Summer Rain

When my mother-in-law found out that the government was offering H1N1 vaccination for free back in May, she arranged to have us all vaccinated. It’s supposed to protect us for a year. At the moment, though, I am having a cold. My body aches and my nose is running, but at least the sore throat is mostly gone.

Perhaps it’s the changing weather. The last few days have been cold and wet. When the sun does come out it’s windy. The September equinox is still almost a month away on September 23. Only then it’s officially fall, or autumn as they call it here.

I’ve been cooking quite a bit since I got here, almost as much as I did when I was in Boston. I love to cook, and the good thing is I like to eat my own cooking. Afi said that she’s tired of her own cooking, so I am more than happy to cook all the time. She thinks that it’s a good idea that we buy a book to record our cooking; sort of our own private recipe book.

There are two ingredients I love most whenever I cook – garlic and butter. I can never get enough of both. Afi has caught on with the butter, but not so much with the garlic. Garlic is quite expensive here – as most things are – so I have to cut down on the garlic as well.

Since I didn’t bring my old Columbia boots, which soles are already so worn off, Afi had been really anxious to buy me a new pair. She said that we should buy them now before they get more expensive when summer ends. So on Wednesday – when it rained the whole day! – we went to town and got me a pair of granite Merrell Enuma Mid Waterproof. I think they are awesome.