Lockdown is set to ease, and it’s wonderful news and also sad! The children (9 and 7) will be going back to school soon. They have been amazing companions over this last while, and what they haven’t gained in formal learning they’ve certainly made up for in the kitchens and back rooms of Taste Tibet. They’ve played a big hand in boxing up and labelling the food we send out for free through Oxford Mutual Aid. They’ve also done a fantastic job of keeping themselves busy while mum and dad have been holed up completing something huge and wonderful (more on this another time). They have created an incredible world of make-believe that is jaw-dropping to watch, especially in the case of our son who has always been super literal (the Taste Tibet summer of festivals is rather wasted on him: he sees the kid’s tent as a place to avoid – much better the back of the Taste Tibet van).

For Yeshi it’s all quite normal. In Tibet children enjoy all sorts of amazing freedoms, and the stuff of make-believe dreams is of course all around. But they are also enlisted in grown-up work from a young age. When he was very little Yeshi spent his days playing down by the river with older siblings or neighbours while his parents worked. Later, from the age of eight, he started accompanying his father and uncle out on the mountains where he was tasked with all kinds of chores – tending livestock, building fences, collecting river water. It was out in the family’s nomadic tent that he learned to cook well before he was ten.

There are so many classic Tibetan dishes that we are itching to prepare for you when situations allow. Now that we have a better handle on when all that might be, we are going to start playing around a little with our opening days and times to start getting a feel for Taste Tibet lunchtimes and new menu options. Watch this space!

For now, just a shout out that we will be winding up our deliveries this week or next (just working things out in the wake of Boris’s announcement), so do get your orders in if you’d like to stock up on fridge and freezer food before we turn attentions to our Magdalen Road premises. Our online shop closes on Wednesday at 7pm for deliveries on Thursday afternoon. This week we are delivering to OX13 in addition to all the usual areas. If you or anybody you know would like to see us here just place your order online in the normal way – thanks!

Otherwise come and see us in Magdalen Road on Friday and Saturday evening for hot takeaway. This is a menu that is designed to serve out fast, so you can be in and out quickly whether you pre-order (from 4pm on the day: 01865 499318) or just walk in. Mrs Taste Tibet will be in the house on Saturday (kids will – hopefully – be hiding upstairs). Please come and see me as I haven’t seen your friendly faces yet all year!