We are off blackberry picking at the weekend (or maybe lavender if we are lucky, and if the COVID situation allows). We never usually get the chance to take a break at this time of year as we typically move from one festival to the next throughout the season, so this is pretty exciting! Taste Tibet will be out of action for the whole month of August. A mix of sun seeking and top secret new project development work - all will be revealed in good time... Before we drive off into the sunset, do come and see us at Silvie again this week. We are loving the outdoor Iffley Road vibe, and Silvie's garden oasis is the perfect place to kick back with a pint of draught ale, some momos and a curry. Soar
Butter is getting more and more expensive - that's something that everyone has noticed over the last few years. Globally, the price of butter rose by around 60% during 2017, and it has never really recovered. There are lots of reasons behind this: turns out you can't simply put it down to the success of shows such as Bake Off. During lockdown, we like many others tried our hand at home baking, and we got through lots and lots of butter. Then one morning last week, Yeshi finally got the hump. Or maybe it was the cut-price double cream. On a really busy day with a hundred other more pressing jobs to get to, he set about making butter. It turns out that making your own is really easy: you simpl
It's been a huge week, with lots of things going spectacularly awry. Some weeks are like this. It's not all bad, but the bad does tend to weigh heavy on the good. Lots of you are asking how work is going at our new place in Magdalen Road, and the short answer is great. Upstairs, where we have been renovating bedrooms and bathrooms, we are nearly ready with some magnificent apartments that will trump any other Oxford staycation - watch this space! Downstairs is a bit of a different story. Magic has been happening here and there - look at that beautiful brickwork on the walls of our new shop! - but we are also unpicking some disasters with the floors, as well as other less less exciting mistak
Did you know that Oxford's Tibetan Buddhist Centre is just a stone's throw away from our new premises on Magdalen Road? Over on the other side of the street, tucked just back from the road, is beautiful Thrangu House. Thrangu has its own resident Tibetan monk, and it has done since 1981. You may well have noticed a smiling face in red robes waving to passers-by on Magdalen Road over the years... Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of centre. We see a celebration in our joint futures! Tibetan people love to party, and this week His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama celebrated his 85th birthday, an occasion that was marked by Tibetan communities across the world. Here in Oxford the
