today casey m (with angelic benelovence and patience) drives me first to allston with more of my boxes and then to porter square with my suitcases. i discover casey is going to read anthropology at brandeis next year. he had told me about this before (his course of study; i knew the phd bit.) except that i keep on thinking he is going to continue working in east asian studies. and then i remembered his undergraduate degree was in PPE. me: you were doing PPE? but then you must have known some of my friends. what year did you graduate? him: 2001. me: i'm staggered - and you say you're only 24?! i thought he might be zakir's year, but this would have been a year ahead of yen and mona wouldn't it? but i think it's impressive the way he manages to keep working on the same areas of interest while switching fields continually - it's remarkable - for the mental flexibility and he must have - the most i would be able to do is to switch to comp lit - and for the comprehensive study he will have made of his subject.

along the way we collect rikita and we all go to o'cantinho for dinner (clams in lemon parsley sauce, portuguese white cheese, cured ham and tomatoes, linguica with - no, not fava beans but peas (this must have been miscommunication on my part, because i like fava beans and do not like peas, but having been brought the wrong dish i proceeded to enjoy it very much), fried sliced potatoes, sangria, and some egg tarts. christina's specials today were celery sorbet and fresh rose ice-cream. the celery was a bold stroke. very sweet, and very refreshing, and then a clear, clean, green taste afterward. i think mihaela would love it. the rose ice-cream was also delicious - the colour of strawberry ice-cream, and tasted like cold, creamy rose milk - except that when asked what rose milk was - that is, what its constitutents were - i couldn't answer. (how should i know! i just drink it! i know what it is when i taste it! it's pink! and sweet!) but i came home and googled it - it's rosewater and milk and honey, or in the southeast asian version, condensed milk for the last two. but perhaps julian would tell us whether island creamery has bandung ices?