Saturday in 1963: An Invitation, Quiches, and Linden Trees

Today any thought of remaining in the bubble of 1963 was impractical due to the fact that I'd invited over colleague-friends.

But I ended up making a lot of Mediterranean food, feeling very pleased at the meeting of two aims.

After waking up, I made two quiche doughs. One was far too dry, the other too watery. But I put both in the refrigerator and hoped for the best.

Cleaning was 'easy peace lemon squeeze,' to quote a colleague's endearing message at work last week. My mother keeps the apartment visitor-friendly because she regularly invites people over herself, so there was very little vacuuming to do. I did regret not cleaning the stovetop.

(Also, I was unhappy about the plastic recycling overload: the dumpster in our courtyard is overstuffed. It sounds like the plastic recycling pick-up might have missed a week? So we were forced to keep our bags in the kitchen. Ge. reported that he'd noticed dumpsters being demonstratively/desperately wheeled out onto sidewalks in our neighbourhood: I did sight one too. In terms of the massive garbage strikes in Naples and Toronto in past years, however, I guess these are small peas.)

Then I cycled off to the Markthalle at Marheinekeplatz, where I bought San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and blueberries.

Before that, I'd visited a refugee welcome centre. The glass building foyer where it had been hosted was empty, the signs removed, and it was ghostly. (On these occasions I always remember Jane Eyre and the description of Thornfield Hall when she returns after her stay with the Rivers family.) But I found the new volunteer space, asked what they needed, and when I came back with some coffee, they were — a little surprisingly — over the moon.

Along the way to the centre, all kinds of weeds and herbs were flowering: spiky, pale purple bee balm flowers I recognized, many other flowers I didn't; and the linden trees were blossoming and spreading the most wonderful fragrance in the air, and littering pollen that was sometimes intensely ochre-yellow onto the ground.

Back at home, I finished preparing Nanaimo bars, although for the second day in a row the fluffy yellow centre wouldn't fluff properly.

And I bought more ingredients for a vegetarian quiche and for a cake. But I had to abandon the cake: my debit card was declined and so I gave back a few ingredients so I could pay in cash.

But I was quite relaxed about this, only felt sorry for the shoppers waiting behind me in what was generally a tense and exhausted atmosphere — instilled I think by both the weekend rush and the intense heat today.

The reason it was declined was because it hit the limit, and I wasn't entirely unprepared for that. Against the odds, I had just managed to squeeze in another errand: buying a farewell present for a teammate who'll be leaving the company soon. Because of the migraines, ordering online hadn't happened. But this afternoon I found a games shop in Wilmersdorf. Once I'd arrived per bicycle, I needed to repress the feeling that I could browse the puzzles and board games and animal figurines etc. etc., and fulfill unrealized childhood dreams, for ages ... to quickly find what I wanted. The salesperson was interested when I asked their help and outlined what I wanted, and they beautifully wrapped it up.

(I've come to like talking with shop owners, salespeople, librarians, etc., to find good things together and watch them use their expertise.)

Lastly, I went by the usual Covid testing centre I go to, only to find it closed — apparently permanently. Fortunately, I already had a back-up plan, and self-tested at home.

As for the event itself, I will be uncharacteristically? discreet, and only say that it was very good and made up a great deal for a rather awful week.