Saturday 3 January 2009

Dreary Weary


Didn't really feel like leaving the apartment today and after stocking up on groceries yesterday, there just wasn't any reason. Besides, I needed to store up energy reserves for tomorrow's dueling flea markets at Mauerpark and Arkonaplatz in Berlin's trendy Prenzlauer Berg. That said, we had to get the stoves going early. Trying something new today with heat circulation by leaving the doors separating the living room and bedroom open - some heat might also slip in to the bathroom this way. For anyone planning on visiting, you'll need to prepare mentally before attempting to shower. Still honing a perfect strategy, but so far plugging the shower in and heating it for 30-45 minutes then firing up the space heater full blast before jumping under the water works best. We've only been able to get 5-8 minutes of hot water, but at least getting out into a warm room lessens the barrage of swearing that followed my first couple showers. This might sound terrifying to some people, but we've experienced worse in Berlin - we stayed for 2 nights in an apartment that did have a shower, but it was in the cramped kitchen, between the fridge and stove top.

These two, kinda beautiful beasts are our heating devices:



What I did feel like doing today was making soup! Ingredients: onions, garlic, lemons, potatoes, chick peas, watercress, couple bay leaves, couple sage leaves, dash of apple cider, salt and pepper. It's a recipe based loosely on a soup my old buddy Michael used to make. The broth turned out okay - maybe I should have used more vegetables? In all other respects I think it was pretty good.


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