Starting Over with an Empty kitchen

It's only been less than a week; and I've gone out to purchase necessities for my new pantry. It's stocked up now,still pretty bare and basic.....but just enough to satisfy me; for now.... at least. Hehe.
I have this bad habit of buying too much for my kitchen; thinking of the many uses I'll have for the unnecessary item as I walk down supermarket aisles.
This time; I had to keep in mind that I wouldn't be here for long. I tried my best to only buy what I needed; only in quantities I can handle. I couldn't splurge as much as I usually would want to on cooking utensils and it was fairly difficult trying to decide what were the items I NEEDed..and what I could do without. I wanted EVERYTHING! *greedy grin* I had a go at dinner for myself today anyway. I've been making lots of sandwiches to pack-off for lunch in between classes recently, but it was the first time I actually made a hearty meal for myself in my new kitchen. I had discovered a couple of foreign looking vegetables in the local scene and decided to dunk some into my stew for fun! I'm so excited about tomorrows visit to the markets with my classmates!

One Pot meal for One

1 chorizo sausage sliced
1 can crushed tomatoes
2 sprigs fresh oregano roughly diced
1 full garlic with cloves peeled
3 small onions roughly sliced into thick rings
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup water
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
(hard vegetables of your choice)
I love Carrots; potatoes and pumpkin.
Pepper to taste

Heat oil in a pot with medium heat; add in garlic and sliced chorizo; Stir fry till fragrant and golden. Add in everything else and bring to a boil. Lower stove top heat and simmer for another 8-10 minutes with lid on top. Stir occasionally till hard chopped vegetables are tender and liquid is at desired thickness. Serve with crusty bread or croutons.
I made my own by baking tiny chopped up bread chunks tossed in a swirl of olive oil, light dashes of sea salt and garlic seasoning. Store excess in air tight container after they cool for another night of soup.
I never like to bin out good crusts from delicious bread. There really is so much we can do with offcuts from bread.

Cooking for myself is getting a little more complicated than I had imagined. Back in Sydney; I had my dear girls to feed, and I could buy groceries knowing I'd be using up most of the items within the week.. now.. everything just seems like they're too big a portion for me. As I made my dinner today, I thought about how much I miss cooking for my friends...and it finally hit me real hard how much I'll be missing them during my 6 months here in the US alone. I guess sacrifices must be made when you're focused on what you want to do with your life.

I finally went past my comfort zone of driving the route from class to home this afternoon and ventured off into downtown Orlando. It was the first time Orlando gave me a different perspective of what it had to offer; towering buildings and bustling city life sped by as I drove down the east-west highway in search of an Asian grocer which I was told sold international adapters for my Malaysian appliances. A cool dude working at the electronic store close to the NotterSchool had drawn up a map for me with instructions to get there. He mentioned that it had everything Asian he could imagine. The store was HUGE! Probably the largest Asian grocer I've seen in my life! No kidding. It was a Vietnamese store with a wide range from Japanese ingredients to Chinese, Korean, Thai, Viet and Indian sauces. It sold DVD's, pottery, electronics, fresh food, frozen ingredients. They had INDOmee!! *laughs* The instant noodle lover in me could not resist!
I owe the young chap from Best buy something yummy for leading me there~ I got extremely worried I'd never find Asian groceries as there are almost none at local supermarkets and hardly any within the vicinity of my new home.
I'm lucky this place isn't far from me at all... I found it in less than 15 minutes and drove home an hour later with a car full of goodies and a big fat smile. Yay!

*p.s: Looks like some one is still in a Christmas mood :P. I drove past and thought little Santa-hydrant would make a charming photograph.