the story of come·con·ella

come · con · ella came about in i's flat. the one with the bathroom in which the shower didn't really work. how she managed to wash her really long hair under a shower that ran scalding hot or cold with the merest trickle was a little beyond me.

one night, towards the end of our post-graduate degrees at the london school of economics the three of us met there for dinner. i made a risotto and m a chocolate and pear cake. by this point our non-wine drinking italian friend i had been initiated into the wine drinking club and so we had a bottle of white wine too.

food had been a constant in our friendship. much of what we did centred around eating and aside from foods that were familiar to us - italian, french and pakistani, we loved trying new things. in fact whilst most women we know went shopping for clothes and shoes i, m and i would walk through markets and lanes, popping into cafes, bakeries and eateries making mental notes of places that we ate at, places we want to eat at, places that we shouldn't eat at and places we definitely wouldn't eat at.i'm not exactly sure what led us to start writing this blog only. what i do remember is that i christened the blog come con ella which roughly translates as 'eat with her'. it was inspired by her love for all things pedro almodóvar films, in this case the film hable con ella (talk to her). in october twenty o eight the three of us graduated from the london school of economics. although our friendships have continued to grow, our work and lives took us to different places. i moved to uganda in the early part of twenty ten and has now moved to ethiopia where she is working with the international rescue committee. m spent some time working in turkey and is now in france her home country. i got married to o in twenty o nine and remained in london. come con ella as it is a chronicle of mine and o's appetite. and sometimes that of i's.