Katie's Notes

An academic blog by a linguist specialising in qualitative healthcare research & medical humanities

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  • The joy of teaching

    The classes for the autumn semester started, and I am back in teaching. Meeting a new group of students was a true pleasure, all the more after a long summer break. Due to greater demand for beginner levels, I am teaching the first level of Japanese. This has turned out to be a good opportunity read more

    The joy of teaching

  • Traditional High Tea

    The Thames Foyer room is the place for Afternoon Tea at The Savoy. The atmosphere is exquisite, but at the same time, very relaxing. On my 40th birthday, we booked a table for 5 pm. We selected traditional high tea because it consists mostly of savoury dishes. Another option, traditional afternoon tea, has more sweet read more

    Traditional High Tea

  • Ting Restaurant

    Ting Restaurant, which means ‘living room’ in Chinese, is the main restaurant at the Shangri-La Hotel London, and is located on level 35 of the Shard. The ground floor entrance has a Chinese art painting, which reminded me of Lost Horizon. I booked a table for dinner for my 40th birthday weekend. Luca and I read more

    Ting Restaurant

  • Weeks 145 and 146: Calmness after sending drafts

    When sending draft chapters to my supervisors, I always have mixed feelings with a sense of achievement “I’ve accomplished my goals for this month”, a touch of guilt “I could’ve done better research”, and a strange calm “I do not want to think about anything now”. My writing habits have become much more consistent in read more

    Weeks 145 and 146: Calmness after sending drafts

  • Weeks 143 and 144: Write quietly

    I have completed Chapter 5, and have been working on Chapter 6. It’s a bit strange feeling to see there the four summary tables that I initially made for my convenience, with no intention of including them in my thesis. But my supervisors approved the idea of including them. When writing Chapter 5, I first read more

    Weeks 143 and 144: Write quietly

  • Lemon drizzle cake

    I’ve read that around 40% of Brits name lemon drizzle cake as one of their most-loved treats. A quick lemon drizzle cake often comes to mind as the first choice for Saturday baking, as I almost always have lemons and limes in the fridge. I regularly buy citrus fruit for juice, cooking and cocktail making. From read more

    Lemon drizzle cake

  • Weeks 141 and 142: Findings chapter

    The draft chapter of findings will soon be complete. I’ve been revising the presentation and narrative explanations of my findings, and over the next few days, I will add some translations. The target next week is to finalise the chapter. There seems to be a great deal of disciplinary variation in presenting results from qualitative read more

    Weeks 141 and 142: Findings chapter

  • Cinnamon and chestnut rolls with mascarpone frosting

    Homemade cinnamon rolls are truly the best. Today I’ve baked American-style cinnamon rolls with chestnut filling. They’re very moist, fluffy and flavourful and have creamy frosting on top. I adapted a recipe, The Best American-Style Cinnamon Rolls, by adding chestnut purée (about 100g) and a little bit of cocoa powder to the cinnamon filling. For read more

    Cinnamon and chestnut rolls with mascarpone frosting