* Downloading a lot of Christmas Songs right now, want to play them all tomorrow at work! And then we are closed over the holidays till the 2nd! Horray!!!!

* Making a list what to eat on Christmas with the roomie.

* Have to buy nice pants tomorrow to wear to church. Going to the midnight mass at Westminster Abbey with the roomie!

* Very surprised that Laureen got her Christmas present today, been told by the guy at the post office that they won't arrive in time for the holidays!!! Wondering whether all of them already arrived?

* Am done with the Christmas presents. (Ok, I still need something for the sister, but that's it and I was planning on getting that on Boxing Day)

* Wish you all a very Merry Christmas and also a Happy New Year! (Because I am not sure I will blog till then....)

Remember? I had this whole nice Christmas dinner planned with the room mate and the French friends. Today text from Jennifer: "Olivier is sick, he can't make it." Trying to wake the room mate to freaking get ready in time: "I don't think I am coming, I don't feel so well."

Boy, that sure does sound like Christmas to me!

Sounds like a facebook status update, I know, but that's basically it: I am very cold and also very tired. Square Pie is still short staff and with the power cut yesterday (some dumbass construction workers cut a cable), today I had to work from 8 till 8, because we had a 200 pie meal delivery today to prepare for five thirty. (200 pies is about what we sell on a slow day, like Monday. Today we probably baked about 450 pies, so it was kinda busy. Blargh.... But hey, today I only did the first three bakes and then was on the till! So all is good there! Yay!)

I am almost done with the Christmas presents, which is good, but I still have to mail them. And fair enough, still need three. (room mate and male friends, those are always hard, but I think I have ideas. That's something)

Will do some more shopping on Thursday, my day off. Will get some wool from John Lewis, because the fingers want to knit again, I can feel them twitch! Maybe this winter, I'll make it beyond mittens?

On Saturday I'll have a little Christmas get together with Banyana, Jennifer and Olivier and made a reservation at Walluc Bistrot. Very much looking forward to it. Because they are serving cheese fondue. And raclette. Haven't had either for ages!!!

So to all my friends back home who miss me a lot: the feeling is very mutual!!!!! But I will be coming home for a week in January (Sarah, I have to talk to you about tickets. Again.....)

So after I have been baking for over two weeks, I came to the conclusion that I more than hate it. Plain simple truth. I hate it. It is stressfull (in a bad way) and there is no real contact with customers (or anyone for that matter), so that's why I hate it. And it's actually making me very grumpy, so much that my room mate is this close to calling my manager and yelling at him: "Why do you stupid people make Sandro bake? Can't you see it's making him very depressed?!?!" So I talked to my manager. And Leah, the office angel. And John, the General Manager. Will still have to bake the next two days, because the manager has his days off and there is FREAKING NO ONE ELSE WHO KNOWS HOW TO BAKE!!!!!!!! Feel like calling in sick, just to make them realize how stupid they are. The problem is of course that they just know I'll do it and everything else too. For example two people called in sick and I ended up preparing all the food we sold today. Mash, gravy, peas, beans and of course all the pies. That's how much they're milking me. And I have no trouble working a lot or working hard. I'll do anything if I don't have to bake. Plus it's just not a good idea, because I would be better in any other position, just because baking keeps you from properly multitask. If they make me bake any longer, I will seriously consider quitting, which is a shame, because I actually like the job and everything. Just to give you a picture of how much I hate baking.

Then there is this whole thing with Sebastian who has a stall at Spitalfields. I think it is evolving into a friendship (the moment he turned out to be straight, my crush ended. So don't you worry about me. But he is a very funny and intelligent person.), but I kinda realized that I have very big trust issues with men. This is of course hardly surprising, considering my father and especially considering the guy that from now on will only be called "Heart Break Hotel Guy" just to mark his departure out of my actual life. You might now him better under his real name, Claudius. (Yes Julia, I know you are very proud of me!!!) But that doesn't matter, because stupid me is just very overwhelmed by the fact that we already reached the hug and cheek kiss state. Compared to that other guy who only brought himself to use the word "friend" after six months and a huge load of shit, this guy might be normal. And a good person to be around. Hopefully I won't screw it up by being a complete nutjob. (Who was it again, that called me "one of the most sanest person they know" just the other day?)

So now we can only wait and see. Hopefully it'll all gonna turn out for the better.

How to make apple pie in Switzerland: Buy "Kuchenteig, ausgewallt", put in a tin, put some apples in it, mix two eggs, a bit of milk, one bag of custard powder and some sugar, pour over pie, bake for ca. 45 min on 180°C. Done.

How to make apple pie in the UK: try to find simple pie pastry at Sainsbury's. Be annoyed at the fact that you only find either puff pastry or short crust pastry, which is both not what you want and decide to buy the basic ingredients (which is quite easy, even if you've never made pie pastry from scratch). Buy everything else you need. Including a big container of Bird's custard powder. Don't forget to buy a rolling pin.

At home, be faced with the following problems:
1) you do not own a bowl to mix the pastry dough in.
2) you do not own a scale to measure 500 grams of flour for the pastry dough.
3) you do not even own a whisk.
Reconsider making apple pie for about 1.28 seconds. Then remember that you love apple pie. Take a sauce pan and mix the dough in there, roughly guessing how much 500 grams of flour is. Whisk the egg-milk-custard powder-stuff with a fork, even if you get clumps. Put the assembled thing in the oven and hope that this shitty oven will not turn all your efforts into a pile of crap.

And for everyone who has stuff like whisk and so on and would like to know how my mama taught me:

apple pie

500 gr plain white flour
250 gr butter
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2dl water (though I used less. I think. Have no measuring cup either.)

bag of ground almonds

3 apples

2 eggs
5 tablespoons of sugar
a gulp of milk
2 tablespoons of custard powder (maybe two and a half)

Mix flour with sugar and salt. Add butter, cut in pieces and rub crumbly. Add eggs and water. This is very squishy, especially if you have to mix it with your hand. Knead the dough untill it gets smooth and stops sticking. Put in a plastic bag and let rest for about thirty minutes. Roll it out on a surface, but it in your tray and prick the bottom with a fork. Sprinkle some chopped almonds on it. Peel apples and cut into wedges, removing the apple core, line up neatly on the dough. Sprinkle with some more almonds. Whisk the eggs, sugar, milk and custard powder and pour it all over the apples. Put into the preheated oven for about 40 minutes at 180°C.

Now all I got to do is sit here, gloat over the fact that I winked back at scottish business suit guy and hope that this stupid gaz oven with a door that doesn't properly close won't mess up my pie. I'll keep you posted.

EDIT: Even though it was very different from what apple pie is supposed to taste like (to me), I think I did okay under the circumstances. But I'll give it another try soon (I froze half of the pastry anyways)

Number One: One fifth of the people working at square pie are gay.

Number Two: New team member plays in a band, which is actually even really good.

...came by this weekend in the form of Laura and her flat mate, Miri! Thank you guys for coming, it was really fun having you here!!!



After we met at Picadilly Circus, we bought ourselves some tickets for The Lion King at the Lyceum theatre (I still have to find out how to get the super cheap tickets though....) which we went to see the same night which was reallyreally awesome! (of course, hakuna matata is still the best part of the whole thing, but I also liked the way they let humans be animals... magical) And we saw Ben (the big one) and also went to Oxford Street.



On Sunday we had a look at the palace (and talked to squirrels and geese along the way) and then we went to the Old Spitalfields Market and had a look around. I even found Sebastian and made him feel very bad about not coming to square pie anymore. And we ate chocolate. Of course.

Afterwards we went to my place where my lovely room mate (who aparently will be smuggled into Switzerland pretty soon, because Laura just can't wait for Schengen) prepared a lovely African meal for the four of us. Just delicous! Then I walked them back to the bus station at Liverpool Street and then we said good bye. How sad, but hopefully we will all see each other again pretty soon.

Gosh, just noticed this is not much written down, but I am just a little tired and the room mate is demanding my attention too. Just one more thing: today a new Italian guy started working at squarepie and his band will play in a club on Old Street on the 12th (this will probably be followed by an "why the hell can you go there but not come and see the play" outcry from Julia, I am very truly sorry about that, but I never promised anything!!!)

So, yes, the ceiling is still dripping, but the plumber is supposed to fix it on Monday. Apparently he has to replace the whole toilet. (but the water is from the pipe going to the toilet, not the other way around. Thankfully.)

I went clubbing with my roomie last night and that was just too spectacular. I think we fell in love with each other last night, because we are exactly the same way. And we both are hot dressers and dancers. Of course. So right now I am heading out to have a walk around the city with Jenny and tonight I am going to a party with my friend Matia. So much for a quiet and relaxing weekend. But at least this way I have fun and hey, last night we met a struggling theatre director from Miami and I said he should drop me a line when he needs someone for his next play. I know, you are all very jealous.

And then there is this big news from work: David, the South-African with the bad temper, got fired on Thursday for making a girl cry the day before and I replaced him as baker boy (and yes, I have been making Baker Street/Sherlock Holmes jokes all day about it) which of course is exciting, but also quite stressfull, because I didn't really have time to slowly get into it and this Friday was unbelievingly busy. Pure madness. I also put on the Beatles in the morning and then we were so busy all day, being one short staff and all, that I had no time to change it and no-one else did either, but Kate from work just said: "Btw, nice Beatles medley today!" (Faebulous, this girl would be so perfect for you)

Okay, we start with the bad news today: when I came home this evening (after a long day at work I might add) I noticed that there was a leak in the ceiling that was dripping on my bed and on the floor. Placing a bucket and pans under the dripping water, I moved my bed and called my flatmates for help. One of them headed out right away, trying to get someone to make it stop, but has not returned yet. It seems to have stopped on its own though, so no real harm done. Let's hope at least, because I just saw an episode of Grey's Anatomy a couple of weeks ago and there they had an actual flood in the hospital. So let's keep our fingers crossed and for once hope that real life is nothing like a Hollywood story.



And the good news would be that this fabulous bag that I got yesterday with a beautiful wolf pattern and I also bought the matching wallet. A Kate Sheridan original, so no one ever gets to have one like these in Switzerland. I also think that it is un-girlish enough to carry around, but then again, what the heck do I care, right?

I am also pretty far ahead with Christmas presents, considering that it's only November, but my roommate and I decided that we will shop ourselves to death on Boxing Day, when everything is half price, so I need to tick off the stuff for everyone else as soon as possible.

And there is another bad news thing: Unlike every other Sunday, Sebastian from conquergear did not show up at square pie yesterday, which made me very sad of course!