Daily bread

I would just like to make a comment about the kitchen. When there is a 'house-rules' sign on the entry door with a picture of a big fat rat on it, one is less than inspired.

Tonight I cooked a single-dish meal in a pan that once resembled a wok, prior to some misuse by the previous tenants. I swung it around from a barely connected handle to the delight of my house mates who have learned the best appliances are the waterkoker (electric tea kettle), and the ancient microwave.

Someone keeps plugging in the toaster in the hopes of it working, and we all gave up on the Italian espresso maker some time ago. Well, I was the only one who had any hope for either of those things to begin with, as I tend to subsist on toast and coffee. After an hour armed with steel wool and a bottle of bleach, though, I had to cecede to the mold imbedded in its sides. I broke down and bought a coffee press the next day.

However, we all drink tea! And this is a safe and easy thing... the waterkoker is very busy!

After about, um, 24 hours here, I did do two things to help the place- wash the entire kitchen down as well as organize it some, and buy a houseplant. That little plant has almost doubled in size over these last days with all the attention it receives- all of us caretakers have just been chomping at the bit for something to whisper into existence. It gets all the love around here.

And all the daily nourishment!