Silly Us!

Here are a few fun photos we took today. Just us being silly us!

Hope you all are well! We have less than 6 months to go and yes we are counting.

Rain and Lightning = No Water or Power

Last night was an interesting night! I woke up around 3am in a deep sweat. For a moment, I couldn't figure out why I was so hot. Did I have a bad dream? Menopause seems a little premature! Then I noticed our room was exceptionally quiet. Why did the fan stop working? Yes, the power was off. Then there was a huge flash of lightning. I thought someone was shining a spotlight into our bedroom until I heard the thunder. Our entire room lit up with every bolt. We have not had a thunder and lightning storm like this since first semester. I guess this is our first indication that hurricane season is in full swing.

Josh and I ended up sleeping at the foot of the bed because there was a wonderful breeze/rain coming through our window. At least we were cool. We stayed in bed until about 9am because the storm woke us up every half hour. The power remained off until around 10am. Now the water is off. Probably for the best since this is what our water looked like this morning: (And no Josh didn't forget to flush!!)

The Joys of Life in Dominica!

A Nice Dinner with Friends

Over the past few weeks, our friends (Dave, Dimesh, & Adriano) have regularly invited Josh and myself over for BBQs. We never object because freshly grilled foods are hard to come by in Dominica. You just can't go wrong with flame broiled burgers! We usually cook chicken, hamburgers, and fish. In fact, we are using the same man made pit that the boys dug just for the pig roasting!

Josh and I decided that we wanted to return the favor by cooking everyone dinner. So as soon as I woke up on Tuesday (7:30am) I was in the kitchen making baked ziti, french bread, salad, and chocolate delight. I literally never sat down. Luckily, Josh had just taken a test the day before so he could spare some time to help me. Because of our limited supplies here on the island, I sent Josh out to look for a pan large enough to fit all of the ziti. I figured with 5 strapping boys and myself, a 9 x 13 pan just wouldn't cut it! So after much searching, Josh comes back with a HUGE turkey roasting foil pan! Much to my surprise, I filled that pan full of delicious baked ziti! Josh thinks the pan weighed about 20- 30 lbs!

When we arrived at the boys house, they had moved the dining room table outside and even picked a few flowers for the table. I was impressed! It was a really nice evening among friends. We, especially Josh, are really fortunate to meet great friends wherever we go. They just seem to gravitate towards Josh and I am grateful for that!

By the time Josh and I left and after a few random "grazers" ate some food, all that remains were a few servings of ziti and a few pieces of bread! I was extremely impressed how much ziti we ate!! I am glad my hard work was appreciated.

Picture: Me, Dimesh, Coulter, Josh, Adriano, and Dave

I thought I would post my recipe for baked ziti in case anyone was interested. (Kendall!)

Hope you enjoy!

BAKED ZITI

*

1 lb. hamburger

(I hear sweet sausage is nice in ziti too. I am going to try that when we get back to the states)

1 lb ziti noodles

*

The Tomato Sauce

2- 28oz cans of diced tomatoes

1-8oz can tomato sauce

1 or 2 cans tomato paste

Onion

3-6 cloves of garlic

2-3 TBS sugar (taste before adding the third TBS)

salt (1 TBS or more for taste)

Basil (2-3 tsp)

Parsley (2 tsp)

Rosemary (1-2 tsp)

Thyme (dash)

Oregano (dash)

Black Pepper (dash)

*

Ricotta Cheese (8 -16oz)

1 egg

2 tsp parsley

*

Parmesan Cheese (1 cup )

Mozzarella Cheese (LOTS- 2 cups+)

*

1. Brown meat. Drain Grease. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, paste, onion, garlic, salt, sugar, herbs, and spices to meat and heat to a boil. (Decrease or increase any of the ingredients to taste. This is just what I do) The longer you let the sauce simmer, the better. I try to cook the sauce for about 2 hours.

2. When sauce is ready, Cook the noodles. (Avoid overcooking because the noodles will continue cooking while baking

3. Combine the ricotta cheese with an egg and parsley. Mix ricotta cheese with noodles in a bowl. I sometimes as add a little parmesan and mozzarella to this mixture as well. (I love cheese!!!!)

4. In a large pan, (9x13 at least) begin layering the ziti. The first layer is sauce (just enough to cover the bottom: less than 1/3 of the sauce), then sprinkle 1/3 of the parmesan cheese over the sauce, then add half of the noodle mixture. On top of the noodles, add 1/3 of the moz. cheese. Then repeat the layers (sauce, parmesan, noodles, moz cheese) and end with the remaining sauce. On top of the sauce, place the remaining parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.

5. Cover the ziti (spray the foil with pam to prevent the cheese from sticking) and Bake for 30 -40 minutes at 350 degrees.

*I hope you enjoy!! Let me know if you try it.

**if you want to make your own ricotta cheese, let me know and I will give you the recipe!

Josh can fly!

Josh can fly ... ... and he can walk on water...
... I can build sandcastles!

OcToPuS!!

Ross students had today off so the boys decided to go hunting. Last week, Josh and Adriano went snorkeling / spear gun hunting around 5 pm. The ocean seemed to come alive at that time making the snorkeling incredible. While they were swimming around, Josh and Adriano spotted a giant octopus. The boys claim the tentacles would stretch wider than their arm span. They tried stabbing the octopus with the spear gun. The octopus was naturally angered by this intrusion and grabbed the spear gun. The sand colored creature instantly transformed its skin into a bright white and electric blue color... intimidation maybe? This octopus was not giving up without a fight. It took the boys tugging and fighting for over three minutes until the octopus finally released the gun.

Naturally, they became determined to find this octopus again. So today, about 10 minutes after they geared up, they had a present for me! This is not the same octopus but still impressive. (Especially since the gun isn't functional. The gun is just a spear until the part arrives.)GROSS!
The octopus would not let go of spear gun. They boys had to use a stick to get the octopus to release its tentacles from the gun. Poor guy!We finished the day by cooking the catch of the day. I even tried the octopus. Very chewy but I was able to keep it down!

Pig Roast

On Friday night, a few of our friends hosted a pig roast at their house. Josh was recruited to help man the grill. He arrived at their house around 9 am on Friday to help dig the fire pit and to help prepare the pig for roasting. There was a miscommunication between the butcher and our friends. They ordered a whole 90 lbs big from a local farmer. Apparently in Dominica, a whole pig means all the meat cut up into four parts. The butcher still included the head, liver, etc but he had divided the pig in four pieces. This cultural miscommunication caused a major problem because we had no other means to cook 90 lbs of meat but over a fire. Not to mention a pig roast is mostly fun because you get to see the pig roasting over an open fire. Cooking a pig in an oven just isn't as cool! Josh put his surgeon skills to work and used chicken wire to sew the pig back together. You can see in the picture below how they also wrapped the pig in fencing wire to help keep the pig together. They used re barb poles from a nearby construction site to hold the pig up. After around 6 hours of roasting, rotating the pig every 45 minutes, basting the pig in barbecue sauce and butter, and Josh constantly refilling the coals under the pig... the pig was nothing short of perfection. Everyone at the party was raving about how juicy and flavorful the meat was. Josh and our friend Court spent almost an hour being in their element. They cut the meat from the bones, feed guests who walked by and enjoyed consuming meat different than the monotony that is ground beef and chicken.

Dirty Dirty Boys


Josh was a dirty mess and he loved every minute of it!

FINALLY... nearly perfect wheat bread!

Today, I accomplished a goal I have been working at for almost 6 months. Living in Dominica with limited resources has forced me to become more "domesticated" and perfect many of my baking skills. I have been using one of my mom's recipes for honey wheat bread but have found little success. The bread usually tastes fine but sometimes the bread will not rise, will remain doughy in the middle, and most frequently the loaf will collapse in the middle. My wheat bread usually looked like a heart with a square bottom. Last night, I did some research on the internet. I read some great pointers from other bakers such as adding gluten flour to help with rising and using special bread wheat flour. But of course here in Dominica, gluten flour is nonexistent and if I can find any type of wheat flour, it is a good day! After further investigation, I realized how important kneading is in helping the bread to rise. (I know duh!) I usually just kneaded the bread for a few minutes until it looked blended. Today I decided to knead the bread to death. After about 10 minutes, my arms were killing me! The second tip I decided to experiment with is to avoid over rising the bread. According to the recipe I have, I am suppose to let the dough rise first for over 2 hours. But I think living in an extremely hot and humid climate causes the dough to rise more quickly. Usually the dough is just overflowing in the bowl so today I decided to just let the dough double... about an hour rise.

ANYWAY, to make an already long story shorter here is my beautiful, delicious bread!!!

It may not look like much to some of you but to me, it is a huge success. Perfecting this skill has been a dream of mine since I started making bread and after A LOT of mediocre loaves... I have finally found my niche!

I wish you all could taste it! I am a happy girl tonight!