I’ve aimed for variety here, though I’ll have to check over the next few weeks and see if these lists yield recurring patterns that are less-than-interesting.

  1. South Bank of the Rubicon: Not a happy viewpoint, but one with a solid dollop of validity.

  2. Cig Kofte Recipe: I had a taste, but ended up working from a packet mix. The bulgur was pre-cooked and dried.

  3. Building the Porto Metro: I’m always interested in transit, for its own sake, and for what it facilitates. If I’ve learned anything about these kinds of projects, though, it’s that building them takes dogged persistence over years and decades.

  4. Stuffed Eggplant: I had some of those thin eggplants to use up, this turned out quite well. I was thinking about Imam Bayladi, but this was spicier and drier.

  5. ‘Coffee’ Etymology: I was curious about this with the rise of Yemeni coffee in my area, often with shops called some transliterated variation on the Arabic word for the drink.

  6. One-Word Prompts: There are a lot of writer blogs out there. This is one, but I enjoyed poking around.

  7. Journey to the City of Rumi: Slow-paced, interesting videos on religious history generally, this one focusing on the city of Konya.

  8. Book of the Dead: This was remarkable. I like it a lot, the combination of poetry, social consciousness, and reportage.

  9. Google Operators: I’m interested on getting better results out of Google searches, but it can be hard to actually implement long-standing changes in habit, like changing how one searches.

  10. Buddhas of Bamiyan: I know these were blown up by the Taliban, but they’ve always been a source of interest to me.