For the first time in my life, I cooked myself a real dinner.
SUCCESS!!!
In the wonderfully/magical/super-fantastic package that BZ sent me, I received, not only the salad dressing mix and two kinds of soup (broccoli and alphabet) but also free samples. The samples were two kinds of curry powder and a pizza pasta flavoring powder.
I decided to be brave and give cooking a shot. I bought some broccoli, I bought some carrots, I bought pre-sliced boneless chicken breast, and I walked into that kitchen today, and I cooked!
A minor setback: I didn't exactly know the curry to water ratio, so what ended up happening was that I was essentially boiling my chicken, carrots and broccoli in yellow curry soup. But I just emptied the liquid when it was done and ate the rest as it was and...
and it was fine!
Not delicious, not I MUST have more of this, but definitely something I would be willing to eat again. Especially if I figure out the curry part! But the curry gave the otherwise bland ingredients a nice spice to it. I was thrilled.
There was one point where my condescending, officious neighbor came in. At that point I knew I'd already put way too much water and when she asked me what I was making, I didn't want to tell her. She enjoys trying to make me look stupid with little comments that sound innocuous. So I mumbled something about kind-of frying it, hoping she'd get off my back. "That's not frying, sweetie" she said with her usual snark.
"Ha ha, yeah," I said with a serene smile, flicking her off as she walked out the door.
I did, however, end up frying. The other chicken breast was already defrosted and I didn't want it to go to waste, so I fried it in a different pan and soaked it in lemon juice (yum!! Yes, I'm a lemon addict) and added that to the lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado salad.
Needless to say, that was probably the best meal I've cooked for myself....ever.
I almost wish I'd taken a picture of it. I'm really quite proud of myself.
Another thing that happened while I was making dinner was that I got to talk to one of my other flatmates, Bella.
Yesterday was her birthday and she had her friends come over. Bella is a graduate student and all of her friends are older, male, Nigerian dudes.
I met one such gentleman around the building. He was very nice and very chatty.
Yesterday, coming back from classes, I ran into him and he asked me for my number.
I balked. I do not like giving my phone number to strangers, no matter how kind they are. I averted that by giving my name, telling him to look me up on facebook because I don't use my phone.
And of course, when I walk into the living room last night to say happy birthday, who is there amongst her male friends? Yup! Him.
Another problem of mine, I really really suck at understanding people that speak English with an accent. So I sat on a couch, surrounded by 8 dudes with heavy accents asking me about my life.
I bolted out of there after two minutes, declining offers of drinks.
I locked myself in my room, putting in my earplugs. About an hour later, I heard a knock at my bedroom door.
I knew it was none of my flatmates, they wouldn't come at this time of night. So I knew it was probably this guy. I decided to pretend I was asleep.
You gotta give the guy some credit, he is persistent. He stood there for at least 3 minutes (I checked my clock) knocking on my door every 2 seconds. Eventually, he did quit.
While I was cooking my curry soup, Bella informed me that her friend said he couldn't find me on facebook and if I want, I can give her my email address so he can find me that way. "I think he likes you, but I don't know," she said "he kept asking about you."
"Oh." I said, not sure if it would be polite to say I am certain I don't like him "He seems very nice" I said instead.
Her friends are returning tomorrow (or tonight? She was vague on details) and I'm planning to lock myself in my room and avoid human contact at all costs.
Moving on: SCOTLAND!
(courtesy of Sarah)
Keeping it short: I LOVED Edinburgh!
It was a very walkable city (once I figured out ways to avoid stairs, it's a very steep city and painfully reminds me how out of shape I am).
The highlights:
The castle, which could be seen from my hostel:
The Elephant House cafe where JK Rowling wrote the first few Potter books:
It's also where Sarah and I had dinner the first evening (and it was DELICIOUS)
There was a lot of Harry Potter history there (a school behind the cafe that Hogwarts is based on, a grave in the graveyard nearby with last names of Mcgonagall, Granger and, of course, Thomas Riddell!). Needless to say, I was in nerd heaven.
We also went on a pub crawl with the tour group where an intoxicated Scots man, out with his friends for a stag party, hit on Sarah. It was highly amusing, although I learned that Sarah, apparently, loves random encounters with strangers because she finds them fascinating.
We also climbed up Arthur's Seat (an extinct volcano) the next morning.
It kicked my culo, as it was a very steep climb, but the view from the top was really awesome (especially since it was a beautiful, sunny day).
(*warning to family members: I had on 6 layers! I have not become morbidly obese in the UK...yet*)
I say yet, because after our volcano climb, Sarah and I explored the city, and tried one of Scotland's delicacies: deep fried Mars bar!
"That sounds too disgusting, we have to try it." we agreed.
And of course, it was so incredibly delicious I nearly died right there. It was like a very thin crusted chocolate pancake that dissolved into your mouth. It was a darn near religious experience.
Add to that IRN BRU (pronounced Iron Brew) the soda that is brewed in Scotland (and is the only locally made drink in a country that outsells Coca-Cola) and my life was basically complete. Irn Bru was described as creme soda on crack and bubble gum soda. It also has a mildly addictive chemical in it. SO yeah...Sarah and I ended up trying it and buying 3 bottles of it to bring back to England with us (rest easy though, I found cans of it in my 99p store in Leeds city centre!)
On the ride back, Sarah and I learned that our team (comprising of ourselves and 2 other U.S. guys that used to live in my residence hall in Leeds) had won the Scotland quiz we'd taken on the ride up. We got the prize of Scottish fudge! It was pretty awesome. When we got to Leeds Sarah went to take a picture with our tour guide (a guy that looks kind of like Alonso from Doctor Who, which therefore lead to us referring to him as Alonso amongst ourselves for the entire trip). He assumed we wanted a picture with him because we'd won the quiz (although I would've been pleased just to have a picture of him because he's hot) and I was dragged into the picture too while our other tour guide took the photo.
(courtesy of Sarah)
Sarah stayed in Leeds and I got to show her around campus and city centre and showed her the best part of our city:
That's it. Sorry for it's length, just catching up on things (and using this as a vent for anxieties I have nobody to share with).
=)
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