The IKEA Frustration

So. On May 22nd we moved most of our stuff to the new apartment with the help of some friends and a truck. 3 days later the kitchen arrived — minus the counter top.
Ever since, we've been unpacking boxes (veeerrry slowly) and waiting for said counter top. Well, the projected delivery date came and passed and no counter top was delivered. So I called the good people at IKEA. And they said that they had delivered it to the dispatch company and that this subcontractor in turn would call me, in order to inform me of the delivery date. That was last Wednesday. Nobody called me. So I swung by IKEA today to ask them what had gone wrong and that I really really want my counter top. Sadly, the customer service people were able to tell me neither when I would get the counter top, nor the name of the dispatch company. What I found most frustrating was that no-one at IKEA had thought to inform me of anything... instead, I had to phone them and go to their store to find out that they had no idea where my counter top is or when I might receive it. Their excuse was that they had recently re-organized the dispatch of their wares and now a central office is responsible for organizing it. Unfortunately, two calls to this central office by the friendly people at customer services yielded no useful answers beyond an assurance that I would be contacted to finalize a delivery date. We shall see how soon I get that phone call. I dearly hope I do not have to wait another week. That would be most vexing.

New Apartment, More Rhubarb Goodness, and Letters of Thanks

Miss Manners and Emily Post would definitely not approve but we wrote our Thank You cards almost a month after the wedding. However, they would approve of the individualized, handwritten cards that were not pre-printed or pre-engraved. And despite what Ms. Post says about letters of thanks for wedding presents ("Although all wedding presents belong to the bride, she generally words her letters of thanks as though they belonged equally to the groom, especially if they have been sent by particular friends of his." [1]) we decided that we would share all presents and therefore also the task of writing all letters of thanks.
Suffice it to say, my grandmother's friends were delighted with the card and enclosed photograph.

Two days ago we finally got the keys to our new apartment and we are very excited! The first thing that DH did was to put in light-fixtures and light bulbs. Then off to the hardware store for a shower-curtain rail, screws and anchors, and milky film to make the bathroom window (which looks right into our bathtub) less see-through. Then we went to IKEA to buy lamps for the hallway (with halogen spots), as well as an under-sink cabinet and mirrored cabinet for the bathroom.

Tomorrow we go back to IKEA to order our kitchen.

And we found a great recipe for cream cheese rhubarb muffins which we made for mothers' day:

Rhubarb Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients:
250g rhubarb
250g flour
3Tbsp baking powder
80g liquid butter
200ml milk
1 egg
120g sugar
10 g vanilla sugar or 1tsp vanilla flavoring
100g cream cheese
100g curd cheese (or substitute with cream cheese)
1Tbsp vanilla pudding (custard) powder
1 pinch of salt

How To:
1) preheat the oven to about 180°C
2) clean and peel the rhubarb before cutting it into small pieces
3) cream the egg and sugar together
4) add milk to egg-sugar mixture
5) sift together flour, baking powder, and salt before slowly adding to the egg-mixture
6) cream together the cream cheese and curd cheese with vanilla flavoring and pudding/custard powder
7) grease muffin pan or fill with cups
8) fill each cup 1/3 with dough
9) add some of the cream cheese mix
10) sprinkle with rhubarb chunks
11) and finally cover with more dough
12) bake for 25 minutes or until golden-brown
13) let cool before sprinkling with confectioner's sugar or topping with frosting
14) enjoy


[1] http://www.bartleby.com/95/27.html

The Orange Duck is back!

We went to Prague. It was lovely. My mother paid for everything... she was planning to go with friends from Seattle... but because of the infamous Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull they were unable to get to Europe... so, lucky us! We stayed at the truly beautiful Iron Gate Hotel with its professional and helpful staff and lovely rooms.
A lot of fun was had, good food was enjoyed, and the cultural programme was excellent.
The highlights included:
1) Kampa Park Restaurant with a beautiful view of the Charles Bridge and delicious dishes.
2) the Castle and Cathedral. The audio-guided tour is totally worth it!
3) Prague on Segway was lots of fun and a great way to see the city.
4) the Lobkowicz Palace with its amazing collection. Take the audio-guided tour!

At the Kampa Park DH had the duck trio which included duck á l'orange. And so he finally figured out what it was supposed to taste like (he wasn't too happy with his first attempt on April 18). And yesterday he made it with the breast of the organic duck we bought and froze two weeks ago. Below you can see yesterday's creation: duck á l'orange accompanied by duck liver tempura with crème fraîche and celery mashed-potatoes with home-made potato chips.

It was very good. And the sauce was much more delicate than in the first attempt.
Ah, I am so lucky.

What a difference a month makes and rhubarb pie

Ok, quick re-cap of this past month's events:
- the seating chart needed to be re-done- the family quiz was finalized and then finalized again (and again hours before the wedding)
- I caught a horrible cold over Easter
- I woke up on April 7th with a horrible case of herpes simplex on my upper lip and under my nose but my maid of honor arrives, so all is well
- the "despedida de soltera" or hens night was on Wednesday April 7th (I still had a slight fever) and it was fun!
- Thursday April 8th was spent running around with my maid of honor Eva, who was a great sport about it all and made the groom's growing panic much more bearable
- Thursday evening Eva and I spent lots of time pinning the table cloths to the tables.
- the night before the wedding I slept in Eva's hotel room because the groom and his best man had a different schedule (sleeping 2 hours later than us for starters)
Then, the wedding day (Friday April 9th):
7AM: shower, put on dress, realize I forgot to pack underpants, wake up Eva
7:30AM: Eva tapes the dress to me, drives me to the beautician's (she got breakfast while my herpes was painted over)
9:30AM: hairdresser's appointment... my future mother-in-law is there getting her hair done aswell, Eva goes to her hotel room to shower and get ready.10:30AM: I go home to put on some underpants... not going commando to the wedding
11:15AM: the groom, his best man, my maid of honor, and I all go to the registry office
11:30AM: my family turns japanese... lots of cameras... I can now feel the coffee in my stomach (thank you for breakfast Eva! I would have fainted without it.)
11:40AM: the ceremony
11:55 AM: more pictures!
12:00PM: we take professional pictures in the park
12:30PM: we arrive at the venue and the imperial march plays as we go inafter that food, poems, music, cocktails etc.

The next day we offered our guests a hiking tour or a museum and city tour of Nuremberg.
In the evening the menu consisted of roast suckling pig and cocktails.

I think everyone had a good time.

Today:
canard á l'orange and rhubarb meringue pie...
recipe for the pie:measurements in metric system (sorry.)
10" pan (26cm)
preparation time: 45 mins
baking time: 40 mins

500g rhubarb
5 eggs
150g butter
100g sugar
2 Tbsp vanilla sugar (I'm sure vanilla flavouring works just as well... but am not sure of amount)
150g flour
75g corn starch
2 Tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
150g castor sugar (I used regular sugar)
butter to grease the pan

1) wash the rhubarb, peel it and cut it into pieces of about 4cm length
2) pre-heat oven to 180°C or 360°F
3) grease the pan
4) separate 3 of the eggs, set aside eggwhites
5) cream butter with the 100g sugar and vanilla sugar.
6) slowly add the 2 whole eggs and the 3 egg yolks.
7) sift together the flour, starch and baking powder and then add the mixture to the butter mixture.
8) pour dough into the pan and press the rhubarb pieces into it.
9) bake for about 25 minutes.
10) make the meringue mixture:
- beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until they are stiff.
- slowly add the castor sugar (in my case regular sugar)
11) spread this onto to the cake (or make little clouds)
12) bake for another 15 minutes
13) take out and let cool.
14) enjoy!

The Dance of the Bumble Bee

The Bachelor Party is on Saturday. And the groom's brother is sleeping at our place. So we need to tidy up (a lot of sorting through possessions has taken place and we've categorized them into "keep", "basement", and "throw out"... yet many things from the "keep" pile haven't been put away yet).
Also, the final decision on place-cards and table decorations needs to be made (we're going with origami animals). I need to talk with the florist and we might need more cakes. The itinerary for speeches and games during the wedding festivities has been set. I still need to buy some underwear and double-sided tape.
Recently, we've been going to bed really late (3AM) and getting up really late (11AM-2PM)... We really need to change that. We don't get enough done on this weird schedule. And it's driving me nuts.
Oh, and we've found an apartment we would like to rent. But several other things need to fall into place for that to happen. We shall see. One huge bonus: not living on the fourth floor anymore.
We continue to be very happy (though he had a slight hang-over from yesterday's St. Patrick's Day festivities). And everything is well.

2-year anniversary

So, Friday was our 2-year anniversary.
After a busy day we decided to go out for dinner and drinks. We had dinner at the Greek Restaurant near us. I had the lamb skewers with potatoes, tzatziki, and salad. He had the mixed grill-platter with salad. After dinner we walked to a bar we hadn't been to before and had cocktails. They were very good. 2 drinks each and a great conversation. We were home at around midnight and just kept talking until 3 o'clock.
We had such a good time.

Just one of those days

Today is one of those days where my brain won't function the way I want it to. I have the constant feeling I've forgotten something or had a too long nap (I didn't have a nap... they usually make me grumpy). Coherent thought escapes me and I am left with half-finished sentences in my head. I feel like muddy water. Bleh.
Tomorrow will be better. Things to do, pigs and roasts to roast them on to find and compare prices for, people to call, and household chores to do.

Long Time No Post

Wow. I'm terribly bad at posting when I'm busy. Short recap of events since last post:
The vacation we went on last August was great. We went to Clearwater, Florida and Savannah, Georgia. Read more here.
When we came back the General Elections were imminent and functions needed attending etc. (We were totally jet-lagged for some of them.)
He-who-keeps-my-feet-warm-at-night quit his job in June and opened up his own business in October. That took up a lot of time and energy (filling out forms, getting information, going to register the business, going to the tax people, signing up for a government grant, among other things).
Tidying up and throwing out unneeded stuff.
A visit to the future in-laws.
Christmas, New Years Eve, and another visit to the future in-laws, the Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day.
The planning of the wedding (we set the date to April 9th 2010 – cutting it a little close) didn't really start until January, so it's been slightly hectic and disorganized. We've found some amazing people, though, and I think it'll be very nice. Our emphasis will be on the food, drinks, and music. Those are our priorities.
Had I known that it is such a hassle to organize a wedding that everyone, including myself, can enjoy, I would have stuck with my original plan and taken everyone to Burger King.
Ok. I'm off to bake some cookies. Oh! And between writing my thesis and making wedding related phone calls I finished this. (I'd started it in September.) I crocheted some red dragon-scales to the back just to mix it up a bit.
That's all the news that's fit to post. And a good summary of the past 6 months.