-
Join 217 other subscribers
Type of post
Author Archives: InkQuillibrium
Present Tense: The Art of Imperfect Giving
This blog has been strangely silent for many months, its muzzle buried in its paws. The reason? It was on sabbatical. ‘Sabbatical’, is one of those well-bandied terms, that cast a veneer of professionalism over an otherwise less salubrious truth. It … Continue reading
Posted in Biro & Pad: Jottings
Tagged Casamance, Gifts, New Yorker Cartoons, Presents, Senegal, Writer's block
Leave a comment
Evil Snack – Who’s Eating Whom?
Play dates, we have all had them, like the flu. The most memorable was when my six-year-old guest boldly cocked her head on one side and asked me for $20 to play nicely. At the other end of the scale … Continue reading
Time to Quit “The Pursuit of Happiness”
“I’ve just realised, there is something wrong with the Constitution.” These words echo through the darkness above our marital bed. They are hard to ignore, however ill-timed and as I come round to consciousness I feel irritatingly compelled to ask … Continue reading
Threads of India: iii) Kiting in Kerala
I am unaccountably sad about the loss of small kite. The kite, made of two slender twigs, some twine and Indian newspaper, had attached itself to our Kettuvallam (traditional cargo boat) as we puttered down the coconut-lined channels of the … Continue reading
Posted in Chart & Compass: Travels
Tagged India, Kerala backwaters, Kettuvallam, Kite racing, Kites
Leave a comment
Threads of India – ii) Slave to the Tea Bush
It is evening the cicadas and monkeys have cooled off. We sit having a drink with our hosts, Viktor and Ranjini Dey on their veranda, fending off the affectionate advances of their one-year-old boxer. They ran a tea plantation for … Continue reading
Posted in Chart & Compass: Travels
Tagged Coffee, Home Stay, India, Kerala, Kopi Luwak, Plantations, Spices, Tea growing, Vanilla
2 Comments
Threads of India – i) The Western Ghats
The answer to a good holiday is to throw money at it. This should safeguard against our typical holiday experiences that include Starvation in Serbia, Starvation in Senegal and even Starvation in Alsace-Lorraine which we neither of us thought possible. … Continue reading
Home, Dry and Slightly Batty
We have flown the nest for the summer. Our flight – the first without a pushchair/stroller in nine years – was punctuated by my being the only one to be disorderly with our supper trays. I pour wine over both … Continue reading
Posted in Chart & Compass: Travels
Tagged Cotswolds, English Holidays, The English, Travel England
3 Comments
My own two cents on the US budget
Disclaimer: firstly, I am not sure whether it’s two cents or ten cents. If it’s actually ten cents I was not attempting to be fiscally conservative, represent fiscal conservatives or in any way lobby for interest groups on the Hill … Continue reading
Posted in Quill & Ink: Scrolls
Tagged Electrical grid, Infrastructure, PEPCO, Potomac Electric Power Company, Washington DC
1 Comment
Duck Breast with Hoisin and Orange
I am a touch hesitant about posting this recipe because the eating of duck appears to be a fairly eccentric activity in Bethesda. One friend labeled me as ‘so European’ when I ordered it. This was a fairly accurate observation but … Continue reading
Chocolate chips
It is 10.07. What possessed me to ask Rosalind to hide the chocolate chips from me? Ghirardelli chocolate chips, not Hershey’s, I should be clear. I have thought of waking her and shaking her recumbent body until it divulges their hiding … Continue reading
inkquillibrium.com 