg

Before I get to the title story, the obligatory weekly round-up of gustatory highlights. Moussaka and wholemeal basmati rice, served up by Simon & Zoe as a thank-you for help installing an ADSL/WiFi modem, proved such an inspiration that we reprised the meal for ourselves four days later. Lisa has done a thorough job describing Saturday's pot-luck dinner in her new Blogger blog: A Cook's Journal. I'd just like to add that the specific jumping off point for the musical exchanges was our "Remains of Tom Lehrer" collection which particularly caught the eye of our Belgian guest.

Sunday we kept our promise to visit an art exhibition in darkest Hertfordshire where Irene, an ex-colleague of mine from a former life, was exhibiting. Google Maps told us that the venue was only a little over seven miles from the nearest railway station, a distance that seemed well within our cycling capabilities, so we loaded up the bikes on the train and set out. Once off the train at Bishop's Stortford, we tangled with the local one-way system for a while before finding our road out into the countryside which was a long uphill drag. What we hadn't realised was that the route was entirely composed of an unbroken sequence of long and/or steep hills which made the ride at least twice as strenuous as we'd anticipated. It took us over an hour to get there but the effort was worth while as the exhibition was thoroughly interesting and mounted in a delightful setting. We were also blessed with the best weather of the three-day Bank Holiday weekend. I was, of course, intrigued to see what Irene had been up to since we were both made redundant by Nortel five years ago: most of the work she was exhibiting had partly involved physically weaving multiple photographs together, a technique I'd never previously encountered and which gives rise to complex images that repay lingering attention. There was plenty of other interesting work on display too, tremendously varied in scale, style and technique. The tea and home-baked cakes were pretty good too! Knowing what faced us, we were better prepared for the ride back to the station and completed the return trip in well under an hour but certainly that was the hardest fifteen miles we've ridden together! Dinner in a rooftop tapas bar in Stortford, with friends (and their son) who'd also attended the exhibition, preceded the train ride back to Cambridge. Nice!

This weekend marked the start of the Vuelta a España, third of the three major cycle races on the professional calendar. After the doping problems that have scarred the sport recently, the anticipation is muted but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that sporting efforts, rather than pharmaceutical skulduggery, will make the headlines from Spain over the next three weeks. Tomorrow (Tuesday) also marks the start of the rather smaller-scale Tour of Britain, I hope to have more to say about that next week.

Curry, dumplings and a haircut

2006-08-21T18:52:00.000+01:00

We got in a curry mood this week. Our favourite indian cookbook is called Indian Essence by Atul Kochhar, largely because the food we cook from this book tastes so different from the standard "curry house" cuisine so prevelant in this country. Another "go to" book from our hundred-plus-strong cookbook collection is Shehzad Husain's Vegetarian Indian Cookery. Lisa especially likes my variation on the masala bhindi recipe from the latter volume, made with gorgeous fresh okra from Al Amin store on Mill Road.

Our friend from Changchun (now resident here in Cambridge), Wu Lejun (a.k.a. "Emma"), shook us out of our curry mood when we visited her place and she served us a delightful meal featuring superb steamed dumplings. As so often happens, Emma cooked enough food for at least twice as many diners and we didn't need to be asked twice to take the left-over dumplings away with us! Re-heated and with fresh dipping sauce they furnished two tasty lunches with ease. In contrast with the high-voltage excitement of last week's pot-luck, dinner with Emma was a perfect example of gentle, relaxed conversation which it seemed could have gone on indefinitely.

Having recently been several times acused of having had my hair cut when I hadn't, this weekend I engaged Lisa's services to trim the locks and emerged looking much neater. It is just one of Lisa's multitude of talents that she does an excellent job of cutting my hair. It remains to be seen if the real haircut will attract the same degree of comment as the suspected one(s).

Pot luck

2006-08-14T23:46:00.000+01:00

After a week hard at work, at work, we enjoyed a total contrast on Saturday evening when we hosted a pot-luck dinner for three friends. None of the friends had been at our place before but we all seemed to be totally at home from the word "go" and the kitchen was a riot of laughter and interaction as dinner was assembled. On a day when I had to take the cats to the vet for their annual vacination boosters and we also has a couple of friends from before we moved to Cambridge drop in with their toddler, I had too much on my plate to also prepare a dish for dinner - good intentions notwithstanding. Lisa, however, contributed enough for us both with some barbecued lamb kebabs and a spectacular hummus. The evening was all too short and we'll do our best to arrange a repeat performance ASAP.

Being sociable

2006-08-07T22:24:00.000+01:00

Seem to have been out and about more than usual this week. Between doing a bit of computer consultancy on the side, dinner with colleagues and meeting friends in town I've been out far more than I've been in, which is unusual for me.

Sunday Lisa & I took in an exhinition at Kettle's Yard in Cambrigde called "Lines of Enquiry: thinking through drawing" which featured drawings done in the course of their work by a whole range of professionals; from the obvious architects and product designers, through surgeons and astronomers to geneticists and mathemeticians. The drawings themselved ranged from purely functional diagrams and charts to polished final artwork. I felt that the functional items and the private rough workings displayed gave more insight to the subject than the more finished, public items. Well worth a visit!

Lots can happen in a week

2006-07-31T00:50:00.000+01:00

Rather a different mood prevailing to that of a week ago...

So soon the euphoria of the Tour de France evapourated as the fog of doping descended. Now, our hero winner stands accused of cheating; with little prospect of the verdict being overturned. Who's telling the truth? Will we ever know? Right now it seems we never will know who was honest and who was not. A sad time to be a cycling fan. :-(

On the food front, we had a cracking coleslaw with our barbecued chicken on Saturday night. I got so keen on writing up the recipe for the dish that it became the debut entry in a whole new section of Nightwol's Perch.

Busy, busy weekend

2006-07-24T21:03:00.000+01:00

Whew! Seem to have had a crowded couple of days. Stayed up all night Friday Night/Saturday Morning talking with family in New York on Skype, which threw the body clock completely out of whack for the next 48 hours.

Daytimes were filled with TV images of the last two days of the Tour de France. OK, so an American won again but a more different race to those we've endured the last few years would be hard to imagine. Having tipped Floyd for the Tour from the start of the season, I was especially pleased that he managed to pull off the win. Just a shame he's not on my fantasy team!

Zuba still rule the stereo after we saw them again LAST weekend in Cambridge and bough their album "Allez" from them after the show.