Day 150 - She Cleans & OMGosh - Is She? What the? SHE COOKS?!?!

Yes, call me Domesticated. Well, maybe not. Don't get too excited! It was nothing out of a Martha Stewart magazine. 


I had an email regarding the wedding decorations I'm trying to sell on Kijiji & the potential buyer wanted to know what all I had. I had written in down in last year's day planner, which I couldn't seem to find. I searched all over the house with no luck. Well, I must have packed it down to the bunkhouse last week when I was tidying up some stuff. 


Away I go, with Valentina sniffing along behind me. She is the funniest dog to watch jump a puddle. She leaps so high, rather then making use of her length, and then she falls short & ends up getting wet anyhow. It really is quite priceless! She is also getting very good at coming when I call her off leash. In fact, I've never seen her run so fast. It's really hard no to laugh as I watch her run to me. She looks so hilarious with her ears flopping & slicked back on her head. Her little legs just giving all they've got... I love my dog!


I pilfer through the bunkhouse again & find a few treasures (still no luck on the underwater housing) but I don't find the day planner. I walk back to the house & decide that perhaps it is in the car. Dear ol' Contemplate needs a bit of a clean, so I take the winter boots out, Valentina's toys & bits of toys, oh yeah, the air filter! I can change that too! 


I take the clamps off & take out the old air filter. Eew. There are bits of chips, green things & brown things. I'm not sure what they are or how they got there, but the vacuum is in order. So I decide to do a little Spring cleaning & vacuum the car, top off the windshield fluid, change the air filter, take out all the bits & pieces... There! Just like new! You'd never know she was 20 years old! BTW, still no day planner. But I did find:

• Slave for studio lighting
• Speakers & stereo still waiting to be installed
• Roll of duct tape under the seat
• Pair of socks from the hike Jaco & I did in September (yes, 6 months ago) (Oh my gosh, I know it's gross, but it SO does NOT compare to the stink bugs living under the bike seat that we put in the cab of the car to get to the trail head. THAT IS ONE SMELL I WILL NEVER FORGET!)
• Guide book for Banff
• Keith Urban concert ticket stubs
• The missing hamburger patty! Yay! No stench come July!!!
• Coins in various amounts

I quickly take the vacuum back inside the house before Mom gets home or any passer's -by might see me & think I know what I'm doing... 

I was quite baffled now, as I didn't know where else to look for the day planner. I'll look in the desk one more time. I thought it should have been there, as I usually leave it there, but I'd already looked twice. Maybe it's in the back of this... drawer. Found it!

I emailed the prospective buyer & about that time, Mom arrived home. I had promised I would cook supper. I had picked up a few cookbooks & picked out a recipe from each one. I started to mark the pages in each book when Mom asked me if I'd started the recipe already. No, why? Well, it says you have to dehydrate the squash for 18 hours. Whoopsie! Okay, so no raw dish for tonight. I couldn't do the Indian dish either, because not only did I not know what Bengal gram was, but apparently neither does CNF or Safeway! I was left with an Italian pasta dish & a Russian vegetable dish. 

I THOROUGHLY read each recipe before I began. The Russian one consisted of mushrooms & eggplant in a creamy sauce. Okay, is the cream bad? Should it have chunks in it? MOM! Come smell this... Nope, still good. The dish turned out quite good. But we were too full from eating the pasta, which was ready first, that we didn't have much room for it! Tomorrow!

The pasta dish was another story. I think I would have failed my first day of Italian Culinary school. The recipe called for pasta, pepper & cheese. Pretty easy, no? Well, I couldn't find fresh egg pasta, so I used rice linguini instead. The directions were to keep some of the water from cooking the pasta for the sauce. But since I used hard rice pasta, my water turned all milky & stuff. And I overcooked the pasta. Mushy. Next up was the peppercorns. It said to gently warm them in a frying pan to release the 'aroma & flavour'. Cool, I feel like a real chef! Releasing aroma! Then it said to crush the peppercorns using a mortar & pestle & if you didn't have one of those, then just put the peppercorns in a tea towel & crush them using a frying pan. 

I put the peppercorns in the towel on top of the cutting board & I take my warm-ish frying pan & WHACK, WHACK, WHACK. Crap. I just broke the handle on Mom's frying pan. Hmm. I suppose they probably just meant put pressure on the frying pan to crush the peppercorns, not annihilate them & the frying pan by use of brute force. Thank goodness Winners carries good pans! And thank goodness I just so happened to have a mortar & pestle left behind by a ship mate that she picked up in Costa Rica! I had never used it. Now I know why. The darned peppercorns just kept flying out of the mortar! I think Valentina sniffed more peppercorns than went into the pasta!

So that was supper. I'm feeling a little queasy at the moment. If there aren't any further blog posts after a week, maybe send someone over to check on Mom & I. 

Just let it be said - I did cook. Whether or not it is suitable for humans, well, I'll let you know how we're doing tomorrow! 

Jaco called after dinner - thank goodness he didn't call while I was cooking! I don't need him getting any bright ideas! :o) We discussed our 'Reunion' plans & it looks like I'll be heading to the ship on the 17th of April. Hello Barbados & more importantly, Hello Man of My Dreams!!!! I can't wait to see him! It's been too long! Again! 

Tomorrow I'm off to SK. Again. Bear with me as I try to keep up with the posting!

Love & kitchen kisses,

Maria & Valentina

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

My sneaky Mom taking a photo of the unsuspected unsuspecting chef.

Doesn't Mom know what happens when people with knives in their hands become upset? They break frying pans!!!

Day 113 - Montserrat Erupts & I Clean the Kitchen

I woke up at 0645 to bright lights & silence. Mom was up & at it & had every light in the house on. She was no where to be seen. She was at the other end of the house in her bathroom. I stumbled into the kitchen half awake & proceeded to start turning off lights until I made it back to my bedroom in darkness. Last week I told her to remember to turn out her office light when she leaves, in order to save power. I'm not sure. Maybe this is some sort of reverse psychology on living green.


In any case, I saved power until the late morning when I finally got up. My neck has been kinked the past two mornings. I'm not sure why, perhaps Valentina has me doing tricks in the middle of the night. :o)


I managed to clean the kitchen & sort out some paperwork. I called the bank to try & organize a few things, but the lady on the phone got nosy about my trip to Mexico & 20 minutes later, she learned her lesson to never ask personal questions if she's on a limited time schedule! :o) We had a few good laughs, although she didn't help my finances any!


I called a few friends today & had a wonderful chat with my friend Joanne. She is doing really well on her program & I am so happy for her! She is spending this coming Christmas in Dubai with her daughter, who recently married & now lives there. I told her Jaco wanted to spend Christmas in SA, so perhaps on my flight over I could stop in Dubai for a few days & see her! How fun would that be! Joanne has this incredible talent of making me laugh gut-wrenchingly hard. I don't know how she does it, but every time we chat, it happens. 


Today was shot no. 6. Yes, I missed a day. Yesterday was late all around & I'm paying for it today. My throat is tickling & my nose is running. Let's hope I nip it in the bud! In any case, that leaves me with only 5 shots to go! Yay!


Oh, yesterday I forgot to mention, along with my email from Jaco with the CV, I also received an email from my friend Ami. Ami was my roommate when I worked on the Coral Princess. When we met, it was a total Forrest Gump scene when I boarded the bus to go to the ship. All the seats were taken until I got to Ami. I asked if the seat next to her was taken & we were inseparable from that moment on! Ami & I used to go to the gym on a regular basis & one day I was running on the treadmill next to her & when my 20 minute stint was up, I said I was finished. She asked how far I went & I said 1.5 mi (or so).  She said, 'WHAT? You're going to quit now? But you're so close!'
'So close to what?'
'5K!'
'No, I'm only 1.5.'
'No, Silly! 3.12 is 5K!'
'Really?' I asked in disbelief.
'Yeah!'
'Oh!'


So I popped the treadmill back on & did my first ever 5K run! I was so proud! I felt such a sense of accomplishment! Ami was the first (& only) person to ever get me running. Why did I tell you all this? Well... This is the email she sent me. I'm still a puddle when I read it...

Hi cutie,

I'm running in a 10k in May in support of cancer research and I was wondering if you would be okay with me putting 4 Jill C on my shirt because I would like to run in honor of you and your fight. I'm so proud of you and how strong and brave you are and that you have stuck to your guns in regards to your treatment. Even if your name is not on my shirt I'll still be thinking of you while I'm running and using you as inspiration to get me to the finish line. Let me know what you think and let me know how you are doing. 

X

Ami

Needless to say, I've never had anyone do anything like this for me before. I feel absolutely floored. I don't stop to think of myself as doing anything out of the ordinary. I guess I feel like everyone out there who has the same thing as I do would be doing all the same things as I am! The research, the questioning, contacting survivors & trying all sorts of crazy things to make life work! I am speechless, but as far from emotionless as I have ever been! Wow. Thank you Ami - you have no idea how much this means to me!


I also heard from Jaco. Twice. I had checked his flight departure time when I got up & thought I'd already missed him. But then he called about 2 hours later. Apparently the volcano on Montserrat was erupting & the visibility was affecting flights out of Barbados. His flight got canceled. He was now on a flight at 2100 this evening. Then he calls me at 2200. That flight got canceled & he's now stuck at the airport until tomorrow morning! Poor fella! He hardly slept the night before, he won't sleep tonight & he can't sleep on a plane & he has a good 24-30 hr journey home! Worst of all, because his flights were canceled, instead of flying business class, where he could try to sleep, he's been bumped to economy! I think he needs a good luck travel charm!


Speaking of travel... I'm such a nerd! I put the new 'Who's Online?' thing on the blog & I'm so excited! I've had people all over the States, Canada, England, Norway (!), & Africa check out the blog! Yes, I know, it doesn't take much to amuse me! Thanks for giving it a read!


Alright, I'm sure there is more news I am forgetting, but I'm pooped & need to get some shuteye. Have a wonderful weekend & feel free to update me on the Olympics... I don't have TV out here & I would love to know the scoop! (Not the bad news though - I already heard that!) Go Canada Go! 


Love & Gold Medal Hugs,
Maria & Valentina
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox


No pictures from today, so here's a few from SA last April. Enjoy!

Henko, Jaco's Nephew, in his new Flames jersey!

What a handsome man! I'm so lucky!

Our B&B on a citrus grove near Addo, South Africa

Grenadilla blossom