Unsolicited advice: part 4
Continuing this series of unsolicited advice, I’d like to recommend:
After three weeks away, it is indescribably salubrious to be back in Thailand, enjoying the clement days of January.
One will naturally enjoy some fine local food too. After a sunrise run at the park, fresh juice, porridge, and soy milk, followed by freshly ground Thai (of course) coffee, I read, studied, and wrote all day.
Then I went out for this bowl of noodles. That’ll do for dinner.
The weather in central Thailand in January is predicatably dry, sunny, and cool (by equatorial standards). I highly recommend it.
Spicy Nori potato chips
These were a revelation. You have probably had potato chips and thought, “These are just missing a bit of seaweed.” Or perhaps you’ve been eating some delicious crisps and wished that they had that extra bit of spice.
But to have them both together? A revelation. This is a new flavor, and one that I’m sure will be around for a while.
And the book? Nobel’s Physicochemical & Environmental Plant Physiology. This is a superb book on quantitative plant physiology.
Two extraordinary novels
I’ve been doing a lot of writing and research for the past few years, and that necessarily limits the amount of fiction that I allow myself to read.
With that said, this morning I finished (largely thanks to a long plane ride yesterday) Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which I can only describe as extraordinary.
And a few months ago, I read Marukami’s Norwegian Wood, about which I have the same description.
Sushi in Ginza
I quite enjoy sushi. Likewise, Ginza. I recently had some errands to run in Ginza, and it was lunchtime. Thus, sushi in Ginza. Highly recommended.
Sake Museum & Tasting Room
I would like to clarify this by confirming that at the time of my visit, in early 2015, the Ponshu-kan had exactly 200 varieties of sake, standard and seasonal, on display (or shall we say, on tap) and available for tasting.
I can also confirm, as the website says, that “you can also take a dip in a bath of sake next-door.”
What the website doesn’t say, but that I feel obliged to inform you, is that there is a superb soft cream stand conveniently situated between the Ponshu-kan and the sake-infused bath.