I still cannot get used to my "new" kitchen.
It's much smaller than the last two I've had and, although there's quite a lot of cupboard space, it's all been filled with crockery. Why on earth do I have so many mugs and bowls? I love them all, so getting rid isn't an option.
Anyway, I've rearranged the storage so many times I can't find anything. It takes me about three tries before I locate the correct item. Nobody else stands a chance. Tim doesn't even bother to look, and just calls out "Where does this go?" or "Where can I find x, y, or z?"
It's quicker to find it myself.
There is no working space. That's not really a huge problem as I'm not a great cook. By that I mean I don't make pastry from scratch, make jam or spend hours slaving over a hot stove creating some fancy dish. No, simple and quick are my cooking by-words. But it becomes annoying when trying to dish up a meal as there's nowhere to put anything. And I used to like baking cookies. Can't see that happening here unless I roll the dough out on the floor.
Oh, the floor! It's white stone tiles. White! In a kitchen. With a dog, cat and child tramping all over the place. And stone! Just aching for me to drop some special plate or glass onto it. I have an old-fashioned scrubbing brush, for heavens sake! Haven't used it yet, mind you...
Once in a while I may bake a cake. But that will involve having to find the right ingredients. Like self raising flour, or at least baking powder so I can make my own. And caster sugar. Or brown sugar. neither of which I have spotted anywhere yet.
Yesterday, I made the obligatory Sunday roast dinner. The cooker is fierce! So the roast potatoes were done in no time. This is good. I also found rhubarb in the newly discovered supermarket and was instructed to make rhubarb crumble. Did I mention we'd found a supermarket at long last? It's a driving distance away, but has quite a lot of items in it; more than a corner shop but less than a hyper-market.
OK... that means finding flour. It turns out flour in Germany is labelled with numbers. I had no clue what they meant so just grabbed one and googled it once I got home. It was numbered 405, which apparently is "pastry flour" according to this site. It worked OK. However, I completely forgot to look for something to go on the crumble, so we had no cream or custard.
My food store cupboards need a lot of filling. So to do that, I will have to make a proper shopping list of the basics we normally take for granted. And for the life of me I can't think what they may be!
Perhaps you can help me compile a list so I don't have to live on pasta? What do I need?!
How did I manage in Tokyo, you may ask? Well, there were two big international supermarkets which kindly labelled everything in English. I wonder if there is similar here?
Dinner was a great success (yay me!) and Tim's job is to sort out the dishes. Our dishwasher is crap. There is no other word for it. Everything comes out all scummy and may as well be washed by hand in the first place. (Some weeks later Tim discovered the water intake wasn't working properly and was on the verge of giving up completely.)
And as for the freezer... totally pointless. Two and a half drawers, that's it. It holds a couple of loaves of bread and a small joint of meat. When we have some money we will have to invest in a second one. It can live in the basement.
But my lovely new Japanese water boiler kettle is wonderful. And has been much used today.