Learning The Ancient Language – Hieroglyphs

How To Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-By-Step Guide To Teach Yourself (Mark Collier & Bill Manley)

This is probably the world’s most difficult language. I’m into my 5th week of hieroglyphs lesson. My hieroglyphs lecturer, who’s a PhD student doing research in the area of Egyptology, told us that not many people were literate then and were hence unable to read hieroglyphs – they were meant only for the the eyes of the Egyptian Gods.

Read more

Posted in Linguistics | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Conspirator’s Demise Makes For A Triumphant Jamboree During Guy Fawkes Day

Picture from time.com – A Brief History of Guy Fawkes

It was an especially intriguing celebration of fireworks at the Aykley Heads Police Headquarters in County Durham. The walk from my hostel to the site was about 15 minutes, and it would have to be the most enchanting 15 minutes walk of my life as fireworks ceaselessly shot through the skyline of the night, as if everyone had taken a number and were waiting for their turn to fire off.

Read more

Posted in Daily Rambles, Durham | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Potato and Leek Soup And A New Toy From Sainsbury

A basil plant! It cost us GBP1.19, which, we thought was reasonable, but that is assuming it doesn’t wilt within a week and the seedlings do continue to grow. It was an interesting experience for the both of us, primarily because we’ve never consumed anything freshly plucked from a plant, and also because we’ve never taken care of anything else other than ourselves.

Read more

Posted in English, Soup | Leave a comment

Buttered Charlotte Potatoes With Pesto Dressing

We kept buying a lot of potatoes for the past 2 weeks because a lot of ideas about how to cook potatoes kept coming in, every evening at 5.30pm and during our grocery shopping trips – leek and potato soup, shepherd’s pie, potato salad, just to name a few. I realised that potatoes are really versatile to cook, and they could create a bundle of surprises, if their potential flavours are maximised.

Read more

Posted in English, Potato | Tagged , | Leave a comment

My 20 Minutes Meal Of Microwavable Tomato Pasta with Mozzarella

I have recently picked up on the 5.30pm Channel 4 show in Durham – ‘Jamie Oliver’s 30-minute meals‘ and am hereby mimicking some of his cooking ethos:

  • Always praise your cooking techniques and recipes.
  • Use cheater techniques to hasten the cooking process.
  • Squeeze lemon juice and drip olive oil into (virtually all) dishes to signal the end of cooking.

Read more

Posted in Italian, Pasta | Tagged | Leave a comment