mushroom & asparagus risotto with side of out of shape legs and confusion

I figured that since Ontario asparagus is in season, I should get my fill of it while it's fresh, local and cheap. I jumped on my bike for the first time this year and pedaled to the grocery store and got the necessities and started cooking as soon as I got home and unloaded my groceries. Things I did not have for this risotto: dry white wine, fresh cracked black pepper, and butter. I still have to get a pepper mill and I'm still deciding if I really want that gorgeous pepper mill at Canadian Tire that costs $60. I don't know if I'm willing to pay that much when one can get perfectly good pepper mills for less than $30. I need to find the perfect spot in my apartment with good lighting for better food porn shots. The middle of my living/dining room floor seems alright, but the food is a bit lost with all the white. I am not willing to buy more dishes for the sake of better food pics.

mushroom & asparagus risotto

buttom mushrooms, Ontario asparagus, arborio rice, extra virgin olive oil, Campbell's low sodium chicken broth, fresh grated Parmesan

Biking to the grocery store was harder than I remember it. My thighs were burning when I got home and it felt like my legs were going to give out. I suppose it's not too bad considering it's the first I've cycled about 9 months. It was great last year biking to work, but now that I live only two blocks north of work, it's a little pointless to be biking. It'll be good on nights/days when I'm scheduled for shorter shifts and I can go meet up with people around the city. I now have it locked up outside of my front door. The other bikes in my row of houses are just locked to street signs so I'm guessing that means that the occasional weirdos that roam this area at night are not interested in bikes.

Now to the confusion part. I now have a downstairs neighbour (who I will now refer to as DSN). It wouldn't be so confusing to me if downstairs was in good condition, but it's NOT. It's a long story as to why I'm in the place I'm living now so I won't get into, but the apartment I'm in is in much better shape than the one downstairs. There is so much stuff a.k.a. junk down there that I don't understand why anyone would move their stuff in there before getting rid of the junk. There is construction equipment, a bed with a stained mattress (*barf*) from the previous tenant as well as a ripped leather couch, a huge office photocopier and bags of garbage. There isn't a stove down there and the bath tub/shower are in a different room from the toilet. I am so confused.

Some of my stuff was (and still is) downstairs so the plan was for DSN to help me move some stuff up yesterday before he moved his stuff in. We spoke on the phone on Wednesday and from what I gathered, he was going to move stuff in the mid-afternoon. I waited around until 2:30 and finally texted him asking him when he was planning on moving stuff. The reply was between 5 and 6pm. I went out and ran some errands and was home until 6:30pm and then I left to meet Jen for dinner. When we got back to my place after dinner, my DSN was just sitting on the steps and I couldn't tell if he had gotten into the apartment. He called the landlord and he let him in so that kind of worked out. I don't know if he was expecting me to be home ALL DAY or not, but he didn't sound pleased when I told him I wasn't around to move stuff until next Sunday. As there are no curtains on his windows, I peaked in earlier today and saw shit loads of shoe boxes. I mean shit loads, upon shit loads of shoe boxes. I am so very confused.

On another note, I am volunteering at the Hope Volleyball Tournament on Centre Island this Saturday. I was a lot more excited about volunteering before I received an info sheet saying that volunteers should catch the 5:30am ferry. Are you kidding me? The tournament doesn't start until 9:00am!! Geez!