Scoundrel Days

A wet sunday afternoon in Helsinki, the day after the night before. The iPod is playing the Doves, the boss is knitting and I've been learning how to conjugate Finnish verbs. At times like this you have to believe that the fun never stops in the Monkey House Kitchen.

Last night we were at C's for an excellent evening and a made up Japanese style dinner. It was a lot of fun but we did experience at first hands C's decision to listen to all her albums alphabetically. I have to say, her commitment to the ordered nature of alphabetism is remarkable as only a true devotee can go from "A flock of seagulls" to "A-ha". Unfortunately this is where my particlualr problem kicks in. Having waded through 5 a-ha albums I feel like a walking compedium of all their music and I had a hard time kicking their music out of my head last night. The extra hour in bed was hijacked by the 3 boys from Norway playing on heavy rotation. Even our act of rebellion late in the evening by jumping ahead to S and the excellent Floodland by the Sisters of Mercy didn't/hasn't prevent(ed) an ongoing outbreak of A-haness.

Anyway in the Kitchen we cooked a chicken, greenbean thing. Very easy so enjoy:

Serves 4
2 chicken breasts
250g of green beans, topped and tailed
2 garlic cloves100ml soy sauce
100ml rice vinegar
50ml sake
1 hard boiled egg per person
Rice

Gently brown the chicken so that it is about 2/3rds done, add the beans and garlic and continue to cook. Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sake and eggs. Cook until the sauce has reduced to about half. Serve with sticky rice.

Today we have sat inside watching the awful weather and the film Once. It was very nice and managed to avoid being twee which is a good thing. Definately one for a wet sunday afternoon. I have no idea what we're eating for dinner tonight but I have a feeling it could be some egg fried noodles. I aslo have a whole chicken I'm going to cut into pieces and some friends from the UK are going to call on skype this evening. Then it is back to the grindstone of work this week for 2 days and then I am away on a "living in change" course. It should be interesting but I have already noticed that the only constant in the universe is change so I hope I get some deeper insights from the course than that. Once that is done then it's time to pack and head for Barcelona. Yay!