all things me

When a lot of things happen, a lot can go wrong.

Today I went to my new apartment to clean up and receive deliveries. Eventually I noticed that the kitchen sink leaked. Remember my earlier mishaps with the kitchen sink? That’s right: they fixed the trash bins but broke the pipes. So, now I have a leaking sink and when I called the manager (or whatever), they had closed for the day. I didn’t call any on-call number because this isn’t an emergency just yet. Luckily, I have no hurry (except an emotional one) to move.

And as if I hadn’t had enough problems with the furniture company/sales person, the delivery was missing a chair and the mattress wasn’t the sort of mattress it was supposed to be. When I tried to call them, none of the numbers answered. (It’s this time of the year — yesterday was a holiday and Fridays are probably always bad to do business…)

Sigh.

Oh well, at least I got my telly (didn’t test drive it yet, hopefully it’s not broken) and other gadgets. Table and chairs need assembling but at least I have them; most of them.

You know Stephen King has written a lot, don’t you? Well, he’s written a whole lot…

That box is full of Stephen King books and nothing else. One, a pop-up book, was even left over. The bottom is covered in paperbacks and on top are the hardbacks, audio books, and a few more paperbacks.

Today Dad and I went to the apartment and assembled the dining table set. Boy does it look nice. While we were there, he took a look at the leaking sink and seemed to have fixed it. We left some water in the sink (with towels and rags underneath) to check that it holds water.

Now I should just pack, pack and pack, to my heart’s content. Two more days to go!

It took only two rounds to get my stuff in. I did leave some scrap behind which I will have to carry over by bus but the most important things are here.

Here’s my fancy desk:

After taking the picture I hooked up speakers and brought a box to raise the mouse pad to a better level (ergonomics are important on the floor, too). As you can see, I still have a desk to buy.

Here’s the first thing I did last night:

I had to record Californication on the hard drive (of the digital receiver) because I was missing one cable to hook up the digital receiver to the DVD/VHS recorder. (The recorder is for analog broadcasts only and we only get digital now.)

Here’s the dinner table:

It’s a bit messy so I’ll get a better photo when the dust settles (hopefully only figuratively speaking).

I don’t have many lights so I got tired quite early last night (around 11pm). Good thing I did, because the sun woke me up before 6 am. The temporary bedroom curtains are a bit translucent… (and I’m getting blinds, too)

So, here I am. Settled in, living on the floor in the middle of boxes.

Mother’s day is coming up and my parents are supposedly going to visit tomorrow (two unrelated events). That’s why I decided to try and bake something. I don’t have many gadgets, pots or pans yet so I chose an easy-looking recipe for semolina (I think) cake.

This is what it looks like

but I don’t know how it turned out. I poked a fork through the middle and it seems quite moist but I’m hoping the wheat absorbs some of it as it cools down. I didn’t have proper measuring spoons so I had to wing it — which I know is bad for baking.

All rights to pre-taste reserved. (Just for the safety of others.)

Semolina reminds me that I need to buy couscous. (I’ve never tried it.)

Yesterday I made some spinach macaroni casserole and realised some things…

If you’re not sure about an ingredient, google it!
The recipe included something called “ingredients for thick chicken soup” so I figured it meant some frozen vegetables that are recommended in a chicken soup. I searched the freezers at the grocery store and didn’t find anything fitting so I bought a bag of mixed veggies that I really like. While munching away on the finished casserole I decided to check what that certain ingredient really was: soup powder! That explains a lot…

Frozen spinach takes a long time to thaw.
…Especially without a microwave oven. I bought a bag of spinach cubes, put them in a bowl and let them sit on the counter. When I got around to the step where I was supposed to mix the spinach with the macaroni I poked at the cubes and realised they were still hard as bricks! I don’t have a microwave oven yet so I held the bowl over the boiling macaroni pot and finally boiled some water and submerged the bowl there. It took a while but eventually I was able to break the cubes and mix them with the macaroni.

500 g of macaroni needs a big pot to cook
I haven’t bought any pots or pans yet so all I’ve got is a medium-sized pot from home (maybe 2-3 litres). This recipe needed half a kilogram of macaroni and while I was emptying the bag in the pot, it filled up pretty quickly. I had to cook the macaroni in two batches which meant double the cooking time. A good thing I suppose, the spinach had more time to thaw…

I cannot chop onions very well.
I don’t know if I used a wrong kind of a knife but I wasn’t able to chop the onions finely enough. There weren’t huge chunks but some bigger pieces were left.

All’s good though. The food is edible (and not bad at all), just not exactly what the recipe maker intended… I may be too embarrassed to eat it at work so I’ll have many weekends’ worth of food in the freezer. When I’m done with those, I’ll have to make it again some time — with the correct ingredients.