Cheesecake, Cheesegrater and a few well places strawberries

You know when you read a book and you are loving it? The writing, the story, the message. Whatever and then in the last 14 pages it all goes to shit. Whoa what just happened there? Didn't see that coming! Why couldn't they have just left it at not crazy and bizarre. Like a last ditch effort to make the book shocking and different. So that happened to me yesterday when I finished the book I was reading. I was going to recommend it but maybe not. Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know it's like Shantaram the first 3/4 is so worth reading even though you can't finish it without a dedicated effort towards ignoring how south it went. Also in the pipeline is Frankenstein on the ole' kindle. Another freebie, I haven't gotten very far but they are in the arctic on a boat which is pretty unexpected.

AND last night I sat at the bar looking into the hostel kitchen. Five of us at the bar and Milan, our Philippino cooking Asian cuisine. Miso Soup, ginger chicken, sesame rice balls with bean curd (my favorite), sushi and then teryaki beef. Delicious. I made cheesecake. Grated graham crackers on a cheese grater because we don't have a food processor, all this while a horror film was captivating an unusually full lounge area. Silence. Scream. Chain Saw. Grate grate grate of the graham crackers. Scream. Dirty looks? Volume up. Grate grate grate. Chainsaw. Scream.

It went something like that.

Then I overcooked it because I was reading the last 14 pages of the letdown book. Lucky I had strawberries to hide the burn and crack of the filling. No one cared. They oohed and awed, said it was wonderful. But the Sarah Lee that I saw while looking for the butter, and thought of passing off as my own would certainly have tasted better. But I grated and whisked with love so I guess there's that anyway.

And the volcano kept a not too disappointed German woman here with her son a week longer than planned. I think my own mother would have faired the same if we had been so lucky. Another opportunity to swim in the cold ocean water and eat fish and chips...again.

It's three weeks till I'm in burrito heaven. Off for a flat white with a milk foam flower. I can tell you it will taste better because it's pretty. What can I say I'm shallow when it comes to my coffee.

*Big Hostel Kitchen above, their photo, not mine!!