for honor

Anglofille has been writing about the death of a young woman in Kurdish Iraq. It’s all pretty horrific. She was killed, savagely beaten to death, for being a gal who cut her own path. Her death and post-mortem kicking were filmed. How ’bout those cell phone cameras.

And while some of us find such a thing shocking – apparently the clip of her death and her bloody corpse being dragged off the streets have inspired more “honor killings”.

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These things don’t just happen in Iraq or Afghanistan or Jordan or Egypt. No, they happen here, too.

While researching this issue of honor killings in Britain, I found a BBC news article from last September. According to their poll, 1 in 10 British Asians believe that honor killings are acceptable. The government estimates that 13 women in the UK die each year as a result of honor killings, but support groups say this number is way too low.

Scandalous.

t-4: we’ll call you

So, we should be all clear now. The Vol-in-Law is on vacation now. The doula’s husband’s birthday was today (not that she wouldn’t have come) – but I’m sure she’d have rather spent today with him. And we’ve no more plans, so we’ve given Cletus the all clear to make an appearance whenever now.

And perhaps his arrival will put an end to the phone calls.

So, just to let you know. I am still pregnant. And when I’m not, we’ll call you.

4 days til baby Cletus

Double tagged

I’ve been tagged again on the 5 fave restaurant meme. So, I’ll just link to my original post.

One thing I will say, in my original post I listed pretty much all local places. Yes, London has many, many fabulous restaurants, but I really like going out in my own neighbourhood. I’ve felt more this way since getting involved with local politics.

But I do have an update. One of the folks I tagged, listed a place called Pizzeria Sette Bello, in Tooting on Amen Corner. It sounded really good and good value (by London standards). I really wanted to try it before the baby arrived, and since it really could be any.time.now. I figured I better go soon.

So we went tonight and we decided to walk, with the option of catching the bus home afterwards. I’m awfully, awfully glad we did walk up there (and back) because I absolutely stuffed myself.

For starters I had the eggplant parmesan – or melanzana parmigiana. I don’t know if it has the labor inducing properties of the famous Scalini’s recipe, but it was certainly delicious. Really delicately flavoured with a lovely herby marinara.

I also had the pizza, which was very traditional – tasted quite like the ones in Italy – which isn’t necessarily a fantastic thing. I’m a big fan of faffy pizza with complicated ingredients put together in an artistic way. But it was still very tasty. I also had a side salad which was big enough to split – a rare thing. The Vol-in-Law had a penne with a creamy tomato sauce which was also very good. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him order anything other than a pizza at a pizzeria.

And then we had dessert. It was a cherry cheesecake. It looked fantastic, like a New York style baked cheesecake. You see, cheesecake in Britain is usually the congealed kind, not baked at all. And it usually has a nasty, non-cheesy, chemical aftertaste. Well, this wasn’t a beautiful baked cheesecake, but I have to say it was the best “English” style cheesecake I’d ever had. Light, delicious and with no nasty aftertaste.

But best of all, the place had a friendly, open atmosphere – and great service – so unusual in this country…

Yum. I can’t say when I’ll go again, given my impending change in life circumstances, but I’d go again soon if I could.

confession

Members of my mom’s church clubbed together to give us money for a nice baby gift.

I just spent it on a new gas grill.

Baby likes bbq.

A full day’s worth of craving

I want a sausage biscuit.

I have no sausage. My biscuit making skills are poor, and of course you can’t just go out and buy biscuits.

However, you can buy soda farls. A tasty triangular soda bread from Northern Ireland. Nearest to a biscuit in the British Isles – except you don’t seem to cut in any lard to the recipe – so it’s not quite as melt-in-your mouth good. (Though probably not as artery hardening either).
The sausage here isn’t meaty or sagey enough for my taste. All-in-all there’s but poor substitutes for what I need.

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I want some meat and three. Fried okra, mac & cheese, greens of some sort or green beans – actually I can’t decide between greens or green beans – ok, I’ll have meat and four. With a side of cornbread. And some ice tea. Oh, I didn’t tell you what meat? I don’t care – what’s good today?

What kind of pie do you have?

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I’m kinda full. I’d like a BLT for supper, with Vlassic dill pickles as a side. No mayonnaise on mine. Just a thin smear of brown mustard, please. Maybe an RC to wash it all down with? In a nod to health, I’d like some carrot sticks, too.