#Kitchen 11 April 2023

Update:

1. It was a long…dreary Easter weekend.
2. Sometimes you say: “I don’t feel like cooking dinner tonight…”
3. I would say: “I WANT to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner but I can’t”.
4. Living like this without a kitchen…doing dishes in a bucket
5. …cooking potatoes in microwave that taste like rubber
6. is depressing.
7. But today we have made some progress.
8. The new kitchen is sitting in my front room and I had to
9. go upstairs all day while the tool man got to work.
10. He promised I would have a kitchen by this Friday, maybe Thursday.
11. Fingers crossed.

No room to sit anywhere!

This is the color!

Apothecary cabinet section

50% done….

Jerry’s new playground!

#Kitchen 08 April 2023

Update:

1. This is not the kitchen I envisioned for Easter weekend.
2. After 3 intense days of  remodeling, screeching sawing machines
3. …the tool man has decided to install the new kitchen AFTER Easter.
4. So when you get lemons…make lemonade.
5. I did some grocery shopping yesterday and as an enthusiastic cook
6. …I was forced to go to the “microwave” meals section.
7. Desperate for some warm food I did manage to make scrambled eggs 
8. …and steam some potatoes in the microwave. 
9. So, Easter Sunday will be buttermilk pancakes
10. …(have some in the freezer) with maple syrup 
11. …and a large Salade Nicoise with tuna in a can,
12. …some olives, cherry tomatoes and arugula + dressing.
13. I did splurge on a 2 pound bag of chocolate easter eggs. 
14. If I get depressed …then I just eat a few of them.
15. Happy Easter…everybody, enjoy your
16. …Bourbon Glazed Ham + steamed asparagus with lemon butter!

#Kitchen 06 April 2023

Update:

1. Another exhausting day trying to keep 2 cats from escaping out the front door
2. …while the tool man comes and goes.
3. Today was the “prep”  day…making sure a good wooden wall is installed
4. …to support the kitchen cabinets etc when they are installed.
5. All the wires, electrical sockets and pipe installed for the extractor hood
6. …above the induction cooking plate…done.
7. Cooked meals in the microwave (baked potato, green beans, heated up meatballs)
8. …but I am missing a kitchen so much. 
9. I forgot to make a pan of soup to freeze in portions for meals. Lesson learned.
10. Looks like this will be a “no cook” Easter weekend…but I will stock up 
11. …on chocolate Easter eggs to comfort myself.
12. Kitchen arrives tomorrow so my front room will be filled with cabinets and appliances.
13. If all goes well installation will be on Monday…and hopefully Tuesday fully operational.
14. Start – Finish = 1 week! Amazing.
15. Here is a recap of progress made:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4: 

Day 5:

Day 6:

#Kitchen 04 April 2023

Update:

1. I was so exhausted after cleaning out the kitchen
2. …that I pulled out my sleeping bag and feel literally asleep in my clothes!
3. Exhausted!
4. On nights like these the cats are jubilant b/c they can go an sleep anywhere.
5. Unfortunaley Ben (cat) decided he wanted to play at 01:45 am.
6. Toolman was right on time.  In just 6 hours he tore out the kitchen
7. …put everything on his “builder’s trailer”
8. …and prepared the electrical wires for all the new kitchen cooking equipment
9. …and managed to find a person who would take the old fridge and dishwasher off my hands!
10. So day 1 is done and tomorrow
11. …the electrical sockets will be placed, water drainage for dishwasher and sink
12. …and will probably have to adjust a cabinet to make room for my microwave.
13. Luckily my microwave could be used tonight and was glad I had a portion of
14. spaghetti and meatballs in the freezer for dinner.
15. I needed something warm to eat.
16. Now time to do the dishes in the backyard!

#Kitchen 03 April 2023

1. Tomorrow is the big day….kitchen will be ripped out.
2. One last breakfast before the toolman arrives at 08:30 AM.
3. Who knew how much junk I had in these cabinets.
4. The cats are all upset…they think we’re moving.
5. UPDATE: It took me 8 hours to clean out all cabinets
6. …sort out what I wanted to throw away…+ bring the 
7. …rest packed in boxes upstairs.
8. I’m exhausted.

#2023 April Reading List

Spring in The Netherlands

1. Update: 01.04.2023
2. Lowering my reading expectations in the coming weeks.
3. I’ve only selected 10 books
4. ….but have no illusions that I’ll read them all!
5. On Monday my kitchen will be ripped out and the preparations
6. …for a new kitchen will be  done.
7. I’m switching from gas cooking to induction.
8. An induction stove requires a dedicated 220-volt outlet protected by 40-50 amp breakers.
9. So I need to  install high-capacity wiring in the kitchen.
10. Once the remodelling is done….then I can relax and pick up a book.

1. Do Not Disturb  – M. Wrong, 2021 (Rwanda) (NF)  – READ  – no review…just too busy at the moment!
2. Floaters –  Martin Espada  – (Nat Book Award 2021) poetry 
3. If Walls Could Speak – Moshe Safdie, 2022 – (NF)
4. Diary of a Young Naturalist – Dara McAnulty England (#WorldFromMyArmchair)
5. Solito: A Memoir – Javier Zamora (Mexico) – Kindle

1. French Reading Challenge:
2. Miroir de nos peines – Pierre Lemaitre, 2020 (novel)
3.  Sovjetistan – Erika Fatland  Turkmenistan (#WorldFromMyArmchair)
4. Les mains du miracle – Joseph Kessel, 1960 (nonfiction) – READING
5. L’amant – Marguerite Duras (classic)

#Ireland Winner the Irish Book of the year 2022

MARCH

by Sally Hayden

Finish date: March 2023
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: A
Review: My Fourth Time, We Drowned (ISBN: 978161299450)

Good news: We must KNOW what is going on! This is a staggering account of the migrant crisis across North Africa. Investigative journalism at its best. Winner of Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2022 and Winner of the Irish Book of the year 2022.

Bad news: This is NOT an pleasant book to read. Know what you are going to expect (shocking revelations) and be prepared.

Personal: I just finished Sally Hayden’s book “My Fourth Time, We Drowned”…and I had to put the book down several times and take a few deep breaths. Just horrendous what is going on in immigrant detention centers in Lybia and Sudan. To make matter even worse…Ms Hayden exposes corruption and searing a condemnation of NGOs and the United Nations who are NOT doing their jobs. It is important to expose this entire situation….but oh, so hard to read about. I applaud Ms Hayden for bring many stories of immigrants to our attention…but I hope the reader is prepared for this shock-o-rama.
#ReadingIrelandMonth23

#Ireland Louise Kennedy

by Louise Kennedy (no photo)

Finish date:  March 2023
Genre: short stories (15)
Rating: A
Review: The End of the World is a Cul de Sac (ISBN: 9781526623270)

Good news: Ms Louise Kennedy brings the quality of short story writing to a new level!
Her eye for detail is meticulous…very precise even about trivial things!
When the author described a woman in her home doing the dishes…or ferreting in her make-up bag…I said: “I do that!” That is the strength of these stories…you are drawn in with bits and pieces of the narrative and you embrace them!

Good news: Louise Kennedy’s collection of short stories, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac, has won the John McGahern Prize for a debut book of Irish fiction published in 2021.

Good news: This collection is just the right length: 15 stories…reading time about 5 hours. I’ve learned a valuable lesson this year…NO more short story collection with 40 stories. It is just not doable…my eyes start to glaze over. When it comes to stories…less is more.

Personal: We all complain about not having enough time to tuck into a massive novel (600+ pages…).
Well the alternatives are novellas and short story collections. I don’t like to re-hash what I read but I like to give a short story collection a score. I enjoyed 10 of the 15 stories (67%). Selecting the story I like the best is difficult…there were so many….but I will mention 2: “Powder” (widow bringing her husband’s ashes back to Ireland) and “Garland Sunday” (family secrets revealed…)
PS: Top collections..so far are: Redeployment (P. Klay) – A Manual for Cleaning Women (L. Berlin) – Dark As Last Night (T. Birch) – Walk the Blue Fields (C. Keegan) -reviews are on page SHORT STORY WRITERS

#WW II Sorj Chalandon

Foto of Chalandon’s father….

MARCH

by Sorj Chalandon (no photo)

Finished: March 2023
Genre: (WW II)
Rating: A++++
Review: Énfant de salaud (ISBN: 9782253936824)

Good news: Amazing story…Sorj Chalandon’s new novel tells how he finally discovers the true story of his father, at the same time as the trial of Klaus Barbie takes place. This shortlisted for the prestigious French literary Prix Goncourt 2021. I’m sure this book will be translated into English very soon!

Good news: The strength of this novel is to mix history with Chalandon’s father’s part in that trajectory in WW II France.

Good news: Writing style is very personal (father-son relationship) yet also informative (history). Asked by the newspaper Libération to report on the Klaus Barbie trial in May-July 1987, Sorj Chalandon puts into perspective his 1. father’s stories 2. his investigation of his father’s past during the war and 3. the course of the trial in which his father also attends.

Personal: I was fascinated by the story and especially elements of WWII that I did not know about. Most heartbreaking was….. The Gestapo, under the direction of the ‘Butcher of Lyon’ Klaus Barbie, entered the orphanage of Izieu in eastern France and forcibly removed the forty-four children and their seven supervisors, throwing the crying and terrified children on to the trucks. I read every single French word (…no matter how many times I had to consult a FR-ENG dictionary) mainly because of Chalandon’s approach to this book. He does not assume the position of the journalist when he retraces some episodes of this trial. Chalandon is closer to himself, listening to his feelings. Impressive was the way the author gives us his father’s reactions… his almost constant indifference to the testimonies of the victims. His father had more interest in Klaus Barbie (gazing at him with a hint of a smile) and his fascination for Jacques Vergès, a French-Algerian who was Barbie’s defence lawyer. My next book is Mémoires by Serge Karsfeld and his wife Beate Karlfeld…famous Nazi hunters. They finally tracked Barbie down in Bolivia and brought him to justice.

#Bike accident

BIKE accident!

1. OMG…blown off bike in a terrible wind gust in The Netherlands!

2. Landed on my hand and sprained my wrist…thank God, no bones are broken.

3. Will be keeping right arm in sling for next 48 hrs – 72 hrs.

4. Complete rest so blogging is stopped for a week or two.