Bad news:
I was feeling adventurous the other day and thought I'd try making gnocchi. I had had my first ever plate of the stuff while Sander and I were in Venice and was completely blown away. I recall a simple sauce and tomatoes and avocado to compliment the beautifully soft and light gnocchi that left my tastebuds singing, and I want to relive that experience. I understand it's going to take more than a first time effort for me to be able to create perfection like that.. I might not ever get there even, but just to get somewhat close will do just fine. I started going through my cookbooks and decided I'd give one of Jamie Oliver's a try. I was fascinated with his recipe that didn't even call for any potatoes, but instead required ricotta, parmesan and polenta as its main ingredients. Basically you make a mixture out of the cheeses and some herbs, spices and lemon zest, which you then shape into quenelles, and cover in polenta. The quenelles then sit in the fridge, in their polenta bath, for a couple of hours to ensure the polenta attaches itself to the mixture, giving it protection from the hot water you are about to boil the 'gnocchi' in for 2 minutes, or until they come up floating. Every single ingredient sounded lovely and right up our (my?) alley and the steps weren't difficult at all, so off I went. I was pretty darn optimistic, until that first quenelle hit the water and seemed to dissipate somewhat. I put them all in anyway, trying to remain calm and positive. I figured the same rule applied to gnocchi as to pancakes: you always ruin the first one. Unfortunately it doesn't, and I ended up with nothing but boiled ricotta (yuck indeed) and a bunch of polenta floating around in the pot of water. It was a little disappointing.
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Good news:
We had the most amazing homemade hamburgers with a cabbage and lime slaw on Sunday, it blew our socks off and more than made up for the gnocchi disaster (read: the children trust my cooking again).
Bad news:
Our washing machine gave up the ghost yesterday. It had been making suspiciously loud noises during the spin cycle for a few weeks now, and the clothes ended up coming out dirtier than when they went in. We asked a mechanic we know for his 2 cents, and he said it was fixable, but expensive to the point where we might as well just buy a new one. Too bad we're sort of broke.
Good news:
We've finally committed to a savings plan.
Bad news:
I'm still getting headaches.
Good news:
We were given a washing machine by the Muntinga family, who had a spare one sitting in their garage that they were keeping to give to Michelle when she moves out. They decided they wanted us to have it instead, and for that we are incredibly grateful! Sander was able to pick it up the day after the old one was officially declared 'washed out' and it was installed and ready to go that same evening, despite a minor glitch when we realised the power chord on the new one was too short. An extension chord seemed like the perfect fix.
Bad news:
The new washing machine started leaking water due to improper hooking up to the waterline (not saying it's your fault, honey!), which then got into the electic extension, which short circuited and started smoking because the washing machine was left on the night before (also totally not your fault, sweetheart!), which nearly caused our entire kitchen to burn down. Luckily (and trust me, this is not the word I want to be using here) the leaked water went through the floor, through the downstairs neighbour's ceiling, and onto their floor. They then quickly rang our door bell at 6AM, waking us up, and probably saving our lives.
Good news:
Everything (except for the water damage) has already been fixed and we now have a working washing machine again. We're hoping our insurance might cover the damage.
Sometimes you just gotta make up the balance and make a conscious decision to only look at the good, and how much worse things could be. Oh, and learn the lesson. That's kind of important too, I guess.
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