Thoughts Along the Way – The Global Reader

Thinking Ahead: Cook All The Things!

November 26, 2017TheGlobalReader2 Comments

I am a bit of an obsessive about lists, so I love this time of year. Lists of presents to buy, places to go, gifts to ship, and my very, very favorite: goals for 2018. I love that!

I don’t feel bad if I don’t conquer that last list right away; I look at resolutions for the new year ahead as pleasant aspirations, not mountains to conquer. Even if I never quite hit the actual mark, I’ll have made some forward progress in my life nonetheless. My biggest challenge is to not over-commit; I get so enthusiastic about all of the things I would love to do, and the delight of that fresh start of a new calendar…I want to tackle everything!

Not a good idea, of course, so I’m publicly proclaiming my intention to focus on…FOOD.

More specifically, cooking for The Global Reader. Despite the very best intentions, I’m exiting 2017 18 countries behind – kind of dilutes the power of my tagline, doesn’t it?
“Reading (and eating) my way around the world super slowly and out of sync” just doesn’t have a compelling ring to it…

Procrastination

So. Time to tackle the backlog. I’m going to invite people over to help me cook, photograph, and eat all of the good things waiting on my attention.
Global Sunday Suppers!

Here’s a list of the countries we’ll be working through over the first half of 2018:

Democratic Republic of the Congo

That’s a lot, but because I am who I am, I’ll also wrap up a list of recipes from a British Monarchy Cooking class I took last year, and possibly an Ancient Roman dinner, and a Harry Potter-inspired menu as well. I hope to add more fun stuff like those to my cooking experiences, so if you happen to have a time period/literary character/movie/anything you’d like to tackle…let me know. Let’s cook all of the things!

let-the-feast-begin

Edinburgh: Wandering

November 14, 2017TheGlobalReaderLeave a comment

After the marathon day of travel, with our lovely few hours in Paris, we got finally made it to Scotland. Edinburgh, to be precise.

We had an interesting taxi ride to our B&B (yes, a taxi and not an Uber – take taxis in the UK please! I’ll post more about that later!); our driver was a Russian expat who had a fondness for loud techno music, and deeply held beliefs about the earth being flat. I was too tired to argue…sometimes you just have the surf the wave you are presented with. And he was driving.

I’ll write more in-depth about our B&B in another post, but safe to say it was perfect. Nice people, good food, great location, comfy bed, heated floors in the bathroom: I was happy from the moment we checked in. Win!

We slept in the next morning, had a nice leisurely breakfast, and then started walking. Onwards to the Old Town and The Royal Mile!

It was uphill all of the way; gently graded in our neighborhood, and then steep as the surroundings got older. Its a dramatic entrance, no doubt.
We stopped for a pint after all of those stairs, and to take in the scene, walked a lot more, ate some food, and then kept walking.

Heading up into the Old Town (image by The Global Reader)

A pint on The Royal Mile (image by The Global Reader)

Looking down towards Holyrood (image by The Global Reader)

Every way you look, every corner you turn, every alley (or close, in the local way) you look down: it’s kind of magical. My husband, who is not prone to wistfulness, said at one point “it’s like a fairy tale.” It really is.

Random Close (image by The Global Reader)

Random courtyard off of a random close (image by The Global Reader)

Rooftops in the Old Town (image by The Global Reader)

Looking south from Edinburgh Castle (image by The Global Reader)

Edinburgh and Dean Village: A Magical Few Hours in a Magical City

November 7, 2017TheGlobalReaderLeave a comment

I’ve only been home a few days, and there’s a big part of me that’s still in Scotland. So much so that I feel oddly protective about delving too deeply into the trip. I’ve been sitting here staring at the screen for a while, trying to loosen my grip on the experience enough to get a post going.

For some reason, our day in Stockbridge and Dean Village is what shook out, so…here it is.

The entire city of Edinburgh is like walking in a fairy tale. You look one way – it’s beautiful. You turn around – there’s a whole different intriguing view that lures you in. It just goes and goes, which is fantastic and so immersive. You start to feel like the whole world is just this dreamy, quaint place. I didn’t want to leave…

We spent part of our last day in the city, before moving on to Glasgow, walking around Stockbridge and Dean Village. It’s just a few minutes removed from the main parts of the city, but feels a million miles away. Peaceful, calm, beautiful…I would love to be able to walk there everyday.

This is another topic I’m going to dig into deeper on my soon-to-be travel blog, but here are some views into a great morning…

A dreamy rainy day on the Dean Village Walk (image by The Global Reader)

Dean Village (image by The Global Reader)

Bridge over Leith (image by The Global Reader)

A Few Hours in Paris are Better than None…

October 31, 2017November 7, 2017TheGlobalReaderLeave a comment

I’m a little more than halfway through my trip to Scotland, which I’m not going to ponder too much. Reality – go away! I’m going to stay! Anyway…on to blogging. (Posting straight from a small cafe on The Royal Mile in Edinburgh.)

This adventure started with a bonus stop in the most magical of cities…Paris.

My husband and I jumped at the chance of some time in the city, thanks to a long layover. It was our first visit, and we don’t know much French, so we took the stress off ourselves and hired a private tour guide. We only had so much time, and didn’t feel like wasting it being confused. Best decision we’ve made in a while? Yep!

I’m going to do a longer post just about the specifics of our short stay, and the luck of finding such a great tour guide, but that’s another day. And another blog: I’ve had plans for a travel blog brewing for awhile, and after this trip, I’m finally ready to commit!

So, for now, here’s a glimpse into our day…

There was a beautiful sunrise, but the closer we got to Paris, the clouds closed in. It was a bit like flying into a dream.

Our guide picked us at the airport and we were off to Montmartre!

Lots of tourists!

Look my feet are on the ground in PARIS!!!

A path for next time…you can only see so much on a layover

This is a total “that’s what she said” thing to say, and also sort of silly, but up close the Eiffel Tower was much, much bigger than I expected it to be. Here’s a long distance shot…

Back at the airport, and to one of the best pastries I’ve had in a while – a not-too-sweet apple tart.

I appreciate the French attitude towards food: eat good stuff, and not too much of it.

Next stop: Edinburgh!

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