Hello!
It’s been a long summer away from our desks, but reader we have not been slacking! Tibetans are a nomadic people, and we spend the season moving from pasture to pasture, sharing our love of momos with hungry festival-goers up and down the land. This is where Yeshi comes into his own.
In the rugged, natural landscape of the Green Man Festival, other traders worried about “black bits” in the water supply. Just organic debris, Yeshi corrected, or perhaps tiny particles of rock and soil. They’re a sign of a healthy, natural environment, not plastic as reported.
Yeshi is far more at home in the fields than he is in the constructed restaurant kitchen. We love our summers under canvas, especially now that the kids are no longer little and a liability. The opportunity to expose them to different kinds of music, people and real-life situations turns out to be a fine education, reminiscent of Yeshi’s own childhood in Tibet, in which formal school did not feature.
There have been plenty of real-life situations this summer. The following is by no means an exhaustive list:
- Not one but two breakdowns in our previously trusty van, the first of which happened at the precise moment at which we needed it most. The result: Mr and Mrs Taste Tibet clocking up 350 miles each in two hire vehicles within the space of 12 hours.
- Recovering our marooned family car from the Sainsbury’s car park in Swindon the day after our return from Glastonbury, only to discover that there was nothing wrong with it in the first place (a member of staff had reported a breakdown half-way home: a simple case of Glasto blues?).
- Arriving at the Greenbelt festival with no gas, getting to know all the hardware shops of Kettering.
- Two separate fridge trailer faults, occurring at two of our biggest festivals of the season (thank you to our delicious Glastonbury neighbours Paletas, who have rescued our momos from this situation two years in a row now, and props to Gareth, an electrician at both events who we now count as an old friend).
- The Great British Momo Heist: not for the first time, our brother-in-law Tim saves the people of Green Man Festival from another momo sell-out (how many can you EAT, Green Man). This hero stopped off at our unit in Oxford on his way from London to Wales, and performed a momo handover with Yeshi in Newport (Yeshi’s second visit to Newport that day – but that’s another story).
There have been moments of pure joy, however, as ever:
- The customer at Green Man who brought us his sepen to taste – he doesn’t go anywhere without it, he says.
- Meeting and connecting with fans of our cookbook and newsletter (many of you say that Taste Tibet is the best recipe book you own, and there’s nothing makes us happier).
- Our team: they worked so hard, sometimes way too hard, and never complained (we couldn’t do any of this without you – thank you thank you thank you).
- Our kids: they’re old enough to work the stall too now (well almost, don’t tell) and they’re so good with our customers and they care so much about getting everything right.
- Learning Welsh – and making ourselves understood! – at the National Eisteddfod.
- Some epic live music: The Prodigy, Raye, En Vogue, Pulp, Doechii, Underworld, Rudimental.
- The children skipping off to Michael Rosen, Robert Winston and Michael Morpurgo just a stone’s throw away from the TT tent at Hay.
- Also at Hay: our own sold-out evening of Tibetan food stories (pinch me).
- Three festivals in Wales! Eventually we’ll move there.
Thank you to our people here in Oxford who have waited SO LONG for us to return. If you’ve got this, far you’ll understand why we’ve given ourselves an extra week off before reopening the restaurant, so if you’ve marked today as the date, please note that our first day back is now planned for WEDNESDAY 10th SEPTEMBER.
And give us a few weeks and we have a momo party up our sleeves for you – watch out for our festival tent out the front of the restaurant again + a whole load of freebies. Newsletter subscribers only, spread the word!
We’ll be in touch again next week with more information about our reopening, freezer food and all the other important details. For now, happy back to school and a massive thank you to everyone who supports us from near and far.
Looking forward to seeing you very soon!
Julie and Yeshi
