Troubles with the maid...

Life here is hard. Right now, as we are still awaiting opening day for the bakery, there is not too much to do. We have had to resort to those horrible things that are necessary on forced holidays, such as sleeping until at least ten every day, eating out far too much, and shopping. We have also had the torture of attending a few parties. Hehehe. :) In one of our last preparation sagas, we decided we were going to attempt "Twice Baked Potatoes". Finding the right potatoes that were larger than a plumb was interesting to say the least. We didn't succeed. So, armed with a bag full of tiny potatoes of the completely wrong type, we set off on the adventure with no clue what we were doing what so ever.

After semi-successfully baking the potatoes and mashing them as thoroughly as can be done when the odd one decided not to bake, I set the hollowed out skins on a plate next to the mashed potatoes and retired to the living room to read. I did so because I was getting under the feet of the housekeeper. Yes, as I said, life is hard. She comes every day and does the dishes, sweeps and mops the entire house, and does the ironing. I'm getting far too used to it. Anyhow, as I'm reading peacefully in the living room and Rehana is puttering away in the kitchen, Marc arrives back on the scene from checking his mail upstairs. He sits with me for a minute and Rehana finishes up and goes home. He inquires as to how the potato adventure is coming along. I explained how the mashed part is a bit lumpy, but tastes alright, and the skins are thin but relatively intact and awaiting re-filling and re-baking. He then proceeds to do those deeds, and comes right back into the living room asking again where I put the skins. I felt like saying "Are you blind man? They're in front of your face on the counter!" But what came out was just "On the counter." He simply replied "No they're not." Then it struck me. To an average Indian woman, who never uses the skins on potatoes, they would look like garbage. We both thought of this at the same time. He ran and checked. Yup, in the garbage. Crap! How in the world are we supposed to make twice-baked potatoes with only the filling and no skins to re-stuff?! We needed another plan. Appies were our responsibility for this party, and it was in a few short hours. We had a few bags of chips already, and a plate of veggies and dip, but that wasn't enough for the crowd that was going to be descending on Dave and Anna's apartment. Think think think! What else can be done for appetizers with a bowl full of mashed potatoes?? The only other things edible in the house were a bit of flour and sugar, oil and eggs, nutella, peanut butter and jam, and half a loaf of bread. Smearing nutella and mashed potatoes on bread was not an option, and neither was egg and peanut butter sandwiches. Suddenly it dawned on me. Shortly before we left Canada, when there was an equally sad amount of food in the house, we made our own perogies. I ran upstairs and found a recipe for perogie dough on the internet and scribbled it down. Between the two of us, we pounded out about 40 of those puppies and cooked them up just in time for guests to arrive. They were a smashing hit. As it turns out, there is no sour cream in this country, so we resorted to ranch dip. It added a wonderful flavor, and everyone loved it.

That, sadly enough is probably the most interesting thing that has happened this week. Some interviews have happened in regards to employees for the bakery, but as of yet there is not a ton to report on that topic. Oh but wait! We have power now, the emergency generator is up and running, the plumbing is functional, and there is phone and internet! So I guess some things have happened. Now we are just waiting for those darned contractor construction guys to finish up the little things so we can clean the place top to bottom and get ingredients in there.

I'll let you know in a few days as to how that goes, and I'll get some stories and such about interviews. Ciao for now!