I’ve been living here for a week, now, and the adventure is starting to settle into more of a fun one and less of a challenge that just won’t quit.  We’ve got the air conditioner running over the bed, so I sleep nice and coolly, I’ve got consistent wireless internet, and I’ve managed to make a small kitchen work!

With such a small space, there’s no room for a stove or oven and I haven’t had a chance to borrow one of the extra hot plates from my lab, yet, so for now I’m working with things from the fridge, a rice cooker, and a hot plate.  So, there will be frequent adventures in cooking occurring here.  Lucky for me, today’s adventure was a total success!

I made salsa chicken burritos with queso sauce (well, ONE burrito.  And the extra filling for, like, six more) from this website.  I switched a couple of things up, though.  I put the corn and beans and one can of salsa in the crockpot first, stirring them up til they were well mixed, then laid the chicken breasts on top, then poured in the second jar of salsa on top of the chicken.  The salsas I chose were one with a good garlic flavor and one with a good dose of lime, to complicate and deepen the flavor.  I cooked it for seven hours, shredding the chicken at around 4.5, but it could’ve been done a bit later, if I wanted to cook it a bit longer.

When it was done cooking, I put it in a burrito, which was still warm (I didn’t say the air conditioning worked miracles!), with some shredded cheese and guacamole, and covered the whole thing with queso.  Let me tell you, kids, when I put that down on the table with a margarita, I got really excited about living out here.  There’s really something to be said for taking back some control and homemaking in a space that’s your own.