Cleaning Day

It's Aug 31, 2013, 11:29 AM. "Starting the clean of the house now! Join anytime :)" My roommate sent this message to me this morning. He's a real chill kind of guy and his message sounded a little ambitious. I was surprised. And suspect.

I slowly finished my bloody mary (and a beer) and then got to thinking about my day. I wasn't quite ready to join the cleaning party, so I finished my errands, which included breakfast and a trip to Whole Foods for hair product. After I dropped off my friend, I decided it was time to lend a hand.

Two and half hours had passed by the time I showed up. The air around the house smelled like cleaning chemicals. When I walked in, the captain (house manager), was wearing a green t-shirt, soaked with sweat, his standard grey-mesh shorts and his indoor sunglasses. He shared the game plan with me while another roommate swept up a pile of dust.

They had just finish cleaning under the red circular rug. The other guy was wearing his black running shorts. Nothing else. Looking at him, the cleaning party didn't seem like such a bad idea. The three of us talked future furniture arrangements and the politics of merging multiple spice racks. Through the conversation, we decided I would be in charge of setting up the spice rack. Sure. No problem!

I headed to the kitchen. The refridgerator door was open. Two bare feet were under the door so I knocked on it. Fingers appeared on the door and it closed in a little. Now I was staring and staring into a pair of piercing blue eyes. He gave me a boyish smile.

"Hey." He said.
"I'm here to figure out the spice rack," I replied.

We sang songs as I scrubbed the cupboards and picked through the spices; he cleaned the fridge.
He finished and we made small talk about the best way to carve up a coconut. He suggested a hammer. I thought a machete would be more authentic. We compromised and decided a pairing knive would do the trick.

All done with the spices, I decided it was time to get ready for work and headed upstairs. Another roommate had just finished cleaning the bathroom. He was lying on his bed with another boy. (Quick count, that is a total of 6 guys in the house). He was curled up in the boy's shoulder. It was disgustingly cute. They looked at me with grins and I asked them a few questions. I lingered so I could eye up the new boy and chit chat with the guys. They seemed pretty down to earth. It was time to get going.

Showered and ready for work, I made one more trip to the bathroom for a once over. As I came out of the bathroom, I bumped into blue eyes from the kitchen. I looked just beyond him and into his bedroom where I could see a leg on his bed. That made 7.

Grandmas Table

 I gave grandma's 1952 blonde table a little make-over. Using spray paint, I gave the chairs a bath in dark chocolate. A few days later, I was folding a pair of socks and came up with an idea for the rest of the table.

Leak & Potato Soup

Spicy potato and leek soup.

 3 potatoes, diced
water for boiling
3 leeks
1/2 white onion
1 serano chili pepper
2 tbls olive oil
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups almond milk
sea salt - to taste

Carrot Veggie Burgers

Check out these brilliant carrot veggie burgers from Lukas Volger's book, "Veggie Burgers Every Which Way."

Don't fool yourself! This recipe takes a long time but the final product is well worth the effort. I modify every recipe so I had to make this a few times before I got the texture just right. Two secrets: 1. don't use too many carrots, 2. after you make your patties, place them in the fridge for 2-3 hours. This allows the moisture to really set in and grab hold of all the ingredients.