Men are good at some things, women at others. Men, for example, excel at operating remote controls, carrying shopping bags and maintaining a horny disposition. Women, on the other hand, are good at watching soaps endlessly, getting out of carrying shopping bags and giving men their generally horny disposition. They are also ridiculously good at planning vacations. Which is exactly what Pat did at the NATAS travel fair over the weekend.

At every counter we got to, she invariably did the talking. She knew all the relevant questions, spotted the best bargains and managed to dig out everything there was to know. I, conversely, sat or stood around trying to look intensely interested. Not that I couldn’t be bothered with the trip, I just didn’t want to deal with the details.

So it is that we’ll be headed for Taiwan in December for five glorious days of eating. Forty meals in five days is quite realistic, I think. It’s all about gastronomic fortitude (see John’s crab entry) and digestive enzyme supplements.