Recipe Roundup :: by mama

I have been trying to expand our cooking repertoire around here, and focusing especially on ingredients that we don't use often. Here are some things we've tried recently. (As usual, I am only posting recipes that I've found online, so others can access them easily.)

Pineapple Rice:

Here is the thing about pineapples: I think you either like them in savory foods (e.g., as a topping on pizza, in stir fries, etc.) or you don't. Chris does; I don't. He also really likes cashews and tofu, both of which I am kind of indifferent to. This dish had all three. Not surprisingly, Chris loved it and asked for it again the next week, while I was not particularly impressed (and haven't made it since). I wish I liked it more, because pineapples are plentiful, sweet, and cheap here. However, it's quite labor-intensive, and it just wasn't worth the effort to me.

Note: I adapted the recipe to include tofu instead of seitan. I made the dressing a day or two in advance, pressed the tofu, and marinated it in the dressing overnight. Then I pan-fried the tofu before adding it to the dish at the last minute. Like I said, rather labor-intensive.

Gougères:
When I went to Rio de Janeiro way back in the winter of 1998/1999, I discovered that Brazilians really, really like meat. In everything. At seemingly every meal. I, on the other hand, do not, and instead I ended up eating a whole lot of pao de queijo, a cheesy bread concoction that I have been missing ever since. Gougères, I have recently discovered, are very similar. Mine end up flat and somewhat pathetic-looking, probably due to the fact that our oven has no temperature control. (It is either on or off, and that's it. This recipe calls for baking the gougères at 425F and then turning the oven down, mid-bake, to 375F. Hahahahaha. I just opened the oven door for a while in the hopes that it would cool down a bit.) So they are not very attractive, but they are super delicious, and that's all that matters to me.

Creamy Pumpkin and Cashew Curry:

Again with the cashews, for Chris. And again, this was a somewhat labor-intensive dish that I felt was not entirely worth the effort. I had high hopes, because all of the ingredients are readily available here. I was also excited to be using two of them -- curry leaves and coconut cream, as opposed to coconut milk -- for the first time. However, it just turned out kind of bland. One thing I noticed afterwards was that the recipe didn't call for any salt at all, so that may have been part of the problem. Or maybe the green Bangladeshi pumpkin that I used was just not meant to go in this dish. Maybe someone else should try cooking this and tell me if it tastes any better with a different type of pumpkin.

Pasta with Cauliflower:

Yum. Cauliflower is just coming into season here, so I am looking for new ways to use it... and this one is definitely a keeper. It's quick, easy, and delicious. The bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese on top make all the difference. Kaya gobbled it up without a word. Yay!

Bean and Barley Soup:

I was destined to make this soup. Most of the ingredients are hard to find here, but they all serendipitously came together at once, without any real effort on my part. I had picked up some dry pinto beans and barley in one market, and then I spotted celery at one of the local grocery stores, and then the fruit stand next to the American Club just happened to have parsley. (Celery and parsley are only available in the winter here, and this was my first sighting of either one.) Also, Chris's basil plants are just big enough for me to pluck a few leaves here and there. In the end, I realized that I had everything I needed for this recipe. The soup was delicious. This will definitely be a new favorite for us. I did make a few changes to the recipe: I used half the onions and then doubled the carrots and the salt. It was perfect. Behold the evidence:

Happy Halloween :: by mama

Most expats here in Bangladesh hire tailors to make their kids' Halloween costumes. The tailors are skilled at making nearly anything, even without a pattern, and they are cheap and quick. I, however, took it upon myself to make Kaya's costume at home. This was a project that started last summer, when I began purchasing supplies. Three JoAnn stores and two cities later, I had finally found the pattern I wanted (McCall's 2335). I also brought back some of the notions -- like the zipper, single fold bias tape, and velcro -- that I knew I wouldn't be able to find here in Bangladesh.

[Okay, I know it sounds strange to say that I wouldn't be able to find a zipper in a city of over 10 million people, but it is pretty much true. Keep in mind, friends, that most women here wear (a) saris, which essentially consist of one really long piece of fabric wound around their bodies, or (b) salwar kameez, which are long flowy tops over drawstring pants. At most, there may be a hook and eye closure somewhere on their clothing, but no zippers. Hence, no zippers in the shops. Really, why sell something that nobody would need??]

:: A few days beforehand, Kaya practiced trick-or-treating using a peeled pomelo as his treat bag ::

I did buy the fabric here, and even that turned out to be a challenge. You see, fabric in the States is normally 44-45" wide, and then you buy a certain number of yards, according to the pattern instructions. So I went to a local fabric store and bought 4 yards of solid cotton fabric, brought it home, and immediately realized that it was only 34" wide. Typical! I am guessing that it was meant for sari blouses, which would only require a narrow strip of fabric, but of course that didn't occur to me in the shop. Of course not. In any case, rather than going back and buying more fabric, I decided to take this incident as a sign that I was not actually meant to use all of the pattern pieces after all. So, out went pattern pieces for feet and mittens. Less work for me, and Kaya could not have cared less.

:: Note to self: Long, spiky tails are not conducive to climbing on playground equipment. ::

After two Halloween parties, the tail was nearly falling off, having been stepped on, pulled, used as a weapon, and manipulated every which way. I had reinforced it with several rows of stitching, but the thing is just heavy, perhaps too heavy for the light cotton fabric of the body. In any case, it has since been re-attached, perhaps for future use by another small dinosaur in a few years!

How to stop a baby from crying

Not sure how many people out there still read this blog…. I have to give full credit to my dear Sheela for keeping it up. I apologize for not contributing. In my ten years of teaching, this has been the most challenging year yet. Hopefully things will calm down sometime soon and I can actually have time to post and keep you informed as to what the heck is going on with us in Dhaka!

One thing I wanted to share was a conversation Kaya and I just had. Kaya and I were talking about the new baby and how he was going to help the baby out. Kaya was being very thoughtful and put the balloons on the top shelf so the baby wouldn’t get germs or put them in his mouth. Then he started to show me how the baby would act. His demonstration included: laying down and staring straight at the ceiling. I then moved in and started to do a little baby talk and tried to make Kaya laugh, similar to how you might interact with a baby. Now it was Kaya’s turn, so I got into the same motionless position Kaya had been in and started to cry like a baby. I asked Kaya what he would do if the baby started to cry. Without pausing, he took two hands and closed my mouth. Brilliant! I wish it were that simple. Kids never cease to amaze me in the way they can find solutions and simplicity in a complex world.

The birthday was awesome, thanks Robin for pointing out that I am now closer to 50 than 20. I had fully accepted closer to 40 than 30, but damn, closer to 50 than 20 caught me off-guard. Young at heart. My wonderful wife got me everything I wanted and made the day perfect! Thanks my love.

Hopefully I can find the time to write about my recent trip to Malaysia with the Grade 10 students. Land sharks, albino fire monkeys, and other creations of my mind....

not to mention one of the top ten venomous snakes in the world...

Closer to 50 than 20 :: by mama

Yesterday was Chris's birthday! No, he did not receive a Barbie. However, he did get a couple of other things that we hope he liked just as well. One thing that I thought I would share is a fun little craft to celebrate some of Chris's favorite things: the outdoors and recycling. Using some photos from my trip to Portland this summer along with a stack of scrap paper, I made him a photo journal. The instructions, which I originally found via this blog post, can be found here.

Lacking a paper cutter, I used good old scissors, which led to some uneven edges... and lacking craft glue or bookbinding glue, I used wood glue, which seemed to work just fine.

Also, we had our favorite go-to cake, the Moosewood Restaurant Six-Minute Chocolate Cake (also known as the Vegan Chocolate Cake on their website, here). I had wanted to try out these Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes as well, especially since they use Guinness and Baileys, two of Chris's favorite beverages. However, Bangladesh being a dry country, that seemed a little unrealistic. Instead, on the same website, I found Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies that sounded too good to pass up (and required no alcohol). End result: a very chocolatey birthday for a very wonderful man.

Happy birthday, Chris! We love you!!

A new obsession :: by mama

One day last week, Kaya came home with a party bag from a classmate's birthday party. Among the contents of the bag was a sheet of Barbie stickers. I should say here that one of the small benefits of living in Bangladesh has been the fact that Kaya is rarely exposed to branded characters, as there are no real toy stores or advertisements for him to see. So, I didn't think he would even know what a Barbie was, and I certainly did not expect him to show any particular interest in the Barbie stickers. Boy, was I wrong.

:: The stickers went up on the wall right away, before Mama even noticed. ::

[10 minutes later]

Kaya: Mama, I want a Barbie. She's beautiful.
Mama: Really? Why do you want one? Do you know somebody who has a Barbie?
Kaya: Yes. Denise. [Note: Denise is his second cousin, with whom he spent exactly one day this past summer. How he remembered her Barbie doll, I do not know.]
Mama: Oh, right. Well, maybe you can ask Santa for a Barbie, if that's what you really want.
Kaya: Okay. [Looking around] Santa, can I please have a Barbie? Mama, where does Santa live?

[The next day]

Mama: Kaya, Daddy's birthday is coming up soon. What would you like to get him?
Kaya: A Barbie.

[A day later, at breakfast]

Kaya: Mama, I want a Barbie that talks.
Mama: Hmm. I don't think there are Barbies that talk.
Kaya: Well, Santa can make one. He has his elves and his workshop, so they can make a new kind of Barbie that talks. That's what I want for Christmas.

:: A "Welcome Home" sign for Daddy on the front door, with three people and three corresponding Barbie stickers. Daddy is Ken. Kaya and Mama are Barbies. ::

The view from year 4 :: by mama

Kaya recently had a birthday. He is now 4 years old! And what a 4-year-old he is: lively, smart, sweet, and affectionate. Every time I think he can't get any cuter, somehow he manages to do just that. As cliché as it sounds, he brings pure joy to our lives just by his presence. And, in a way that is so wonderful and gratifying to see, he brings joy to so many other people as well. It is so lovely to watch his interactions with other people, from his grandparents to his teachers to the guards in our apartment building, and to see how he brings smiles to their faces.

Kaya is also a very verbal, articulate kid. He is very expressive with his thoughts and emotions, and he always seems to have a clever response at the ready. He is constantly making me laugh out loud in ways that nobody else can do. And, boy, do I love him for it. So here are a few of the quotes that have been making me laugh recently:

**********************

Daddy: Well, I'm pretty big, you know.

Kaya: Well... not much bigger than a giant!

**********************

Kaya, in a moment of shock and surprise: Mama! I'm growing hair on my legs!

Mama: Yes, Kaya, I've noticed. You have hair on your arms, also. Someday you'll grow up and have hair on your chest and your face, too, like Daddy. How do you feel about that?

Kaya: Mad. Will you stop feeding me?

***********************

Kaya: I'm going to win the race!

Daddy: Winning and losing isn't everything, Kaya.

Kaya: I know. Winning is everything.

************************

Kaya: Mama, underpants are a very hard thing.

I think that pretty much sums up life for a 4-year-old, don't you?

Happy Birthday, Kaya!

Staycation!

Chris and Kaya recently had a week + one day of vacation to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and Durga Puja. Many of our friends used the vacation days to travel to exciting places like Thailand and Cambodia. We, on the other hand, decided to enjoy Dhaka at its best: emptied of the majority of its 12-15 million residents, with almost no power outages and no traffic. Yeah.

[Note: Of course, "empty" is a relative term. When we decided to go to Pizza Hut for their all-you-can-eat iftar buffet one evening before Eid, we (really only mama) thought it would be smooth sailing. Instead, we arrived at 6pm and were told that there would be a two-hour wait. The guard helpfully informed us that we should come back tomorrow, and to come earlier, like maybe around 4:30pm. For a meal that would start at 6:30pm. No thanks. We went to El Toro instead, where Kaya consumed three full giant quesadillas before falling asleep mid-bite, with a little triangle of tortilla hanging out of his mouth. End of note.]

Aside from that little adventure, Kaya got to spend time doing many of his favorite activities:


:: Lots and lots of swimming, when it was not raining ::

:: Building, building and more building of endless block towers ::

:: Eating Australian food, courtesy of our Australian friends. (Okay, this is a favorite activity of mama's, not Kaya's.) Here, pumpkin soup and scones. Yum. ::

Mama had to spend much of the week working, so Kaya and Dad got to work on several projects together. There are big things underway here in Dhaka:

:: Grow, little plants, grow!! ::

:: The beginnings of a new craze in Bangladesh: cornhole! ::

:: A big pot of liquid, cooling in a tub of ice. You will definitely, definitely see this again. ::