Granted, it's usually an enjoyable pain in the behind, but. . . Well, it's a real pain in the ass. All sorts of things get scheduled for the first week of the month. Fun things, sure, but marginally icky things as well. And since the first part of May was a holiday, some of the stuff that usually takes place in the second week of the month has leaked into this week. Or vice versa-- it's kind of hard to tell at this point, and frankly I don't care.

So, lots of running about. We had the rental car until 6:00 pm on Monday, and a rental car is not a thing to be wasted, so I ran a bunch of errands. I also went to the hypermarket to buy large quantities of heavy stuff and other items that are a pain to take home in a taxi. And there's stuff I need to do for the magazine as well, although this month I magically have a topic for my column, and some concrete things to say. Mind you, I always have a general topic, but there's really only so many ways to say "Hey you! Join an activity", and each and every one of them gets boring real fast. The article I promised is already written, so no problems there. Of course, practically no one has sent me their info yet, but at this point that is exactly what I expect. They seem to have trained me well. I probably won't go into hysterics until Friday afternoon, soonest, although the fact that there are other things to keep my mind busy is a big help.

This month's Board Meeting is at our house on Friday, which would be just fine and dandy if I was going to be at home at all tomorrow. As it is, I will be baking my recently famous lemon curd bars tomorrow morning before I leave. I also want to get to the gym, although my faux-yoga class is right out. A shame, that, since I was really starting to like it and now I'll probably lose momentum. That, or she'll change the routine and I'll be paralyzed like a dork, frantically trying to translate, while the rest of the class is making like pretzels. (I know this, because it's happened before.)

Anyway, if I didn't have a dozen women coming for coffee first thing Friday morning, I'd be looking forward to tomorrow. I'm going into Lisbon for a cooking class of some sort at the Marriott, after which we'll be eating whatever it is that we've learned to cook. The gal who organized this event is a bit unclear on just what knowlege Chef Whosit plans to impart, but it doesn't matter much to me.

The last cooking class I was at was sponsored by the women's group in Milan, by a woman who knew this guy gave cooking classes and "he's great! Really!" Turned out it was this guy who blew his nose into a damp and gooey handkerchief, then carried on cooking without washing his hands. He licked his fingers while patting farinata dough into the pan-- and I'm not just talking about daintily cleaning off the fingertips when he finished, either. No, this jackass got himself a finger full of dough, stuck his ENTIRE DAMN FINGER into his mouth and sucked it off, complete with squelchy sound at the end.

Then he carried on cooking.

Without washing his hands, natch. Then he sneezed all over the roasted peppers-- after they'd finished roasting. I don't even want to talk about how he handled the chicken; I still get a bit queasy over that one. It was held in my kitchen, which he absolutely destroyed and he did not stay to help clean up, despite reassuring me that he would. Weeks later, I still found dried bits of gunk in my utensil drawers from when he'd gone rummaging around looking for stuff that he hadn't brought with him, despite the fact that he was supposed to supply everything that he needed. All that, and the idiot couldn't even dice an onion properly.

As you might have guessed, it wasn't a happy experience.

Before that, I took a series of classes, also in Milan. They were held in the home of an Italian woman who could cook absolutely anything. There were four or five of us, we cooked up a storm once a week, then we sat down in her dining room and devoured it all. It was fabulous, she was fabulous, and I learned a lot of regional Italian recipes that I wouldn't have learned otherwise.

Before that, it was working in restaurant kitchens and learning what I needed to know on the fly. Fun, in a way, but somewhat stressful and definitely sweaty. Whereas tomorrow should be fun, plus taught by a chef who presumably knows what he's doing, and the more I think about it, the more I'm looking forward to it.

I wonder if we'll get souvenir aprons or something. That would be fun. (I also wonder why I still can't seem to spell "souvenir" on the first try. One of life's mysteries, I suppose.)

Anyway, tomorrow night is Ladies Night Out, which is also in Lisbon, so I plan to just stay there and hang out for a while until it's time to meet the ladies. Portugal's first H&M opened at the end of March, and I still haven't managed to get there. I like H&M: it's full fashion made for women that have hips and long legs at the same time, and all at a very attractive price. Sure, it's pretty much disposable, but by the time it starts to fall apart, it will be out of fashion anyway. I'll pretty much settle for trousers that fit properly, since my beloved suits are in no way appropriate for Cascais and I'm sick of wearing jeans all the time.

After that, I'll browse the Great Big FNAC. I also am bringing my PDA and keyboard, so I plan to wander around the Chiado, find a caf�, and do a bit of writing. After that, I'll take the tram down the hill to the Baixa and straight back up the other side to the restaurant. I'm not sure if it's actually in the Alfama (which is the old Moorish district. It's a real rabbit-warren of a neighborhood, all sorts of narrow alleys and "streets" that are actually stairways. Very atmospheric.) There should be a good turnout, since it's in a nifty location, wherever it is. I know the general area, and I have a map, and that's good enough for me.

I'll figure out where it is tomorrow. As for tonight, I'm off to spend some time with Elvis before it's time for bed. Bedtime has been early for the both of us this week, and it's not just that we've been having a busy week, although we have.