Pizza For the Go

I have experienced many pizzas in my life. Sausage, Pepperoni, Supreme, "The Works." British variations on the theme including broccoli and other vegetables. French variations made with moldy cheese. All kinds of things. But this week I experienced something new.

Our friend lives right above a pizza place. He has all of the normal French-ish pizzas, most of which focus on olives and really good cheese. He has an AMAZING pizza featuring ground hamburger and a white sauce. And then he has the monstrosity that we ordered only because I knew that you would want to know about it. Well, that and I have a quirky sense of adventure.

The pizza starts normal enough; a medium-thickness crust, basic tomato sauce, and standard French cheese blend.

Then, all of the sudden, it takes on a 4th-grade-snack-time theme. Half-buried under the cheese are large, plump prunes. Complete with pits, as I found out the "hard" way.  Over the top of the cheese is a generous sprinkling of almonds.

But do not fear, the obligatory black olives still feature prominently at regular intervals around the circumference.

Biting into this pizza could best be described as potluckicious. It reminded me of what happens when your plate is knocked halfway off your lap and the plumb-carrot blend becomes one with your triple-cheese lasagna. It's not a disagreeable flavor as long as you know it's coming.

Fluid Dynamics

It hasn't rained here yet this year.

My wife and I have visited two very wet countries in a row. The first one had the wettest winter most folks could remember (I counted 2 days without rain in a 6 week period). The second had the wettest June on record. And now we are in a place that hasn't seen rain since last October. I guess they had a heavy dew twice last month, but no real rain.

It's a bit strange. It's also hot. Not that the temperature is especially miserable but the humidity is high. Most days it feels as if there is no point in showering because you'll just be sweaty again within half an hour -- or sooner if you do anything besides sit down.

So I'm trying to find ways to maximize the fans in our apartment. Air movement is still somewhat of a mystery to me. I understand the general concepts of high pressure and low pressure, but the quirks in an odd-shaped space like our apartment baffle me. When I was a freshman engineering student, the upper class students liked to moan and groan about a class called "Fluid Dynamics." I wish I had stayed in the engineering program long enough to take that class. Unlike most of them, I could apply it to my real life!

And please pray that rain will come. The crops need it badly!

The Fun Continues

After the great bookshelf adventure we ate lunch and then began unpacking a whole new pile of stuff that had arrived along with the bookshelf. We had no idea that we possessed so much wonderful junk. I was relieved to find a collection of T-shirts because I only brought one from back home. Unfortunately they, and all of the rest of the clothes that we had packed, smelled a bit musty. So I decided to wash them. We don't have a washing machine here so I got two big tubs, filled them in the shower, and squished and squarshed by hand. Then my lovely assistant took them up to the roof so they could bask in the mildew-killing ultraviolet rays.

After that we took public transportation across town. You'd have to live here to understand that experience. The most noteworthy event was a dispute with the fare-taker guy because he charged us twice the normal rate and insisted it was correct. Our friend refused to get off until she received the proper change, which got the entire vanload of people in an uproar. Normally I would get involved in such things but I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and I couldn't remember all of the necessary vocabulary in the local language, so I just stood and watched it all with some amusement.

After our abrupt exit from the public transportation we arrived at our destination; a farewell party for my former flatmate. There were loads of people there and all of them wanted to say hello to us. It was great to see everyone again and catch up. Also somewhat exhausting catching up with all of them in the course of an hour or less.

After the party we drove home the long way so we could see the ocean. Ate supper, took an hour or so to convert my budget worksheets to the local currency, and went to bed at 11:30.

That's about it.