Cape Cod etiquette requires you to be formally introduced to your dinner while it’s still alive, and I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this. It certainly didn’t make me think, ‘Oh no, I can’t possibly eat Larry the Lobster now that we know each other socially!’ Which was just as well, because Larry… Continue reading Cape Cod etiquette
Category: Countries
Quebec: battles, bad art and unanswered questions
If there’s one thing you don’t want to be in Quebec City, it’s British. We’re not very popular over there and haven’t been since 1759 when we fought the French on the Plains of Abraham and won control of New France, opening up the St Lawrence river and giving British ships access all the way… Continue reading Quebec: battles, bad art and unanswered questions
Montreal Botanic Gardens
I must admit that I expected Montreal to feel a lot more French than it actually did. It seems to me that apart from the language, it is a totally North American city. The culture, the way of life and the food are all very unFrench; having dinner at 6 pm, eating chips with gravy… Continue reading Montreal Botanic Gardens
The herb trolley is on its way, Madame
You know that you’re in good hands in a restaurant when the head waiter tells you that the staff had a meeting before you arrived to discuss whether they thought your table would be large enough or not. We were a party of nine, celebrating a birthday in the Michelin-starred Le Chantecler in Nice, and… Continue reading The herb trolley is on its way, Madame
Maliciously damaging six turnips …
Beaumaris on Anglesey is a history lover’s dream. Beaumaris Castle was ambitiously designed to be concentric: a large castle containing several identically shaped smaller castles – just like Russian dolls or a set of Tupperware boxes. It was intended to be the pinnacle of Edward I’s castle building spree in Wales and he demanded that… Continue reading Maliciously damaging six turnips …
Put another octopus on the washing line!
Lesbos was the home of Sappho, considered to be one of the greatest lyric poets of Ancient Greece – so what more suitable place to head to for a writers’ retreat? That was our thinking anyway, as we boarded a plane and jetted off for a week of creativity with beautiful sea views. This was… Continue reading Put another octopus on the washing line!
Coming face to face with the Pope Spanker
I do love eccentric women. There’s something about the way they just do their own thing and don’t give a toss what anyone thinks of them, that I find hugely admirable. And Isabella Stewart Gardner of Boston definitely fits into that category. Isabella was a wealthy patron of the arts, having inherited nearly two million… Continue reading Coming face to face with the Pope Spanker
Blowing my own trumpet at Harvard
When I got an email telling me I’d won a prize in an international short story competition, the message went on to say that my story would be read out at the annual Barbara Pym Conference at Harvard and I could either attend and read it in person, or a member of the judging panel… Continue reading Blowing my own trumpet at Harvard
Meeting My Hero
I bought a second-hand copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking when I was in my early twenties, and one hot summer Sunday I sweated and stressed as I created a tarte aux fraises using sweet shortcrust pastry, patisserie cream and the ‘handsome strawberries’ the recipe insisted on. It was tricky but… Continue reading Meeting My Hero
Only in California …
Sitting upright in a chair is so last year. Anyone who’s anyone over here has a zero gravity chair which ‘enables a neutral spine alignment, improves blood circulation, relieves muscle tension and promotes overall wellness.’ Now, I bet you all wish you were lying in a sort of head-down-legs-up contraption too … a bit like… Continue reading Only in California …
How to be a Californian
Being a helpful sort of person, I’ve decided to compile a manual for anyone who, like me, spends a certain amount of time in California and would like to go native as quickly and as effortlessly as possible. If you follow my advice, you’ll find that you’re embraced as a local in no time at… Continue reading How to be a Californian
Rome: where the dead are so much more interesting than the living …
It would seem that a popular pastime among the English upper classes in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries was to go to Italy in search of better health, and then die there. This presented a problem for the local authorities, because it was forbidden for non-Catholics to be buried in consecrated ground. In Rome they… Continue reading Rome: where the dead are so much more interesting than the living …
The Royal Experience in Côte D’Ivoire
My first taste of the royal lifestyle was in Côte d’Ivoire, where we sped through the terrible traffic thanks to a police escort on our way to visit the old capital, Grand Bassam. I can now appreciate that any royal journey is made with the sound of sirens permanently in the background, which isn’t a… Continue reading The Royal Experience in Côte D’Ivoire
You can catch me on Sky News Liberia…
They don’t get many tourists in Liberia. We could tell this the minute we got on the bus to go and explore the capital, Monrovia. The backs of most of the bus seats wouldn’t latch upright and just flopped backwards, so half of us were lying in the laps of the people sitting behind us.… Continue reading You can catch me on Sky News Liberia…
Sierra Leone: How to speak chimpanzee
Sierra Leone has a lot of problems, but language barriers preventing communication between people and chimpanzees isn’t one of them. There are plenty of lessons available on how to speak chimpanzee, you just need to know where to look. We went to a chimpanzee sanctuary near Freetown, where chimpanzees who have been removed from private… Continue reading Sierra Leone: How to speak chimpanzee
Anyone been to Guinea Bissau?
Every island of the Bijagos archipelago in Guinea Bissau looks like the archetypal tropical island of your dreams. When you wander along a deserted beach here, you wouldn’t be surprised to come across Robinson Crusoe, Tom Hanks, Joanna Lumley or anyone else whose life has featured spending time alone on a remote, exotic island. I… Continue reading Anyone been to Guinea Bissau?
A warthog in the restaurant and other issues
Senegal is a former French colony, and you can certainly see the French influence here – the road signs, street signs and some of the shops look exactly the same as they do in France. And there are some other signs which, although I haven’t actually seen them in France, definitely look as though they… Continue reading A warthog in the restaurant and other issues
Joining the Ghana National Dance Company
Visiting Accra with a Stanford University professor who is an African expert with lots of connections definitely has its advantages. The Ghana National Dance Company didn’t have any performances while we were there, but were willing to put on a private show for us in the studio of the National Theatre. Ghanaian dance is a… Continue reading Joining the Ghana National Dance Company
My first Super Bowl
If you’d asked me what a Super Bowl was, any time up until a couple of weeks ago, I’d have confidently told you that it was a delicious healthy lunch dish with rice, avocado, kale, quinoa and various other on-trend ingredients. But I now know better. Last week a new display of cakes and biscuits… Continue reading My first Super Bowl
The Vancouver Foodie Trail
What better way to work up an appetite than to hire a bike and cycle vigorously around Stanley Park, admiring the views and the autumn colours? Then I hopped on the cutest little water bus and chugged across the wonderfully named False Creek to Granville Island, where the public market is a foodie heaven. The… Continue reading The Vancouver Foodie Trail