These oxygen outlets on the plane have a nice old-school feel to them. (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

These oxygen outlets on the plane have a nice old-school feel to them. (Taken with instagram)

Hadn’t faced morning traffic in a long while… (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

Hadn’t faced morning traffic in a long while… (Taken with instagram)

The bird for today, LON -> ANR. (Taken with Instagram at London City Airport (LCY)) View high resolution

The bird for today, LON -> ANR. (Taken with Instagram at London City Airport (LCY))

A lager from a town called Frederick can’t be bad… (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

A lager from a town called Frederick can’t be bad… (Taken with instagram)

Experiment with Hollandaise from a jar inconclusive, like eating a lemony mayo… (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

Experiment with Hollandaise from a jar inconclusive, like eating a lemony mayo… (Taken with instagram)

Made Better in Japan

The Japanese are perfecting many quintessentially Western things, like food, drinks and clothes…

“I think these are Spanish napkins,” Gonzalo, my Bilbao-born companion, says in disbelief. It’s almost too ridiculous to think that anyone would import such a shoddy implement from halfway around the world. But the owner of this restaurant tracked down these servietas, priced them out, shipped them in, and stacked them up in custom metal dispensers, all because, in one frustrating wipe, they re-create the experience of consuming tapas in a packed barroom in Spain. Whether or not the diners appreciate this is beside the point.

"Lin-sanity" makes the FT

Mr Lin, 23, has gone from obscurity to the world’s most-watched basketball star in under a week. His story – an unwanted player who shines when given a chance – has the right mix of adversity and success to captivate the US, but it poses a problem for the media in basketball-mad China.

In any case he’s making me watch the NBA again…

Canary Wharf currently has an exhibition of Olympic Games posters; this is the one for Antwerp in 1920. View high resolution

Canary Wharf currently has an exhibition of Olympic Games posters; this is the one for Antwerp in 1920.

Regents Park’s boating lake is proper frozen! (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

Regents Park’s boating lake is proper frozen! (Taken with instagram)

Gilthead

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This is a gilt-head bream (notice the gold-coloured stripe next to the eyes), or daurade in French. My local Morrisons had piles of them at half price, so I suspect people are put off by the fact it’s an entire fish. In fact it’s already scaled and gutted, and all you need to do is put it under the grill… As the Wikipedia article says:

The gilt-head bream is generally considered the best-tasting of the breams

Finished product:

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Tastes great, looks cool and on top of that at a bargain price…