Cooking

This month I'm using most of my allotted writing motivation in the pursuit of National Novel Writing Month. This is a challenge to write 50k words in a single month, which they classify as a novel. Coming into this month, I had no illusions about my ability to produce 50k words, but I wanted to make an effort. I tried this once back in 2010 and wrote 8k words of trash, so I decided to write at least 10k words. There's only a week left in the challenge, but I believe I will meet this goal by the end of the day if I stay focused, and I'm hoping that I might even double my former record by the end of the challenge.

Anyway, but this month I've been doing a lot of cooking because we recently purchased an oven for the flat. As much as I like cooking, it's a lot more difficult in a foreign country for several reasons.

1. Motivation. My primary source of motivation at home is to feed my parents (and maybe my brother). When it's just me, even at home, I don't experiment and I tend to stick with meals that are quick and boring. And that's more or less what I do here as well, since I'm almost always cooking for myself.
2. Ingredients. So first of all, the ingredients are in a different language. That's not really a problem as long as I remember to look up the Russian/Vietnamese/French word for any unusual ingredients before I leave home. Second, there are many things which seem to simply not be available, or are incredibly expensive. Quinoa for example, costs more than twice in Russia what it does in America, and it's expensive enough there. There are many spices I use regularly at home which I haven't seen here--one that comes to mind being Garam Masala.
   
   Furthermore, there are times when ingredients become completely unavailable. I used to use barbecue sauce about five times a week, but I haven't been able to find it in the stores for nearly a month. I might have mentioned this particularity before, but it still astounds me.
3. Measurements. All my recipes have measurements in the English measurement system. Everything I buy is measured in the metric system. Again, not a problem, but frequently an annoyance.
4. Cleaning. The last thing I want to do when I've been on a cooking spree is a bunch of cleaning. At home it's not so bad because I can usually rinse things off and put them in the dishwasher. Elsewhere, everything has to be washed by hand.

That's about all I wanted to say, so I'll get back to my other writing now.