Notes from my broken life

I spent all of last week looking out at that view. Pretty stunning, no? The photo was taken from the main room of our chalet looking down onto the village of Val d'Isere in the French Alps. Edward and I and ten friends had an amazing time there. We lucked out with a chalet host who was also a trained chef, so we were treated to a week of exceptional dinners. After weeks of no snow in the Alps, it dumped it down on the day after we arrived so the snow conditions were good. And we had at least two picture-perfect sunny days which, when you're at cloud level admiring mountain peaks and pristine sparkling snow all around, just makes you think wow, this world of ours is pretty awesome.

It's good that our week was so relaxing, because since we got back everything seems to be falling apart. Our whole flat was repiped while we were gone so now we have heating that actually works and we won't turn to icicles next winter. Unfortunately the place is in a state - we came back to half a bathroom floor gone, gaping holes where radiators previously stood which need to be replastered and repainted, furniture piled in corners of rooms, and virutally every surface filthy and every wall scuffed. There is a lot of cleaning, paint retouching and general work to do. It's a small price to pay for warmth, I suppose.

I've also discovered that my washing machine is slowly eating my entire wardrobe. The spin cycle of our machine is basically on speed. It is crazy. It shakes the whole kitchen, throws things off the counter and can scare the living daylights out of an unsuspecting guest. I hadn't put together until this week, however, that it's responsible for the gazillions of small holes appearing in all my tops, and the fact that my pyjama bottoms keep getting longer and longer. So now we have to sort that out. Great.

I haven't been doing much baking since I returned from holiday. One reason is that Edward and I have been taking Dana's approach to post-vacation eating this week, going light, healthy and vegetarian. The food in our chalet may have been delicious, but it was meat-, sauce- and dessert-heavy. The other reason is that my KitchenAid mixer is busted. Ed has been bugging me for a year to be get it serviced, since it works in much the same way as the spin cycle on my washing machine. After a particularly vigorous breadmaking session the other week, during which it shook, shuddered and went a bit mad, it finally spit out the rod that holds it all together and is currently unusable. Yeah yeah, I know, an ounce of prevention and all that.

I did manage to go back to basics and make these browned butter triple chocolate chunk cookies from Under the Highchair by hand, though. I can wholeheartedly recommend them. A welcome treat when everything is falling down around you!