more thyme needed

The kitchen looks as if it has been there for 20 years already. We try out the ovens, try out the dishwasher and pack the new fridge. Everything tastes more delicious. No need for dry herbs anymore; the new windowsill sports a selection of the very thing, fresh. We sit down and make a list of the hundred things to be done yet, and my man says we need more time. I say we need to make haste as the offsprings and the sister-in-law are coming home for Easter! I remind him that we were supposed to have the kitchen for Christmas. There are hundreds of things to do such as hardwood floors to lay, walls to paint, extractor fan to install, electrical plugs to fix in the new living area and much much more, you understand. To prevent panic from setting in again, I focus on humble thyme and olive oil.

The menu tonight? Creamed butternut soup with fresh basil followed by grilled merlan rubbed with smokey peri-peri and fresh thyme.

calm

 

 

from there to here in 24 hours

 

appliances and zucchini

We are getting closer to a real kitchen. I cannot find the words to describe the effort it requires. The two of us carry the new appliances up the wonky spiral staircase -- I am talking about a new dishwasher, oven and fridge/freezer -- so we deserve a jolly hearty meal afterwards. Our supper has to be what is left in the old fridge. Zucchini, onions and garlic. My pantry on the bedroom floor supplies a can of chopped tomatoes with basil and a bag of dried tagliatelle. We drown the concoction with a glass of shiraz and we count the number of meals left before we have the new kitchen.

curried potatoes and grilled take-out chicken

The dressing for the lamb's lettuce was Cape gooseberry and olive oil splash from the African south. There still is no kitchen, yet we feasted as if we had everything in place. Our friend from Rueil made us laugh and relax; mind you, the shiraz helped too.  Anyway, the main man fixed more electrical sockets today; and tomorrow, the appliances arrive! By next weekend the kitchen should be in place... Watch this space.

it gets worse before it gets better

If you look carefully at the picture on the right, you can see the main man himself resting in the chaos after a day's hard labour. He says he has achieved so much; I look around and see the same chaos I have seen for the last 20 weeks. One of the tricks I am using to calm my anxiety, is to stare at the simple pure lines of the skylights and the crisp clean symmetry of the glassbricks.

exaggerate

ex·ag·ger·ate  (g-zj-rt) The definitions here are according to the Free Dictionary.

v. ex·ag·ger·at·ed, ex·ag·ger·at·ing, ex·ag·ger·ates

v.tr.

1. To represent as greater than is actually the case; overstate: exaggerate the size of the enemy force; exaggerated his own role in the episode.

2. To enlarge or increase to an abnormal degree: thick lenses that exaggerated the size of her eyes.

v.intr.

To make overstatements.

 I must have represented yesterday's problems greater than was actually the case, because today I heard from several concerned friends. The miserable red painting simply meant I was losing my cool. You should all know me by now; I tend to enlarge things. Anyway, I now feel guilty. So, to assure you that we are moving on and coping, here is a picture of what I found this evening when I came home. The glass bricks seperating the stairwell from the kitchen, have been roughed in!

my mood today

living in chaos

I thought I would allow a peek at the absurd maddening chaos we are living in right now. We are still cooking on the hot plate in the bedroom and I think I am losing my cool. To calm the sturm and drang inside me, I paint two red pictures, one entitled Tools of the Trade, and another just a dark brooding picture showing how helpless I feel. The tools are everywhere; thousands of them. Manu and his team seem to have other fish to fry and they work only when they feel like it! There are lists and lists of tasks to be done before the kitchen comes in. The kitchen is supposed to arrive in 8 days, and is supposed to be built in and ready for use before 2 weeks are over. How am I to manage the stress? My other half is cool and calm and ever so collected!

But, we have no idea what has to be done first. Put the floor in before the kitchen? Put the floor in afterwards? When do you treat the floor? How long does it take to dry? Can you cook in the new kitchen if the floor is not in or not treated yet? What about the five thousands books? How do you move them off the floor when you have to place the new floorboards? When do you build the bookshelf? Where do you put the furniture while you place the floorboards? As it is, there is stuff everywhere and we have to by necessity LIVE in the house while building. I do not recommend it.

I remind myself that we have no tsunami here.

close but not close enough

In the corner of the wine-shop-to-be, we are letting the moinslong stones show; this is a type of natural sandstone from this area used hundreds of years ago. The wineshop needs loads of work yet, and I am more impatient than the cheeky snowbells in the courtyard, peeking through the building rubble with real attitude!

where old meets new