Our Katiebear celebrated her 26th birthday this week! She was such a sunshine-y happy baby and her sweet happy personality has endured! Here she is with one of her students!
In honor of Father's Day I thought I'd share a picture of my own Daddy. He passed away in 2001 and I miss him still. When I was a little girl he laughed at me because I was such a tomboy, he said he should have named me Louie instead of Lisa and the name stuck. He called me Louie the rest of my life!
This week was spent mostly in rain until Thursday afternoon when it finally cleared up so I could catch up on laundry! On Friday we went to Narita airport to meet up with the pastor couple from Pearl City, Hawaii. They were on their way through to Guam for the annual conference there and had a long layover in Narita, so we hopped on the bus and headed out! It's a about a two hour trip to the airport depending on traffic but the bus is comfortable and the ride enjoyable!
We met at our favorite Hot Dog Man in the airport!
We had lunch and afterwards enjoyed some coffee jelly frappuccino's at Starbucks!
When you are the only church in the country you enjoy the occasional visit!
(Robert and Ariya Santos)
On Saturday I did some running around getting things for the Father's Day service on Sunday. Here I am dressed to blend in, the obligatory hat that everyone wears and sunglasses. I don't think it worked... lol!
First, I had to go hunting for a tall fan for the church. It's getting very hot in the season now and until we get the air conditioners installed we will be needing fans! It's hard to find tall fans, many are low to the ground because futons, chairs tables and sofas are often built to sit very low to the ground. I decided to look in Mitaka as that is close enough to the church I could carry the fan there after I bought it.
I looked...
and looked....
Finally, in the third store I looked I found a fan! Then I had to carry it to the church!
It only took me twice the time it would take a normal person to assemble it! I'm getting better!
Now I was ready to shop for some Father's Day gifts! I headed to Kichijoji!
It was VERY crowded (and apparently blurry)!
My trip was a success and Father's Day at church went well!
Afterwards, we had donuts and tea and fellowshipped!
On To Food!!!!!
When I went to Wisconsin last month I told Mom I only had two places I needed to go, Walmart and the Dollar Store! Every missionary understands why I say this. There are always little things that we crave that we just can't find in our host country so trips home or friends visiting are when we manage to get a few goodies! I picked up things like, toothpaste and deodorant which for some reason is very expensive here. I also found some little treats like a box of unfrosted blueberry pop tarts and a salted nut roll. I managed to bring a couple bags of pinto beans which enabled me to make Enfrijoladas! Enfrijoladas are just lightly fried corn tortillas, dipped in blended beans and then you add crema, thinly sliced onions, cheese and salsa on top. They are not fancy at all but they are a delicious and filling comfort food!
(a picture I stole from the internet)
I also found some Dona Maria Mole!
Legend has it that Mole originated when an arch-bishop was to visit a poor nuns convent and they didn't have anything to feed him. They took what ever they could find around the kitchen, chiles, dried bread, bananas etc. and mixed it all together cooking it and creating a sauce that they poured over a boiled turkey. When the arch-bishop asked what it was the nun replied Mole which is from an old word for Mix. Usually Mole is served for special occasions like birthdays and weddings.
Mole is a very individualized dish. There are almost as many mole styles in Mexico as there are Mexican last names! I always loved the Mole almendrado that I would pick up in the Tianguis. Tianguis are weekly open air markets that travel from neighborhood to neighborhood.
(Here's a cool picture I stole again from the internet Wikipedia site for mole. )
Mole can be found in paste or dried form. There are of course probably some people that still make it from scratch but all the ladies I knew bought it pre-made in paste or dried form because it is a very laborious process! I prefer the paste myself. Anyway, the Dona Maria mole is a good enough base to begin with but I like to improve upon it by adding some of my own ingredients and try to get it as close to my favorite Almendrado as possible.
Don't laugh or say gross because I add... peanut butter, cocoa, cinnamon, sesame oil and sugar. I blend it all with the paste and some chicken stock and cook it while stirring until it is smooth.
Here is the finished product served over boiled chicken with Mexican rice and home made corn tortillas... it was delicious and a real treat! (There was enough mole sauce left over to freeze and have for a couple more meals later on!)
That's it for now! Have a great week!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment