Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Reading, A Funny, New Laundry System,

I am reading the most delightful book at the moment, The Little Paris Bookshop. "Monsieur Perdu can prescribe the perfect book for a broken heart. But can he fix his own?" The bookshop owner, M. Perdu has a barge on the River Seine which he has converted to a bookstore. He won't, basically, sell you just any book, but one which he thinks fits you personally and which can cure what ails you. Unfortunately he cannot prescribe a book like that for himself. The book is full of interesting characters and resonates of France. M. Perdu himself lost his love 20 years before and although she sent him a letter he has never opened it - until now - after Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself. The book is written by Nina George. She is, apparently, a very prolific writer and hails from Germany.

I also just finished a book by Clive Cussler. This author was recommended by a bowling friend who apparently reads many of the books I too enjoy so I decided to try one. I enjoyed it, but the premise seemed a bit far fetched and the situations people got into were not so exciting because you know they will get out of them. Yes, this applies to most books, but these guys were in and out of situations on almost every page. I have ordered another from the library. We'll see how I get on with that.


To my author friends, I thought this one was perfect for you. It's from How to Geek.
Matt went to the laundry room this morning only to find that the machines were not available. He
later ran into some other tenants who told him what was happening. Finally, I was off to exercise class when I met the Property Manager and the Super's wife who were going round delivering a special card and a leaflet explaining how to use it. It turns out there is a new machine downstairs which you use to load money onto this card - using either a credit or debit card or cash - and then use the card on the machines to pay for washing and drying. At that  time it will tell you how much money you have left on your card. So, OK, No problem, right? Wrong. For a start in the exercise class we have a number of elderly people who don't understand any of this. Our 94 yr. old was in tears because the whole thing was confusing her badly. A neighbour is going to show her how to use it all. She doesn't have a credit card and doesn't really understand a debit card. She pays for everything with cash. Some of the others were similarly confused it seemed. Not only that, we couldn't use the machine today so the neighbour couldn't demonstrate how it worked. I mentioned to the super's wife that this woman was so upset. She was extremely unsympathetic (big surprise) and said her son could explain it. He doesn't live in the building!! For me, I am quite happy as it means I can charge the money to my Visa on which I get cash back and we don't have to go to the bank all the time to get coins for the machines.  Only trouble was, I wanted to load the card today because we have a load of towels to wash, guess I was out of luck.

This looks wonderful to me but I don't think Matt would like it somehow. He doesn't like kimchi for a start, I gobble it down.

Cold Spicy Kimchi Noodles

Could this be the anti-ramen? Either way, it’s my new favorite cold pasta, custom-made for hot summer weather
because it is refreshingly and unapologetically spicy. Make the sauce in advance, but wait to toss with the noodles until just before serving. While you could order Korean ingredients online, it’s more fun to go to a Korean supermarket, if only to see all the different types of kimchi. Korean red pepper flakes are without seeds, and only medium hot, so you can use a lot.

FOR THE DRESSING
1 cup finely chopped kimchi, plus 2 tablespoons kimchi juice
1 medium garlic clove, grated
2 tsp grated ginger
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
1 Tbs Japanese red miso
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs rice vinegar
2 Tbs lime juice
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp fish sauce
½ tsp gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes)
Salt
FOR THE NOODLES:
8 oz flat rice noodles or soba noodles
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved and sliced into half-moons (about 1 cup)
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
3 or 4 large red radishes, sliced into thin rounds
½ cup scallions, slivered
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced (optional)
3 eggs, boiled for 7 minutes, cooled in ice water, peeled and halved (cook 9 minutes for a firmer yolk)
2 Tbs toasted sesame seeds
Cilantro sprigs or chopped cilantro, for garnish
Lime wedges, for serving

1. Make the sauce: Put the kimchi, juice, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, gochujang, miso, sesame oil, rice vinegar, lime juice, orange zest, fish sauce and gochugaru in a mixing bowl, and stir well to combine. Taste and adjust salt. Let stand at room temperature for at least 10 minutes (or you can store overnight in the fridge, covered).

2. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for about 5 minutes, or until cooked through but still firm. Drain in a colander, transfer to a bowl of cold water to cool, then drain again and set aside, covered with a towel.

3. Just before serving, put noodles in a large mixing bowl. Add the sauce, along with cucumber, tomatoes, radishes, scallions and chile (if using) and toss gently to coat. Divide among individual serving bowls. Top each bowl with a halved egg, sesame seeds, cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.

Servings: 4-6

Author: Evan Sung for The New York Times

Have a great day

22 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - looks like a delightful little book - and I've added it to my wish list ... good luck with the laundry room etc .. cheers Hilary

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    1. It is a delightful book Hilary. Hope you get to read it.

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  2. That sounds like a really complicated system just for washing machines.

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    1. Not really Alex. You just buy $25 or something (used to buy coins to that value all the time) and then use your card on the machines. Heard people were stealing, could only have been the guys who were collecting the money anyway. This is so much easier.

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  3. The book sounds interesting. As for washing machine updates - often those in charge do not think about how their new systems will impact the common folk. When I instituted automatic payments for utilities and taxes through the township website, I had several seniors whom I had to help to set up their accounts. They liked the service but were very hesitant to try it or did not even know where to start. Your super is not very 'super'.

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    1. It is not, in fact, the super's fault Denise. The machines are not owned by the building but an outside contractor. Apparently our supers were taken by surprise yesterday morning when the just came in and announced what was happening. However, it turns out to be pretty easy although for those not used to using cards instead of cash, it might prove difficult. The machine charged me .85 cents for using my debit card though.

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    2. Sounds like the company is making you pay for their credit card service fee.

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    3. Yes I think so too Denise. It is more convenient for me to use my credit card, but maybe I won't do so in future.

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  4. That would be a hard sysrem to get used to for an elderly perdon. Its almost like the building should have scheduled instruction meetingd on how the new sysrem worked.

    Betty

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    1. It turns out the supers didn't know Betty. The machine owners just arrived to change everything yesterday morning. It is actually much easier - I think - but for elderly people (of which I am one by the way) who are not techie, yes, confusing.

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  5. I just left a really long comment then I accidentally clicked the sign out button. Wha whaaaat? This is why I hate technology. I totally feel for those 94 year olds.

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    1. I love technology Pinky, but if you press the wrong button, it ain't technologies fault!!! I've done the same thing mind you.

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  6. That book sounds lovely. Another to go on my to be read pile.

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    1. It is lovely Helen Not had a lot of time to read it the last couple of days though.

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  7. We have a matt here that gives the option, change or debit. I don't mind when there's an option, but to remove the chance option from this building, makes no sense.

    That landlord sounds like an idiot. And that's being kind.

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    1. We can use cash, debit or credit cards in the machine Ivy. But if you are not used to using cards, that becomes a problem. It really wasn't the landlord's fault, the laundry people just walked in and announced they were changing everything.

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    2. Oh, cool. Then she can use cash. That is wonderful.

      I still don't like the landlords. This whole business of the bugs, I didn't find them to be very, I dunno what the word is, but I didn't like how they handled it.

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    3. I wasn't too happy about the landlords and the bugs Ivy and the woman down the hall had even worse problems with them. However, they too have now been resolved to her satisfaction. I believe they even had to tear down some wallpaper to get at the little so and sos.

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  8. Those machines sound like a good idea but I do feel bad for the elderly people because they wouldn't know. It is very difficult to explain to them how debit works never mind swiping. I hope someone has the patience and time to not only explain but to show them because sometimes visual works better. These supers are not very nice at all

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    1. Yes Birgit, there was one woman in the exercise class who knows our 94 yr old quite well and offered to shoe/help. Funny, in the hairdressers on Tues and they suddenly realized where we lived, quite close, mentioned our supers wife and they said "she's a liar". Guess it spreads.

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  9. If the majority of the people that live there are elderly, they should've taken that into consideration before changing things.

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    1. No the majority aren't elderly JoJo. There are a lot who are, but I don't think we are in the majority by any means.

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