Busy, busy day. Papadums, samosas, electricity, water, oh my!

Freshly cooked black pepper papadum, straight from my microwave.
(Click for more papadum photos…)

So. Today. Wow. I take the day off, I’m busy almost the entire day, and everything goes rather well.

I already mentioned the air conditioner installation and the [first] plumbing repair and the Thai food. So, what else did my day hold?

Well, after the aforementioned things my parents stopped by to visit with their friends Jim and Mattie from Scotland. Jim and Mattie are here visiting for a few weeks, and my parents wanted to see things with the air conditioner, so it all worked out well.

Before they arrived I had just finished up installing four outlets on the lighting circuit in my basement so I can plug the studio lights in more easily. I also replaced the light socket above my workbench because it was becoming really flaky, occasionally flickering and popping.

After that I went to replace the valve seat washer in the faucet outside (it was dripping) and in the process discovered that the shutoff for it was dripping into a closet. Fortunately the only thing ruined was an old Intel Pentium die shot mousepad. Anyway, I took care of the inside shutoff (packing nut needed to be tightened), visited a hardware store for a bolt and washer for the faucet, and all of that was then declared good.

On the way home from the hardware store I stopped at Meijer, but the groceries I picked up there ended up not being eaten. That’s okay, they’ll be good later.

Instead I had two samosas acquired from the Pakistani grocery (Spice Shop) located next door to Bangkok Cuisine Express. It seems I have a thing for questionable samosas. However, whether purchased from a small stand in the Gloucester Road Tube station or from a counter in somewhat dirty shop in Troy, I’ve yet to be disappointed. At $0.60/each for vegetarian samosa, Spice Shop fits nicely with this trend, and those made for a great dinner.

Along with the samosas, dinner included the first papadums I’ve ever cooked at home. I must say, I’m impressed. After paying US$0.99 for this package of black pepper papadoms, I must declare them an incredible value. Simply setting one on a piece of paper towel and microwaving it for 35 seconds turns it from this raw-ish piece of semi-cooked dough to this absolutely wonderful, crispy snack. I can see myself keeping these around the house to ‘cook’ whenever I want something crispy with a meal. It’s far better, and far cheaper, than traditional chips. And actually spicy, and without MSG. Oh! And you can watch them change shape while cooking them. Woo! (More papadum photos here. (photo gallery retired))

I also finally photographed a rather tasty beer right before I began sipping it, but I’ll save that for another, more cross-post-able post.