July 8-11, 2008: St Andrews

After more than a week of walking and eating and discovering, I was obliged to fulfill my work commitments. First up, I was attending a conference at Scotland's oldest university in St Andrews. This glimpse of the town from the bus station was all I saw of the outside world for a couple of days. I merely oscillated between two of the newer buildings on campus, sleeping and listening, note-taking and occasionally talking, subsisting on catered food. The one break in my temporary routine was watching the rabbits - when I opened the window in my room in the mornings I could usually see a dozen of them, and there were many more on the lawns between our accommodation and meeting rooms.

On the second night I had a chance to wander around town with a colleague I hadn't seen in years. The chilly breeze and grey skies were the perfect setting for the castle and cathedral ruins.

But this is a food blog, isn't it? While the catering was adequate it was nothing to write home about. I did, however, have a lovely meal at the local Bangladeshi and Indian restaurant, Balaka. Their vegetarian thali plate, though outrageously expensive, was delightful. The dahl was one of the best I've eaten, and the spinach curry was studded with the sweetest, softest segments of onion. Though the serving of raita was overly large, I needed a good portion of it to counteract the heat of the third curry!

The Brits are incorrigble - it seems a crime to me that a restaurant like this should be obliged to offer chips as a staple carbohydrate as well as rice.

I didn't have an opportunity to visit St Andrews' most famous landmark, but the town left a pleasant impression on me nonetheless. Though I'm incredibly grateful for the travelling opportunities my job provides, there's always a twinge of regret that I've not been able to get to know these places better.