Eating Out

One of the things my wife and I enjoy doing together is eating out. We both work so we tend to treat ourselves to a meal out once a week or once every two weeks. Often if we’re stressed or feeling run down we decide not to bother with cooking (which we both enjoy doing when we have time) and we go out. We love trying new places and eat Peruvian, Indian, Thai, Italian, Chilean (sea-food) and, of course, Japanese.

One of the things I love about Santiago is that it has good, cheap Japanese restaurants. I lived in London for 6 years and the only time I eat Japanese it cost me an arm and a leg. So, when I came to Chile I loved the fact that Japanese food was affordable.

I first went to Izakaya Yoko in 1996. At that time it was located on Merced but now it’s at Monjitas 296 because they knocked down the original building to build a tower block. I found out about the place from my wife’s sister (who I knew before I met my wife). It immediately became my favourite restaurant in Santiago and I must have gone there at least 20 times in my first year in Santiago. I often used to go at lunch time to eat the set menu but I don’t eat it so often nowadays because it often contains meat which I no longer eat (I’m a “pescatarian” – I only eat fish & sea-food, not meat).

I always have miso soup when I go because they serve the best miso soup that I’ve ever had. Another favourite is Atsuaje – Lightly fried tofu with spring onions and ginger (yummy!). The sashimi is really good because it’s finely sliced and the sushi is top quality.

The owner of the restaurant is a Japanese man who is married to a Chilean woman. They have 2 children (one of whom has just moved back to Japan). The restaurant opened in 1991 and my wife has actually been going there for 21 years. Iwouldn’t say it’s my favourite restaurant but it’s definitely top 5.

The last time I went there was last Saturday. I had to work in the centre on Saturday morning and my wife came to meet me and she invited me for a meal. Obviously, I accepted.

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Phil Woods: Claire de Lune

Amazingly beautiful:)

King Curtis

Amazing:)

Something You Would Like To Learn To DO

Hi Blogheads,

One of my favourite pastimes is making music. I taught myself to play guitar when I was about 14 years old and started writing songs straight away. In fact, my first song had only 2 chords (Em7 and C). Initially, I wanted to play saxophone (just because David Bowie did) but they didn't have any at my school so I started taking clarinet lessons. Unfortunately I never made much progress. It was difficult to practice at home. I have 8 brothers and sisters and they used to tease me or complain about the awful noise I was making. So, I swapped the clarinet for the guitar. I don't think I'm a very good guitarist. I use the guitar to write songs. I'm fairly steady when it comes to rhythm but I never had the dedication needed to play like Jimi Hendrix. Later I started to play keyboard and I taught myself a couple of things on the piano. However, I'd still like to learn the sax. I think my favourite sax pieces are "Soul Serenade" by King Curtis and "Clair de Lune" played by Phil Woods. I`d don't think I'd find it difficult to learn the basics but it would be difficult to play how I`d like to play. I think I'd be able to free my soul by playing sax and that would be wonderful.

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A Country

Since I was young I've always been fascinated with China and it is a country I would love to visit. I think it had something to do with books that I read as a child. One in particular was called “Misse Lee” by Arther Ransome. It was about a group of children who were captured by Chinese pirates and I really enjoyed reading about such an exotic and mysterious land. I found things related to customs and food very interesting (in the book an Emperor served the children a meal of monkey brains in the cooked head of the monkey!!). Later, when I lived in London I used to enjoy going to Chinatown in the centre of the city. It had shops that sold unusual things and great restaurants.

If I could travel to China I would like to walk along The Great Wall and see the sights in cities like Beijing (Peking) and Shanghai. I’m more interested in traditional China than the modern aspects. I love the traditional Chinese architecture and I would like to see how these elements have been incorporated into modern Chinese culture. I’m sure there are lots of interesting things to do, things to see, places to go and things to eat. It’s such a big country that it would take time to get to know it well. There are lots of other things I would like to learn about like Chinese medicine (especially acupuncture) and celebrations like the Chinese New Year – which I experienced in Chinatown in London. I think I’d need to go for at least a year.

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A Holiday

One of the best holidays I've ever had was the second time my wife and I went to Uruguay. We flew from Santiago and we arrived in Montevideo with no set plans. We stayed in a hostel the first couple of nights exploring the city (eating lots of muzzarella). On the third day we went to the bus station and took a bus to La Paloma, a little seaside village in Rocha. We had been before but only for a couple of days. Also, the first time we went it was carnival so, it had been very crowded.

We spent our days on the beach sunbathing, reading and swimming. The nicest day we had was when we walked 5 kilometres up the coast to another little village called La Pedrera. It was a hot day so we took our time stopping off to swim when it got too hot in the sun. The beach was deserted once we left La Paloma and it was really nice to it all to ourselves. We have lunch in a little restaurant in La Pedera and then we walked back. The whole trip took us about 5 or 6 hours mainly because we stopped so many times. One of the things I really enjoyed was the temperature of the water. I don´t go in the sea in Chile because it’s too cold. However, La Paloma and the surrounding area are on the Atlantic coast so the water is warm.

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A Photograph you like

This is a photograph from when I was about 10 years old. I'm with 2 of my brothers, Adrian & Colin, outside our house in Chester. I love this photo because of our look and the stances we have. It reminds me of early Star Trek for some reason. If you look closely, you´ll see that my brothers and I have the same haircut. That´s because my Dad used to cut our hair. Actually, I think my mum knitted the jumpers (sweaters) we are wearing. There are only 3 years between my brother's and I (If I was 10 then Ady - in the middle was 8 and a half and Colin was 7), however, I was much taller than either of them. We lived in this house for about 12 years and this photo brings back lots of memories about my childhood. I was born in the countryside and moved to the city when I was 7 so that had a big effect on my upbringing. I don't know who took the photo, most probably one of my elder sisters. I think it was most likely to have been Terry my eldest sister as I think she was the first one to have a camera.

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