Should be interesting. I feel like the stuff I cook/bake here either turns out exceptionally better than in the states, or disappointingly worse. There’s a lot of factors that could be contributing to this. One is our oven, which is actually a toaster oven that doesn’t seem to reach the high temperatures of a standard oven. Plus, due to its small size, things like cookies are a hassle and a nightmare. Ingredients are a bit different here too, I’ve noticed. Sugar tastes a lot better, but baking powder behaves differently. It takes a lot of getting used to. Stir fried things are easy though, and great. Plus the ingredients are stupid cheap. You can buy a huge bag’s worth of assorted fruits and veggies for about $5 US. There’s no reason not to eat healthy.

Anyway, I’m baking a peach cobbler tonight and I’m stoked. I even bought 3 tubs of vanilla ice cream (the large size is our small!) and a big bottle of Baileys Irish cream. It’s gonna be a good night. On top of that, I’m having some local friends over to teach them some drawing basics: shading, perspective, proportion, etc. Looking forward to it a lot.

Later this afternoon I’m heading out to meet a friend (and now, employee/secretary) for dinner. We’ll be going over some of the things she’ll need to handle on her first week on the job. The list of tasks I’m giving her continues to grow. When I first realized I’d need an employee to run errands and pick things up from the printer, I thought that’d be the extent of it. But as I think it over, I realize how useful it’ll be to have someone translate all my order forms for the coats into Chinese, fill out slips for the post office, find new products to outsource, and even help with filming new episodes of Life in the Middle. The list is endless, and I’m glad to have the help. I don’t like working too much. I’m here for the experience, not the cash.