Walking Into Doors, Looking Out of Windows

One Moment of Ordinary Life

I was up late the other night, reading and underlining portions of my Russian version of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." One must study Russian any way one can. To make sure I didn't wake my roommie with the noise or light, I shut the door between the bedroom area of the house and the livingroom/kitchen area of the house.

Fascinating as Khagrid and Garry Potter were in their travails about Diagon Alley, it was not long before I shut the book and set off to bed. I turned off the light and traipsed to the bathroom. I thought.

Instead, I bounced off the shut door, setting off a resounding BAM throughout the house. So much for not waking her.

My Just Desserts

I had some friends over for dinner the other week. I decided to skimp on making dessert from scratch, though, and bought an instant cheesecake mix. I would say that it was a resounding success. Not the appearance, perhaps, of what was soon renamed the "Cheese Fluff Crater," but at the very least the humour element that should always be present at dinner parties at the host's expense. I suppose I should mention that the Crater was served (and made) in a large glass bowl as I could not find a cake dish. So, the crust crept up the sides of the bowl, and the "cheesecake mix" was spread along inside it, in a distinct "crater" shape. A unique dessert experience was had by all, and of course, my newer friends were regaled with tales of my previous cake disasters by my older friends...

Mention was made of "Sweet Gunk," which I made one day with the help of a porn model, and which my former roommie insists tasted like Tiramisu eventhough it looked like gunk. Personally, I thought it looked like Tiramisu, but tasted like gunk. Oh well.

And then there was my "Chocolate Frittatta Crunch" which was based on a soft, delicious rich dessert my mom makes, and which does not include (in the original) scrambled eggs with chocolate, as my mishappen variation did. I forced my guests at this particular party to eat of this cake and say something good about it before moving on to other sustenance/water. I believe the first comment was "What a unique texture!" followed up by "Why, I've never had anything quite like this before!," and of course "How did you think to put these disparate ingredients together in quite this way?" I would say it rivals my Mongolian Lamb disaster of last winter.

Ah, memories...

And, Because No Blog is Complete Without Mention of Russia...

A picture from the Altai Republic (courtesy of Greenpeace)


Another Altai pic (also courtesy of Greenpeace)


From the Russian Caucasus, the republic of Krasnodarsky Krai (thanks, Greenpeace)


Lake Kardyvatch, also in Krasnodarsky Krai (courtesy of Greenpeace)


And the Kiril island chain (sorry, Japan) (thanks, Greenpeace)


They say this is from Kaliningrad... (!!!) (courtesy of Greenpeace)


You may now return to your regular programming.