North Irish Calzone in a Swedish Food Mart

Tomorrow (Saturday) will mark the end of a very long and draining ten days.  We have decided that a hotel is fine for a long weekend, but gets wearing after a long week.  We are feeling physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted, and are looking forward to being rejuvenated when we move into our home tomorrow.  We received the keys today, and when the heating oil gets dropped off in the morning, we move in.  Our landlord was very personable and helpful, too.  We walked through the home to make sure all was in order, and poor Dave had to keep ducking as he went through doorways so as to not clip his head in the frame.  Ah, to be a tall Dutchman living within North Irish architecture.  After we got the keys, Dave’s boss, Alberto, drove us to Ikea to pick up a few things.  We originally had planned on buying a clothes rack (the North Irish don’t use drying machines) blanket, pillows, and sheets.  An American Ikea can be confusing enough to navigate, let alone one that uses European lingo (hint: a “clothes rack” is actually a “clothes horse”).  After asking around to several employees, we came across one who found our American accents endearing and gave us a quick tutorial in European bedrooms.  First of all, a flat sheet is not necessary.  While they do sell them, no one buys them (except for uneducated Americans).  The only needed sheet is a fitted sheet, which is sold separately from flat sheets.  Next, one needs a duvet, and a duvet cover.  Duvet cover sets include pillow cases (rather, pillow coverings).  So, we ended up with a duvet, a duvet cover, a fitted sheet, pillows, the clothes horse and a small throw blanket.  As we were leaving the checkout area, Dave pointed out that in the restaurant area dubbed “Swedish Food Mart” they were serving North Irish-made calzones.  Perhaps someone in Sweden decided that calzones are universally beloved and consumed and therefore would fit in somewhat inconspicuously amongst real Swedish food.  Either way, the calzone got us thinking about pizza.  Dave asked Alberto if there were any good pizza places around and he pointed out one along the road that served pizza that was, in his words, not bad.  However, he went on to say, as a native Italian, there were no good pizzerias in Northern Ireland.  Tomorrow, we are receiving a food order from Asda (owned by Wal Mart) with a frozen gluten-free pizza.  I’m sure it won’t live up to the gluten-full pizzas to which Alberto referred, but it will be a nice hot meal cooked in our very own North Irish home.