Woke up in the Zweifels’ spare room after the wild Fasnacht party last night :) Muriel’s dad made me some eggs (what a nice family!) and then he and Judit went off to do some shopping. Muriel and I played some chess (we did a simplified position with just pawns and a knight so it wasn’t so bewildering. Then I showed her how to mate R+K versus lone king, the clever and demanding, but certain and inevitable nature of which she really enjoyed). We gave each other massages (are you listening, sisters?! “each other”). We listened to some Macklemore, then switched somehow to some random swing videos–Muriel tried to learn how to do swivels (she got kick-ball change!), then tried to show me how to do the moonwalk (I’ll need to practice). We capped off the afternoon with the first episode of “How I Met your Mother”, which was pretty entertaining. Then Muriel walked me to the bus stop, and presented me with a lovely gift–a copy of “Catcher in the Rye” and a book of Swiss history in German for me to keep up my language studies. I think we’ll meet once more on Monday before I leave :)
Hopped the train from Killwangen-Spreitenbach back to the HB, and decided that since I’d have time to cook, I would buy myself the groceries to make myself some proper meals. I got myself some curry ingredients from Aldi’s and the indian store, along with some bacon for eggs and salami for one more round of homemade pizza. It’ll be a challenge to eat it all before I have to go!
Got back to the house, made myself a tasty late lunch and hung with Ally and Michele. I started cleaning 214 to abandon it to the next resident (I’ll be staying with Alexis, who as it happens IS coming back from Paris, for the next couple of days; slated to head out on Tuesday but nothing is booked yet). I took a nice long run in the peaceful rain, which extended the cleaning and moving well into the evening. At 8:30 Simon inspected the room, declared it good (I got away with cleaning all the flat surfaces, shelves etc, directly with the floor mop :) :), I thought it was pretty clever). I went downstairs and made myself a curry, which actually turned out really well. At Myrna’s suggestion, I cooked the meat first, in oil that I loaded with a crap-ton of spices. The meat browned well by itself and absorbed the rich toasted spices. Only then did I put in the vegetables, which therefore retained a little of their freshness and crunch even after assimilating into the simmering pan. A chopped habanero ensured a healthy sweat would accompany the eating experience, and some delicious fried roti finished it off. I poured an Erdinger beer into a tall glass and sat down with the curry.
Hanging out downstairs I participated in a fuzzy social dynamic, with some new Culmanners I barely knew and some old Culmanners I’d never gotten that close to. The curry was incredible though. I read some Ribbonfarm, goofed off with some yokels drunk on homemade Feuerzangenbowle, crushed Gudrun + her friend 10-0 at foosball (and they were not entirely inexperienced!). Hung out a little bit longer. Ally came in at some point. Finally I retired to my new home, 112, which was empty for the moment–Alexis would arrive tomorrow—wrote this log and hit the hay.