August 10, 2006

I'm finding that I have the same problem here regarding purchasing produce that I did back in the States. I buy too much and then we struggle to get it eaten before it goes bad. I think the difficulty in getting into town on a regular basis (we don't have a vehicle of our own yet, and we haven't yet figured out the local public transportation) has made me feel a little desperate and thus I've frantically purchased more fruits and vegetables than we could use right away. Now that we're becoming a bit more settled and I'm learning my way into town for the markets, I can probably start planning menus and working on purchasing less produce at a time.

There's a cute little craft/school supply store in Muak Lek. I'm constantly amazed at how much the shop owners fit into a tiny space. The aisles are narrow, and the shelves are packed. I purchased small sets of plastic animals (farm animals, sea creatures, wild animals, farm animals, and dogs), paintable sun-catchers, and pipe cleaners. There was yarn, supplies to make fake flowers, pens and pencils, composition books and uncountable other things. The shop owner ( I think that's what she is) wondered if I taught at AIMS (Adventist International Mission School). It turns out that her daughter goes to AIMS and is in the 5th grade. Perhaps next year Kelsie will be her classmate.


When I made bread earlier this week, I kept 2 loaves worth in ziploc bags in the refrigerator since my oven can only fit three loaves at a time. Last night I took out one of the bags of dough, flattened it out in a large rectangle, cut an unpeeled apple in tiny cubes, mixed it with a tablespoon or two of ground cinnamon, a cup of sugar, and made cinnamon rolls. I didn't have brown sugar, but I did have turbinado sugar and caramel sugar crystals (it's dark brown and shaped like long-grain rice). Needless to say, the cinnamon rolls were a hit! We'll probably make breadsticks with the last loaf-worth of dough.

Here's a recipe you might like to try -- it's only an idea rather than exact. When we spent Monday at Elizabeth's house, she shared some of the bean soup she'd been cooking in her crockpot. Kelsie, Ryan and I really enjoyed it.

Curried Bean Soup
2 cups pinto, cranberry, or black beans (she used cranberry beans)
Water
1/3 head garlic, pressed
1/2 -1 onion, chopped
1/2 Tbsp curry powder (more or less, to taste)
salt, to taste
several roma tomatoes, cubed
chopped fresh cilantro leaves, to taste

Put the unsoaked beans in the crockpot with plenty of water and cook them overnight. When you get up in the morning add the remaining ingredients and let them cook for probably an hour longer. If you want to eat sooner, saute the garlic and onion before adding them to the soup.

I tried reproducing the soup with some black beans I brought with me from the States. Kelsie didn't like it as much as she did Elizabeth's. Mine was thicker, I think, and perhaps I added too much cilantro.



We've started reading some of Nate's school books for storytime at night. We're three chapters into Red Sails to Capri. Monte read to the kids the last two nights, and last night he was so hooked that after they went to bed HE brought the book to bed with him and finished it! I do think school will go well once we set up a schedule and follow it. Sonlight Curriculum has done most of the work already. I just have to schedule the kids' math and handwriting and figure out what we're doing for spelling. That's so much better than having to figure it all out on my own!