Immigrant Status.
Still unemployed. Still anxious.
I am, however, really enjoying the freedom to explore my new hometown on these relentlessly beautiful summer days. Apparently the beautiful weather is highly unusual the locals are telling me, but I’m making the most of it while I have an open schedule. I am especially grateful that the sun makes me want to be on my bike all day, riding to the opposite side of the city to check out apartments that I continually lose out on due to the 15 other people touring the place when I get there. It could be very unpleasant to schlep to the west from the outer edge of east otherwise.
One of the reminders of home that I brought with me is this gem:
I’ve been getting inspired for my market shopping and the dinners I’ve been making at home. While dining out is always a crapshoot here, the market produce is amazing and you find almost anything you want (except, for some reason, whole cavolo nero.) The caveat to this mostly pleasant activity of recipe-reading is that it’s making me miss my well-stocked larder and jars of bulk flours and dried ingredients. It will be nice to get settled and begin to re-build my cooking necessities.
I stopped into a kitchen store today that was packed floor to ceiling with things I “needed”. I’ve mostly resisting buying things until I a) have an income; and b) have a home to put them in. But I did leave the store with a new silicone ice cube tray to freeze my next batch of chicken stock in, and a spark of confidence from having tried out my miniature Dutch vocabulary on the shop ladies. (A well-received effort of yes / no / please / thank you / you, too.)