The Slow Cooker That Time Forgot

For a few years now, I have been missing my slow cooker that is sitting in storage in NJ. Not that it would be useful here; a convertor would be needed and then it would be iffy if it would work at all. Checking every store numerous times, I had never found one.

Then Geoff Riddle, the visiting beau of Kat McFadden who is stationed here for her work, found a source for me online. I ordered it as soon as we returned from Spain. It was through a web shop, so it took a week to actually arrive. This last Thursday I picked it up, late in the afternoon, at the pick-pont as the e-mailed stated. I was excited to try out my new toy Friday to make our dinner. I had already collected some great slow-cooker recipes.

Thursday evening, the electric went out. We checked the main switch, but it was on. The circuit breakers were all on. Strangely, my computer, the cable box and one floor lamp were the only things in the apartment that were working. After shutting down the computer, Ron switched off all the breakers, only to turn them on again after 10 minutes. Lights once again!

Mid-evening, half way through a movie, the TV went out. That was our big clue the electric went off again. Sure enough it did, but again not the computer or lamp. This time, some of the breakers were down, but only three. Resetting them got us through the night.

Friday, we called three electricians; two of them could not come until Monday. They were out of the city or working other jobs elsewhere. Our last shot was to try our local handymen, one Brit and one Hungarian. E-mailing the Brit first, he responded that he was in England, but to call Attila. Attila was on vacation with his family, but gave us another name and number to call.

We called Laci, who managed to make it here at 7pm on Friday night, a miracle in itself. Within 20 minutes he found the problem and fixed it, telling us to call him if we continued to have problems, but he doubted we would. He complimented the electrician who put in the breaker box, stating he did excellent work. That was 3-4 years ago. Some wires loosened over time causing our current problem.

By this time, we had a full weekend planned, so we could not invite Kat and Dan over for the inaugural dinner. Tonight is the night. I am making Pulled Chicken Parmigianino sandwiches.

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The Kitchen Is Done...Sort of

Thursday, the cabinet man arrived with his helper at 9:00 am. Who would have guessed they would still be here at 9:00 pm. Not I, for sure. Our old cabinets were in great shape, so we kept the basic structures, just having the doors and borders redone with replacement parts. They kept the kitchen door closed most of the day. We were not sure if this was because we kept peeking in or to block the noise and dust from their sawing and cutting of the counter top. As Ron claims, I notice things that most people don't. Alright, I give attention to detail, but most people would look at these things and wonder when it was going to be finished off. We tried occupying our time like expectant fathers waiting to hear the good news! Finally, at 9:15 pm, we had the unveiling. It was joy and disappointment at the same time. The cabinets look lovely; however, something was lost in translation. Along one wall, there are three cabinets. All six doors were to have glass panels in them. Only two of them do. The others are solid doors. If it were the center cabinets that had the glass, I could live with it, but alas, it is the two at the far end. It looks ridiculous. The cabinet exposed sides and bottoms were left white, though with new molding. I specifically requested it all be the same as the cabinets. It definitely has an unfinished look to it. A call into Anna, our interpreter and the sister of the cabinet maker, was frustrating since she said she could not remember any of these instructions when her brother took his notes. I tried tripping her memory by recalling the things that she and I discussed, but it was useless. Perhaps because she was here that night with both of her babies, there were too many distractions. Lesson learned, make notes of your own and go over them before everyone leaves. To add to the mix, they inserted the new sink, which looks lovely, but they could not put in the faucet, or the 'tap' as they call it. We need to call a plumber to do the work. Hence, we have no kitchen water yet. The stove hood is on back order and will be up to four weeks to arrive. We will look elsewhere in the meanwhile. We had asked if they could get two sliding drawers for the other lower cabinets like we have in another lower cabinet. That never happened. Now we have to look for those on our own also. They did not reinstall our under cabinet lights. We have to get the electrician back for that too. We spent the day carting things back from hither and yon to place them back into the cupboards, I mopped all of the floors since tile and counter top dust can travel all over the apartment. Ron had already done the dusting. We still owe the cabinet man money, so he is guaranteed to return. Our translator will be thrilled to have this end. I am sure it is more than she bargained for. We did get her a gift certificate for a restaurant for she and her husband, but that was some time ago and is now feeling like a drop in the bucket. Nothing other compensation will have to follow. The bright side is that we are now convinced we need to re-tile the hallway to match the kitchen floor.

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It's a Stove, It's an Oven, It's Convection

Not much happened today, while I was at school. The stove/oven with ten functions was delivered, but the cabinet maker decided to return tomorrow. He had changed his day when we thought the stove/oven was coming on Thursday, so stuck to his guns in spite of the changes. The electrician did return to put in all of the sockets and covers. However, so far, we are not cooking with gas as the old expression goes. It is still take-out dinners. I wanted to take a picture of the new cooker, but my batteries were dead in my camera. Oh, well. One of our B and B guests arrived today from the States. She is a Frommer's guide reader. I had warned her ahead of time what she may be facing, but she is a good sport. Hopefully, the two coming tomorrow are as well.

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The Real Nightmare That Did Not End

This is where they finished off last night. The tile man arrived shortly after 8:00 am to start ripping out the tiles. The good news is that he proclaimed the floors and walls in good shape under the old tile, not causing any surprises or extra work. We are having a number of extra electrical outlets put in so that means coordinating with the electrician. Then there was a problem with the gas pipe to hook up the new stove, so that will be dicey also.

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Poof, No Electric

Well if you remember, it was less than two weeks ago that we had to call in the electrician to fix a circuit that blew out. We were without the fridge and microwave and all of the under cupboard lights. He had it fixed within minutes, but last night, Ron was microwaving and poof, out it went again. Calling Balazs, the student wonder, he placed the call to the electrician who will return here today at 3:00 pm to fix it yet again. He also told Balazs there would not be a charge since it was "under warranty" from the last time he was here. Amazing!!!

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Toilet, Loo, WC, Outhouse

Regardless of what you call it or where is it located, no civilized person can be without a toilet. The fixture in our large bathroom had been acting up for over a year. We had the handyman repair on more than one occasion, so when he gets our message now, he just ignores us. He seemed to think that telling us the internal organs of the tank could not survive a transplant. They just don't make those parts any longer. Our only recourse was to replace the whole contraption, which of course, we did not want to hear. After months of having the water gush after every flush, it started working on my nerves. The sneaky thing would give us the false sense of security that all was well, but ten minutes later, it started pouring water like Victoria Falls. It was so loud it woke me from a sound sleep more than once. The last straw or the last drop was having to shake the handle every fifteen minutes to maintain peace, save the planet from water wasting, and control my paranoia about flooding. Unlike American handles, the handle on these toilets are on the top and pull upward. A couple of times in a somatic coma, I damn near pulled the handle right off. Toilet shopping was in the cards. My trusty and faithful student Balazs went with me to three toilet stores addresses stored in the recesses of my mind for just such a day. Ron reminded me of just such a store around the corner and two blocks down, so we went there first. Support your neighborhood businesses is my motto. A simple toilet was 78,000 Huf. At today's exchange rate that is $553.00, yet this does not include delivery, which would have been another 9,000 Huf. The kicker was that it would take a month to order it. Screw the support of neighborhood businesses. Balazs and I combed the city to the three addresses I recalled seeing bathroom supplies. Being Hungary, none of the three existed any longer. One was now a kitchen supplier, so B asked if the man knew where the previous business may have moved, but the guy was indignant that we should associate the two businesses. We finally got some leads at the new leasee of the second location and actually found two stores within a block. One was a repeat of our local store: 79,000 Huf and one month delivery. The second store was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: 38,000 Huf, 5,500 for delivery, and it could be had within three days. Here was the snag. Did we need a bottom flusher or a to the wall flusher? Hell if I knew. With a print out of the sales specs, we went home to find a plumber. Obviously, this was a major deal. Our new friend Steve, recommended his handyman. Our once reliable, trusty one has disappeared or is afraid we only want a quick fix and not an overhaul. The new handyman came and proclaimed we had a bottom flusher. Ron was quick with questions of me about toilet fixture culture that I could not answer and he chose not to join us on the shopping expedition, so he was granted with chore of returning to make the purchase. Three days later, the toilet arrived as promised and decorated our bedroom. Not surprisingly, the handyman was now overwhelmed with work and could not get back to us for a week. When he did grace us with his presence, he only came to admire our new fixture, but had yet to touch it. He returned two days later. After the old toilet was out, he commenced installing our new loo, but alas a two centimeter difference appeared between the bottom of our toilet and the pipe it had to sit on. Without the necessary supplies, we would be without a toilet until he could round them up. Whoever said size does not make a difference has never had to replace a toilet. Two days passed before he returned this past Friday. With three more men to root him on, the four of them managed to make our new throne servicable. Friday night, Ron put something in the microwave. All of the electric on that side of the kitchen blew out. The refrigerator was on that circuit. After checking the circuit breakers, the problem was not there. I had thoughts of a big B-B-Q on Saturday with all of our thawed meat. Very concerned about the newly bought container of ice cream that just went in that morning, we had to polish it off so it would not spoil. We did not open the doors, lest we let hot air in. Nine at night, I called Balazs and gave him the number of an electrician we used in the past. He is a young guy, friendly and reasonable in his rates. I sincerely considered finding a genie in a bottle to wish for getting an electrician on a Saturday morning. When Balazs called me back, he said the saintly electrician would be here between 9:30 and 10:30 on Saturday. At 10:00 he arrived. If we had a red carpet, we would have spread it before him. The problem was not the circuit breaker, but in the wall. He had it fixed in 15 minutes for 5,000 Huf ($35.). Ron thought that was excessive for the amount of time it took, but I thought it was a bargain for a Saturday, getting him here at the time he said and the savings of all of the meat in the freezer, which was still hard as a rock. It makes me rethink again about how we have lost touch with the cost of things in the States, especially California, where we paid electricians substantially more.

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The Happy Hungarian

For some, the title of today's post may sound like an anomaly. My students tell me that there is no such thing as Hungarians' favorite pastime is whining. That is their continual comment, not my own experience. However, Balazs did have problems with an apathetic house manager and electrician when he called for us, creating a more than pleasant experience when the cheerful Hungarian electrician showed up at our door last night. Laszlo the electrician returned at 5:00 pm as promised. Balazs had written down all that he needed to know and he set off to work. Within forty-five minutes he had replaced the circuit breaker, hooked up the electric hot water heater under the kitchen sink, and changed our malfunctioning dimmer switches in the kitchen and living room. His final bill was 3,000 Huf LESS than what he estimated last night. We gave him an extra 2,000 Huf to ingratiate ourselves for when we may need him again. About three years ago, we had dimmer switches put in the kitchen and living room when we at the same time had the light fixtures changed and other electric work done. The electrician, one we lost contact with, went on his own to purchase all of the supplies he needed. What he returned with were dimmers with a sensor. They could be manipulated with a remote control; however, we did not realize this until he left. The way we found out was by using the remote on the television or DVD player, but also turning the lights on and then up and down in various lighting moods, but it never worked for turning them off without getting up and doing it manually. This was a cross we were willing to bear, but over time, something went wrong as it usually does. Remember electricity and I are each others nemesis. What eventually happened was that the lights would go on without any provocation from any remote. If someone sneezed, it would stimulate a Morse code light show with short and long bursts of illumination. If I could only remember dots and dashes from my boy scout days, I would be able to understand the signals that our living room was sending out to the street. The lights almost seemed to be taking revenge on us also as over time, they both would wait until we snuggled into bed at night and then they would alternately turn on and off in random patterns until we climbed out of bed to tap on the control pad repeatedly like training a puppy, hoping against hope that we could effectively get our desired results. Now we have regressed back to the simple on and off and even with low wattage bulbs, it is either a choice between darkness or stage lighting.

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Showing off

I had great pride in showing the new laptop to my class today. They were so excited for all of us. Our rooms at the university have cable Internet access, so I just need to get the Information Systems office to turn on the outlet in my classroom. With an Ethernet cable plugged in we can use the Internet in class with a projector we already have. It will be perfect; for some classes, we blog as a class and for others I am using the Writing Lab at Colorado State University. Now when there are questions or concerns about how to navigate or do something, I demonstrate it right in class and project it on the wall. On the home front, we still don't have electricity in the kitchen. Balazs called the building management's electrician, but said the man told him he was too busy to be bothered with such a small job. Later he called the manager again was given another name for another electrician. This one was more gracious and came over tonight at 5:00. He will be back tomorrow at the same time to fix everything. Fingers crossed! In another vein, I was contacted by another editor from Frommer's, this one the editor for the Eastern Europe book. She asked if I would be interested in updating the Hungary chapter for that book, knowing that I just finished the full book and the Hungary chapter of the rail guide. The deadline is July 15th, giving me plenty of time. Of course I accepted it.

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