Buzz Off

I've had a tragic death in the family.

The hand blender that Patrizia donated to me before she left last year. It died horribly - the blade popped out whilst making hummus from a tin of chickpeas. I was bereft. 

Managed to replace it for about £28 at Nakumatt. It's hard to remember a time when Nakumatt didn't exist. It was back in the days when many other things that are now plentiful didn't exist: water, electricity...

I celebrated by making avocado chocolate mousse, then taunting my friend Harri with it after a Skype conversation where she was boasting about the amount of wine she would drink! Wine is fine, but avocado chocolate mousse is divine.

It's been somewhat warm lately. 29-30c every day, and only one major thunderstorm. Though it was a very impressive one. The house physically shook. It has made for some nice skies.

Had fun celebrating Jo's 40th birthday the other day. It was fancy dress, so I went as a cat, using one of my ties as a tail. I think it may have been the first time the staff at Sawa Citi have ever seen a cat purchasing a 3ltr box of wine...

Had a follow-up meal at India Khazana, one of the best restaurants in town. First time I'd been there since getting back. Had enough leftovers in the fridge for two days. It's been a good week. 

Despite the heat, I've had to sit with the doors closed for a couple of days because every time I opened them, this mad insect (about the length of my little finger) flew in and started building itself a nest on the ceiling. It was collecting up mud and making a hive a bit like a swallow's nest. When the mud dried it was rock solid - really hard to scrape away. I felt really guilty destroying its work, but I don't relish the idea of sharing my living room with its offspring.

In other news, had a bit of a Couchsurfing fiasco. Offered my spare rooms to a couple of Spanish couchsurfers who were on a tour of Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa. They were only going to be here for two nights, but never made it in the end.

Originally, they said they'd be here 00:50 Sunday 13th March, so I sent Senga to the airport with the spare keys to collect them. I was headed to bed at that time. He waited until 1:30 but no show. Turns out they got confused. It was 00:50 Monday 14th March.

Senga was all ready to return the next night, when just before midnight I got a message saying they'd been refused boarding because they didn't have a visa. Turns out you only get a visa on arrival if you're British, American, German, Swedish or Australian. Everyone else is supposed to purchase before they leave. Never ceases to amaze me what a privilege it is to own a British passport. 

So, my rooms were made up with no one to sleep in them. The house was also spotless, for the first time since my return, so I took a couple of snaps.

Probably won't look that neat again for a while.

Got my second FreshBasket delivery today. So in love with that company. It's brilliant. So far I've boiled a beetroot, made soup from the water and a large amount of vegetables, and eaten a salad.

Later this week I'm going to construct a make-shift oven and attempt to cook a flan on a metal plate. This could prove very entertaining. If I don't post again, the entire house has burnt down with everything in it.

Pretty sunrise...