Apartment warming

We had the gathering for our official warming of the apartment/condo this past weekend (Sunday May 16).  There was quite a bit of cooking that went into it, which all went well.  Total attendance:  14 people.  These were the collection of friends we have made since we have arrived, and including a couple of people Elaine either works with or knows from HP.  It turns out this is a lot of people to have in the apartment, particularly if everyone is indoors (air-con!) and not on the deck.  But it was great to have everyone over, share some nice food, and beverages, and as one set of friends describes it, a "chemistry experiment" introducing these various friends to one another.

As well as some nice wine and champagne (thank you!) we also received some beautiful orchid plants, which hopefully we will take proper care (Thanks Karen, Lupka, and Stephan).

It was a great gathering, and we hope to do it again sometime.

Keeping busy...

Some people have asked what I do, while Elaine is working, what I do to keep busy.  Somehow there is always something going on, not going (needing repair), or just gone (and needing to be replenished from the grocery store).

We have pretty much got the nest feathered--  the apartment is furnished, decorated to an appropriate level, and all the electronic conveniences necessary for a household these days (TV, telephone, music system, computer and associated accessories) set up.  (OK, Elaine did most of this stuff--  I just helped).  On to the next thing.

So what have I been doing?  Well,  we're having a house warming gathering come this weekend, with some of the friends we've met here, perhaps to show off the results, but mostly just to have a nice gathering.  So here's some of my recent endeavors, using the roll-around oven we got in the furniture spree, which will be served to our unsuspecting guests.  Don't believe for a moment that I know what I'm doing.  It's been raining quite a bit recently, so not to bad to be inside.

(Recall that many apartments/condos here do not have ovens. Turns out there is a reason-- few of these same apartments/condos have air-con in the kitchens, thus it gets pretty hot in the kitchen.  Also, there's not a lot of space.)

Apartment-made cholla bread, which will be made into french toast.

Apartment-made whole wheat bread, which will be made into...   slices of bread.

And when I'm not baking in the kitchen (that word applies two ways), I am working on new skill sets for my next career....