If You Can't Take the Heat ...

Today seemed like a good day to bake some cookies, so the Partnerin and I ventured into the kitchen and I remembered why we take turns cooking as we stumbled across one another.

We didn't manage to find our Christmas cookie cutters, so we settled for airplanes and animals. I still can't figure out if one of those on the upper right is a lion or a poodle. I did finally excavate the Christmas decorations from the cellar this afternoon, so maybe that is where I will find the cookie cutters.

Oh well, I'm not feeling very Christmas spirited yet, so I'll take an airplane shaped cookie. I almost killed the mood totally when I dared to utter that phrase, "You know, we can't work in the same kitchen!"

To which she blithely replied, "You know, our kitchen is bigger than some people's apartments," a reference to the Russian's new flat which at 15 square meters is only slightly bigger than our kitchen. Here you see the Partnerin threatening me with my own rolling pin for daring to turn the camera on her. Or maybe it was residual hostility for me going to the Russian's housewarming party last night.

The Russian had me and eight other people over last night to show off her new digs. She has reached the end of her Au Pair status here in Germany and is now progressing into the ranks of language student, which is how quite a few eastern europeans find their way into a longer stay in Germany. There were a couple of other russians and a few Germans (including two language teachers), two Kyrgisis, and a morrocan. The Russian was disappointed that the non-russians were hardly eating and not drinking any of the vodka.

I did not disappoint, partaking heartily in food and drink, which made one of her russian friends comment that for an American I was really quite Russian in some ways, to which the Russian replied, "Yes, Mike has a Siberian soul." I think that was supposed to be a compliment.

But I also have a gentle soul and some sense of responsibility, so I excused myself at midnight and found my way home to a Partnerin who, despite having the flu this week, was still up surfing the net looking for Christmas gifts for her mother and father.

So I gently awoke her with breakfast at noon today, after which she said, "Let's make Christmas cookies!"

Why not? I did the dough and the cutting, and she did the decorating. What a little artist the Partnerin can be. Cute, no?