This is the cleanest you will ever see this place

So, I’ve had this apartment for over a week and haven’t been in it for more than a few hours at a time. Why? Because while there was furniture and various amenities, there was no Internet. I need my Internet.

Today, after an exorbitant installation charge and a little futzing with devices and cables and whatnot, there is Internet, so I can be here for days at a time. I brought along with me this time more things that are “essential,” and somehow there are still things that I need and don’t have. Like a liner for the shower curtain, and rings for the liner and curtain. And tin foil. And light bulbs for the new floor lamp. 

Light is in fact the main thing the new place lacks. The apartment is bright and cheery on a sunny day, but at night it darkens right up. So, this next photo doesn’t do justice to its subject: super-easy and very delicious flatbread.

This is from a flatbread recipe I found at Smitten Kitchen, who found it in a 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine. You should go to Smitten Kitchen to see the photos there, which do justice to the resulting crackers. Very easy, very tasty, and therefore the perfect thing to make when one suddenly, spontaneously decides that even though the apartment is not really unpacked and there’s not enough light, one would like to invite friends over for cocktails.

My friends Vanessa and Derrick saw my tweeted invitation and came over, and we enjoyed the crackers and hummus and cheese and drinks, and of course conversation. It was just the kind of evening I envisioned when I started thinking about getting an apartment in the city, and all the better for having come together on a whim.