Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

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Well Simon finally came through and we were able to host a gloriously gourmet evening that consisted of a Swedish meatball dinner party! I have been miffed for quite some time over his empty promises and descriptions of his cooking talents, so last week I finally put my foot down and declared that if I was not served meatballs by the end of that weekend I would find such cruel and cunning ways to make his life as miserable as possible! After a few quick (verbal) examples of what I was capable of, he was soon convinced that we should settle upon Saturday as the chosen time. Early Saturday morning found us giddily embarking off to Carrefour to procure the necessary items, which is always an amusing and slightly stressful quest when attempting to cook a Western meal. We managed as best we could, with many improvisations, and heavily laden with bags we were about to hail a cab home, when we realized we were nearly out of lingonberries! Having struggled so hard and so long for this evening, it was decided that we would trek out to IKEA to purchase those blasted berries. I phoned a friend to quickly learn how to say IKEA in Chinese, and we soon arrived, heavily laden with Carrefour bags, trudging into the IKEA supermarket. By the time we arrived home we were both shopped out, and went out to our bridge to relax in the sun and drink in the final few hours of summer, before confining ourselves in the wee kitchen.

Cooking in mass quantities proved to be a bit of a problem, as we didn't have the appropriate tools. It ended up that Simon had to mix the meatballs together in our mop bucket, as it was the only one large enough to accommodate the mixture. (Note: he did thoroughly scrub it to be spic 'n span before dumping the meat in). We slaved away in that hot kitchen and I would run out periodically to put the rest of the house in order so as not to appall our guests. Once the rest of the place looked welcoming and livable, I was confronted with Simon's kitchen disaster. (The boy cooks well, not clean). Panicked, I moved in to be one step behind him, cleaning and scrubbing away as he continued to cook. I must admit that the end result was well worth the chaos and I soon had a house full of very happy Swedes, one Aussie, a Dane, and two Americans. They were all thrilled with the food, and I was thrilled with all the (good!) wine they had brought as a hostess gift. Glorious people! As an extra touch, we even placed little Swedish flags on the meatballs and played all of Simon's Swedish tunes in the background. It was a very, very successful dinner party and has inspired us to continue hosting them.

Now that we have consumed the last of our leftovers I am once again reduced to eating ramen, dumplings, and eggs. I suppose I shall die of malnutrition at any moment. However, until that point, it's really not all bad, and the meatballs truly were a glorious respite. I continue to seek employment and have recently attended a hostessing interview for a Sino-Indian pharmaceutical gala that will be hosted in November. I can't tell if I or my belt made a bigger impression on my interviewer, but she really seemed to like the belt... perhaps that increases my chances? You never know here...

Great China moment that I don't think I've shared: Simon and I were shopping with his friend Jonas who was looking for a specific golf club. We walked up and down all these shabby/shady looking streets and finally happen upon one that looked promising (if somewhat empty). We walk in and Jonas asks to see the clubs... the lady points to a display of three or four unimpressive looking ones... Jonas then asks to SEE the clubs. "Ahhhhhh!" She nods accent and motions us to follow her. We leave the store, walk into the next building, down some flights of stairs into a nondescript room full of (bizarrely enough) fire extinguishers, and large, wall sized pictures. We gaze in amazement as she causally slides on picture to the side, reveling a hidden room, crammed to the brim with golf equipment! ... Ok, so it wasn't my idea of a hidden room full of treasure, but still!!!!!! It was just like out of a book. I wonder what was behind the other pictures...

Adjö.

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