it's all upside down

thanks to ang and her hawt pineapple upside down cake recipe, today i am enjoying a nice warm piece of heaven.

no kidding, it took days to make the thing. why? well, first of all, i didn't realise i needed cake flour. so friday morning when i went to make it, before work, i didn't get very far. i'd looked up replacement options online, so when i went to tesco, i had two options (i've learned this is important). who knew that cake flour wouldn't exist here? i was sure it was probably just known as something else, and that i could somehow figure it out. when i asked women who i thought would be cooking types, they were like: oh, that's plain flour. and one said: that's self-raising flour (which i didn't believe, but bought anyway). i couldn't find any cornstarch, which is needed in making regular flour into cake flour, so i thought i'd check out dunnes.

cornstarch is called corn flour here, and dunnes had some.

the cake is made, and despite being crooked (i think our oven cooks stuff at an angle) it tastes delicious. yahoo!

along the same note

during some kind of presentation at work, i won an iTunes gift card. burn on me, it was in pounds, and you can only use it in the UK store. when i got it, i was stoked, cause it worked out to over 60 CDN... but i quickly figured out that there is no conversion necessary, it's in pounds, and will only buy as such. i was still super-stoked that i got such a sweet prize, so i got over my greediness quickly. (shopping of any kind will help do that.)

so far i've bought the new gewn stefani album and the new nelly furtado as well... and i've still got some credit, which is wicked awesome.

both albums are good. the nelly one is better, so if you have to choose... go canadian.

it was fun to buy stuff on iTunes... cause i normally just 'purchase' the free songs...now i have to set up some solid playlists.

music hut

tuesday, gerry and i went to pizza hut in mallow. we were picking up papers from jim and dropping off a card for arran. the original place for dinner fell through when the eating options there totally sucked.

while there, we indulged in the gloriousness of the pan pizza. a sweet sweet (if greasy) delight in a land where good delivery is hard to get...and in fact, impossible where we live. i also thoroughly enjoyed the pleasure of their soundtrack. hits like betty davis eyes and michael jackson's, 'man in the mirror' played while we were tucking in to our 2 person pizza hut style meal deal. leaving the restaurant, i had the brilliant idea that they should expand into a radio station. those were some fine tunes they had going, and everything else that came on was a total 'oh my gosh! i totally remember this!!! as *if* this is playing!'. good times.

in other exciting hut news, i tried to show off my mad-ice cream serving skills, but i couldn't cause there wasn't enough room for the dish to be turned...if that makes sense, and if you've ever worked at DQ or somewhere else that serves soft-serve, i'm sure it does.

i miss dairy queen.

sent home

today i got sent home from work. had i known it was high-comms (however it's spelled) i wouldn't have bothered coming in. yesterday, after a good rest, and chillin' on the couch, i felt a *lot* better. that was short-lived. i was feeling pretty good when i went to bed, but sleep was not coming. so i had some cough syrup, to compliment the magnelevures from earlier and lay back in bed, wishing for some sleep.

this morning i felt like shit, but decided to go to work. i shouldn't have bothered. ria, one of the managers was like: you look like shit. go home. since i had a pounding headache, my body had decided aching would be a good idea, and i was getting hotter by the second, i did.

i've lit a fire. and there's nothing on tv.

to entertain myself, i called toni & guy, to raise issue about my recent experiences there. they're sending out a coupon for a free blow dry. to be honest, i don't really know what that means... except that maybe i can go in with wet hair and they'll blow dry it for me–usually it's a wash and blow-dry. in any case... even the manager doesn't really care, i feel like i've done something about it.

and now it's time to snuggle under the blanket and try to get the fire really going.

i want more

i am sick. again.

today was spent in bed, except for the few hours i was on the couch while gerry made me pancakes and then lunch as i caught up on american idol. *blush*

i have no energy right now, it's actually hard to type. so i think tomorrow might be a day off work.

i must be sick, cause i feel like i could go for a lucozade, and i think those things are disgusting. maybe some juice would do just as well.

big hairy deal

i had a favourite hair stylist here in cork. it's really hard to get an appointment with her, at Toni & Guy, because of the hours i work. so, a couple of weeks ago, i made an appointment for today (saturdays are very hard to book, but i don't have much choice). i started to get sick on thursday evening, and when i woke up this morning, i really didn't want to leave the house. but the call of a good, and much needed hair cut got me up.

i got into the salon and said i have an appointment, with ruth and the woman was like, what's your name? so i repeated it, and she looked on the computer and then said: i've been trying to call you for two days, ruth is sick! and i said that i have had no missed calls, and no messages, so she was like: is it turned off? since i never turn my phone off, except for flying, i said no. and i looked at it again, and there were no missed calls. she then called out a number that was close to, but not my phone number. so, she's like, i can give you an appointment with someone else at 2.30. since i'm sick, and it was a huge effort just to get there the first time, i said no. and she said she'd rebook me with ruth, and i said that's fine, but i can only come in after 5 because i work until 4.30 monday to friday. she offered me 4.20 on wednesday. (do you ever get the feeling people aren't listening?) so i repeated myself and she offered me an appointment 2 weeks from now, because they're closed next saturday. i think i can find someone sooner than that... especially since i've already been waiting ages.

here's the issue. the receptionists there are stupid. the last time i went to toni & guy, i ended up getting a different stylist (who i didn't like at all) because on the phone they couldn't understand me saying ruth, not jess. and when i called for this appointment i asked for an appointment for the next saturday, which she said wasn't available, so said i work mon-fri until 4.30, so it has to be outside of that. she said they don't have anything. i then suggested the saturday after that, which was available.

i think i'll try to call the manager on monday.

tearing down the L

okay. not my first time, but i think my most tense time. today i got my full irish driving license. i was nervous about it... cause it's been a LOOOOOONG time since my last test, and let's face it, i didn't learn to drive here so lots of stuff is different. in fact, lots of stuff doesn't make sense to me. and i don't actually understand why they would be part of the test. like, who cares if you put on the e-brake (handbrake here) when you're at a stop? and why do you need to know how to reverse around a corner? that doesn't seem very safe to me... i really don't think you should be doing that, but today, i got tested on it. and when doing a 3 point turn (which no longer needs to be 3, it can now be 7 or 12, whatever) do i really need to use the handbrake every time i stop?

anyway, now that i have my full license, i can drive how i like! :o)

and superjob me!

at work, it's tradition to bring a cake for your birthday. i went to marks and sparks and got some cake to celebrate my test! (and the fact that i managed to save over 500 euro on my insurance by getting my license, and a further 50 by calling around to different companies!)