Breakage, clumsiness and general gaff !

Lil Miss N should have her name changed to Miss Clumsy. She inadvertently bumps into corners, tables, chairs, invisible obstacles and objects. She also has a tendency to drop and spill food, drinks and goods in general. She is after all a kid whose fine tuning is still in the process of perfecting.

I am manic about dropping things and breaking them especially when it comes to costly valuables. I accidentally dropped a watch with ceramic links and will have to replace that link and the damage has yet to be determined. I chastised myself and am prone to self-flagellation over minor breakages etc...which does not bode well for my mental health according to Shrek. I suspect he might be right because I am une gaffeuse, guess that is where Miss Clumsy got her clumsy genes from and if every time something had to be replace I get worked up then it would spell disaster for my sanity and in the long run cost me my well-being and equilibrium which no material object or amount of money is worth fretting over.

My green thumb

Much to my incredulity and total diffidence re my ability to elevate and grow plants on my balcony. They did in fact not only survive but thrived gloriously as evidenced by the pictorial depictions/digital images above. Excuse the poor quality of my now defunct Olympus and sombre lighting (natural). It is a sight to behold, at least in my eyes.

I did not capture the images when the plants were in their full glory so I have to settle with less than desirable and second rate images, better that than none.

First in first out

Thanks to Shrek's ingenious ' whatever is on top of the pile' principle we here at the 'Effacé in Switzerland' always end up wearing the same clothes over and over and over again...
Shrek does not believe in 'first in first out' basis for clothes. He refuses to dig into the pile to wash what is at the bottom of the pile first hence renew the load. He simply grabs everything lying on top and shoves it into the machine. Luckily Shrek has learnt the lesson of sorting and separating 'black and colours' from 'whites' at least.
In time Shrek will get the renewal process.

Lil update

. My poor plants have been frost-bitten and left for dead on the balcony, hidden from sight and hence 'loin de yeux, loin de coeur'. Much to my relief I do not have to care for the plants anymore, not that I ever claimed to have a green thumb.

On the contrary I have always been a disparaging death maiden to plants !!

Plants that are healthy and full of vigour come within my reach and live under the same roof as I and then it only spells disaster for the plants as they wither and waste away: a slow and painful bereavement. I do not know what it is about plants or me that refuse to cooperate and co-exist harmoniously under the same roof. I would really like to keep them alive and flourishing if only they had the heart to collaborate and not self-destruct the way they do in my presence. Woe woe woe is me...

I will post pictorial proof if I do eventually get around to photographing dead plants.

Sticky

On at least 5 different occasions I have attempted to cook sticky rice using the Ceran stovetop (induction). )I have been thoroughly dissapointed and the very last attempt which took place today no less ended in disaster as I soaked the sticky rice grains and then cook it as I normally did using the ordinary electric stove and it ended up a messy, sticky, mushy blob and the final straw came when Petit Suisse being the busybody that he is turned the heat to high as the ending draw near and burnt the whole pot of goo.


Needless to say I was in a particularly pissy mood. I will now challenge Shrek to use the darn Ceran stove and cook sticky rice without it turning into mush or porridge or inedibly undercooked or entirely burnt goo.

I am not impressed by the stove at all which was Shrek's idea in the first place. It is a temperamental and moody entity much to my dismay and chagrin. It does however have a few saving graces those being that it can reach boiling point at lightning speed and does OK for other types and genres of cooking, just do not try to mess with the sticky rice God. Shrek can probably vouch more for its qualities...

Next time I am going to employ the microwave for sticky rice, seems more foolproof and less frustrating.

One more important attribute I forgot to mention about the Ceran stovetop: it has 3 stoves and one of them (the smallest) is reliably unreliable as 9 out of the 10 times I turn it on, the control flashes and flashes for a full minute before automatically turning itself off because it cannot detect the saucepan or frying pan sitting atop it (eventhough I only use exclusively Inox pots and pans nowadays). It does not work as simple as that. Shrek however will rush to its defence and say that it does not work because it's the pots/pans fault. For a universally black or white omni response Shrek is being rather evasive when I criticise his dada Induction plaques.