Living overseas brings us many opportunities to try new things. New forms of transportation, new styles of clothing, and new food for example. Though we have experienced many great new things and even incorporated some into our lives, it can still be risky.
I, Erin, am always looking for suitable substitutions for ingredients I am accustomed to cooking with, yet cannot find here in Barat, even more so during the holiday season. Much of the cooking or baking I do simply requires ingredients I must prepare from scratch. For example, I have had success making gingerbread cookies, though molasses isn't available and I have to grind my own ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Melted palm sugar makes a very acceptable molasses substitute.
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| Whitman measuring ingredients for Gingerbread Men |
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| Caedmon reading the instructions and patiently waiting to cut out cookies |
One of my favorite holiday cookies are Mexican Wedding Cakes
or Russian Tea Cakes. Unfortunately they
call for walnuts or pecans, neither of which are available here. There are peanuts, which would drastically
alter the flavor, or candlenuts. I had never heard of candlenuts until living here, though it is the state tree of Hawaii. Candlenuts remind me of macadamia nuts, only slightly larger. They are used in sauces here, as a thickener. Having never used them before, I decided I should look up a little information on them before immediately trying them as a substitute in cookies. The information I found said they are slightly toxic, acting as a purgative, when eaten raw. But the toxic components break down when roasted or cooked. To be safe, I roasted the nuts first, then used them in my cookie recipe. It worked really well and they were delicious, quite like the originals, or so we thought.
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| Roasted Candlenuts |
About an hour or two after John and I had eaten many cookies, we began to feel quite nauseous. That evening we experienced the purgative effect of the candlenut, though they had been both roasted and baked. Caedmon had eaten two cookies, which was enough to affect him. Thankfully Whitman had eaten one and experienced only a stomach ache. I since have been asked by the boys not to make any more 'poisoned cookies.' Not to worry, I do not have any plans to use candlenut again.
In other family news...
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| Evangeline has started eating solids, though she is not yet a fan. |
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| We did some seasonal decorating, for which Caedmon was very enthusiastic! |
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| Evangeline is almost sitting on her own. |
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| Hanging out and being silly. |
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Like Father Like Son
homeschool and language study
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Aside from our candlenut incident, we are all well. Keeping busy with the usual language study, schooling and life. I have been enjoying slightly cooler weather as rainy season is in full swing. John has just wrapped up a youth soccer league, comprised of 5 teams, and I will continue to find ways to enjoy and celebrate the holiday season, though maybe a little more cautiously with my substitutions, while we are far from the usual festivities.
Happy December to all and please enjoy the snow for us!
