Sick Day

I woke up at three this morning with horrible stomach cramps and was worried I had given Cindy and our guests at dinner some type of food poisoning.  Mercifully, it must just be stomach flu since Cindy is fine. We invited the new elementary school principal and his wife and son to dinner last night since they don’t cook very much.  I made a new dish, six roasted veggies, eggplant, cauliflower, red pepper, onions, mushrooms and garlic all bound together in a creamy sauce of eggs, cottage cheese and feta, and baked for an hour the first time and thirty minutes just before dinner.  I roasted each veggie with a different herb or spice and then flavored the sauce with oregano. Since the oven is rather small, it was a time consuming job to roast everything, but it was well worth it for that lovely flavor.  Just before the second heating, I covered the top with bacon that I had cooked earlier and this baking browned it up nicely and made if even crisper.  It was also easier to remove it if there were any non-meat eaters, other than Cindy. I’m pleased to say that it was received well and I’ve a new dish to add to my menu.

I really don’t feel much like moving but I’ve got to get out of the house when the cleaning lady comes. She doesn’t like me underfoot, and I don’t like feeling like I’m in the way.  The ‘green guys’ came this morning to put together the IKEA wardrobe that was delivered last night.  Better them than me, since is it big, heavy and came with no tools. Thankfully, they had power tools that allowed them to get the job done in only one hour. It takes me an hour to read the step-by-step pictures. These guys have a perpetual smell of sweat mingled with vodka, which I think is the breakfast of choice for most working men in Moscow. Some of the teachers who received their shipments over the weekend were commenting on how drunk the movers were when they arrived and at how really smelly they were. We lucked out and had a very professional crew.

There is a protest going on and it is a very cool one. Seems that VIP politicians can place a blue bubble light on their cars and when they want to go somewhere, they turn it on and can’t be arrested and the traffic rules don’t apply to them.  There have been a number of accidents and the people are quite angry, thus the blue bucket protest.  Here is a nice clip and story about the protesters. http://www.rferl.org/content/Moscows_Blue_Bucket_Brigade/2021312.html

Today’s walk was along both the old and new Arbat Streets.  The old one is filled with mansions, cafes, bars and a garden median. The new one is just plain ugly. You can go here for some pictures and details and you can click on lots of interesting things that I saw today. I’m too tired to continue myself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbat_Street

From, Cindy who is working until 9pm today!!  I think we're settling in - today we had a candidate at school who is applying to be the director starting next year.  There was a session for the teachers where he was asked some specific questions and he had the nerve to criticize Moscow - said he'd come here for the school, not the city, and that it has lousy weather.  I was incensed!  I've only been here a month and I wanted to yell out that the city is fantastic and that you can't judge a place by the weather.  There was quite a bit of reaction to that afterwards and I wouldn't be surprised if that cost him the job.  The fool.

I’m going to bed and it is only five pm.    Best wishes to all, Cindy and Wm