Notes from the Road

We're here. Well, not there, actually, in the sense of this snap - our own cosy flat is distinctly more modest - but in dear old Cairo.

By the Sea, By the Sea...

So we ran away, for just a little while...

Dinner Then and Now

I suppose because it's Ramadan, or perhaps that it's because I'm once again looking to reduce a little (or perhaps because Peenee has been so grocery-obsessed of late), but things food-related have been much on my mind this week.

A Desk With A View

Really, this is the most picturesque city. Above is the view in which I've been rejoicing from the office for the last ten days, and it's a measure of the beauty of the place that it's really not all that special a view.

In Which We Receive an Unexpected Gift

Well, it seems sometimes that if one moans one's little moans about life's bothers and annoyances, the Fates - or a good friend - intervenes.

File Under "Commercial Establishments, Unfortunately Named"

O, Egypt. I do love you, but how I wish your entrepreneurs would occasionally invest in a native-language proofreader.

Weekend Update

A quiet weekend at home, and herewith few random notes on life chez nous, at least a part of which will explain the choice of dear Mrs. Mortenson Baker Monroe DiMaggio Miller indulging herself in a little treat...

Travelogue - Here's Grace (and Oscar, and Oysters and...)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Luncheon is Served

The retirement lunch (artist's impression)

My office can sometimes seem like a bit of a backwater; oh, we're busy enough, but one way or another, many of us are not exactly the hard-charging Type-A types one thinks of as minions of a busy multinational. What it can seem like, from time to time, is like a prelude to life in a well-run sunset home. And in general, that suits me fine.

Brave Little Oysters (Etc.)...

You know, there are a lot of oysters at the National Gallery.  I mean in the paintings; we were there this past weekend, My Cousin the Architect and I, and while we enjoyed our lunch in the Garden Café, sadly the otherwise excellent buffet was oyster-free.  But in the Dutch still lifes, and even tucked here and there amid the Renaissance banquets?  Those bad boys are everywhere.

Twilight of the Clamstrips

Oh, dear - here's one that I wish were in fact an April Fool's joke...

Street Life

You know I'm not one for hyperbole, darlings (stop snickering), but this woman is something of a genius.

Visions of Sugarplums

In the immortal words of Miss Liz Lemon, "I want to go to there."

Simple Joys

Do you have somewhere of which you are fond quite out of proportion to its objective merits?

Of Couture and Corn

The holiday weekend rolls on, with yesterday's highlight an outing to the Museum of Fine Arts, ostensibly to see their current exhibition of Goyas.  I found an unexpected treat, however, that very nearly outshone even the master's portrait of the Duchess of Alba (not, of course, the recently deceased edition thereof - she was old, but not that old...).

Sometimes Jam Today

Yes, apparently it's that time again...

Suppertime

So this evening, for the first time since I got here, I ventured out even a little bit for dinner, going down to one of the hotel restaurants rather than having a tray in my room.

A Lunch with a View

What fun it is to discover something hidden...

Cathedral Bells

"St. Stephan deliver me to Opera Ring..." sings my inner Gooch, after a long night and day of travel, and lo and behold he has.

¡Es una fiesta!

I hope everybody's having a very happy Cinco de Virginia Mayo!