Underwhelmed

Yesterday I opened my bottle of pink wine - or, more elegantly, rosé - and now I have to drink it. I'm not even through half of it yet and it already tastes a bit sour. I keep it corked in the fridge but it doesn't help much. It will be even worse with the sherry, as I bought a fino, and finos are supposed to be so delicate that they need to be consumed immediately after opening a bottle. That's one of the inconveniences of my single life (I can very well live with it, though) - travel size bottles of wine are only available from Carlo Rossi, and I can't drink that brand because it gives me hangovers.

So I am now sipping my rosé.

I went shopping today, as promised, but, surprisingly to even myself, I used my food coupon to stock up on black tiger shrimp instead of on canned fruit and other necessities I mentioned yesterday. When I saw the shrimp, frozen packages worth USD 5.00 each, I figured I probably wouldn't let myself buy it if I had to pay the shelf price. While I already had a bottle of sherry fino at home, waiting to be drunk with something. "What the heck," I thought, "you can't deny yourself everything." And I put the shrimp in the cart. Now I only have to find some yummy (garlicky?) recipe and I hope to enjoy several shrimp-over-rice dinners.

Upon returning home I realized I still owed my friend an e-mail with picture attachments, which I promised him I was working on exactly one week ago. My problem was taking the pictures, as first I had been sick, and then, on my days off I usually get around to crawling outside when it's already too dark to photograph anything. While on my working days I sleep late and then I'm in too much of a hurry. I felt really guilty about a week's delay in our correspondence and immediately went for a walk to take my pictures. The weather wasn't very favorable, it was cloudy, but at least it was still daylight, and I accomplished my task. I only wish I didn't have to go through them now and pick the ones I want to send and give them titles and crap. So much work, and I've been sick and tired of working at the PC for almost a month now.

Next, I cooked a Thai turkey curry but it didn't turn out as tasty as I remembered it. I think coconut milk was the reason, I used a new, cheapish brand I had bought at my local supermarket, while previously I used to cook with the proven, tasty Chaokoh brand. Today's milk had little coconut taste to it and it made all the difference. I also found there was too much meat in the recipe compared to the amount of sauce and veggies (I think I am ready for some early spring fasting). But it's allright, three more meals and it will be gone.

I paid several overdue bills yesterday, some dating back to last year. I still have some of those left to deal with next month, but the majority have been paid, which makes me very glad. I'm left with about USD 70.00 to cover my expenses during the next two weeks, that is, until I receive my February salary. Since most of the food has already been bought, I hope I'll be fine and I won't have to touch the money I've saved to cover 50% of my heating bill (another 50% to be covered from next month's income). I'll only need to buy some extra bread and milk. Perhaps I'll even manage to add to my savings?