My New

favourite website:

http://eoid.org/

Well I booked hotels today for my trip; it looks like I have been lucky and got to stay in my first-choice places.  In addition to the difficult choice of what to do and see in the three days I am in Delhi – out of a mass of just too many – I am also faced with the agonising, and delicious, prospect of choosing where to go to eat the six or so meals I am in the city.  This EOiD website is proving to be a goldmine of information.

For the first part of my trip my hotel is in Old Delhi, so I look forward to testing out a few of the old eateries famous in that part of town.  I have a great weakness for kebabs, and still have fond memories of scoffing Bade Miya’s boti and tikka kebabs in Colaba several years ago – so good I went the very next day to buy kebabs to eat on the plane on the way home – and hopefully the kebab-wallahs in Delhi will refuse to be outdone by Mumbai.  Also I hope I can persuade my guide to take me for a Muslim nihari breakfast at some stage, as this is a dish I love.  I will also have to do what I always do on these trips and buy some local spices to bring back with me for my cooking. I still have Crawford Market dried red chillies and Sri Lankan cinnamon and coriander from Kandy, and every time I open the bags up whilst cooking, the very faint India-smell immediately brings back memories of those wonderful trips.

Mahseer fishing

…I’m going.

I didn’t realise until today that this year, Dussehra is taking place a couple of days after my trip; hopefully I can get a place to stay in the hotels of my choice.  I am going to HIS Japan (a travel agent I thoroughly recommend to anyone) tomorrow to book my flights.

Back from Yakushima

きょうはヘラの日

都内の釣り堀に行ってきました。きょうは貸し道具じゃなくて全竹の竹竿でやりました。又釣り味が違ってけっこうな気持ちだった。火曜日から旅行なので午前中だけやっていまから旅の支度。

いつものお土産を買ってきました。

Mahseer fishing

Well I am about 60% decided to make the trip to north India this September.  I am in touch with a very helpful and nice guide via e-mail, and it just sounds amazing.  For me, the main thing is getting the time off work; a lot of the time I can’t really predict what will happen in the next few weeks. If I am really organised I can do it; but I will be away from the lab  for eight days, by far the longest away from my current job, ever.  I think I will talk to the boss next week and then if it looks good, start telling my paise.  If I do go, I will need to start getting my jabs done now.

If you haven’t seen a mahseer before, or want to know what the fishing is like, click the link for this amazing video:

In Search of the Himalayan Golden Mahseer from Stuart Walker on Vimeo.

アジの干物できました

外はこんな湿気なのでもちろん冷蔵庫仕立てです。それでも仕上がりは悪くない。

Catch and By-catch

Although I normally go out fishing on a Saturday, yesterday I went to see the sawbones in Gaienmae for a 1-month postop checkup, so I went fishing today instead.  Being a Sunday I thought it would be crowded, but the boat wasn’t that bad.  It was excellent fishing conditions on the Bay, no wind and overcast, but the sun must have peeking through somewhere because my nose, the top of my head and curiously, my left hand (but not the right) got roasted again.  I took a good catch, and as a bonus, snagged three tasty aji.  My homemade rod put up a good show again, but it needs a good straightening out over the fire to really strengthen it.

There was plenty of shirogisu for the neighbours.

The aji were small but very plump and perfect size for himono.

Today’s Tiffin

From Goa: clam thisri and sevai.