The important question of the day is whether an olive is a fruit or a vegetable. It turns out that the most important Olive in our lives is neither a fruit or a vegetable but instead a beautiful 5-year-old girl who had her birthday this week. We love our granddaughter Olive! In fact we really love all our grandchildren and miss the special interactions we have had with them in person over the years. To keep in touch with them while serving as missionaries we use Marco Polo and have discovered a nice website with books that we can read to them virtually. We have also done other things like recently telling them silly jokes.
(By the way olives are considered to be part of the stone fruit family!)
For today's blog I was thinking about foods of Singapore and the continuing adventure of eating and cooking here. Monday we found some fresh basil (not often seen here) and we were able to have pasta with fresh basil and tomatoes (which by contrast are easy to find and plentiful here). It was lovely to have the taste of fresh basil which is common this time of year in my garden back in Missouri.
I've been thinking about the foods that we have mastered cooking and are part of our regular routine here. Some of them are carryovers to back home and others are new to us. In today's blog I will delight you by sharing some of those:
Baking: A while ago someone mentioned that there was a Redman baking store near the mall where we often shop. We visited and have been delighted by the selection of different flours and other cooking basics and supplies available. I have mastered making muffins in my little oven using recipes with self-rising flour. I will miss the easy access to many cooking supplies at really reasonable prices.
Chocolate chips: On the other hand, I still don't quite understand why chocolate chips are so expensive here. We had often used recipes in the past that called for chopping your own chocolate and when we get to a store that has lower priced (and quality 😢) chocolate we stock up a bit and chop our own chocolate chunks. We have mastered making chocolate chip cookies, but I still miss being able to buy big bags of dark chocolate chips at Costco!
Homemade bread: Sean has been making bread once or twice a week using an artisan loaf recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. It is one of those "throw the ingredients together and leave it to raise" recipes. Even when it hasn't raised or been shaped nicely it makes a lovely loaf of bread for lunch and snacking. We eat a surprising amount of tuna fish, tomato, and cucumber sandwiches on homemade bread and that tradition will likely come home with us.
Mini shrimp salad. At a "linger longer" (an after-church meal in our Young Single Adult congregation) we were served one of these that reminded me a bit of ceviche. We are able to get shrimp here at a decent price and so I have enjoyed making this salad with tomatoes, onions, lime, cilantro and shrimp. Cilantro was not originally easy to find but then I learned that they called it coriander and include the whole plant (roots and all) in the bag.
Hawker Centers. We have had roti prata numerous times at hawker centres and I really enjoy it. We then discovered that you could buy it ready to cook in the freezer section. It is super easy to make by throwing in the frying pan for a couple of minutes. We like to eat it with eggs and cheese inside wrapped up like a breakfast burrito. I will miss having this as an easy and quick meal.
Sweets and Chocolate. Those who know me know I like to try these out in every new place I go. A few sweets that I like here are Hello Panda biscuits, Beryl's chocolate (made in Malaysia), and Hi Chews. I haven't developed a taste for prawn crackers or seaweed, but maybe by the end that will grow on me 😊
Some days I think that I an adjusting to being here and some days I am longing for the comforts of home. There are so many new things to try that I can't possibly understand all that is available and yet this is all part of my story. Recently in my work with a missionary they mentioned that they were missing people at home and didn't know if that made them effective as a missionary. There is a balance to create between missing home so much that you can't be in the present, and honoring what home and friends and family mean. I love the words of one of our Apostles, Elder Gerrit Gong, "Friends, brothers and sisters, we each have a story. As we discover our story, we connect, we belong, we become."
Food and family are part of that story and we appreciate the family and foods of home as well as the new ones in our story now.
Photos
1: Just another day in the office with Jesus photobombing!
2-5: We completed the first few kilometers of our planned (incremental) cross island trek. It was beautiful and not too horribly hot. There were many warnings about not approaching animals and we did see one over big and long lizard-type animal cross the trail, but no monkeys, otters, or wild dogs.
6: The pass along cards have arrived!
7: Another great addition to the supply room: a book to help people record and research their family history.
8: Yet another great reason to come visit us!
9: Yet another great reason to come join our Institute class!
And a special section just for our flower fans!
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