insomniac

Attitude? no I personally don't think so(and I have travelled the globe, often alone, sometimes working, for nearly 40 years)....I believe it all boils down to sex (I refuse to use the word gender, properly reserved for grammatical useage).... I prefer to eat with someone else, to exchange views on the food, wine etc, to share the pleasure of the moment....however I have no problem dining alone. I would never read a book, I like to people watch.... however there is no doubt that when I was young I was hit on pretty well every time I ate alone unless upmarket and I am afraid to add usually in the States..... not comfortable. Now I dine in peace but was reminded of times past when in Madrid recently with my daughter...same old same old (but with a lot more subtlety)...actually we had a great laugh, esp. as one of the places had 2 Mich. stars. ps. if alone I would still not seek out the bar to have a drink before dinner altho can be enlightening, eg. Chicago airport, missed last flight, had interesting conversation with the other lady at the bar....until a chap walked in,.....eeek

Thanks for the recipe Peter, will definitely give it a go (if I can get my mits on coconut water) Would the contents of a ma plao (young coconut) be a permissible substitute? BTW gung share nampla is one of my favourite dishes; when my friend first made it for me she called it gung ten or 'dancing prawns' as she used live prawns rather mercilessly to create her recipe, but then again I am not a member of the RSPP..... ps. edited to add, your recipe sounds like a take on kokoda, one of the national dishes of Fiji

I actually got so agitated watching the pre and opening night that I changed channels for 5 minutes to calm down but I guess that makes good TV...does anyone know how the 'contestants' were chosen??

We were at Berasategui late last year and the service was so spot on and hospitable, (especially the sommelier from Montreal) that I was almost expecting to be asked to pick out a piece of furniture to take away as a souvenir. No need to remark upon the amazing food

last night I dreamed that we were off on a holiday to several random places and then Montreal. My first reaction was excitement, I love Montreal, my second was that if we got there tomorrow (you know how timeframes and places are scrambled in dreams but seem perfectly logical ) I would never get a reservation at Au Pied de Cochon ps. still awaiting the book

massaman neua (beef massaman) thanks to Pim

dougal, got to agree with you about taking stuff with you, I've never found food in Africa to be 'boring'. I'd rather stuff my bag with books (and some sort of weapon) ......only joking, just keep your wits about you and sit facing the door

suzi, the location of your home is beautiful, as is your library.........I raced to join ours when new to England, *shock*, no cookbooks, well actually very few books at all,......and each time someone posts about asking their library for a cookbook I get depressed.....can you believe that Hong Kong has a much better library system than England!!(hope that doesn't upset anyone).... we also live right on a bird migration/wetlands area but not many birds of prey( the odd buzzard and owl). Nonetheless a remote and lovely spot. Looking forward very much to sharing a bit of your life. (am immediately going to try to convert from vegemite to toast dope )

dougal, you'd be surprised...I've been to schools in certain African countries with IT depts and NO computers, and schools with a computer and IT lessons that cooked the food for their students outside over a fire....hopefully fliplap will be at a school with computers and power, but in Africa it's not a given....

I was in a similar situation to you some yrs ago...if the fridge is gas powered just make sure there is a bakup cylinder available to you can change it when it runs out. I am guessing that you will be in a reasonably remote area as the place is not on the grid so power will probably be generator supplied. I had a wood fired stove which was fantastic for making bread and pizza so you could bring some yeast with you. I'm guessing bread will be in short supply.... you will need the sieve Peter suggested to get rid of the black bugs in the flour Actually on second thought, as Namibia is so arid you may not have a stove fuelled by wood, not many trees there, maybe dung fuel?? (also soil may not be up to growing your seeds), anyway, it was not so much the food I missed, as the other stuff...and you will be travelling in the hols anyway so stock up then when you know what you need, South Africa very close if you find yourself craving western food. Good luck, a great adventure.. (have you read Paul Theroux on Africa?) edited to add, I got a few chickens and had access to a cow but beware of TB

My husb., 2 teenage kids and I were in Madrid for a foodathon a few years ago and had eaten a vast number of superb dishes at La Broche for lunch (started early at 1pm, ended typically at 530pm.) At 10 that night husb and son decide to go to our local tapas bar for a snack, daughter and I flagged it away, so I repeated 'angulas' several times to husb. as that was his particular craving. According to son, they got to the place, only a few metres away, husb. was given a menu by a server, took out his glasses, perused it knowledgeably for several minutes and then ordered the' leetle white feesh'. Son tried to fold his not inconsiderable height under the table while waiter repeated 'leetle???.........feesh???' with a bemused non-English speaking look on his face. He eventually got what he wanted, son so embarrassed he has never been back, the story has entered the annals of family legend (husb. is an admitted linguaphobe who after 20 odd yrs in HK still uses the cantonese for good morning as an all day greeting, saying to me that they know what he means,.... and to think we are shorty moving to France.....) which reminds me that when we were there last week he thought the French for 8 was oeuf....I pity his future French teacher I have refused as I laugh so much he gets extremely annoyed

Lilija, why don't you pop over to his sister's place and ask them how it's handled there?

hey Fangjin, I love fresh juice too so every day I whip up a different mix of fruits/some veg and often herbs and ginger depending on my mood and the season, so if I were you I would buy a good juicer and you'll only be limited by your imagination...eg. for lunch today a mixture of cucumber, pears, nashis, ginger, basil and blueberries...very cooling as it is quite hot, (95% from my garden)

Ate cat in a dish in Indonesia a while back, ribcage was a dead givaway despite initial protestations that it was goat yeah, ...well, it didn't taste like rabbit and made a good curry ps. just had some absolutely stunning kangaroo in Oz recently in a pub in Orange in the Central Highlands of NSW, hope the chef stays a while as I'll be back again soon..

adultsheepfinder.com....what kiwis do with their sheep, anything in common?? hehehe ps...sorry can't seem to be able to post a link and I have butted into the topic anyhoo, but where you live johnnyd is similar to my husb's home in many ways....enjoying it immensely, just please go diving.....

hmmmm, ..........now I ask myself how can a man like that be lonely??....you are easier on him than I would be, even if he were my son,............jeeeeez, .....and that's not quirky, its manners, hygiene and most of all, respect,..... offer a place to hang out without the food

for me the name recalls fond memories of Latin class, I like it, .......... a far worse name is p ong, but I have a very childish sense of humour (or so my kids tell me ) ps. is pong a slang term in the States?

you don't think a NY egulleter will jump at the chance to make up the third

hahaha you sound like my husb...have just ordered the book but sacrificed kitchen renovations for aeroplane stuff

Haven't been to Ghana for several years, no recommendations, just have a bowl or 2 of spicy goat and red red chicken with banku for me (but not fufu, could never get to grips )...anyway, you'll be with the experts so you'll be stuffed full of goodies anyway, just try and sit towards the front of the plane to avoid the horrendous airport queues and make sure your taxi's lights are working before you get in at night (from experience ) ps. take lots of pix for us

Kerry's a sailor..............

...your love of your adopted home shines thru in your writing Mark, a breath of fresh air.... having 'new homed' ourselves in 5 different non- English speaking countries over the years expat whining has always been a puzzling feature of many relocaters, for me nothing quite like being immersed in a strange (well, to us) new culture,.... and Mara is as content as you.....you are indeed a lucky couple ps. nearly forgot the most important thing... also loved the food

hmmm...the brain I can extrapolate, but ?? ps. where do your friends work nonetheless looks roof-of-the-mouth stickingly glorious

no word yet from the Canadian Hercule(tte) Poirot....Rona, where is it, who is it??

looks like some sort of windows in the wall? a fortification against the French hehe or perhaps it's in Ireland, the weather looks foggy enough, altho England has had a shedload of bad weather lately, hmmm....basically no idea