Christmas Dresses

I sewed these dresses for the girls today.*  It didn't take too long since was a pretty simple pattern.  They were excited to try them on!  I sure am glad I brought my sewing machine and serger back with me this time - I'm sure it would have taken MUCH longer without them!

*I cut them out and made the seam binding you see around the arm holes last week - it just took me til the end of THIS week to get to sewing them.

Sayur Lodeh

When we first moved here I had a lot to learn about how to cook the local food.  I still do.  On Friday I made my first attempt to cook Sayur Lodeh without any help from a local friend. 

(OK, I did text her two times...)

First of all, I had to clean my vegetables in PK crystals.  This helps to make sure they won't make us sick.  I think PK stands for Potassium Chloride - whatever it is, it turns our water purple.  We let the veggies sit in the water for 5 minutes or so, and then let it drip dry.  These are called long beans - they're similar to "regular" green beans but are cheaper here, so I use them.

This lovely (sticky, see the threads on the right?) item below is a fruit called Jackfruit.  When it's ripe, it's used as a fruit, but before it's ripe, it's used as a vegetable.  Right now it's not yet ripe.  (When it's ripe I prefer that it be in someone else's house - it's stinky.)

 The jackfruit is so sticky that I oiled my hands with vegetable oil (and reapplied as needed) while I cut it up.  Crazy but true.  And worth doing, cause I LIKE the jackfruit in this soup.

 I only ordered half a jackfruit, and asked that it be peeled so there were less steps for me.  I still cut more off, so that the patterned layer was gone too, just a thin layer more.

 This is chopped jackfruit, ready for the pot.  Those eye-looking things are seeds.  They go in too.  I added it to the 5 chicken thighs already simmering in the pot. 

I then went on to pick all of the stems off of the melinjo leaves you see in the orange bowl below.  I have no idea what melinjo is in English.  

 Checking on the chicken and the jackfruit - cooking nicely as you can see!  Can you tell the difference between the chicken and the jackfruit?  Me neither...

Now that the stems are off, I massage the melinjo leaves with salt.  A bunch of salt.  Not sure why, one of my friends said that it makes them less bitter.  Not sure how that works, but I massaged them anyway.  Now that the leaves have had their massage, I turn my attention to chopping...

Long beans, potatoes...

Carrots, onions... and I added them all to the pot.

Then I started on the spices:

Clockwise starting with the heart: galangal, ginger, lemongrass and garlic (a whole head).  (Wish you could smell this!)

 I didn't chop the spices, I grated 3 of them with my micrograter 

and sliced the lemongrass, and then I placed them in my blender along with...

Coriander seeds! You can buy them by the bag at any corner market here - cheap.  Funny, I can't remember ever using coriander in any dishes at home...hmmm.

 I blended them up (this is the easy way to get them turned into a mush - without hauling out the mortar and pestle)... (follow the link for my last failed attempt at making a paste!)

 And as is the usual practice when you make a spice paste, I fried it until it was golden using a small amount of oil and a nonstick pan.  This is supposed to bring out the flavors.  I added the spice paste to the pot.

Back to chopping - I peeled and cut up half a pumpkin...

...opened a few boxes of coconut cream...

And dumped them in for a final 15 minutes of cooking time.  During that time, I fished out the chicken thighs, took the meat off the bone, chopped the meat and put it back in.

 Now, if I'd had fresh turmeric in the house, this soup would be a lovely golden color.  As it is, I debated whether I should add the turmeric powder I have in my spice cupboard just for looks, or run the three doors down to the corner store to GET the fresh turmeric so you could see what it really should look like, but I passed on it (more chopping and my hands were sore).

 Time to eat!  Yum!  It tasted right, so I must have done it right!

Flavored Coffee Creamer!!

With the turning of the seasons happening at home, I was very much missing Pumpkin Lattes.  OK, I miss lattes all the time, but somehow pumpkin-spiced coffee is what "makes" the season.  A friend posted a recipe for a flavored creamer on Facebook, and that gave me the idea that I could make my own flavored creamer HERE!  I mean, how hard could it be?  Annnndddddd.....SUCCESS!!!    Some powdered creamer, hot water to dissolve it, cold water to complete the dilution, and the necessary spices.  So.good!

My black thumb...

I have never had much luck when it comes to plants.  I always need a partner with a green thumb when I set about to nurture greenery.  This time I have a great partner, my house helper!  A colleague gave me some cuttings, and my helper helped me get them into the pots.  Two weeks later they're not only still alive, they're doing WELL!!

This kind apparently will grow some fruit on it.  Haven't seen it yet.

These are still tiny but I love that the leaves are variegated.  

This kind grows on tall stems, and the stems have huge pokers on them.  

I won't be transplanting them with my bare hands anytime soon!

This kind is SO pretty - LOVE the stripes.  I was told it's called a Wandering Jew.

I couldn't resist this one - it's HEART-shaped with a pink center!!

This one also has pink on it and is lacy - how cool is that?!

Lipgloss Princess

I always smile when I see my youngest being the girl she was created to be!  I don't think I was EVER as girly as my little one is!  Her older sister loves getting in on the action too!

 Believe it or not, she doesn't EAT the lipgloss!

My pretty little princesses!

Power Outage!

We're so thankful the power has been more stable since we arrived back here this summer!  Our generator is on its last leg, so the other night when the power went out, we couldn't get the generator to stay on.  That's when I got out my new pack of candles I'd bought just for this type of occasion.  Unfortunately candles here don't burn like ones from home, and by the time the lights came back on 2 hours later, all 12 candles were gone!  Here are some shots from our unexpected candle-light dinner!

Durian...

Josh brought home durian last weekend!  I could smell it before I saw it, and I sure was thrilled!  I'd been WAITING to see them for sale on the sides of the roads, and was afraid we'd missed durian season!

You need a heavy knife to crack them open, avoiding the VERY SHARP spines...

 The fruit is nestled in the different sections, kind of like peas in a pod.

To me these look like scoops of ice cream!  Inside each little creamy lump is a stone.  The flesh is creamy like an avocado but much more flavorful.  Sometimes there's a "caramel-y" taste, sometimes more "maple-y".  Of course you DO have to get it past your NOSE before you can enjoy the tastiness!

I'm SO glad we didn't miss durian season!

HAM Sandwich!!

This is significant  - though since you probably don't know WHY, I'll fill you in....

Here, the residents don't usually eat sandwiches.  Thus, there is not much available in the way of lunch meat (OR varieties of bread, but that's a different post).  We can get tuna and sardines in a can, and some nasty spam-like stuff.  We DO get fresh pork at the market.  One day last week, I attempted to make ham using a TenderQuick powder (which I brought with me from the U.S.) in a brine with a pork roast.  It WORKED!!!  This was my first ham sandwich in probably 2 years!

Boys making lunches

In previous years, our sons always came home to have lunch with us, since we live just a few doors down from the school.  This year they asked if they could eat lunch at school with their friends.  What we decided to do was: they would make their own lunch 3 days a week, and eat at home 2 days.  They do a GREAT job of making their own lunches!  Take a look:

More fun foods!

Since I have a camera on my phone, I try to take photos of interesting foods while I'm shopping.  Here are some recent snaps!  Any takers?

Hmmm, green pea cookies.  Can't imagine how THOSE would taste!  

Would those count as a vegetable or dessert?

(The coconut cookies are AMAZING!  Not sure about the cheese flavor...)

Beautiful Storm!

And then it was still... Amazing!

I LOVE storms here!

LEGO Time!!

This is a sight that is commonly seen in our house!  I love it!