food for thought

The builder told me today that they'd be done with all the inside work by the end of the week, that he'd like to see us 'move back in on the weekend'.
Me, I'll believe it when I see it.

It's not so impossible. The floor tiles are laid, the windows and doors replaced, plastering done, 1st layer of paint down, lights are in, cornices are up. But the kitchen sink's not in, none of the bathroom sanitaryware is installed, the kitchen counter top is still in production. So I'll reserve judgement and wait and see.

But truth be told, all I really want back is full use of my cooker. All I want to do is cook and bake and mix and play and then, have the dishwasher installed to take care of all the necessary afterwards.
It's gotten to the stage where I'm lying awake at night planning menus, creating dossiers of the first things I'll cook, I'm dreaming up dinner parties and braai's and brunches and (am I completely fokken crazy), excited about inviting Husband's family over for a big Christmas meal.

And so while the point of this post is actually just to rack one last one up for November, hereby bringing the total up to a totally un-awesome 10 (I'm so slack), here's a list of the first few things I intend to cook as soon as I can.

1. Lazy Chilies Rellenos ~ jalapenos, eggs, cheese, tortilla. Who could ask for anything more?
2. A batch of Nigella's Apple & Cranberry chutney. To have with cold gammon at Christmas. Droolishes.
3. Tres Leches Cake. I have to say I'm well over a newbie-blogger crush on the Pioneer Woman (in fact I'm pretty sure she doesn't actually exist but is a creation of Harpo Studios), and I stopped reading her ages ago, but I can't resist visiting Pioneer Woman Cooks every now and then. This cake is one of the reasons why.
4. Mince Pie Pinwheels. A possible replacement for my normal Christmas mince pies. Naturally I'll have to do a batch now to test ...
5. A good ole roast chicken with all the trimmings. Especially roast potatoes. And 3 veg. And a big ass chicken. You can hear the longing in my voice hey?

Husband also has a list, his goes something like this:
1. Curry
2. Curry
3. Huevos Rancheros
4. Curry
5. Curry

Oh my god I can't wait.