Argh. I still have many more China photos to post. Most of them are cued up and ready, I just have to give you my shrewd yet witty commentary. (Why else do you come here?) But since I'm not up for that tonight, I'll tell you what the hell else has been going on. In list form.
1. I was in Sweden last weekend! It snowed! Yes, it was Easter! OK, the snow didn't really stick, but it was the principle of it all. And it was c-c-cold. Certainly too cold to take my gloves off and use my touch-activated phone to take photos. So either I'm going to have to get an old-fashioned push-button camera or there will be no outdoor photos from Sweden 9 months out of the year.
2. I fell ill with another dastardly stomach bug. The can't-eat-anything kind. B tried to tell me that it could be because I was in a new country and not used to the diet there. I dropped the First World-Westernized card on him and that was that. It seems the cause was either the fluffy buckwheat crepe (What kind of crepe is fluffy? This was more like a soufflé... those menu liars!) served with some caviar was not made entirely of buckwheat (a gluten glitch, if you will) or that the scallops I ate were bad. (Also, bad on me for snarfing down the crepe-flé, but after spooning the caviar directly into my mouth, I decided it really needed a vehicle and flour be damned.) But the stomach trouble lasted too long to be food poisoning or gluten trickery so the real reason is probably just that I have a terrible digestive system. But that's news to no one, certainly!
3. The only good thing about being under the digestive weather is congee. Oh, congee. Sometimes even just the smell of it is enough to make me feel better. I always wrote it off as that weird bland gruel on the breakfast buffet of every Asian hotel I'd ever stayed at. But when there is no food that wants to stay in your system but you are hungry, oh so very hungry, and you are presented with a bowl of this broken rice porridge, it is the MOST DELICIOUS THING YOU HAVE EVER TASTED EVEN MORE SO IF MADE WITH CHICKEN BROTH HOLY MOLY CHICKEN BROTH IT'S ALMOST LIKE EATING A FREAKING STEAK.
Yeah, congee is soothing and delicious and is just the trick to turn some stomach troubles around. And, once you're feeling better, you can flavor it in so many ways--with pork or seafood or with an egg stirred in or all spicy-like. You can doctor it up however you like! I want to try a sweet version next. I just need some willing American to smuggle me some maple syrup...
Anyway, you can read more about congee here. But trust me, it's the steak of diarrhea cures. Mmm-mmm.
4. Two of the most darling people in the world are coming to visit tomorrow! I keep having those little frissons of excitement knowing that they are almost here, much like a kid does before Christmas. This weekend is going to be great. My Santa Clauses are on their way!
5. Cochino is acting weird and is not-so-little around the middle these days. And her pupils are dilated way too often. And last night she bit me--twice--and kept mewing at me like she didn't want me to sit on the bed. (Hey cat, it's my bed. I bought it. And there are plenty of other humans on this earth who wouldn't let you sleep on theirs, much less up by the pillows, so shush it.) I hope I am being hypochondriacal, but I think it wouldn't hurt to take her to a vet. So stay tuned for a French vet adventure. I think it might go something like this: your cat is fine (you are crazy), please pay me 300 euros.
Oh god, please don't let it cost 300 euros. There goes my Chanel nail polish budget.
