Reinforcement

So last night I was on my way to Inge's place to help her make jam, these awesome Danish spherical pancake thingies, and some Christmas decorations. While enroute I get a call from Erin Clair (our Australian visitor) and Pedro, who I left in the apartment to their own devices. Apparently not a good idea.

They were attempting to plug in Erin Maree's (roommate) computer into the wall socket through an adaptor, it sparked, they laughed, they tried again, and then the power in the whole apartment went out.

Ooops.

Usually, something like this could be fixed with a simple flipping of the circuit breaker. Oh no, not here! It seems sometimes as though Slovak craftsmen purposefully do shotty work so that one problem because exacerbated by ever increasing elements! For example, the electricity isn't isolated into areas. Are these people crazy?!?!?!?! Erin and Pedro are lucky they didn't DIE or catch on FIRE!

Anyway, they call me to alert me of the predicament (at this point it was 7:15pm) and then proceed to call our landlord. What does the landlord say? ..."Oh, nothing can be done until tomorrow".

Excuse me?

(be forewarned, this may sound a bit harsh, but was written in the heat of the moment. i am normally extremely diplomatic, and when stressed, keep it to myself)

You mean, not only do we have to put our apartment into further risk of going up in flames by lighting several candles, but all of the food in our fridge and freezer will most likely go bad because you can't be bothered to call one of the maintenance people to come look at it? I am pretty sure our main contractor lives down the street from us! It would take him 2 minutes to come over, fiddle around, fix the SHOWER that we have been asking them to fix for 2 MONTHS (it floods the bathroom constantly) and then take his FREAKING MIRRORS out of our KITCHEN where he had them delivered and back to his HOUSE where they BELONG. I am particularly annoyed because I recently bought amazing cheeses and salamis from northern Italy. I will be rather perturbed if my enjoying them is thwarted because of someone's incompetence. On top of that, there are no windows in our shower room. DARK. The one thing that keeps us from becoming dangerous to ourselves and others is that we have a gas stove. The thing is that this would never happen in the US. Usually contractors are smart enough to isolate electrical feeds, and then maintenance in apartment complexes is 24 hours for emergencies. To me this qualifies as an emergency. This just reinforces that I need to live in a place where people care about the quality of their work because their very job depends on it.

So, now our wall socket looks something like this:



In addition, Erin Maree's universal adaptor is now melted. Seriously. The metal prong is deformed. This was serious business.

All I know is that the power better be back on by the time I get home.

No one is invincible

As seen on ShoeboxBlog:

"Man vs. Wild host Bear Grylls seriously injured his shoulder on an Antarctic expedition over the weekend. A spokesperson for the Discovery Channel said that it’s miraculous that Bear Grylls wasn’t killed years ago."

I really do like their humor. Matt and I used to watch "Man vs. Wild" all the time. We both think Bear is ridiculously hott. That's two t's on purpose. You should see him in action. I am especially fond of his show in the Sahara. We were always fascinated about the fact that he didn't get frostbite, die of heat exhaustion, impale himself on something, or wasn't fatally attacked by the native fauna.

HEAL WELL BEAR!

Finish Line...

I've crossed it.

If you go to THIS WEBSITE you will see the electronic version of my labor. It isn't perfect, but such is life when you only have so much control.

Finally, a sense of accomplishment.



I had another accomplishment recently as well. I was asked to do all of the invoicing for 2009 (yeah, I know) but the database had been created more than 5 years ago on another computer system in Slovak, and therefore could not be opened on my computer because it caused Access to stall and eventually die. Therefore, I had to do it on my boss's computer....which happens to be set in the Slovak language. She also asked me to figure out how to change the currency field to have EUR instead of SKK. This may seem simple, but we're talking about a Slovak (and outdated) version of Access that was created as a "Switchboard". Element OVERLOAD.

However.


I FIGURED IT OUT! IN SLOVAK! And finished ALL of the invoices for 123 Members. I really do come from the techonological generation. Hence: I rule. :) (celebratory dance inserted here)

Oh look!

I was doing some research on the Ohio Wine Producers Association and Markko Vineyard (the two organisations that I will be doing some work for after getting back State-side) and found this great website that does reviews of wineries all over the US and Ontario! If you have a passion for wine, you and the creators of the website certainly have that in common. They've reviewed several wineries that I have been to in Ohio and New York, so its interesting to see how their opinions compare to mine! Just makes me that much more excited to get back home and dive into it.

Being French = Love of Drama

Yesterday we continued our tradition of "French Class" by meeting at Anna's flat, eating delicious salad, chevre stuffed roasted tomatoes, various stinky cheeses (YUM) and watching a French movie (with English subtitles...we're not that advanced yet)

The selection of the week?

Arsène Lupin!



This is Robin Hood, James Bond and the Count of Monte Cristo all in one! Genius! It is based on a character novel, and I recommend it to everyone who loves a little action in their life. (Bonus: recognizable women! Kristen Scott Thomas speaks French! Who knew?!?!)


Also, I will be making "stuffed tomatoes" (En Francais: les tomates farcies, v Slovák: plnená paradajková...I think) upon my return to the US. Get ready.

Further Culinary Adventures

On Monday Erin's boss invited us all over (Erin Maree, Erin Clair et MOI) for dinner to show her how to make Sheperd's Pie! She had eaten it once at the Irish Pub in the city center, and wanted to know how to prepare it herself.



The process was tons of fun because we juggled a baby, mashing potatoes, stirring ground beef, preheating ovens, grating cheese, and making pasta for Zuzana's other 2 boys Riško and Edko (they are skeptical of "bakes"). The final product was really great, and because we made enough for 2 pyrex dishes, we got to take one home! I know I'm not the person to trust with leftovers (I hardly touch them...I don't know why), but this is an excellent after-work snack.

I figured I would include a recipe this time. The one below is from Paula Dean, who I love watching on Food Network because she makes you feel like family...and she's not shy of butter. No one should be shy about butter.

Ingredients
1 small onion
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups mixed vegetables or niblet corn, prepared
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 to 10 medium red new potatoes
1 1/2 cups milk
12 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups instant biscuit mix

Directions
Beef Layer: Saute onions in 2 tablespoons butter. Add ground beef. After beef is browned, add tomato sauce; Mix in vegetables. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Potato Layer: Peel and slice potatoes 1/4-inch thick. Cook in boiling water for approximately 15 minutes or until fork-tender. Whip potatoes with electric mixer; mix until moderately smooth. Don't over beat them; a few lumps are nice. Add 1/2 cup heated milk, 1/2 cup butter, and sour cream. Salt and pepper, to taste. Whip until mixed. Adjust thickness by adding more milk, if desired.

Biscuit Layer: Combine biscuit mix and 1 cup milk. The mix should be thinner than normal biscuit mix but not runny.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a 9 by 9 by 2-inch pan, or any similar casserole dish. Layer half way up with the mashed potatoes. Next, spread a layer of mixed vegetables or niblet corn on top of potatoes. Then add a layer of the meat. Pour biscuit mix over meat. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter and drizzle over top. Bake for approximately 35 to 45 minutes until top is golden brown.

Note: Our recipe was a bit different, but this gives you the general idea. We also added grated cheddar to the top of our pie. Super delish, and very hardy/filling (perfect for these ridiculously cold winter months..at least those of us who live in an arctic tundra)

Celebrating the Season...

So, it's December 1st. That means: 14 more days until my return to the US, 19 more days until I go on a family vacation to South Carolina, 20 more days until the official start of Winter, and 20-something days until I help my boyfriend move his life down to Miami, Florida to work at the Miami Seaquarium.

It also means that it was time to help Erin choose, set up and decorate her FIRST REAL CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!!!!!!! Kind of difficult to come by evergreens in Queensland, Australia.

So, we (Erin Maree, Erin Clair and I) drove to Baumaxx (German DIY store) and headed directly to the Zahrada (Gardening in Slovak) section, where we were greeted by a decent selection of trees eagerly awaiting their fate. We chose one, and then had to help the attendant wrap it with string :) It was my first hands-on experience with Christmas trees, as my family used to go out to the farm and choose one, cut it down and carry it back, but this gave a whole new meaning to DIY. After procuring the tree we shifted to the decorations, and then to the checkout where one of us manned the front of the cart (so as not to impale anyone or any merchandise with our coniferous comrade)

We made it to the car, and had to open one of the windows to fit the whole thing in safely (Erin only has a little Peugeot), but evaded all potential problems.

Erin (Clair) and I setting up the tree in the stand! This stand was interesting. It was pump-style with a tightening rope...so no screws...probably wouldn't work with bigger trees, but really effective for this guy!



Erin (Maree) wanted to be really hands on because this was her first time





Some of the ornaments required a bit of construction and ingenuity



Whats Christmas without a bit of holiday spirit? Erin (Maree) thought that this meant chocolate strewn across the table in front of the tree. We also made mulled wine.




The tip of the tree was a bit too bulbous to fit the star, but we took care of that.



The finished product!



Not sure if the Cordell family will be doing a tree this year (if Bethany has anything to say about it we will) because we will be absent during the actual holiday. Either way, this was certainly fun, and showed me that I'll be able to do it next year when I quit my nomadic behavior!

Paris, je t'aime.

A (long) photo tour of my trip to Paris with Anna, Erin, Pernille and Nadja. We stayed with Anna's family, and met some of our French friends. We also ate (a lot) fantastic food, saw great sights and did some shopping. Any questions should be directed to the "comments" listing. :)

Enjoy...et bon voyage!