I don't think so! That means way less chocolate to EAT which is a bad thing in my book. But engineers from Britain have done just that. The car is also 95% biodegradable with a steering wheel fabricated from carrot fibers, soybean seats and a body formed from potato starch (you think maybe the engineer's favorite toy was Mr. Potato Head?).
"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! What is this world coming to?!," I think in the shocked school marm section of my brain. It was bad enough when they developed corn-based fuel and all the corn producing farmers jumped on that bandwagon leaving us with less yummy sweet corn to eat in the process.
I foresee rising prices, greater demand leading to a tightening chocolate market with less edible cocoa reaching the consumer. NO! Say it isn't so!
[I really shouldn't write first thing in the morning before I've had coffee and am fully awake.]
It is cold again this morning at 42, but we kept the wall heater (natural gas) in the bedroom area going on low all night and so it wasn't freezing back there. Yay! We can close off the hallway to the bedrooms and keep that cozy. This morning I cranked up the heater in the kitchen. It has to cover a lot more area (kitchen, living room and dining room) with some pretty high ceilings so I'm still wrapped in Ivan's lap quilt and my warmer winter robe. I also now have a steaming cup of coffee which is helping warm me up.
It's Wednesday which means Graciela will be coming over in a bit. I wonder if we'll actually read anything today ☺ Last week we didn't even crack our books. Last week they invited us over for lunch and they served us homemade pasta and a sauce that Nestor made with fresh vegetables. Muy rico!
Speaking of muy rico...last night I made black beans and rice and we topped it off with some sour cream AND salsa that my hubby made. It.Was.So.Good! I made a decent amount of beans because I want to mash them and today we'll have Mexican, but there wasn't that much left so the refried bean portion of our meal will be a little skimpy.
Didn't get much done on my quilt yesterday; ended up with less than an hour to sew. But I have it beside my chair in the living room, along with plenty of threaded needles so maybe I can work on it for a few minutes here and there. I thought once my kids grew up I'd have more opportunities for long, uninterrupted sessions of sewing and crafting. Not true. *sigh*
Coffee is finished and I need to get dressed. Leaning heavily towards some sweat pants and sweat shirt to ward off the cold until the sun does its job. By mid-day it should be pretty nice. My kind of climate ☺
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
I'm convinced that winter is just around the corner...
Because when we woke up this morning, it was COLD -- 44°. Which may not sound cold to some of you, but without central heat, that's brrrrrr weather! We did turn our heaters on for a while to take the chill off and I wore my sweater until just a short time ago.
After Spanish we went to get our hair cut, and as promised here's a photo of Flor and her cute little shop. This doesn't really show the special painting her mom did on the wall but if you look above the mirror you can see a bit of it.
She cut enough off that I'm feeling absolutely lightheaded now. Although that may have more to do with the sinuses than my haircut.
We stopped at our favorite YPF and ended up talking to a lady the hubby met once before. She writes a column for the local weekly paper and just today she decided to start blogging! So I shared a little about what a wonderful community she'll find in Bloggyville ☺ I heard somewhere that 120,000 blogs are created every day. Whoa!
I'm still working my way through the First Annual Bloggers Quilt Festival because with 579 entries, it just takes time. There are some truly amazing quilts...and some that aren't as spectacular but all are very special and have a story behind them. Like the quilt a woman created after her son suffered a serious, life-threatening injury; she designed the quilt during the hours she sat by his side in the hospital and then made it while he finished recovering at home. Or the quilt top a grandmother sewed that a granddaughter finished quilting many years later. *sigh* A few posts is equivalent to reading a whole rack of Hallmark cards in one sitting.
I'm off to work on the quilt for a while. I get a lot of joy from hand quilting PLUS it's a great stress reliever. I'm thinking little teddy bears in the center of each block...
After Spanish we went to get our hair cut, and as promised here's a photo of Flor and her cute little shop. This doesn't really show the special painting her mom did on the wall but if you look above the mirror you can see a bit of it.
She cut enough off that I'm feeling absolutely lightheaded now. Although that may have more to do with the sinuses than my haircut. We stopped at our favorite YPF and ended up talking to a lady the hubby met once before. She writes a column for the local weekly paper and just today she decided to start blogging! So I shared a little about what a wonderful community she'll find in Bloggyville ☺ I heard somewhere that 120,000 blogs are created every day. Whoa!
I'm still working my way through the First Annual Bloggers Quilt Festival because with 579 entries, it just takes time. There are some truly amazing quilts...and some that aren't as spectacular but all are very special and have a story behind them. Like the quilt a woman created after her son suffered a serious, life-threatening injury; she designed the quilt during the hours she sat by his side in the hospital and then made it while he finished recovering at home. Or the quilt top a grandmother sewed that a granddaughter finished quilting many years later. *sigh* A few posts is equivalent to reading a whole rack of Hallmark cards in one sitting.
I'm off to work on the quilt for a while. I get a lot of joy from hand quilting PLUS it's a great stress reliever. I'm thinking little teddy bears in the center of each block...
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Week 18, Project 365
One-third of the year in photos so far! Project 365 has been a blast (boy, does that phrase date me) and I figure if we've gotten this far, we're in it for the long haul. Changing gears a bit, host Sara has had an OVER haul on her blog and she's looking mighty spiffy so be sure and stop by to see her new look -- and then check out all the other Project 365ers who have linked up!
You may or may not be pleased to know I do not have a single food photo this week! Or house photos. But in an effort to mix it up and have more variety, I'm leaning heavily on photos the hubby took. Like this first one...He gets together pretty regularly with our co-worker (on the left) and a couple of other guys to practice their archery skills.
The courtly gray-haired gentleman works in the same clinic as our co-worker. He's a biochemist and handles all the lab work; he also heads up the association of biochemists in this province. I've had a lot of lab work done over the years, and this man has the most gentle touch ever -- you barely know he's drawing blood. So he's one of my favorite people since my pain tolerance on a scale of 1-10 is 1/2.
I thought some of you might be interested in seeing where we do most of our grocery shopping. Y'all have Krogers, Winn-Dixie, Publix and Walmart Supercenters. I have a Disco!
This is a popular grocery chain in Argentina; there are four Discos just in our city.
This next shot is mostly for family who know the two gentlemen with my hubby. Eduardo and Juan are retired pastors who continue to stay busy with writing, translating and teaching the next generation of pastors. Eduardo even teaches a group in the U.S. over Skype! Juan, who is also an artist, travels and spends a lot of time one-on-one with pastors right where they're ministering. These men are pretty special and the hubby was thrilled to spend a little time with them this week, when Eduardo (who lives in Buenos Aires) came to visit Juan in Cordoba.
May Day is a big deal here and I've already mentioned we were taking some young people to the Palabra de Vida facility in Santa Rosa for a day of fun and games. On the way we went through a small town having a parade of gauchos on horseback.
Here's a photo at Palabra de Vida. There were many more kids but they had various games going simultaneously around campus. 
As we headed home we were greeted by this glorious sunset! 
On our walk Saturday I noticed some trees starting to turn yellow here in town (we saw a lot of trees changing color on our trip to Sta. Rosa) and I loved how the sun was shining at just the right angle on this tree, to make the leaves seem almost transparent.
I've mentioned a time or thirteen about the quilt I'm making for a friend's baby. I finally finished the applique on a small panel and then put it together with the other fabrics to create the back.
So now I'm ready to join the layers and start quilting! When it's finally finished, it will be given to this little cutie...
Isn't she precious?!
So there you have it. No food, no houses, no flowers (the tree doesn't count, does it?). In my effort to avoid those subjects I may be reduced to taking pictures of Fine Homebuilding magazines stacked on a table in the living room. Anyone have some ideas? Is there anything you'd like me to try and photograph here? I'm open to suggestions!
You may or may not be pleased to know I do not have a single food photo this week! Or house photos. But in an effort to mix it up and have more variety, I'm leaning heavily on photos the hubby took. Like this first one...He gets together pretty regularly with our co-worker (on the left) and a couple of other guys to practice their archery skills.
The courtly gray-haired gentleman works in the same clinic as our co-worker. He's a biochemist and handles all the lab work; he also heads up the association of biochemists in this province. I've had a lot of lab work done over the years, and this man has the most gentle touch ever -- you barely know he's drawing blood. So he's one of my favorite people since my pain tolerance on a scale of 1-10 is 1/2. I thought some of you might be interested in seeing where we do most of our grocery shopping. Y'all have Krogers, Winn-Dixie, Publix and Walmart Supercenters. I have a Disco!
This is a popular grocery chain in Argentina; there are four Discos just in our city.This next shot is mostly for family who know the two gentlemen with my hubby. Eduardo and Juan are retired pastors who continue to stay busy with writing, translating and teaching the next generation of pastors. Eduardo even teaches a group in the U.S. over Skype! Juan, who is also an artist, travels and spends a lot of time one-on-one with pastors right where they're ministering. These men are pretty special and the hubby was thrilled to spend a little time with them this week, when Eduardo (who lives in Buenos Aires) came to visit Juan in Cordoba.
May Day is a big deal here and I've already mentioned we were taking some young people to the Palabra de Vida facility in Santa Rosa for a day of fun and games. On the way we went through a small town having a parade of gauchos on horseback.
Here's a photo at Palabra de Vida. There were many more kids but they had various games going simultaneously around campus. 
As we headed home we were greeted by this glorious sunset! 
On our walk Saturday I noticed some trees starting to turn yellow here in town (we saw a lot of trees changing color on our trip to Sta. Rosa) and I loved how the sun was shining at just the right angle on this tree, to make the leaves seem almost transparent.
I've mentioned a time or thirteen about the quilt I'm making for a friend's baby. I finally finished the applique on a small panel and then put it together with the other fabrics to create the back.
So now I'm ready to join the layers and start quilting! When it's finally finished, it will be given to this little cutie...
Isn't she precious?!So there you have it. No food, no houses, no flowers (the tree doesn't count, does it?). In my effort to avoid those subjects I may be reduced to taking pictures of Fine Homebuilding magazines stacked on a table in the living room. Anyone have some ideas? Is there anything you'd like me to try and photograph here? I'm open to suggestions!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
It is autumn, really, even if it doesn't feel like it
The unusually warm weather had lulled us into thinking fall wasn't really here. But driving to Sta. Rosa yesterday we saw explosions of yellow and gold everywhere...trees changing color, crops ready for harvest. It was beautiful! So in spite of the fact that it was in the 80s, we have to conclude that autumn really has arrived.
No evidence of the red hues of autumn but there were bits of orange, not in changing leaf color but in bushes with huge clusters of orange berries so heavy the branches drag the ground. Those bushes are everywhere and I've got to find out what they're called.
The scent of eucalyptus perfumed the air around the house in Sta. Rosa; even more so than usual. Realized we really need to get out there and get some yard work done, but yesterday it was just a stopping off place to fix a quick lunch. The action was all taking place at the nearby Palabra de Vida facility. May Day festivities were in full swing by the time we arrived.
Traveling home we listened to a couple episodes of The Splendid Table the hubby had downloaded to his iPod. That's one of our favorite shows on public radio. We absolutely cracked up during an interview with an older Italian lady who had written a book. At one point the lady (sorry, can't remember her name) was talking about when she initially came to the U.S. and went into a supermarket for the first time. Never in her life had she seen such a thing! Everything in it was DEAD (and you could hear the disgust in her voice). She was used to the chickens running around the courtyard until it was time to chop off their heads and prepare them for dinner. Now she was faced with coolers full of dead meat wrapped in cellophane...definitely NOT fresh!
Our generation blanches at the idea of doing our own butchering. We'll take the dead meat wrapped in cellophane, thank you very much.
But it reminded us of the time in Uganda when the hubby bought some pork from a young man who came by saying he was getting ready to butcher a pig. That's how they do it there. With no refridgeration for most Ugandans, they buy and cook their meat the same day. Anyone getting ready to butcher a cow or pig will line up his customers first, go home and butcher, then deliver the fresh meat.
Anyway...the hubby was rather horrified when the young man later delivered this chunk of meat wrapped in a banana leaf. It still had skin on portions of it, there was a thick (and I do mean THICK) layer of fat and everywhere were bits of dirt and stone, like it had been rolled in the dirt. Not exactly but close! The way they butcher is to kill the animal, lay it out on the ground (or sometimes a layer of banana leaves) and then just whack the thing to pieces. Literally. They have no concept of the anatomy of the animal and there is no rhyme or reason to the cuts of meat. Just whack, whack, whack.
So there we are, faced with this nasty, dirty piece of pig and we have no idea which portion it came from...the belly? shoulder area? behind? Absolutely no clue. Ivan ran to get another missionary wife to help us and she laughed until she cried when she saw our pathetic piece of pork. She gave us a quick tutorial on only buying meat from reputable people (the young man wasn't one of them) and then how to carve away the skin, fat and bits of bone to actually get at the meat. When it was all said and done, we had maybe half a pound of actual meat and about 4 lbs. of trimmed off nastiness.
I cooked that scrawny little piece of meat with a lot of carrots and garlic. But you know?, after seeing that meat in all its raw glory we Could.Not.Eat.It. The daughter hadn't seen it so she jumped right in with gusto, eating the meat and plenty of the carrots. We just ate carrots and kept saying, "Boy, aren't these carrots good!"
The first time we came to Argentina I ran into Sta. Rosa early one morning to do a little shopping. One of the great things here is the fresh bread. One of the worst things here is the fresh bread. It's WONDERFUL when it's fresh, hard as a rock when it's not. So you have to buy it when you need it. Therefore, I was on a bread run. But I had to slow down and edge around a delivery truck at the carnecerÃa (meat market) and glimpsed numerous sides of beef hanging from meat hooks in the back. Ugh.
But one of the best things here is the fresh meat. Supermarkets do carry packages of meat neatly wrapped in cellophane but the carnecerÃas still have refridgerated sections where they go and whack off the bit of beef or pork that you want -- beef or pork that was butchered that morning and delivered fresh. At least here they know their animal anatomy and we can specify the cut. Huge step up! ☺
Pork is not as popular as beef in Argentine. Duh! But you can get it. I fixed a pork roast in the crockpot last weekend, mixed up some homemade bar-b-que sauce and thoroughly enjoyed a little taste of home. Once in a while the hubby can talk the man behind the meat counter into grinding some pork for us so I can mix up my own breakfast sausage and Italian sausage. I just form it into patties and freeze until ready to use.
Aside from the tried-and-true repertoire of recipes though, we've always enjoying trying new foods -- I'll eat almost anything once (HOWEVER, I did draw the line at grilled Python which had been dead a few days and smelled very funky). Food should be an adventure! Unfortunately along with age come digestive issues that cause us to be less adventurous than before. Although I love raw onions (especially on top a bowl of soup beans) they give me heart burn something fierce now. Have had to cut back on the spiciness in some dishes too. Sad but a fact of life.
Which means you won't be finding exotic or spicy recipes here.
I gave you the recipe for baked beans last week. Today I'm sharing my homemade bar-b-que sauce:
3/4 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup ketchup or hoisin sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine or cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil (optional)
1 tablespoon grated peeled gingerroot
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer about 4 minutes. Use as a condiment or brush on meat as it grills.
You can find some other yummy recipes over at Saturday Stirrings today, too, hosted by Carol.
No evidence of the red hues of autumn but there were bits of orange, not in changing leaf color but in bushes with huge clusters of orange berries so heavy the branches drag the ground. Those bushes are everywhere and I've got to find out what they're called.
The scent of eucalyptus perfumed the air around the house in Sta. Rosa; even more so than usual. Realized we really need to get out there and get some yard work done, but yesterday it was just a stopping off place to fix a quick lunch. The action was all taking place at the nearby Palabra de Vida facility. May Day festivities were in full swing by the time we arrived.
Traveling home we listened to a couple episodes of The Splendid Table the hubby had downloaded to his iPod. That's one of our favorite shows on public radio. We absolutely cracked up during an interview with an older Italian lady who had written a book. At one point the lady (sorry, can't remember her name) was talking about when she initially came to the U.S. and went into a supermarket for the first time. Never in her life had she seen such a thing! Everything in it was DEAD (and you could hear the disgust in her voice). She was used to the chickens running around the courtyard until it was time to chop off their heads and prepare them for dinner. Now she was faced with coolers full of dead meat wrapped in cellophane...definitely NOT fresh!
Our generation blanches at the idea of doing our own butchering. We'll take the dead meat wrapped in cellophane, thank you very much.
But it reminded us of the time in Uganda when the hubby bought some pork from a young man who came by saying he was getting ready to butcher a pig. That's how they do it there. With no refridgeration for most Ugandans, they buy and cook their meat the same day. Anyone getting ready to butcher a cow or pig will line up his customers first, go home and butcher, then deliver the fresh meat.
Anyway...the hubby was rather horrified when the young man later delivered this chunk of meat wrapped in a banana leaf. It still had skin on portions of it, there was a thick (and I do mean THICK) layer of fat and everywhere were bits of dirt and stone, like it had been rolled in the dirt. Not exactly but close! The way they butcher is to kill the animal, lay it out on the ground (or sometimes a layer of banana leaves) and then just whack the thing to pieces. Literally. They have no concept of the anatomy of the animal and there is no rhyme or reason to the cuts of meat. Just whack, whack, whack.
So there we are, faced with this nasty, dirty piece of pig and we have no idea which portion it came from...the belly? shoulder area? behind? Absolutely no clue. Ivan ran to get another missionary wife to help us and she laughed until she cried when she saw our pathetic piece of pork. She gave us a quick tutorial on only buying meat from reputable people (the young man wasn't one of them) and then how to carve away the skin, fat and bits of bone to actually get at the meat. When it was all said and done, we had maybe half a pound of actual meat and about 4 lbs. of trimmed off nastiness.
I cooked that scrawny little piece of meat with a lot of carrots and garlic. But you know?, after seeing that meat in all its raw glory we Could.Not.Eat.It. The daughter hadn't seen it so she jumped right in with gusto, eating the meat and plenty of the carrots. We just ate carrots and kept saying, "Boy, aren't these carrots good!"
The first time we came to Argentina I ran into Sta. Rosa early one morning to do a little shopping. One of the great things here is the fresh bread. One of the worst things here is the fresh bread. It's WONDERFUL when it's fresh, hard as a rock when it's not. So you have to buy it when you need it. Therefore, I was on a bread run. But I had to slow down and edge around a delivery truck at the carnecerÃa (meat market) and glimpsed numerous sides of beef hanging from meat hooks in the back. Ugh.
But one of the best things here is the fresh meat. Supermarkets do carry packages of meat neatly wrapped in cellophane but the carnecerÃas still have refridgerated sections where they go and whack off the bit of beef or pork that you want -- beef or pork that was butchered that morning and delivered fresh. At least here they know their animal anatomy and we can specify the cut. Huge step up! ☺
Pork is not as popular as beef in Argentine. Duh! But you can get it. I fixed a pork roast in the crockpot last weekend, mixed up some homemade bar-b-que sauce and thoroughly enjoyed a little taste of home. Once in a while the hubby can talk the man behind the meat counter into grinding some pork for us so I can mix up my own breakfast sausage and Italian sausage. I just form it into patties and freeze until ready to use.
Aside from the tried-and-true repertoire of recipes though, we've always enjoying trying new foods -- I'll eat almost anything once (HOWEVER, I did draw the line at grilled Python which had been dead a few days and smelled very funky). Food should be an adventure! Unfortunately along with age come digestive issues that cause us to be less adventurous than before. Although I love raw onions (especially on top a bowl of soup beans) they give me heart burn something fierce now. Have had to cut back on the spiciness in some dishes too. Sad but a fact of life.
Which means you won't be finding exotic or spicy recipes here.
I gave you the recipe for baked beans last week. Today I'm sharing my homemade bar-b-que sauce:
3/4 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup ketchup or hoisin sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine or cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil (optional)
1 tablespoon grated peeled gingerroot
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer about 4 minutes. Use as a condiment or brush on meat as it grills.
You can find some other yummy recipes over at Saturday Stirrings today, too, hosted by Carol.
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