It’s been a funny kind of week, great but also very stressful! It was with considerable relief that the weekend arrived. Considering my stress level I’ve decided to take most of this weekend off, catchup on some sleep, do some housework, and enjoy some play time. I’ve been pretty short of sleep and not eating enough so I’m hoping to re-set those routines quickly. Last night for the first time since I moved in to my unit, it occurred to me that I could swap out the lace netting in my bedroom window and put up some curtains instead. I plan to replace all the curtain brackets so that I can have both lace and curtains installed, but the ones already here will only hold one curtain rod. I’ve been getting woken up early every morning by the dawn and getting back to sleep by using an eye pillow. It’s not doing a lot for my sleep. So last night I put up an old pair of lovely green velvet curtains! And then, I took a sleep-inducing antihistamine and slept for nine straight hours for the first time in a very long time. I am thrilled!

So, this afternoon when I woke up 🙂 I decided to head up to Hahndorf. Earlier this week I took my lovely knife set up there and left them at The Cutler’s Cottage to be sharpened. During this week I realised that I actually do not own any other knives, not even a steak knife, so I’ve been unable to chop anything. It was raining lightly today and the leaves on the trees are all turning red and gold. Perfect for a drive up to the Adelaide Hills. So, I picked up a friend and drove up through the mist and collected my knives, then had a hot chocolate and a cup of fresh strawberries drizzled with melted Belgian chocolate, and wandered about for a while in the rain. It was very beautiful and peaceful. I stopped in at a gourmet continental shop there and bought a jar of rose petal jelly (jam) which is perfect with scones and cream, and a lovely big stick of garlic mettwurst, which is now hanging from the curtain rod in my kitchen.

The owner was very helpful and when I asked about how to store it, told me that I’d been doing the wrong thing by keeping it in my fridge. Apparently if you hang them or keep them in a cupboard they continue to dry out and stay delicious and safe to eat. (just cut off a sliver of the exposed end) Delicious! Snacks this afternoon was mettwurst and cherry tomatoes.

My new rice cooker is wonderful, it made perfect brown rice for dinner last night and I am quite thrilled at how little effort it took. It doesn’t matter how zoned out I am, I’m not going to be able to burn food in that! Now I’m looking at a lovely recipe book for risottos and other wonderful things to make in it without having to keep a close eye on them.

This evening I celebrated having my knives back and sharp by making a big pot of potato and leek soup. I am at heart quite a foodie and the tinned soup and cereal lifestyle I’ve been living for the past couple of years really isn’t my preference. I’m quite passionate about cooking but it does require some space in my brain and the energy to cook and clean up. Hence, the saving for a dishwasher. 🙂

Leeks were on special at the supermarket this week and I had a big bag of potatoes left over from my last campfire night that needed the green parts peeled off and to be made into soup. So I dug up this lovely recipe by Donna Hay, who is one my favourite cooks and tweaked it a little to the quantities I had and viola! Soup!

Cooking the potato and leeks

Blending it with milk

And served it with freshly grated nutmeg, my favourite! And then washed all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen too.

I am finally starting to settle in just a little bit here. The faintest glimmerings of feeling like I might be ‘home’ are appearing. Starting to cook again and getting back into my garden are big parts of that. Also, hanging my curtains and putting up my posters will make the place feel more like my own. I’ve been working on organising and unpacking and each step helps just a little bit. I have the new studio table delivered but it is phenomenally heavy and I am waiting for a strong friend to come along and help me assemble it. Then I’ll have a functioning studio space again, and I am incredibly excited about that! It’s very nice to slow my pace down a little and spend some more time on my home and hobbies.

My birthday present to myself has arrived in the mail too! New books from my favourite online store the Book Depository. A new Patricia MacKillip book, Ombira in Shadow, and the first four books of Ursula Le Guin’s Wizard of Earthsea series (I already own the fifth). Lovely, lovely. MacKillip is one of my favourite authors, her writing style is lyrical and poetic, and her plots are mythical. The Earthsea series is one of my set of core books that are re-read at least every year. Reading very quickly has many advantages, one of which is being able to read many new books and also have time to re-read old favourites. I have quite a healthy looking library of books here, although I’m confident I will need more bookshelves sometime soon, that or an e-reader. 🙂 I think this is the first time I’ve had a bit of money and a home at the same time. It’s always been one or the other, I can buy socks and fix my car but I’m transient, or all my money is going on rent. (or the vet) It’s quite novel to have a home and some money to buy things like rice cookers and tasty morsels from Hahndorf. I like it!