Author: Harry

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okonomiyaki

I went to Abeno for lunch, near the British Museum. It claims to be the only specialist okonomiyaki restaurant in Europe. Okonomiyaki is a Japanese omelette-y thing that is cooked in front of you on a hot-plate at the table. I had one with pork and kimchee (spicy Korean fermented cabbage), which was topped with dried bonito flakes. It was nice, though not as good as the rice dish I ordered – rice with green tea poured over it and dressed with nori. Yum. And then I had that flaked ice dessert the Japanese do – in maccha flavour (i.e. the powdered tea used for the tea ceremony).

I recommend it if you’re going to the BM.

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One last Ashes post

All summer, every time I saw the scar on Ricky Ponting’s cheek, it was like a symbol of the lost innocence of Australian cricket.

Note to Wayne Rooney: if you can win us the World Cup, you’ll be able to turn up to 10 Downing Street so pissed you can barely walk straight and everyone will still love you.

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Me Other

The Golden Ticket

At the start of the summer, it was uncertain whether this would be a very useful object:

Oval ticket

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Aus 367 all out

… from 277-2 overnight. That was like watching the old England – a real proper batting collapse. Magnificent bowling from Flintoff and Hoggard. Just a worry now what the Aussie seamers can do in the same conditions.

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Oval day 2; Aus 112-0 at tea

The great thing about cricket is that it’s so finely balanced; there’s almost never a situation where the fall of a wicket wouldn’t shift the balance of the game. Hint to England – now would be a good moment.

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Bob Denver & Americana

Bob Denver, the star of Gilligan’s Island, has died. Gilligan’s Island is one of those bits of Americana which feel familiar but I actually know entirely via hearsay. It’s one of the most frequently used pop culture references in other US pop culture – they mentioned it on House just last night – but I’ve never actually seen an episode because I don’t think it’s been shown on British TV in my lifetime (ever?).

Similarly, when I went to the US I felt it was very important to eat a Twinkie, to try and find out what it was about this confectionary that made it iconic. Answer – well, it’s certainly different. Bizarrely artificial and liable to send you into diabetic shock. The O. J. Simpson trial was odd, too. The whole thing was covered in detail in the UK news, partially because they tend to follow big US news stories anyway, and partially because the moment he was chased down the freeway on TV, it was a great story. But somehow, the whole point of the thing was missing; the premise of the story was that a Very Famous Man was accused of murdering his wife – but in a country where few people care about American football, he wasn’t actually famous before the trial. He’s famous now, but famous for being accused of murder.