This summer has been a whirl of social engagements, what with friends visiting, me visiting friends and everyone congregating in London. And to crown it all, my friends and I decided to go to Oktoberfest in Munich. Lucky for us, two of my friends actually live in Munich and they
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Yorkshire, two and half hours by train up north from London, is where one of my dear friends lives with her family. Although her family are originally from India, she’s a proper Yorkshire lass, born and raised there before coming down to London for university, where we met as very green
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It’s getting colder here in Brazil and dry season is approaching. In the North, the crops have been harvested. Festa Junina (June Festival) was carried over from the Portuguese to celebrate and thank God for the rain by eating wonderful foods–and like any good Brazilian party it has mutated into one
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Tonight is the first night of Passover, and the first of two seders this week. Enjoy that gefilte fish! (If you’re lucky, yours will be made of salmon like the one above).

Photo
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Carnaval is just complete madness. People running around, eating, dancing, shaking it, getting it on, peeing on church walls, and swapping spit. It’s hot. The music is loud, samba is blaring, and you are pretty much forced to like it. It’s like sex. This is CARNAVAL.

Carnaval is to get all of the world’s
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Happy Valentines Day!

Photo collage by Erin Gleeson.

I am from a town so rural, you wouldn’t believe it. Although Japan is portrayed as a metropolitan, clean, and simple city to Westerners, that’s not how real Japan is all about. Whenever I say I am from Japan, first thing people usually ask is, “are you from Tokyo?” This is pretty stupid, since it’s
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Just a day after my Holiday Beer post I came across another great holiday beer at City Beer. This one is actually a Chanukah beer! Jewbelation by Shmaltz Brewing Company is an American Strong Ale. Smaltz brewed eight different recipes for the eight days of Chanukah.

I was lucky enough
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You know it’s the festive season when you start seeing images of Christmas puddings and mince pies everywhere in London. This year Heston Blumenthal of the three Michelin starred The Fat Duck in Bray produced an extra special Christmas pudding with a whole Valencia orange inside for Waitrose
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Ahhh the holidays! For me the time between Thanksgiving and New Years is always a huge rush. There’s always year end stuff to wrap up for work, on top of all the shopping and traveling. It can really burn you out.

But every year I do look forward to taking a break and bellying up to
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