some controversial reading

one of the best books i've read lately is Snow by Orhan Pamuk. i love istanbul, and even though the story is set in what i think is the northeast corner of turkey, the frequent references to places like the very european nisantasi neighborhood reminded me of my visit to that "melancholy city". pamuk recently became very controversial after he was arrested for commenting on turkey's massacre of the armenians. turkey dropped the charges (of embarassing the state) right as i finished reading this book --what a coincidence.

another controversial book i read recently is the japanese Ishi ni Oyogu Sakana (fish swimming in stone), the first novel by Yu Miri. i had read a few of her other novels and essays but i had resisted this one because i knew it was the censored version. but when i saw it at the bookshop the other day with the advertising blurb "words were buried but their spirit survived", i decided to give it a try. it was one of the most depressing books i had read in a long time. it left a nasty aftertaste, but the kind you're glad to have experienced in a sick sort of way. definitely not iyashi-kei.

onsen weekend

the best onsens are supposed to be the hardest to get to, but omaru onsen in nasu-kogen was pretty easy: just an hour on the bullet train to nasu-shiobara and another hour on a courtesy bus that took us directly to the omaru onsen ryokan.

what makes this particular onsen special is that it's actually a river. the hot spring comes bubbling up from the riverbed --they've basically blocked off parts of the river to make a few outdoor baths.

the food was pretty good too. they did a cool presentation with the sashimi. i guess this is supposed to be a kamakura, or a japanese igloo. notice the prawn chilling out next to a scallop and a mound of wasabi:

it snowed on our second day there, so we sat in a bath watching snowflakes melt amidst the steam.

something chocolatey

my sister read my to-do list for 2006 and decided she wasn't going to let me be all talk as usual: we would bake a chocolate cake.

everyone says baking is easier than it sounds, and i suppose it's true because it is mostly just measuring and mixing. the hardest part is waiting --especially when you need to let it cool but the smell is so good you just can't resist...

we followed a recipe by raymond blanc, and the result was my favorite kind of chocolate cake: very dense and not too sweet, with a generous sprinkle of walnuts. it initially seemed a bit underbaked --a little bit too moist-- but tasted perfect a day later.

new york

i just got back from a week-long business trip to new york and washington d.c.
the funnest evening in new york was a dinner at hoomoos ali in soho with two former colleagues. they left the company years ago but we've somehow managed to stay in touch. it was fun exchanging gossip and updating each other on the latest developments in our careers and relationships...

and we had a hilarious conversation about our mutual friend jeremy, which started:
(brian) "I met him in Moscow, he's now dating a fellow Brit there!"
(me) "So then she must be new, the last i heard he was dating a pole dancer!"
(karen) "I think he' still with the pole dancer, he mentioned her in a recent e-mail"
(brian) "But I just met his girlfriend a few week ago! She's a journalist!"
after 10 minutes and much confusion, we were able to piece together the full story-- he was dating an english journalist working in moscow who pole-dances for recreation! of course we might've gotten it totally wrong, in which case i suppose it would be a perfect example of how funny rumours get started.

the rest of the trip was mostly business, and quite rushed. but i did have a very long, leisurely breakfast at norma's. i took a full two hours to read the new york times and the new yorker(i know you can get it outside new york, but it's not the same) and finish my Waz-za waffle made with mangoes and blueberries. i don't think i would ever become a regular at norma's even if i did live in new york. it is quite expensive. but when you're travelling you have a better excuse to pamper yourself, right?