Tag Archives: katia gregor

Season Lag

Posted on December 7, 2025 by Scribe Doll

What kind of person says she misses the Norwich winter when she lives in Nice? Yes, Nice.  That place on the Côte d’Azur, with the perennially cyan sky and soft, golden haze that sets the ochre and terracotta buildings aglow … Continue reading →

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Twelfth Night

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Scribe Doll

After the formal New Year celebrations are over, the Old Year creeps back into our flat.  There are loose ends to tie up, plans to draw up with the New Year, work to do for a smooth handover, without all … Continue reading →

Posted in Postcards from Nice | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

FEASTS & FANCIES @ CHOCOLATE NOTES

Posted on March 16, 2024 by Scribe Doll

Of Writers and Rice I push open the door of Chocolate Notes and do a double take.  Two well-known, award-winning writers – one of whom I’ve met before – are sitting at one of the large corner tables.  After a moment … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES @ CHOCOLATE NOTES: EARLY WINTER TEA LOAF

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Scribe Doll

I have always felt comfortable writing in cafés.  I have never been able to focus on any kind of work in libraries, not even when I was a student.  I find something distracting about the silence, perhaps because libraries aren’t … Continue reading →

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A Niçard Scrapbook: The Blue, Blue Sea.

Posted on November 5, 2023 by Scribe Doll

It was one thing I was determined to do in Nice, even more than to see the Dufy collection at the Musée des Beaux-Arts.  For weeks, I pictured myself slipping off my sandals and standing in the sea up to … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES: HALLOWE’EN @ CHOCOLATE NOTES

Posted on October 31, 2023 by Scribe Doll

At Chocolate Notes, there are no polystyrene cobwebs on the glass front door, no hairy spiders climbing the walls, no plastic bats swinging from the ceiling and no pumpkins with macabre grimaces.  Unlike in many other shops and cafés, the … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES: BAROQUE PORRIDGE at CHOCOLATE NOTES

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Scribe Doll

My body and mind are having some difficulty adjusting to Norwich after a few days in the  south-east of France.  My muscles stiffen against the North Sea wind blowing ruthlessly across the Fens and Broads, my skin feels uncomfortably cold … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES: Equinox at Chocolate Notes

Posted on September 24, 2023 by Scribe Doll

There’s a wind blowing and I can feel its chilly breath on my bare toes as it weasels its way through the gaps in our French windows despite the thick draught excluders.  You’re never very far from meteorological elements in … Continue reading →

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The Sorrows and Joys of Translating Italian Dialects

Posted on September 13, 2023 by Scribe Doll

When you translate Italian literature you will, more often than not, come across expressions in one of many dialects or vernaculars. It’s the difficulty and – even more – the joy of being a It>En translator. Here is an article I … Continue reading →

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FEASTS & FANCIES: Back to Basic Tomato Sauce

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Scribe Doll

When I am run down emotionally I find preparing food very healing.  I choose the word preparing deliberately. Healthy and healing cooking involves preparation. Preparing the ingredients, the utensils, the table. Preparing the dish as a whole. Preparing yourself first … Continue reading →

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