Feeding Time

I cooked my first meal in the apartment last night, but I wasn't the only one who ate well...

I had made two seperate trips to the local supermarket during the day on Monday. Firstly, this was because I didn't want to carry too many bags at once, and secondly I realised I hadn't bought some essentials when I got home with the first batch. On the second trip out I came back with some nice marinated beef steaks from the Deli counter and some toilet rolls (that was the essential items I forgot in the first place).

I decided to freeze the steaks. Mainly because I didn't intend to eat them that night. On the Tuesday morning I took them out again to defrost, and by the early evening they were ready to cook. I had planned on having a few oven chips with them (but that went to pot when I realised how quickly the steaks cooked).

I'd been given one of those griddle pans by the landlord. You know, looks like a small, square frying pan, but has raised lines in the base. Perfect for cooking the meat on the hob. I like my hob. It's one of those touch screen flat things which heat up instantly and give off a sci-fi style red glow. Ten minutes later I had two perfectly cooked beef steaks, marinated in what I think was a mild curry dressing. Melt in the mouth meat, a delight to savour, especially as I could eat it on my balcony with a glass of iced orange juice.

But I wasn't the only one to eat well last night. I was attacked again by a winged critter. I think I caught him at it this time too. I woke myself up at about 2am, finding the big toe-nail on my left foot, instinctively scratching the back on my right calf. I tried to get back to sleep, but every, tiny movement on my body made me lash out. Most of the time it was probably just a bead of sweat moving around in my body hair, but it was enough to keep me awake. At about 3am I got up and fetched the bug spray from the kitchen. I emptied half the can in the bedroom, and all over the sheets, then tried to get back to sleep.

When I woke to my alarm, just before 6am I examined my body. Think I've found 4 seperate bites, one of which is on my middle finger and is very annoying. After work today I'm off to find some insect cream in the hope I can make the irritating pain go away....

....and the bedroom is getting sprayed every night from now on until they give up and try one of my neighbours instead.

p.s. on a related topic, it's apparant that the cost of living over here is decidedly higher than the UK. Trying to shop sensibly in the supermarket was not easy. Sometimes it's only a few cents over the price you'd expect to pay, but for other items the cost was nearly double. It doesn't help that many of the items have the english RRP in big, bold type on the front of the packet, but the price you pay over here is not even close (there is a lot of Iceland merchandise. You know those 'one pound' things they advertise on TV with the big yellow stickers on the boxes? They have those here, complete with sticker, but some of the items are actually upto 3 euros each.)

On any one item it's not worth worrying about, but when it's a basket of shopping, it all adds up.