The search for elusive frozen spinach

So, the “welcome back to school” event was very pleasant. I got to meet some new parents and ate a couple of jam-filled crepes that the staff had prepared as refreshments. And the jazz combo was spectacular. I find it so interesting that every Tatar jazz group I’ve ever seen wears poorly-fitting suits and has bad haircuts. But they are some of the most talented musicians I ever heard. After I got home and ate lunch, I Skyped with Germany then started preparing my activities for school. At 4 o’clock the lady the director sent over to wash my windows knocked. She spent two hours and was hanging out the window, sitting on the sill of my 5th floor apartment. Nope, I don’t do windows. Actually, the director sent the lady over because she was embarsssed that the teacher from Moscow who used my apartment this summer left it such a mess. Since I had already cleaned and mopped, I told her to send someone to do the windows because I couldn’t reach them anyway. Turned out to be a good solution. Today was going to be the day I inaugurated my new oven. What better way to do it than with spinach lasagna. After I did a load of wash this morning, I decided to go buy everything I needed. First stop, bank, to make a deposit. Whoops - you forgot the key for your bike lock, idiot! Quick deposit- ride home again for the key because I can’t go shopping and leave the bike unlocked. First stop after that, the store where I can get a casserole dish. I picked up a nice casserole dish, a cheese grater(The parmigiana only comes in chunks, not grated.), an oven mitt and a pot holder. Next stop, the store where I will most likely find nutmeg, ricotta and mozzarella. I find the spice aisle and find a gazillion sorts of pepper, but not a whole lot of other things. I ask a lady for help in correct Russian. She comes over to the aisle with me, stands there for 5 seconds and says,”If it’s not on the shelf, we don’t have any." Thank you. That was very helpful. I’m just about to give up my search when I find it. Good for me. Now on to the cheeses. Yup, there they are. Now on to the cash register. Everything’s good. I go put everything in my bike basket and realize I can’t make spinach lasagna without spinach. Take things out of bike basket. Go back into store. Put packages in the locker while you go look for spinach. Hmmmmm, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, mixed veggies. No spinach. Leave store. Take packages out of locker. Put them on your bike. Stop at next store. Put packages in locker. Green beans, cauliflower,broccoli, mixed veggies. No spinach. Go to the store across the street. Leaves packages in locker at other store. Green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, mixed veggies. And noooooooo spinach. Screw it. Get packages. Put them in the bike basket. Ride home and put things away. Then think. Hmmmmm, why don’t I try Ashan down at Yuzhniy shopping center. You’re there on your bike in 30 minutes. It’s a nice ride to Ashan. Ashan has 20-minute lines at every cash register because everyone is doing last minute school shopping. Who cares? I AM going to make spinach lasagna! And damn, don’t I find frozen spinach. I find a cash register that only takes about 15 minutes and pedal home. After estimating the measurements because I don’t have American measuring utensils, I put together a very passable spinach lasagna. It cooked very quickly in the new oven and I enjoyed every bite of it. I have enough for about three more meals. That oven was the best thing I could have requested. What a good eating year this will be. Frozen pizzas instead of buckwheat. I’m delirious with joy! Now I’m just digesting and watching it get dark outside although it’s only 6:45. I’ll do some more messaging before I have to get a taxi to the airport. Sonia is coming in tonight and Ravil and I are going to help he get back to her apartment. From the sounds of it, she has had a good summer too. But now she has very little time to get back into the swing of things. We’re already thinking about where our first trip should be.