Gerbera on pesty. Siitä nousee valtava vaaleanpunainen kajo. Se ei välitä marrasyöstä eikä se välitä talvettuvista marketoista tai kellareissa nuokkuvista tarhadaalioista joiden seuraan sen olisi kiltisti mentävä vaan se värjää keittiömme seinät, vesipatterit, olkapäähäni varovaisesti painuneen puolison leuan kuin eläimen epäileväisen leuan, sen valo kimpoaa katosta yllemme. Kiiltävässä asfaltissakin ikkunan takana on vaaleanpunainen hehku. Kukasta […]

Gulliver had come down first to breakfast and had eaten a boiled egg. Duncan had eaten fried eggs and bacon collecting them from the hot-plate on the sideboard. Gulliver now blamed himself for having bothered Annushka to get him a boiled egg. He would have liked eggs and bacon better, he now decided. However he […]

When I think about the phases of my life, it is as a series of rooms behind me, each with a door to a previous room left open, behind which is another room, and another and another. The rooms are not quite empty, not exactly dark, but they are shadowy, with indistinct shapes, and I […]

”Tonight was lovely,” Eva said.”Mm,” Isabel said, washing her hands.”I really have been wanting to meet you, you know. You most of all. Louis has told me so much. You live in the old family home, right? In the house where you three grew–””I didn’t invite you here tonight.”Eva was caught in a breath, mouth […]

It is, of course, impossible to be certain of what is contained in anyone’s chest, least of all one’s own or those we know well, perhaps especially those we know best, but, as I stand here on the upper level of King’s Cross Station, from where I can monitor my old friend Hosam Zowa walking […]

You will wonder about the name Victoria once you find out your real mother named you that while she was dying and birthing you. Wonder if she was saying the word Victory! out loud at some unknown triumph, perhaps the sound of you crying as you came out, that you came out alive, that she […]

”I want to know all about everything,” he said.”I’ll tell you anything you ask,” she answered. ”But you must promise to like it,” she added, smiling.”Why? Why shouldn’t I like it?” he asked quickly, his face changing. ”You’re not–you’re not going to be married?””Oh–don’t be silly. There. I’m ready. Shall we go down?””I suppose you […]

Liha pilaantui nopeasti, minkä vuoksi keski- ja renessanssiaikana jo hieman pahaksi menneen lihan epämiellyttävä maku piilotettiin voimakkaiden mausteiden alle. Näin syntyi toinen klassikkoruoka, yltäkylläisesti pippuroitu lihamuhennos peposo. Pippuri oli kuitenkin kallista. Fenkolin siemenet sen sijaan osoittautuivat edullisiksi ja helposti saataviksi, fenkolia kun kasvoi villinä maaseudulla. Nokkelat lihakauppiaat keksivät maustaa fenkolin siemenillä sianlihamakkaroita; siemenien ansiosta niin […]