My tiny kitchen: episode 1

I woke up to landscaping at 7:30 this morning and thought 'Where am I?  Houston?'  Fortunately I crashed early last night from back-to-back nights of not enough sleep.  Moving along...

I dropped my yogurt when trying to key into my apartment building last night...that's twice now that I've exploded dairy products onto pavement.   

The total floor space in my kitchen is probably about one square meter, same with the counter space.  Seeing how I have supplies for only a few months, cabinet space is relatively luxurious.  If you ever visited me at my 'Shady Oaks' apartment on W. Main St, you'll know that I got good practice there when it comes to producing something within a small space.  The difference here is that my refrigerator is the size of most of y'all's dishwashers, if you're fortunate enough to have one, and therefore fits nicely into the kitchen unit. 

Kitchens are units here.  If you purchase a house or a flat, it doesn't necessarily come with a kitchen.  Kitchens are modules that are bought and sold like couches, desks, chairs, etc.  You can even buy and sell half a kitchen, although you better take a close look at which half you are getting.  I haven't had this headache, but the Australian postdoc in my lab has: he's been fixing up a new apartment night and day for the arrival of his wife and baby this weekend.  

The hot plates in my kitchen are very powerful.  I can bring a pot of water to boil, turn off the burner, empty the pot, rinse it with cold water, put it back on the plate with a cup of cool water in it, and it will boil within minutes without me turning the hot plate back on.  Here's an intro from 9 Aug, with one of my first products:

The following day, I used the same merguez and some plums that were on their way out and made a delicious lamb and plum...stew, soup, whatever.  Here we go:

Garlic, plums, merguez (Lamb sausage)

Hard candies, because I didn't have any sugar.  I used these 4 pieces.

Slice the plums, remove their pits, slice up the sausage, peel the garlic and smash it a little bit with the knife.  Put a small amount of water in the pot and let the candies melt.  When they stick to the pan, try scraping them off.  In the meantime, fry together the lamb sausage and garlic.  There's enough fat in the sausage, no need to add oil, especially if the pan is nonstick.

Remove the lamb and garlic from the pan.  Slightly salt and pepper the plums, inners down onto the hot pan.  Again, no need to add oil.  Flip them over in a little bit to see if they're slightly brown.

Make sure the sugar water is even now.  Once the plums are slightly brown, combine everything into the pot/sauce pan.  Add a splash of red wine and balsamic vinegar.  Season additionally as you like.  Lower the temperature and simmer.  If it's simmering too vigorously, take if off the burner.  Everything is safely cooked, this step just lets all the flavors mingle together, so you can simmer only a few minutes or a bit longer if you like.  

Serve with a piece of really good bread.  This one has zwiebeln, onion, baked into it.

Hope that was fun and tasty, stay tuned for more!