Home and away

[shewhomust]

• In the travel supplement of yesterday's Guardian, a rather irritating article about Why I fell in love with Slovenia. Sample of what irritated me:
  

  As a tourist I'd found Lake Bled a bit twee. It was only when I went with actor/director Branko Durić, as a co-organiser of the short-lived Bled Film Festival, that I saw the magic it can conjure. We'd gathered at a villa on a cliff above the lake, which had once been a favourite residence of Tito. Celebratory homemade schnapps was consumed, and as night fell we were rowed out to the single, church-topped island in pletne, gondolas manned by capped oarsmen. A trail of floating candles guided us to the cascade of stone steps that led up from the island's mooring to the medieval church. The festival guests used the steps as seating, and the mooring became a stage upon which we gave out the awards.

  
  which I read as saying I'm not impressed by this landscape which you mere tourists find so beautiful. But as an insider I have privileged access... (Ah, I see from his website that he can organise a bespoke tour for you too to become an insider - or you could just buy his book).



• Elsewhere in yesterday's Guardian - in the foodie magazine - a link to a New York Times article about cooking with thermal energy. I knew already about the traditional rye bread, and enjoyed eating it on our trip to Iceland. But here's how a serious foodie might do it (with help from the chef at Iceland's tomato restaurant).



• Also in the foodie magazine, Felicity Cloake puts saffron in her hot cross buns. Is this canonical? Whether or no, it could be worth trying...



• It must be spring, the English asparagus has reached the greengrocers.



• Restoration work at Lindisfarne castle has uncovered seventeenth century wall painting - not murals, but a decorative repeating pattern like wallpaper. The Guardian report has more detail, and more pictures, though not of the painted wall; the National Trust shows a bit of paintwork and confirms that the Castle is about to reopen, so we'll be able to visit this summer (there will Art in progress - time will tell whether this is a good thing).