Jodie, where for art thou?

If you guessed Adelaide, you'd be right. After a rigorous training and assessment program, I have been assessed as competent in every aspect of running Schouten House. So Jodie is able to have a couple of weeks in Adelaide while I run the show here.

Tonight I've got two rooms of guests, so tomorrow will be a full test of how I'll cope. Not that I haven't done it before. While Jodie was unwell, I looked after one room of guests single handed... So my assessment included thing like making beds, doing washing [both washing machine and dryer]. Most other things we tend to share anyway.

The biggest challenge will be breakfast service. We usually take turns in 1) taking orders, making and serving drinks, and serving breakfast and 2) cooking breakfasts. We have it on good authority that one person should be able to cope with 3 rooms by themselves - so 2 shouldn't be a problem.

Today was a busy day of preparation for me. It's getting cold, so chopping firewood was a must. Vacuuming is still rewarding, although the novelty has worn off. I baked shortbread, and had it out of the oven just in time for coffee for one set of guests. Yesterday I cooked mung bean soup, and today was a new Rogan Josh curry. With 3 cups of beans and 2kg of lamb respectively and an open 2.95kg tin of baked beans, I'm set for food for the next little bit. We also froze a bunch of meals recently so the freezer is stocked too. I managed to have the Rogan Josh simmering early so it had about 6 hours of slow burn. Delicious.

Both George Henry and Irving Norman have been keeping me company, and I think they miss Jodie almost as much as I do. It has just occurred to me that I think talking to cats maybe weirder than talking to myself. At least they seem to agree with me more often than I do. Just to put your mind at rest Jodie, I've given them their treat, checked their water, food and ensured that their air-look security system has not been breached.