Page 10 - Nomads Magazine Issue 7

Osborne’s experiences extend far beyond the corners of Cambodia. Every year, he takes a trip to Mongolia to stay in his friend’s lodge in the middle of the frigid Gobi de- sert. Although this one isn’t made of artil- lery shells, Osborne goes there to practice an ancient hobby of archery. Last year he made the trip with actress Michelle Rodriguez as his travel companion. They made it a whole cross-country adventure, complete with bows and arrows and a stop at the Eagle Fes- tival. They even found themselves accepting tastes of a Mongolian woman’s breast milk (for the healing powers it offered, of course).Believe it or not, Mongolian breast milk can’t compare to the powers of Japanese coffee. Osborne was wide-eyed, telling this story with his hands. “The rst day in Tokyo, I went to a little shitty mom & pop café and I ordered a French Press Coffee. There’s no one there. The little old lady goes into a cor- ner and starts a mystical activity. I couldn’t gure out what she was doing. It went on for, like, 40 minutes at the end of which I was getting really pissed off that my cof- fee wasn’t there. How dif cult is it to make French Press coffee? Just put the water into the fucking coffee and bring it”. I was get- ting really irate because I just hadn’t drunk anything.“Eventually, she nished it, put it on a little train, came over with a boy and presented it to me. It was just a pot of coffee. I thought, “Okay, you’re old, I understand”. I poured the coffee and it was the best cof- fee I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve never had coffee like that. What the fuck was that? What was she doing for half an hour in that corner? She was making magic”.Osborne attributed the Japanese culinary talents to their particularities about water. Water is the basis of everything that we eat and drink, so it is only logical for them to start with that primary material. “They have a reverence for water. The tea ceremony is all about water. Water makes tea, water makes whisky, water is what you cook in, water is in everything you eat. They think about it in a way nobody else does and end up with these end results.”Even in cooking vegetables, they may use snow from one mountain for asparagus and snow from another for the mushrooms. It’s part of the reason why Karuizawa distillery has churned out some of the greatest whisky, because of the water. “You may think, that’s mystical bullshit, but then, you drink it. The purity of taste is amazing. That’s why they make great whisky because they understand water. They think about water.”Osborne is well versed in his alcohol. Having spent a few years as a wine connois- seur. He has travelled to the places where the wines were originally made because he believes that understanding the culture helps him to better understand the taste and atmosphere of the wine.He might as well enjoy the high life since his broke days of Wang Lang are long gone. “I think for a writer, grunge is not a friend. You need a bit of piosity and comfort at the end of the day. I think it’s good for your body. I think it’s good for your mind. You can come home and read Chomsky if you want to, there’s nothing stopping you from doing that.”9