And by Hand.
With the many familiar western
foods that we are not able to find here, I enjoy learning to make things
from scratch. This in reinforced by the
availability of so many basic ingredients and spices. Thanks to Martha Stewart, I came a across a
recipe for Ricotta cheese. In the
western world we are so far removed from the process of how our food is made, I
often forget that originally everything was made by hand. The recipe made it sound rather easy, so I
tried it! Oh my goodness…it was easy and
delicious! Caedmon and Whitman are most familiar with mozzarella cheese as their exposure to cheese is limited to just that. Consequently they were not impressed by my Ricotta.
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| Ricotta Cheese 9 cups of milk resulted in about 2 cups of cheese |
After a few days of me being the only one eating the Ricotta, I began to worry it may all go to waste. Then a friend suggested making lasagna, to which I replied, "We don't have lasagna noodles here." Then she suggested making them. So I got ambitious and made noodles. Instead I decided to stuff the noodles turning them into ravioli. Topped with a little meat marinara sauce, they were sooo good. I admit I used canned tomato paste for the sauce and I did not have to grind my own beef, though getting ground beef is an experience worth another post! But, I did have to pick some basil from my garden to season the cheese.
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| Cheese Ravioli Not beautiful, but the taste was wonderful! |
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| My Little Garden From the left: tomatoes, basil, bell peppers, and chili peppers. I'm afraid I won't get to enjoy the bell peppers before we return in April. |
A few picture of the boys' recent fun.
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| Riding bicycles on our street. After friends showed up on bikes, Caedmon got his helmet and joined them. A neighbor girl barrowed our pump for her bike and Whitman barrowed another neighbor's bike. Our street is rather narrow, so with six kids there were many near crashes and much laughter! |
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| Our boys are a little weird as they are the only ones in helmets. |
Over the weekend I helped treat a burn on a six grade neighbor. She was getting off her family's motorcycle when she got too close to the muffler. She ended up with a 2" diameter burn on her lower leg. I forced my services on her, knowing how sanitation is here compounded by the fact they believe every wound is best left open to dry. In the frequent visits to my house, her siblings and our boys had fun playing.
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| My patient's younger sister and Whitman |
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| My patient's younger sister and brother with Caedmon |
After three days treating her wound, she gave me the best compliment I've received since being here. She said her mother said, "It turns out covering wounds is good."
Maybe one day other things we share will be accepted as well!
