The Backpacker Cookbook No. 1

Backpacker Fish Chowder

-One package local whitefish (trout, maybe)

-One can cream of asparagus soup (or mushroom, whatever you like)

-Half a can of water

-One can sweet corn

-Pepper to taste

Empty can of soup into pot. Add half a cup of water. Bring to a low boil, add fish. When fish is almost done, add corn and black pepper. Serve sprinkled with paprika and with local hot sauce on side.

It´s Been Good to Know You

Tuesday night I make it over to Notting Hill Gate to meet up with Dawn, a Londoner I met last year in Pai, Thailand. A charming girl I met on the street corner, when she (along with an American girl she was travelling with) asked me if I knew how to find the Mexican restaurant in Pai. I didn´t, but they invited me to come along anyway, and I spent the next 3 alcohol-soaked days in the nearly constant company of Dawn and Whitney (the American). (Full details at onesandal at right).

Had a brief but lovely chat with Dawn, but the nicest thing was the strange familiarity. It´s hard to encapsule, but it´s the little things that make you realize how nice it is to re-connect with fellow travelers. I had my day bag with me when we met up at the pub, and she saw it it, and sweetly exclaimed, 'Oh, I remember that bag!´ Our familiarity, luckily, had a tangible relic along with me.

Nice to see you, Dawn, and un-storied honorable mention to Helen, a South African I met in Belize, and Guy, a Londoner I met in Chiang Mai, for taking time out of their lives to visit with me this week.

Church

There is a theatre just outside central London known as the Forum. Some rather wiley capitalists here in the UK realized that the key to maximizing real estate is to book as many events as possible in one space. As a result, on Sundays the Forum hosts an event known as 'Church'. It is a little like how many college campuses in the States have a bar nearby called 'The Library'. That way, kids can tell their mums that they spent Friday night at 'the library' and she'll feel proud of her offspring, not realizing that Friday night involved 7 shots of Yaegermerister. In any event, promptly at noon on Sunday, Church opens, to relatively cheap beer, numerous Australians, loud thumping dance music, contests, strippers, and riotously good fun. At noon. On Sunday. By half four, the streets outside are filled with crazily drunk people, stopping off at the chipper, or heading on to the next place (Walkabout in Shepherd's Bush is quite popular).

What kind of a city has ritualized all day benders on Sunday? My kind of city.