Tales from the Towers: All about temperature

There is too much cooking on TV, I believe. I switch on the TV any time in the afternoon or evening and I always find someone there who is performing miracles in the kitchen. There must be many people who enjoy watching these culinary wonders, otherwise we wouldn't get so much of it! I personally could do with a bit less of kitchen activity I am sure! I look at the people who work there, they have so many helpful gadgets, three kinds of mixers, food processors, knives, pots and pans, not to mention a big comfortable kitchen! Then I glance at my own tiny kitchen corner and I think to myself if I would have all that electrical and mechanical help maybe my own production would also be so much more successful than the occasional dish I produce as per TV instructions which at the end turns out something else altogether! But maybe I am fooling myself!

However, TV people should take into consideration the many women like myself who 1) no longer have the suitable conditions, 2) who may have lost the touch throughout the  years after the children have left the house, live alone and who- in short - 3) no longer have anybody special to cook for! Sometimes I get up in the morning full of energy and plan to produce that wonderful casserole as soon as I'll get around to it! But first I go down to the gym for a while, I do some shopping and  make a few phone calls which I owe and which I postpone from one day to the other and before I know it, it is noon and I settle down with a pastrami sandwich and Chopin on the disc player and  I quote Scarlett with a slight variation:

"I'll cook to-morrow!!!"

There is something else: From time to time I decide that I really should stay away from sweets because they add to my weight and to my bad conscience, so just by the time when I have once more taken the firm decision to be good, I switch on the TV and there is that sweet girl who does her "Sweet Secrets" magic consisting of cakes and pies and puddings. My good intentions take a dive out from the window and there I stand again in front of the fridge looking for that piece of chocolate which I swore never to touch again. It's all mine or TV's  bad timing, I suppose.

I feel that our dining room, which also doubles as a site for all our evening activities like concerts and lectures, is much too cool. Maybe someone thinks that November is too early to turn off the air condition. So I enter the elevator and go down to a lower floor to talk to one of the engineers about it. He is a nice man and we occasionally share a joke or two. I found him in a pleasant mood but as soon as I started to talk about the low temperature in the dining room he looked upset and said:

"If I do you a favor and turn up the temperature a degree or two, I can be sure that soon someone will show up here and complain that the dining room is too warm. If it is hard to please you, can you imagine how hard it is to please 250 tenants?"

I left his office with the good intention of wearing  a warmer sweater next time I enter the dining room and not to interfere with the man's job.. Outside I met a friend and neighbor who said to me:

"Good, are you finished with him? I have to go and tell him that it's very hot in our dining room and just because it is autumn does not mean that he has to turn off the air condition!" 

A gentleman joined us and voiced his valued opinion:

"You ladies drive the poor man crazy! Whenever I am down here, someone comes to complain about  the heat or the cold! I really don't know how he doesn't lose his temper!"

Yes, it's all about temperature. Although we love these last sunny days of autumn, we need the winter rain. Badly. Help me pray for it.

Lucca