Author: Crispin
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Cooking my way around the world, dish by dish – Week Two
Friday 8 January: Bosnia 🇧🇦 : Bosanski Lonac / Bosnian Stew The first dish from a country that I have not yet visited though will get to as soon as this crisis is over. I Google recipes and specialities of Bosnia and this one comes up regularly. The recipe that I use is from allyskitchen.com…
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Cooking my way around the world, dish by dish
January can be such a dull month, a let-down after all the hype of December, the days still dark, winter at its coldest, and miserable weather. And this January in particular is a difficult one, with lives still very restricted because of the evil bug, and threatening to get a lot worse before the springtime…
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So what did I learn during the year?
The nothing days between Christmas and New Year are a wonderful time for rest and reflection. The end of the calendar year calls us to close up the mental accounts and settle the psychological profit and loss for the previous 360-odd days: to look at what has been achieved but also what has remained undone.…
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Living in the fierce urgency of now: Martin Luther King, 2020, and bike touring…
What connects Dr Martin Luther King Jr., the year 2020, and bike touring? At first sight, asking this question must put me in contention for the so far non-existent prize of “Most Blatant Demonstration of Bathos 2020”. Two very serious subjects – Martin Luther King and the year 2020 – followed by a trite one:…
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Why Autumn is the best season to ride a bike. REALLY.
A few Sundays ago, as I had breakfast, it was cold and the brief glints of sunlight that got me out of bed had been replaced by grey skies and pouring rain… Yet I couldn’t wait to get out on the bike. Maybe it’s because I was born in Autumn, but it is my absolute…
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Five Tips for buying a bike
One of the positive side effects of this awful time has been that a lot of friends have asked me for advice about buying a bike. I have given some advice on why I think that a touring bike is a great buy if you are intending to ride for day trips and want something…
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Why you should buy a touring bike even if you never intend to go touring
One of the positives of this difficult time – Spring/Summer 2020 – is that a lot of people are rediscovering the pleasures and practicality of cycling, helped by the amazing weather. If you are thinking of taking up cycling again, my simple advice is: go for it. There has never been a better time. But…
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“Belgium is flat”: Riding up the Muur van Geraardsbergen
A few weeks ago, I was out hiking near Brussels with a bunch of expats. As the hike progressed, I asked them whether they enjoyed living in Brussels. I got the typical snorts of derision over the weather, the dirtiness, the dysfunctionality of public administrations, and how boring and flat Belgium was. And so I…