This is our final Postcard From Tibet for 2024. The restaurant will be open right through until Sunday evening this week (reopening January 8th), but after Friday me, Yeshi and the kids won’t be there: I’m gonna be 50 this weekend and we’ll be celebrating.
Actually, 50 is no biggie for me. According to some ancient Taoist wisdom when a woman turns 49 she becomes a goddess, so a line was drawn last year and everything that follows feels simply divine.
If I was a housewife in Tibet, things would be looking up just the same. In Yeshi’s village a woman usually marries sets of brothers and then moves in with the in-laws. There are many decades of hard, physical work pleasing several husbands and their parents in all the different ways, growing and sourcing food and cooking every mealtime, all the while juggling lots of young children + all the other commitments of the home. But by the age of 50, as the younger generation begin to assume the load, so a woman’s duties start to ease, and eventually she will be better cared for by her children and grandchildren than we in the west could dare to dream. The goddess years.
Kind of. When we visited Yeshi’s family in Tibet in April, only his mother was no longer working at all. She’s 83 and has been frail for almost a year now: her job is done. But her younger sister, auntie Dolkar, still busies herself about the house most of the time. Largely these are sedentary tasks: she spins yak fibre with an expert hand, shells walnuts, darns clothes.
I’m looking forward to my golden years. As for Yeshi, since there’s no goddess reward for men, and as he’s younger than me anyway, he’s working to a different timeframe. He’s always talking about growing the business. Ideas and ambition are in full flow.
As I write, we’re at a bit of a crossroads: do we take on a crazy busy 7-day-a-week site in the centre of town in addition to our summer festival roadshow and of course the restaurant here in East Oxford? Or do we hunker down and enjoy the (my) goddess years? Perhaps there’s someone out there who can match Yeshi’s energy and who wants – more than I do – to accompany him through the next stage. Solutions in the comments please.
For one final week of 2024, the restaurant is open as usual – see below:
Weds – Fri: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Saturday: 12-3 / 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3 / 5-9pm
We’ve done a roaring trade in signed cookbooks these last couple of weeks but we still have plenty of stock, so do come by if there’s someone in your life who might like to make momos for you. We also have lots of chilli oil and hot mooli pickle too, as well as cute presentation bags of our chocolate tsampa truffles. All this plus TT gift vouchers.
Mostly we’d like you to come and clear our freezers please, as after this weekend we’ll be closed until January 8th. Newsletter subscribers will enjoy the best deals on our freezer food so make sure you’re signed up to receive your exclusive offer.
This week’s menu is up on the website – check it. Come by for take away or dine in, or you can order home delivery through Deliveroo.
Thank you for all your support for Taste Tibet this year. We really appreciate all our customers and the readers of our Postcards who hail from far and wide – many of you have never even tasted our food!
Wishing you and your people a very merry Christmas season, and here’s to a happy and healthy 2025.
Julie and Yeshi x
Opening hours this week:
Weds – Fri: 5-9.30pm
Saturday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9pm
☏ 01865 499318
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