Cooking

So if you haven't noticed by now that the standard of living here is like any major city in the world only multiply it by 10. It is ridiculously expensive to live here and that's all I hear when I start bitching about the amount of money I've spent for only being here 1 week. I've managed to spend around $200 in 1 weeks worth on food, some partying and that's basically it. It's a little insane I know and I already feel guilty about it, but it's not like I'm going out throwing money around.

I've come up with a descent solution to this little problem.... COOKING. I know it sounds ingenuius but it works. I started going to the market a couple of days ago and buying fresh meat and pasta to cook for dinner. I've been practicing every night and not that it's hard to cook, but I'm just not use to it. My parents have always cooked for me when I'm at home. I've begun experimenting with different things around the grocery store and trying to get the hang of what it takes to be a good cook. As with everything it will only take time.

Tonight I decided to make rice. I don't like rice and my family eats it every night for dinner with every meal. It never fails, but I wanted something other than pasta to eat for dinner since I've been making pasta and chicken for dinner every night. I didn't think it'd be that hard and that rice is similar to making pasta. I put the water to boil, put a cup of rice, some oil and salt. It took about 15 minutes and it turned out nothing ilke rice. It was a mixture of mashed potatos and grits. It was gooey and not very flavorful. The steak however was on sale and it turned out descent. I cooked it with some diced tomatos and it wasn't bad.

So why am I sharing this experience with you? Because if you thought I was a big Jew in the states....my time in London is only solidifying everyone's suspicion that I may in fact be of Jewish descent. I've never counted my pennces and pounds more in my life. Today I bought a single mechanical pencil for the American equivalent of $3. I almost shot myself.

Also, whoever said that traveling within Europe was cheap was lying! I went to find out how much it would cost to travel to France during Spring Break when Laura comes to visit and it will cost about $100 for my ticket out of London alone. Not including hotel, food or transportation once we get into the city. I almost lost it because that's like traveling to NY for the weekend and we don't do that every weekend. Granted I'm only in Europe once and I'm only 21 once, but I was definitely expecting it to be a lot cheaper.

I've managed to go on a rant, but needless to say it's my nature to bitch about things. It eases some of the tension and helps me think of other things that matter more. We'll see.