Hakuna Matata!

Well, it was another wonderful weekend. No worries. Hakuna Matata. I love the weekends because Logan is home. Logan has been pouring over surgery books anytime he is not at the hospital. He is learning alot, and getting some good experiences. I miss him during the week, and it's so fun to watch him play with his son when he gets a chance. Liam loves his Daddy!

We have gotten some feedback on you liking hearing about our daily living, including time in the kitchen. I don't want to bore you, but am glad to post more of our adventures, which for me, is much time preparing for, cooking, and cleaning up after, meals.

Last weekend after church we were craving Yen Chings, which is right by James RIver Assembly in Ozark. Here in Kenya, if you want it, you have to make it! So we went online and found a recipe for General Tso Chicken at allrecipes.com. We ended up having to substitute, or leave out, several things because we did not have them, but it turned out really well! A little sweeter than what you might find in the restaurant, but we were pretty darn proud of ourselves! Another first last weekend, please don't laugh, was Basmati rice. I am kind of a Minute Rice type girl. So we learned how to soak the rice, drain it, cook it (for longer than 5 minutes), and whole thing!

Twice this week I made Indian curry which is a tomato and broth based sauce with tons of spices - turmuric, cinnamon, mustard, paprika, curry powder, garlic, onion, cloves, not sure what else, but literally the spices almost filled a whole cup when measured out. One time I made it with chicken, another time with (fresh) green beans, carrots, and potatoes. I even took a swing at making Chapati on Saturday! Chapati is an African or Indian tortilla-like flat bread. Levi asked for the recipe, so here it is.
4 c flour (wheat, or all-purpose)
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
Mix. Cut in:
3 T Shortening
Add 1 1/2 c warm water, mix well. Knead. Let rest 10 min. Divide into 14-16 balls. Roll into thin, round circles. Heat dry skillet to med heat. Fry until light brown on both sides.

Now this is from a cookbook, but Nancy our helper makes them with olive oil both in the batter and in the pan. So, hers are oilier than mine were. This above recipe is actually very much like tortillas. I will get Nancy's recipe and give you that. Hers is probably more "authentic" as done in a typical home. But, now I know what recipe I will use for tortillas when I make Mexican!

I made peanut butter cookies this weekend, which tasted like home. Logan said it made him think of Christmas for some reason. Maybe Jan made those cookies around the holidays.

This week we will try cashew chicken or orange chicken. It seems I make (or even try) Asian more than most here. But, we love Asian food! Perhaps now we won't have to go out to eat as much when we get back home!

One more bit of good news before I sign off: Liam slept all night last night! Hopefully he is officially adjusted now. We both celebrated this morning when we realized the last time we were awake was when we were tucking ourselves in our mosquito net the night before. Yea!

Liam continues to be a hit with the neighborhood. Last night he was at his perch at the front door and about 7 or 8 kids came up and were talking to him and tapping on the glass, just like you would do at the zoo. One was so bold as to start to open our door! I think she would have come right in if Logan had not met her at the door!

We found out that Liam's name in Swahili would be Simba. Simba means Lion/Strong Warrior. Liam means Strong-willed Warrior. Perhaps we will just call our little cub Simba while we are here in Africa. Hakuna Matata!