2008 is here, and as it swung in at the stroke of midnight I was sleeping like a baby, earplugs blocking the outrageous amount of noise outside as Mérida rang in the new year with much music, fireworks, and general hullabaloo. Unfortunately, I took them out when I woke up for my middle of the night pee, so Ana's watch (set oddly enough for about 4 AM) woke me up, but not her. Having been up quite late the night before, she was sleeping rather soundly at 4 AM. I didn't want to yell at her to wake up and turn it off because no one else in the whole house seemed to hear it either, and I didn't want to wake anyone up. So I snuck outside, and around the side of the house to Ana's window, where I shone the light inside and stage-whispered her name until she got up and turned her watch off. A propitious beginning to my new year!
And no, there was not a fiesta last night. The fiesta was Sunday night. Tropicale, the radio station, was here with its disco movile, and there was a big fiesta. I didn't go to that either, partly because I was really tired, and partly because I didn't want to pay the 50 cords to get in. Apparently, I'm settling into Peace Corps cheapness well.
As to why I was asleep last night, it's because I made bread yesterday. Well, I helped. I thought there wasn't a panadería in town, but I was wrong. There is, and the family agreed to let me come help/learn. Really it all started with these amazing cookies called polvorones. They taste like gingerbread, and they are delicious. It continues to amaze me that while people eat a lot of rice and beans here, perhaps demonstrating a lack of food creativity, they have managed to come up with a wide variety of yummy things that will inevitably make me very fat. Anyway, I asked if I could learn how to make them, and they said sure, but they weren't making them until later, just bread the next day, and having asked to learn that too, I began my lessons yesterday. While the timeline is perhaps a little confusing, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that I have finally found a form of exercise, other than yoga, that I don't loathe. You knead and knead and knead, sweat forming on back, brow, and upper lip, but when you're done, you have bread! That seems so much better than running to me.
I also made two empanadas, which are pouches of sugar and a little cheese, but when they're baked, the cheese and the sugar turn into gooey syrupy goodness. I made only two because the family sells these baked goods and my empanadas were a good deal uglier than those of the sisters of the family, whose empanadas had beatifully crimped edges and a decidedly more symmetric shape than mine. I have made up my mind to have an oven though because I really think I could get into baking while I'm here. And I would eat my empanadas, no matter how ugly they were. We made simple white bread, which requires a lot of kneading to get that uniform white-bread texture, but it opens up a whole world of whole wheat breads, etc. I am going back for more lessons, and when they do make polvorones, I'm going to learn that too. Baking bread is something I've always wanted to learn how to do, and finally I'm learning it, and in a place where I can actually use it. While the bread the family makes is delicious, it's the only bread that's available here in town, and after eating wheat bread and yummy grainy breads from EarthFare, white bread just leaves something to be desired. I'm branching out into baking people! Wish me luck!
I also learned how to make meringue icing the Nicaraguan way. They scent it with coconut, and it was all I could do not to dive into the bowl of stuff. Delish.
P.S. I am an idiot who forgot to take my camera to my lesson, but I will take it next time. I will also post a recipe for polvorones once I have it.
And no, there was not a fiesta last night. The fiesta was Sunday night. Tropicale, the radio station, was here with its disco movile, and there was a big fiesta. I didn't go to that either, partly because I was really tired, and partly because I didn't want to pay the 50 cords to get in. Apparently, I'm settling into Peace Corps cheapness well.
As to why I was asleep last night, it's because I made bread yesterday. Well, I helped. I thought there wasn't a panadería in town, but I was wrong. There is, and the family agreed to let me come help/learn. Really it all started with these amazing cookies called polvorones. They taste like gingerbread, and they are delicious. It continues to amaze me that while people eat a lot of rice and beans here, perhaps demonstrating a lack of food creativity, they have managed to come up with a wide variety of yummy things that will inevitably make me very fat. Anyway, I asked if I could learn how to make them, and they said sure, but they weren't making them until later, just bread the next day, and having asked to learn that too, I began my lessons yesterday. While the timeline is perhaps a little confusing, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that I have finally found a form of exercise, other than yoga, that I don't loathe. You knead and knead and knead, sweat forming on back, brow, and upper lip, but when you're done, you have bread! That seems so much better than running to me.
I also made two empanadas, which are pouches of sugar and a little cheese, but when they're baked, the cheese and the sugar turn into gooey syrupy goodness. I made only two because the family sells these baked goods and my empanadas were a good deal uglier than those of the sisters of the family, whose empanadas had beatifully crimped edges and a decidedly more symmetric shape than mine. I have made up my mind to have an oven though because I really think I could get into baking while I'm here. And I would eat my empanadas, no matter how ugly they were. We made simple white bread, which requires a lot of kneading to get that uniform white-bread texture, but it opens up a whole world of whole wheat breads, etc. I am going back for more lessons, and when they do make polvorones, I'm going to learn that too. Baking bread is something I've always wanted to learn how to do, and finally I'm learning it, and in a place where I can actually use it. While the bread the family makes is delicious, it's the only bread that's available here in town, and after eating wheat bread and yummy grainy breads from EarthFare, white bread just leaves something to be desired. I'm branching out into baking people! Wish me luck!
I also learned how to make meringue icing the Nicaraguan way. They scent it with coconut, and it was all I could do not to dive into the bowl of stuff. Delish.
P.S. I am an idiot who forgot to take my camera to my lesson, but I will take it next time. I will also post a recipe for polvorones once I have it.
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