~ ANNE! ~

Bah. Have been trying to cook using strange British ingredients, in my sadly understocked kitchen. Results have been interesting. On the plus side, it's a very good outlet for my creativity!

Today I felt in need of comfort food, so I attempted my dad's macaroni and cheese recipe. Problem A: nothing to measure with. We have no measuring cups, no teaspoon or tablespoon measures, no liquid measures... so I estimated volumes (not, shall we say, one of my strong points).

Problem B: No mixing bowls, no whisk, no giant glass measuring cup that my dad always used for macaroni (although this I can live without). I substituted a Tupperware container, a fork and a large pot respectively.

Problem C: The food here is more different than one would expect! Well, actually technically one should expect it to be different, but I didn't realise how much. In this case, I used Colman's mustard (made in Norwich!) rather than bland old French's and some really sharp cheese of some kind in substitution of the cheddar I usually use. Oh, and fusilli instead of macaroni as well.

Oddly, though, the finished pasta actually tasted pretty good! Especially smothered under ketchup. I am pleased with the carb rush, even though now I just want to sleep.

As you can probably tell, my life hasn't been too exciting of late. It's sort of by design, though. My job is so boring and the days are (comparatively) so long that I usually just want to come home and collapse in Rob & Francis' room with whoever happens to be around. I think I'm just getting my balance again from all that travelling, though. It's a Bank holiday this weekend so I will try to do something interesting then.

However, plans are in the works for lots of cool stuff in the next few months! Steph may be coming to visit at the end of May, and even if she doesn't I'm going to go on a BUNAC trip to Bath and Stonehenge. And I've already booked the time off work to go party in Belfast in early June (just as they will all be done their exams. Should be good fun). There are rumours of a flatmate trip to Amsterdam, and I want to go to Brighton some weekend and check it out. We'll see how much of this I get around to doing, but I don't intend to waste the entire three months slumped in front of the tv watching the news with Rob.

The flatmate situation is working out better than I might have anticipated, despite some blips (and I am still severely grouchy about last weekend!) Someone has been taking the garbage (or "rubbish") out without being asked, which is a positive sign. Someone else bought toilet paper. The floor's still a disaster, but I'm the only one who apparently cares about that, so perhaps it's only fair that I'm the one who cleans it. And everyone has been consistently amazing about washing the dishes ("doing the washing-up") right after they use them. So yay! Resentment is at low levels and life is okay.

Creepy Dirk has a visitor at the moment. "He is the sister of the husband of my sister," he told me, confusing me for a second. I think pronouns are different in German. Anyway, this woman is one of those scarlet-fingernailed, bleach-haired, clumpy-mascaraed girls that I really don't much care for. Also she's hard for me to understand. But I haven't been trying too hard. The problem is she's there visiting Dirk, a mark against her. But Dirk didn't really invite her, which is a further mark! Apparently she hasn't seen him in 10 years but called him up for a free place to crash. Having her there doesn't really bother me, though, as long as I don't have to make small talk. And so far, so good.

Oooh, and one piece of news that is exciting only to me. We talked Steven (landlord) into buying us a new fridge! Well, it's an old fridge but it's more or less clean, and it fits into the kitchen and means Rob's milk is no longer spilling into my vegetables. Always a good thing. I am pleased about this and hope the next plan is to fix the tap that's been dripping for two weeks.

And two more things that made me happy: 1). letter from my grandma Sivak, complete with cheque and news about the family. Happiness! I also got a postcard from Steph so things have been good mailwise lately. and 2). Finally managed to get ahold of Steve and talked for an hour. I miss him and Alex and the kitties and the house SO much. It's ridiculous. But talking to him made me feel like I was there, however briefly, and cheered me up immensely.