Worst Timing Ever.

My computer bit the dust on Sunday. And I am le sad. To make it worse, not only am I job-hunting (or failing at doing so), but Omar is too. He left Centro, and went home for a bit last week. He's back here as is my older brother Easa and two cousins, Maher and (another) Isa. Once they leave, today, it's going to be sort of tough. Not only do we need the computer, but I'm not really looking forward to being home with my brother 24/7. While I am keeping busy, and still helping with that small part-time job, still... It's all sort of fail...



I've also been cooking a lot - I cooked for an event called the Food Obstructions for Sunday, and last night was the Casserole Crazy party. I hope, some point in the future, to be able to blog about the recipes, but I'll just give a quick rundown.

For Food Obstructions, I made "Cheese Plate Bread Pudding". Savory bread pudding with herbed goat, parmesan and homemade ricotta cheeses, reduced leeks and onions and sourdough bread. Served with fig 'salami' and pickled grapes. The bread pudding needed more custard, as it fell apart and felt a bit more like stuffing, but I was happy with the toppers. Pickled red grapes are crazy delicious.

For Casserole Crazy, I embraced my trashy southern roots and made the "Full House" - cheesy, corny, heart and stomach warming guilty pleasure (think 1990's sitcom). Layers of vegetarian, slow cooked chil, cheddar cheese and crushed fritos and topped with green chili-cheddar cornbread. It also wasn't perfect - needed MORE CHEESE and no crushing of fritos (they just sogged up) but pretty yummy.

I failed at getting pictures of any of these, but I have to say it's been a pretty fun few days. A few people I met through Katie cooked and attended the Casserole Party, which was nice. Also, not surprisingly, you end up running into the same circle of people at these events.

Obviously, I've got to get back to trying to find a job, but right now, that's on hold as I don't have a computer. I have a few possibilities of getting one, but I have to make sure it's a smart purchase. For now, I'm signing off, and hope to write again sooner rather than later.

[This was written on my cousin's laptop, before I say buhbye to it. :{]