food post

Baking has been another thing I've been doing more of. Since most things have to be made from scratch, I'm learning how to bake bread and other things. I could actually buy bread from the local bakery but its a 10 minute walk there and I can just as easily make it here and fresh warm bread straight from the oven tastes amazing. Instead of making an actual loaf of bread I've been making buns which cook amazingly well in our toaster oven. I've also made tortillas, pilau (kenyan dish), french fries (last night), cookies (turned into a sheet of them instead of nice separate ones), potato chips, and a few other things. 

One of the challenges of baking is that many recipies call for things that simply aren't available here. I've enjoyed the More With Less cookbook but also have found some pretty good recipies on allrecipes.com that I've had to do minor alterations to. My biggest challenge so far was making scalloped potatoes for the Thanksgiving dinner that one of our US team mates invited us to. Most of the recipies I found called for cheese, something that I haven't seen here in a long while and when I do find it, its expensive. I found this recipe online (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Old-Irish-Scalloped-Potatoes/Detail.aspx?evt19=1) but some of the comments indicated there wasn't much flavor/spice in it. After a bit more searching I found another recipe that did call for cheese but had a variety of spices (garlic, onions, paprika, and thyme) I had for the most part. I added the spices(except the thyme which I didn't have) from the 2^nd recipe and it turned out amazing. 

 

Toaster oven with hotplates on top and induction hotplate beside.

Recipe called for 1/2hr, this is the result after about 15minutes.

Using the toaster oven really speeds up the process. 

I learned the toaster oven isn't the best to make loaves. 

Although it was cooked on the inside it was burnt on the top/bottom

and since I don't have tin foil to reflect the heat, I've gone with buns ever since. 

(tin foil is available but very expensive)

 A much better result. They don't look fancy but E (a 3yr old that from another family)

is always asking for more "bed" (bread) every time he visits so it must be good. 

Gardening

Gardening is another thing that has been interesting to do here. Although life here in J has much more selection than D where the main things available in the market were tomatoes, garlic, onions, flour, rice, tomato paste, and pasta; there are still many things which are simply not available. Thus many of the team have started small gardens and are growing a variety of things. when I first arrived I thought I'd try my hand at a few things and planted basil, catnip, rosemary, and lemon balm since my internet research suggests they are good to keep mosquitoes away. A few weeks later and only the basil had come up which was kind of surprising as the catnip can reportedly be a bit of a nusance and hard to control if not in a pot. Since then I've planted many more different plants and have already notice that after just a few days I had some cucumber and watermelon shoots. I've been keeping things watered but have since noticed that the basil has had some sort of animal plant its eggs on it and soon after removing them  both plans have started to wilt. I've also noticed that the pots are either really wet or dry out really quickly which is making me consider getting a real garden and not the  small pots I've got now. I'll still start seeds in them but soon I hope to dig up an old garden that hasn't been used in a while and do some work with the compost pile which is growing. hopefully with the better dirt and water system I'll get bigger plants that will produce lots of food. Then I can pick food as I need it and not have to  get it at the market and use it in a few days.  Out here even the carrots only last a few days before  I have to freeze them or eat alot of veggies (not J's favorite idea).

Basil

 

just a few pots (there are tons more now)

 

 Garlic

Watermelon

 cucumber on the left, basil on the right

?Cilantro, parsley and basil (starting to die here)

 

 ?beans or bell peppers

 Tomatoes

Life so far

Well this past month I've been busy doing a variety of thing from medical stuff for the team to looking for a job in the city. Cooking from scratch, gardening, and sewing are a few things I've been doing as well. Over the next few weeks I thought I'd post a little about life here in J and what it looks like overall. 

I thought I'd start with a little about the Arabic language and some of the things I've found so far. One of the big differences is that the Arabic I spoke in D is different than the Arabic spoken here in J. I don't know how many times now I've used my Arabic and have it still get lost in translation even though it worked just fine in D last year. That being said, the little Arabic I do know has left quite an impression on some people in the market. Last week when wandering around the market looking for fabric some guy called "kawaja" (white person) and then turned to his friend and told him in Arabic that I am kawaja that speaks Arabic. While the locals may think I know lots of Arabic, the reality is I don't know much at all. I can get by in the market but beyond that I really struggle which is why I was happy to find a Christian bookstore that has lots of books in Arabic. I was able to find an Arabic/English Bible for less than $20US (which is a great deal considering the prices I saw while back in Canada) and even found the Arabic version of some books that I read as a child. I bought both with the plan to slowly do backtranslation and learn the words. This worked well when I was learning Spanish but I expect Arabic to be more of a challenge as even the letters are different.

In the mean time I've been using my Arabic/English Bible when I'm out and about as its easier to share with others who don't know the English but know the Arabic. With both languages side by side it works well for the most part except when I start looking up things and go to the wrong end of the book (Arabic is read right to left thus Genesis is where I would expect Revelations to be and so forth). Its taking me a bit to get used to but I'm sure I will.

anyone remember the books on the right? This one is the story of Martha and Mary, I have the Ruth one (and a few others) at home back in Canada.

Back in country

Many of you are probably aware that J and I are back in J. We are settling in slowly as we start our work here again. Some one was asking about pics from our new home and since there are more ppl interested I thought I'd post them on this blog so everyone can enjoy.

 

Kitchen

 

Temporary desk made up of computer boxes and a door. 

 the "chair" is a pail of meds

 

 

 Temporary couch which is actually a spare bed 

with a mattress behind it.

 

 Our bedroom

view out our front door 

the red thing is an old tank made into a small bbq

 bathroom

shower - bucket showers are a thing of the past....

but now cold showers are the norm

A very different Christmas

Unfortunately due to circumstances I have been unable to spend Christmas with the people I have come to love. Both J and I have left the country and are spending our Christmas in separate locations but we both are safe. Please pray for those who have not yet been able to leave and also for the local people we left behind as they too will be having a very different Christmas than the one that we all looked forward to.

airport adventures part 2

I arrived safely back home after the adventures from the previous flight. Most of our flights are chartered by our organization but there are times that our schedule doesn't always fit with the charter bookings. my last R&R was one of those times. Instead of flying out of country for a break, I was given permission to fly to the capital where my fiancee lives thus allowing me to see him and also save some money since its cheaper to fly direct with a "commercial" flight that many of the NGOs use out here.

The organization chartered flights are pretty relaxed for schedule depending on our pilot's later committments. sometimes we leave really early, other times we leave later. the flight time is announced to those going the night before and we all just drive or walk out to the plane together, load up, and leave. We still have to count our kgs and be within certain weight limits or have to pay extra as it does affect fuel amounts and other technical stuff but it is very relaxed and we dont worry too much about it.

The commercial flights that come and go are much different. they are very much run like flights in north america where everything is weighed, tagged, screened, and accounted for 2 hours prior to departure.

heading out to the "airport"

waiting in the "lounge", 

snacks are just up the road at the local vendor

 loading up and getting ready to go. 

then its off to the capital.

Airport adventures

Note this is another post written back in August. 

Today was a very interesting morning and its only 10am. I've been told that flights through the capital are chaotic and the team I'm working with hates travel through there but for me it is worth it to see my fiancée (and it also benefits the team as I’m the first to volunteer for this flight if someone needs to go). My arrival to the capital was to a very congested airport but that was expected and I dealt with it (though I did manage to accidentally go through the process backwards…. It actually was pretty handy as the lines were much shorter this way J ).

My flight out brought a whole new meaning to the word confusion and now I better understand why my team avoids this airport. My fiancée dropped me off at the airport and I went through the standard security screening and checking in. Again it was very confusing and congested but I actually did it in the right order this time. After waiting for about an hour at the "gate", my flight was called so I lined up and boarded the bus to go to the plane. Once we were all settled in the bus and the door was closed, the official announced that my flight was cancelled but they were still going ½ way to another town (this town was a stop on the original itinerary). At first I thought it was some sort of joke but some other guy up front got all upset and the official confirmed that it indeed was cancelled. So there I sat wondering what happens now. I wasn't interested in going to the other location but it appeared that I was headed there anyways. We all got off the bus at the plane and most people started grabbing their luggage to board the plane except those of us wanting to go to the cancelled location. I grabbed my stuff and asked the guy what to do next and was told my portion of the flight was cancelled and it was only going to the first town - no other explanation. Soon after my bag was put on a truck and I was directed back to the bus to return to the terminal for which I was very thankful. As crazy as the morning was, I was totally happy that I could stay an extra day in the capital with my fiancée and  my flight was rebooked for the next day. And yes I did fly out the next day J