I should say the place found me. While indulging my culinary wanderlust, I found myself returning to one city in particular with a frequency that perplexed me. I figured I should probably stay put for a while and see what happened next. Just a few days after I made up my mind to look into finding a place, this one literally plopped itself in my lap: a furnished, one bedroom apartment with a semi-private garden and a month-to-month lease in walking distance of some of the best restaurants in the city.
Three weeks later, I moved in.
It has been a while since I've lived alone, and in general I don't care for it. Living alone just seems to me to be a collossal waste of resources: space, utilities, companionship. But worst of all is having no one to cook for, and a regularly scheduled dinner table for one. It never bothers me to dine out alone; but at home, one should never be required to eat alone.
On moving day I planned a very simple dinner. After the requisite meeting with the landlord, signing of papers, walking through the apartment, and unpacking my suitcase, it was late and I was hungry. I had a bag of groceries from Trader Joe's, and a plan.
The kitchen is sufficent with a gas range and poorly thought but abundant cabinet space. There was a set of cast iron skillets, cutlery, utensils, a toaster oven and coffee maker. Luckily, I'd brought with me a stock pot (yes, I travel with certain kitchen items) and set to work making a lentil soup.
I started by sauteing some onions in olive oil.
Less than a minute passed before the smoke detector went off.
Perterbed, I hastily found a chair to stand on and removed the smoke detector from the wall, then removed its battery. I opened a cabinet, placed both on the shelf, closed the cabinet and returned to my onions (slightly more brown than I had wanted them, so I quickly deglazed with some beef broth). While I appreciate that the law requires a landlord to provide a working smoke alarm, I do wonder why one is placed three feet from a stove. In the kitchen. Especially when another one is twelve feet away in the living room. I'm contemplating a smoke detector relocation program, perhaps to the bedroom.
I finished cooking the soup and ate it with a nice crusty bread.
Hours later I was still awake. I was not yet accustomed to the sounds of this new place, and my mind was full of all the possibilities of things to eat in the coming days and weeks. And, as E.B. White put it so well, "when your stomach is empty and your mind is full, it's hard to fall asleep."
At two o'clock in the morning, I acquiesced. It was time for toast.
I hadn't tried the toaster oven yet, and it occurred to me only when the unit started smoking that two o'clock in the morning might not be the best time.
I quickly unplugged the toaster oven and rushed it out the back door into the semi-private garden, leaving a plume of smoke behind me.
It was then that I realized the fan in the kitchen vent didn't work. And that the smoke remaining in the apartment could very easily reach the smoke detector in the living room. I grabbed a dish towel and started fanning furiously. It also occurred to me that the smoke alarm in the living room appeared to be attached to a central alarm system. I was suddenly very awake, and not at all hungry.
After twenty minutes of jumping around the apartment doing my anti-fire dance, I found myself wide awake and not at all hungry (although I did end up eating the toast with a generous slathing of good butter and some strawberry jam). The air had cleared and the alarm had not sounded. I tucked myself back into bed and decided it would be better to meet the neighbors under more auspicious circumstances than a false fire alarm in the middle of the night. Perhaps I could bake a cake. Or make another pot of soup.
Moving Day Lentil Soup
Ingredients (all from Trader Joe's)
1 large yellow onion, sliced
3 tbsp Olive Oil
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 links italian sausage (fully cooked, in deli section), sliced
1 pkg steamed french lentils (in produce section)
4 cups organic beef broth
1"x2" rind of hard cheese such as parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
1. Remove battery from smoke alarm.
2. Saute onions in olive oil over medium high heat until onions begin to brown, 2-3 minutes.
3. Deglaze with about 3 tablespoons of beef broth.
4. Add thyme and sausage, then cover reduce heat to medium. Cook until thyme becomes aromatic (3-5 minutes).
5. Add lentils and beef broth and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to simmer and add cheese rind. Cover and continue to simmer about 20 minutes.
7. Correct seasoning, and remove thyme stems and cheese rind. Serve hot with crusty bread.
P.S. The next morning I thoroughly cleaned the toaster oven. It works just fine.
