Trinkets and Leftovers

When my husband and I were first married, traveling around the world and fantasizing about how we could keep it up (ha, ha if we had only known…), we used to imagine one day having a small house somewhere (well, in Austin, obviously) and that house would be filled with all sorts of little objects from our adventures. While we try not to get too weighed down with odds and ends, we have, little by little, managed to get a small collection going of things from around the world. Many of these items are treasures we have picked up here and there, but others are small, simple gifts from friends back home. The Welsh love spoon we received from a Welsh friend in Japan when we were married, the Latvian spoon carved from a single piece of wood, the wrought iron flower with orange glass handmade by a friend in Austin, a stone box I picked up in Morocco on my very first trip to Africa 15 years ago and even the now grimy (from hanging in our window in Santo Domingo) beaded Christmas ornament that one of my best friends gave me at some point…I don’t even know when.

They’re just things, but I love the little reminders of friends near and far. These little trinkets can really make the long line of houses feel more like home. I like knowing that, while our friends might not realize it, someone (i.e. me) halfway across the world is thinking of them.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about the other things we pick-up along the way. The intangibles. Because it’s not just the little objects we gather, but the habits of others as well. If there is one definite about this nomadic lifestyle it’s the extreme flexibility that begins to permeate every corner of your life. You might think one thing today, but then you meet someone new, or see something you’ve never seen before, or hear an unfamiliar sound or taste an exotic concoction and you think, “Well, that’s new!” And, then you start to do things just a bit differently.

In Santo Domingo, I ate lunch everyday with these ladies. They had a wonderful habit of taking bits of various leftover lunches from home and the office fridge and translating it into a feast. Even now, I can easily call to mind our big metal salad bowl with the remnants of a few heads of lettuce, a couple of nice tomatoes and maybe someone’s leftover green beans tossed with a dash of oil and vinegar.

Prior to Santo Domingo, I rarely, if ever, ate leftovers. I made huge dinners only to let them go to waste in the fridge. I regularly bought produce that I never prepared. I think it’s safe to say, admittedly, that I would throw out a bruised banana, a dented apple or a mushy grape without even a second thought.

I now look in the fridge, see one carrot, a bit of leftover rice, half a can of chick peas and two tablespoons of tomato paste and can immediately translate that into some really yummy dinner. We’re still here without a car and although people are really helpful and ready to give rides to the market, being able to see the pantry as half full has been a wonderful gift. I’m regularly reminded of my dear friends in Santo Domingo. Do they know my life was touched by their habit to waste not? Would they think it silly that it meant so much to me?

It’s like this, in life in general and specifically in the Foreign Service, that we collect our blessings. In small doses, a trinket here, a smooth, sand-washed stone from a distant beach there, a blurry snapshot taken from a whizzing bus window, a brand new way to use those last few shakes from the spice jar. And in the end, we find ourselves quite full and warm and at home.

Here’s a little something I enjoy making from the last odds and ends. This is a super-healthy, wonderful, quick and easy school lunch treat.

Mini Lunch Box Quiches

Needs:

• A small amount of stale bread (I usually use the last of a two-day old baguette)
• A bit of veggies – broccoli that is just about to get rubbery is a good one or chopped potatoes left over from a previous meal or a tomato with just one small bad spot.
• Eggs – one egg per muffin tin slot
• Cheese – the very last of some shredded cheese is great, or the last couple bites of feta, or that two inch piece of Camembert that you decided against eating because one more bite would constitute a meal, not a snack

What to do:

• Grease a muffin tin with butter.
• Put a small piece of bread in each slot in the muffin tin.
• Precook your veggies however you like (if they’re not cooked already). Chop them up and put about a tablespoon in each muffin tin slot.
• Add a bit of cheese to eat muffin tin slot.
• Whisk the eggs in a bowl (I use a large, glass measuring cup because I can pour easily from it into the muffin tins). Each muffin tin slot will have about one egg.
• Pour egg into each slot.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until set. 

Vanilla Extract

I am a person of projects. I need them. They keep me moving along. My mental list of projects is long…which is really a good thing since some of my projects are probably kind of lame…or un-doable…and it might be best to never get to them (like that children’s book I wrote about 10 years ago only to discover that it already existed, ha-ha).

The list. My list of “Things to Do While in Madagascar” ranges from sewing more, to reading more, to beginning a daily meditation practice to, of course, cooking and baking. I’ve been doing my best with the baking and cooking. I committed to borrowing a baking tray from our sponsors and began experimenting with flours within our first two weeks here so I could keep up with my pizza making. The baking tray couldn’t replace my pizza stones, but it did a more than passable job I think. And, compared to Santo Domingo, the flour here (albeit in rather small bags) is fantastic. That’s the French influence I’m sure – the bread here is delish!

This past week we got our HHE so I’m now loaded down with all of my pizza making supplies and tons of other great baking and cooking utensils. We’ve unpacked all of our kitchen gear and the boys’ toys…everything else is still sitting in boxes while I set about the joys of cooking….and the children (at least the two oldest) are entertained.

I’m rambling here. Anyway, the first thing on my list was to bake some cookies. But, imagine my surprise when I headed on over to ShopRite, our local supermarket, and only found the most imitation of imitation vanilla extracts…in fact, they didn’t even try to call it vanilla extract, they just opted for “Essence of Vanilla”….which I think might also exist on the perfume aisle of CVS…next to Electric Youth.

For those of you who are not aware – Madagascar is the land of vanilla. But, to my surprise, vanilla (the type that is grown here and in the other islands of the Indian Ocean) is really from Mexico! I highly recommend a quick read of the Wikipedia article on vanilla – super interesting. So, there I was, standing in the supermarket and thinking, “What!?” When I got home I called my sponsor – “What’s up with the vanilla extract? Am I looking in the wrong place?” She said she had only seen the Essence of Vanilla. But, then she saved me – “You know, you can just put some vanilla beans in a bottle of vodka, right?” No, no – I did not know that. Definitely one of those moments when you question what other, everyday things you don’t know.

Project Number One! Vanilla Extract! Today I picked up the cheapest little bottle of vodka I could find and a big hunk of vanilla beans. I got 50 grams for about 4 dollars (that’s like 20 vanilla beans). I looked vanilla beans up on Amazon and 10 beans will set you back about $13. Needless to say, much, much cheaper directly from the source. I used this website as my guide. Only when I got to the end did I realize you have to wait three whole months to have the extract! But, Cooks Illustrated (yes, yes my favorite) says it only takes one week. I vote one week until cookies or these Wheat Thins that I saw posted on Pinterest (my new addiction).

So there you have it – what is going to turn out to likely be a two-year supply of vanilla extract is brewing away in my cupboard behind a giant bag of Malagasy pink rice.

Project Number Two? I am still, after all this time not satisfied with how my flour tortillas are turning out. Tomorrow I’m trying this recipe from the Homesick Texan.

Are you curious about the rest of the project list? ‘Cause, you know me making food in Madagascar has got to be super interesting to y’all, right?

Well, just in case, here’s a preview:

 • learn to make cheese (major development on that front – found pasteurized fresh milk today!),
 • find good fish and make beer-battered fish tacos (I have this super Canadian totally cheering me on about the tacos…I feel like it’s a challenge),
• plant tomato seeds…and attempt to have tomatoes as an end result,
• figure out something to do with Ball jars….lots of Ball jars which I bought, on a complete and total whim, before we packed out.

Calculations

The photo above is of a very large (larger than it appears in the photo) bowl of mango salsa. We had a BBQ yesterday - one last little get-together before heading off on R&R this week. The mangoes have been so amazing I figured mango salsa was a must. I was able to get 6 perfect mangoes from the frutero on the corner. Funny thing is, you don't actually have to buy mangoes here if you don't want to. There are a couple of 20+ foot mango trees on the grounds of my office - I pick up at least one every day.

I was doing a bit of calculating - my total cost for a giant bowl of mango salsa was about $150 pesos - that's around $4. The same salsa would have cost me around $12 at home. And yet, if I were to buy a pack of, let's say, veggie burgers here it would set me back around $10. I long ago gave up on creating a veggie burger that was worth the time and effort. I mean, the whole point of veggie burgers, in my opinion, is ease of preparation.

Making these calculations is such a big part of the FS life. What do I need now? What can I do without? Is it worth the money? I have written about this before. What I am finding interesting now is that the longer we are here, the less and less I make these calculations. With time we are just starting to live completely present with the food that we have here. This isn't a consumables post, but at this moment it's difficult for me to imagine preparing for a consumables post by stocking up on endless "necessities" at Costco. Who knows where our next post will be - maybe I will feel differently, but I do wonder where exactly one begins in the grand consumables shopping spree. I mean toilet paper and pasta might be on my list some day, but would peanut butter and cereal really make it? How does one decide to buy a two-year supply of cereal? Why does one decide to buy a two-year supply of cereal?

Presently, I have decided that as long as I have rice, vegetables and some form of protein I will do just fine, but this has taken time and patience. And at the end of the day, we can actually get almost anything here. As a result, I don't really have to live with that looming sense of "what will we eat?" Everything in degrees I guess. I have a friend who traveled in Mongolia for a few weeks. All they had was mutton. Now that would definitely send me straight for Costco...

But, back to mango salsa. If you want to make some, here's how:

Mango Salsa

Six ripe mangoes diced
One red onion finely diced
One red bell pepper finely diced
Two Serrano peppers, minced (leave the seeds in if you want it extra spicy. If not, scrape out the seeds)
A handful of cilantro or culantro
Juice of two limes
Salt to taste

Mix it all up and, if possible, refrigerate for about two hours before serving

Ratatouille

My worries have been proven a little true - it's more difficult to keep up with the blog now that I'm working. And, the extent to which I productively concentrate on food has also slipped. I do spend a fair amount of time in unproductive concentration on food - this includes (1) thinking of quick meals that enable me to hold on to one of the household chores (cooking) that I am not prepared to completely turn over to Vilma and (2) realizing that the time I am away from the boys results in an increase in the amount of time they eat what typical Dominican children eat.

Oh the sugar! If there was any doubt about how Dominicans contributed to the economic stability of their own country, rest assured, they keep the sugar industry well supported. Dominican children (yes, I am freely generalizing here) eat a ton of candy. This candy gets passed to the boys in places from the doctor's office to school from the neighbors' children to random people on the street (yes, pure stranger danger there!). I came home yesterday to find our two year old sucking on a BlowPop that he was washing down with a juice box (in which the first two ingredients were water and sugar…nice). I hadn't realized when I was at home how much I regulated those things (i.e. threw them away or refused them before the boys could catch the offer). It also makes me realize that I completely took for granted in the States that my children's childcare providers were not passing this stuff on to my kids. I think the most I ever had to do was ask my mom not to give my oldest cereal bars because the third ingredient was high fructose corn syrup - but, at least those things actually had fruit…and a grain of some sort.

I have completely digressed from where I intended to go with this post. So, back on track. Recently, my vegetable hating four year-old has been really into the movie Ratatouille. He asked me the other day if I know how to make Ratatouille. I said, yes - which is basically true - I know how to roast vegetables in the oven. In fact, I told him that I had made it once and he wouldn't eat it because it had vegetables. To this he exclaimed that he would have eaten it had he known it was ratatouille. "Maybe the one you made didn't look like the one from the movie Mom." "Well," I thought, "that's true. It was really just some vegetables in a pan." So we agreed - we would make Ratatouille. I did my research - that is, I watched the part of the movie where the make the ratatouille. You can't learn much from watching a cartoon rat make a dish - in case you were wondering. But, I did figure I could come up with something that looked like the thing in the movie. Tonight we went to work in the kitchen together. Dominican holiday so no work, no school = plenty of time to make dinner = happy Mommy.

As always, I had to use what was available here, so this may not be super traditional, but it was really, really good. And, in the end, it wasn't that time consuming - about 30 minutes to prep and one hour of cooking time unattended. It serves 4-6. Here you go:

Ratatouille

Ingredients:

• 1 large carrot, peeled and very thinly sliced
• 1 zucchini, very thinly sliced
• 2 small-medium sized potatoes (red or Yukon gold), very thinly sliced
• 4 Roma tomatoes, very thinly sliced

For the Sauce:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ red bell pepper, diced
• 1 small onion diced
• 3 garlic cloves crushed
• 5 fresh sage leaves chopped
• leaves from 3 sprigs fresh rosemary chopped
• two tbsp tomato paste
• a pinch of sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

The Steps:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the bell pepper, sage and rosemary and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and about ½ cup water, stir and allow to simmer. As the water cooks down, add more little by little until you get the consistency of a chunky sauce. Add a pinch of sugar and salt and pepper to taste.Spread the sauce into the bottom of a 9x9 inch glass pan. It should thoroughly cover the bottom - there should be plenty of sauce, use it all. Begin to make layers with your veggies by making little stacks in your hand (e.g. carrot, potato, zucchini, tomato). Place the veggies in the pan on their ends, slightly tilted (a little like the way Oreos look in the plastic packing). Do this until you have long rows of veggies.


Bake for one hour until the sauce is bubbling up into the veggies, the veggies are tender and some areas are crispy on top. You'll find when you eat it that the onions in the sauce will have caramelized and the tops of some of the veggies will have taken on a chewy/crispy texture while the bottoms will be super tender.

Serve with a green salad and crusty bread. Enjoy!

Savory and Sweet

So recently I have been inspired to try some new recipes. For years I feel I have been kind of cooking the same things over and over again. I think this mostly had to do with working full time and having two kids back-to-back. I lost the time and inclination to try something new - or at least to try something new, often. This is actually what led me to cancel my Cook's Illustrated subscription. I love Cook's Illustrated and I have never made one of their recipes that didn't turn out perfectly, but man the time commitment for most of them was insane. I remember my mom saying she stopped reading the magazine when she spent 6 hours one day making meatloaf.

However, recently I have been pulling a little from Cook's Illustrated online. I like the online version of the magazine much, much better. It's searchable so I can think of something I want to make and then search for it. I am also a passionate believer in their product recommendations. I have stopped buying any kitchen goods without first reading up on their opinion. After my pizza disaster I became the proud owner of this amazing pizza peel thanks to Cook's Illustrated.

But, anyway, back to the recipes. So, part of the reason for trying the new recipes has to do with the reclaiming, or perhaps better said, reorganizing of my cooking duties at home. Vilma and I had been struggling to come up with an acceptable cooking arrangement given the fact that (1) she clearly believes it is a tragedy to consume merely a sandwich or a salad for lunch and (2) she enjoys being in the kitchen as much as I do. It kept coming up that she would ask what I wanted her to cook for lunch and I would very frequently feel like, "I don't care." I honestly just wanted to make a sandwich and truth be told, the boys are fine to eat a sandwich for lunch as well. However, it is true that if she cooks us lunch, it's usually more substantial and more nutritionally balanced. I've talked about this before. Anyway, I was starting to feel frustrated and claustrophobic about having full-time help and then I realized that the solution was actually easy. All I needed to do was sit down with Vilma and figure something out. Last week, I finally said, "Okay. We need to come up with a better cooking arrangement." She immediately shook her head in agreement. I said, "How about you cook lunch and I'll cook dinner?" She said that sounded perfect and we appear to have found our stride.

This week I decided to plan out and shop for our meals like I used to back in the States. It was nice to get back to this. I planned out some old favorites and tried this fabulous Eggplant Parmesan from Cook's Illustrated. I didn't stick exactly to the recipe on the sauce - I used fresh tomatoes, red bell pepper, onion, garlic and fresh basil and then threw in a handful of the breadcrumb mixture that was left over from the eggplant along with a dash of red pepper flakes. The recipe was somewhat time-consuming, but not at all difficult. I have to say this was the best Eggplant Parmesan I have ever eaten! Even our four year-old, the pickiest of picky eaters loved it. He was helped along by Sam, our two year old, saying, "Mmmm, this is pizza!" Sam may have been confused, but it was enough to give Jasper the nerve to try it and he loved it. I overheard Jeremy trying to explain to him what eggplant was without using the dreaded word "vegetable." Evidently, eggplant is a very popular vegetable here. There is always a ton of it in the super market, but I am not sure what they use it for. I think I am going to try to search out some recipes. Vilma's opinion was that the Eggplant Parmesan was "Magnifico!" and that the eggplant (berenjena) that Dominicans make is not worth trying. Go figure. I am still curious though.

I also recently tried this recipe for Banana and Chocolate Chip Upside Down cake from David Lebovitz. I follow his blog because he writes about food (he's a chef and cookbook author) and he lives in Paris - so it has a great expat angle. This cake was so amazingly perfect and rich without being over the top. I am thinking next time I will try to give it a Pineapple Upside Down Cake twist (perhaps leaving out the chocolate) because the pineapple here is just incredible divine.

And, finally, in recipe land, I resorted tonight back to one of my all time staples in desert perfection. I went through a phase a couple of years ago where I was determined to find the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. I found some good ones, but not a single one that had the perfectly crisp edges and gooey center that I craved. I spent a great deal of time tweaking various recipes to try to get exactly what I wanted, but never quite got it perfect. Then, a friend of mine brought some oatmeal cookies to work one day and, except for the fact that they weren't chocolate chip cookies, the texture was perfect. The recipe was from The Silver Palate - a cookbook I have seen, but never read. She gave me a copy of the recipe and I set out to make my own new cookie recipe from it. This recipe is almost identical to the original, but I think it's better because I reduced the sugar by half and added dried cranberries and dark chocolate. When I make these, people close their eyes as they chew and let out a big "Mmmmmm." Enjoy!

The Yummiest Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

Ingredients:
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
¼ c. granulated sugar
½ c. brown sugar (By the way, if you live in a country like we do where you can't get brown sugar - it's easy to make your own by just adding a tablespoon of molasses to a cup of regular white sugar)
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
3 c. quick oats
1 c. dried cranberries
1 c. dark chocolate chips (I use the Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa chips)

Steps

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease two cookie sheets. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy then add egg and beat thoroughly. Mix in water and vanilla.

Mix together flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in separate bowl using a fork. Then, add it to the egg mixture and mix well. Add the oats, stir and then add the cranberries and chocolate chips.

Drop spoonfuls of the dough on the prepared baking sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes. They will still appear a little soft in the middle, but will become chewy once they cool. This makes about 2 dozen.

Zapote - Take 2

As you can see above - I went out and purchased an apparently ripe zapote. As you will recall, I have tried this fruit before and struck out. This time I think I may have purchased one that was slightly over ripe, but overall in good eating condition.

The verdict? Still not my cup of fruit. I just don't like it. The last time it tasted like raw pumpkin. This time it tasted like mushy, raw pumpkin. I love pumpkin - cooked. So, I think I have given it a fair shot - for the sake of cultural and culinary exploration. My relationship with zapote ends here.

Next, I will re-try papaya, or lechoza, as it's called here. I have never liked papaya, but when we were at the resort, I took a pinch of a piece that I had put on Sammy's plate (I am all about helping my kids try things I don't myself eat) because it looked tasty. It was! It tasted amazing! I can't believe I forgot to write about this. I guess in my resort post I was writing about being homesick so the wonderful fruit experiences got a little pushed to the side. But, anyway, it tasted like butter and fruit and almonds. So, sometime soon I will make my way down to the fruit cart near me where I always seem to have luck getting the best fruit and pick up a lechoza and make something tasty and tell you guys all about it. I'm thinking this looks good.

Yin and Yang

That thing pictured above is a Mamey Sapote - known in my local supermarket as a Zapote Criollo. I have had my eye on it since we arrived. It's another ugly fruit. Finally, today, I got up the nerve to try it. Evidently, it can be used for just about anything you would use fruit for - juice, salad, pudding, muffins.

I struck out. It was gross. I took one bite and threw it away. It's supposed to be bright orangish-pink inside (kinda' like Tang, I think), but the one I got was a little lighter and the fruit was a little firm. I think it wasn't ripe. It tasted how I imagine raw pumpkin would taste. It left a weird film inside my mouth. Yuck.

I'm totally blowing at this plan to make Dominican dishes. I've discovered that I mostly have to make them on the weekend because it's impossible to explain to Vilma why I have to make them and not her…and why I need to be able to do it without someone coaching me. Maybe I'm being difficult. I just want to be able to experiment and reflect and then perhaps have someone show me the right way. This is so me. I'm stubborn. My oldest is the same way - loves to do something until you start micromanaging. Anyway, I feel like I have to reserve the weekend for experimenting, but then the weekend comes and I want to experiment with things I am 100% certain we will love. And, I don't want to use meat - which requires an additional level of coordination because there is no naturally occurring vegetarian food here. As of now, I am dropping all Dominican-food related goals. We'll eat what looks good. Maybe it will be Dominican. Maybe it won't. If it is, I'll write about it. Deal?

On a more positive note - I made some fabulous red enchilada sauce today! At home I buy Hatch brand enchilada sauce . Yes, it's in a can, but I love the stuff. I also love the enchilada sauce on the Amy's brand, frozen enchiladas and Mexican bowls. I have been saying for a couple of years that I was going to figure out how to make enchilada sauce - one that perfectly mixes my two favorite pre-made sauces.

I can now say I will never buy canned enchilada sauce again. It was so easy to make my own. I minced half an onion and used about one tablespoon of prepared minced garlic. I sautéed these two things in a little olive oil and added about 1 tablespoon cumin and 1 teaspoon coriander. I also added about 1 tablespoon of chili powder. Once the onions were soft, I added one 6 oz. can of tomato paste and stirred it into the onion/garlic/spices mixture. I added water little by little - starting with about ¼ cup - until I got a thick sauce (the consistency of gravy). Then, I added a little packaged taco seasoning for spice (not sure how much, I added some here and there until it had the right heat level). I had considered adding Tabasco, but thought the taco seasoning might make for a better flavor - I think it worked well. Then I added a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. I let it simmer for about 5 minutes and then it was done. I'm still basking in this victory. Another kitchen success born out of the lack of staples!

But, back to the zapote. I think I'm going to try again. And yet, I am pretty sure I'm not going to like it. It has a vaguely papaya-like feel to it. I have a couple of friends back in Austin who love papaya - not me though. I realize as I type this I am making a disgusted face. What should I do? Zapote? No Zapote? I'm gonna' go for it. If any of you have zapote-related experiences, I'm game for hearing more. This fruit's got me all tangled up.

El Famoso Tostón

I'm finding myself wanting to write about food with profound observations about the culture and social structure of my host country and realizing, sadly, that I just can't do it - at least not all the time. Despite being surrounded daily by Dominicans - we don't live on a compound, my kids go to a local preschool, I'm out and about all day long - I find myself still on the outside looking in. I am certain that Dominicans include topics like race, slavery, imperialism and social justice in their daily gabs (Right? Right?), but I'm not getting invited to those discussions so where does that leave me?

I wonder if that is where the food thing comes in - it's not difficult to access the food. Dominicans love Dominican cuisine. They talk about it like I talk about tacos. So, I'll keep writing about the simple, simple food in this complicated place and hope that some day I will have something more profound to say. Maybe if someone teaches me how to make something I'll say, "So, do you have any thoughts about the African origins of this dish?" Or, maybe I'll just stick to the fail-proof, "Aye! Que rico!"

In my endeavor to make the rounds with Dominican cooking, I have opted to start with tostones. It may be cheating - I learned how to make them right after we moved here. They're easy and delicious and I guarantee, if you have friends who haven't tried them, you can pass them off as some sort of culinary masterpiece and they will never know the difference. They'll say things like,"Wow! How did you learn to make these?" and "Oh my god, I had these one time in this little Dominican restaurant in the Bronx. I love them!"

Tostones are a staple of the Dominican plate - they're served as an appetizer or a side dish…or you can just eat some with a Presidente and call it a meal. My love of food includes the healthiest of the healthy (I love a warm salad of gently sautéed spinach and grilled tomatoes) and the seriously worst of the worst (I eat marshmallow Peeps and no matter where in the world I am, my mom sends me a box for Easter). I would rank tostones somewhere in the middle - you fry them in oil (twice), but they don't absorb much of it and they are rich in fiber and vitamins and aren't as sugary as bananas. Come to think of it, they may even be pretty healthy. I don't really know.

Here’s what you do to make enough for four people:

Peel and slice 6 green plantains into 1-inch thick chunks. Do not buy bananas. Not that you would. But, I just have to stress - plantains are not bananas. Get ones that are super green. FYI - in other parts of Latin America (especially central Mexico, if I remember correctly) they make sweet plantains using plantains that are very, very ripe (blacker than any banana you would ever eat). Tostones are completely different from that - so, remember, go green! By the way - they are pretty difficult to peel - you'll need a paring knife.

Heat oil about two inches deep in a skillet. I always use canola oil, but probably anything except olive oil would work - most Dominicans use corn oil.

Once the oil is heated, drop the plantain chunks into the hot oil (you may have to do this in batches). Don't crowd them too much and make sure you move them around a bit at the beginning to make sure they're not sticking to the pan. Fry them until they're golden and then remove them and let them cool for a couple of minutes on a paper towel lined plate. After they have had a minute to cool place them on a cutting board and mash them with the bottom of a glass. They actually have this little masher thing that they use here. I came to the assumption that it was for mashing plantains and I still think it is, but I used one this time and it didn't work as well as using a glass (they weren't perfectly round like they usually are), so next time I will go with the glass.

After you have all the plantains mashed (they should look like little starbursts), put them back in the oil and fry them until they are golden all over. Remove them from the oil and drain them on a paper towel. Add salt.

That's it! It's very easy. Being from Texas I like to dip my fried things in something creamy so just out of curiosity this time I made an aioli for dipping - it was super tasty - although, presumably it canceled out the healthiness. But, you know, to each his own. They're also really tasty with a little lime juice squeezed on top. Enjoy - you're one step closer to making an entire Dominican feast!

This is What I Do

Hmmmm - don't know if I can claim éxito, but I can claim much improvement on the tortilla front . I did some combing of various Internet recipes and then just decided to combine them all with my own desire to use butter (as opposed to lard, shortening or oil) as the fat and ended up with some pretty tasty whole wheat tortillas. When I whipped them up yesterday I was super excited about this - I ate one (or two) right out of the skillet with butter and they were perfect. The sun was shining in my kitchen window where I look out at beautiful Caribbean flowers and hear the pool pump (yes, my husband is an Entry Level Officer and we have a pool - don't blame us, we just showed up and there it was) and wind chimes (always blowing with the nice sea breeze even though we are about two miles from the water). Life was good. I wasn't rushing. I had plenty of time to make the short walk over to the boys' school to pick them up. I was singing happy songs in my head.

Then I reheated the tortillas for dinner and they were nice, but had dried out a little bit. This was to be expected - fresh tortillas are always better right off the skillet. Today I reheated one in the microwave with a wet towel. While I normally strongly disagree with heating tortillas in the microwave, it can be done if you wrap them in a damp towel. This actually softened up the tortillas quite a bit - I'm glad I tried it. We have about 6 left - that's how I'll reheat the rest of them too. They were tasty, but on day two they left me feeling a little disappointed.

Sometimes, in these cooking adventures, I feel completely satisfied with my creation - like yesterday around 11:00 AM. Other times, I feel like, "Ya cool. So what. I made tortillas. Last year I was helping people not commit suicide." I have been on a bit of a high the past couple of weeks. I feel like somehow I am finding my voice and my space; as a trailing partner, even with the most supportive of employed partners, you tend to have your career (and perhaps more) sidelined. It's not all bad by any means. I never dreamed of being a stay-at-home mom, but I wouldn't trade all of the time I have had with my boys in the past year (we reached our one year FS anniversary this week). In DC and here in Santo Domingo, we have had free reign of millions of adventures. In our family, I am the one who has ended up knowing how to navigate our new cities. And I can't imagine giving up the opportunity to live abroad. But, at the same time, I wonder if making tortillas is my best me. Perhaps I should be doing something more productive. Maybe I should be making more of an attempt to return to my professional life in some form.

The very recent truth is…and this is a reality that is, for some reason, difficult for me to admit…I actually really, really love my non-professional life (whatever that means). Making tortillas gives me great joy. I'm trying to remind myself to admit to the great happiness I feel with what I am doing now and not get hung up on what I believed would make me happy when we started this journey. Life is so teeming with unpredictability - especially in the Foreign Service - what an opportunity for reinvention. So, with my apparently successful bid at making a likeable tortilla, I am reminded of the need to embrace the wide-open space ahead, spoon in hand and possibly a dash of reinvention here and there. These things make me happy. My life is good. I make tortillas.

Oh, and if you want to make some too - here's how.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour (I used bleached because (1) that is what most of the flour is here and (2) it has a lower gluten content which I read is good for tortillas, but really, who knows)
  
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
  
• ½ cup soft or melted butter
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 ½ cups warm water
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  

Mix everything together. Pull off plum-sized chunks and roll into balls. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Roll out the first dough ball onto a floured surface - get it as thin as you can without tearing it. Using your fingers or a spray bottle, slightly dampen the top of the flattened dough. Place the raw tortilla, damp side down, into the skillet. Use a spray bottle or your fingers to spray a little bit of water on the up side of the tortilla. When the tortilla starts to bubble, turn it over using tongs. Roll out the next tortilla while you are waiting for this one to cook. When it looks done (a few golden brown spots), place in a basket lined with a dish towel and keep covered. Repeat the steps above until all the tortillas are done.

Sautédita de Atún

My comfort food here may end up popping up in unlikely places. Like usual, Vilma told me she could make, "blah, blah, blah" and I, with a smile responded, "Sure. That would be good." The problem I am finding is not that I don't understand the words she's using - it's that I don't know what the dishes are. She doesn't speak English, so there is not really a way to give a reverse example. But, imagine she did and I said I was going to make muffins (which I did the other day). Muffins were a completely foreign concept to her. She kept saying, "We call those little cakes." And I was like, "Well, it's not really cake because that would be cupcakes." Anyway, as I have said before, I am moving towards just trusting her and realizing that I will probably like what she makes whether I know before hand what it is going to be or not.

Sometimes, I not only like what she makes, I am bowled over by how incredibly perfect the food on my plate is. You know how when something really, really nice happens you feel that event, or the emotions of it, like a cozy place in your heart for the rest of the day? You just feel at peace and present with what is. And, I'm not talking about something spectacular like winning the lottery or learning you got a great new job. I'm talking about the one line at the end of a movie that just perfectly captures the scene or the gentle guidance you hear one of your children give the other when you're in the other room. That kinda' stuff.

That's comfort food…OMG…I may have just invented those books that already exist (those Chicken Soup for the Soul books). I think it's funny when that happens - makes originality seem so over-rated. Anyway, Vilma made something the other day that filled my belly and my soul. It was the most random food, served up in the most random way, completely on the fly, but at that moment I was like, "Heaven has come to my kitchen!" As always, Vilma doesn't use recipes and I didn't watch her make this, but here is my best guess on how one could recreate Sautédita de Atún.

Ingredients:

• Two medium sized potatoes cut into French fries
• One small red onion cut into small wedges
• Two Roma tomatoes cut into wedges
• One handful fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped - as garnish
• One can chunk tuna in oil

The Steps:

Fry the French fries in a skillet with oil. This was actually the most amazing step to me because I know you have to get the oil just right to prevent sticking. These French fries were perfectly golden and crispy without being burned. In a separate skillet, sauté the other ingredients (except the parsley). Add salt and pepper to taste and a dash of paprika (we use Spanish paprika). Toss in the French fries and garnish with parsley. Serve alongside rice.

Papas La Juan Caina

Having a live-in housekeeper has presented a new problem…well, more than one, but that's a different story. The food related issue is an interesting one and quite frankly, not something I had expected. Often, Vilma cooks something and I am around - I have a kind of in-and-out eye on what she's doing and have a sense of what will be for dinner. She is now cooking about two dinners per week, not including the occasional time she will throw together something unexpected for lunch for me or the boys.

When I don't have an eye on what she's doing we end up with tasty mystery food. Most of what she cooks has potatoes, so that part's easy, but sometimes there is a sauce or a flavor that is completely beyond me. Earlier this week I bought a bottle of canola oil. I use is sparingly for greasing cookie sheets or frying falafel on the rare occasion that happens. There seems to be about a cup of canola oil missing - clearly that canola oil is now sitting on my thighs.

I do have to say though - compared to Dominican food - Vilma's cooking is light and chocked full of veggies. I once heard Oprah say you shouldn't feel guilty about eating a piece of pizza as long as you pair it with a salad. I don't usually feel guilty about food anyway (and don't take Oprah as an authority), but if I did (on both counts), I would remember that Vilma's cup of Wesson probably accompanied several cups of fresh veggies…right?

Well, back to mystery food. So, one of our mystery dishes for about a week was repeatedly referred to as - "una crema." As in, "Puedo hacer una crema si Uds. quierren." I had no idea what that would be like - a soup, a drink., a…I'm out of ideas. Like with most things relating to Vilma I said, "Sure, we'll try anything." One of the main ingredients we needed was "queso crema." I had a feeling I would end up bringing back a box of Philadelphia Cream Cheese so I had her pick-up whatever she needed. It turns out the necessary cheese was Queso San Juan Fresco. It must be this cheese or something like it deemed comparably "rico."

Ingredients in hand, we returned home where I went off to play with the boys and returned an hour later to find dinner looking quite mysterious, but very tasty. I thought this dish was a little strange, but the flavors worked and I felt like it was a nice, light, easy dinner. Kind of like what we call around here "snack dinner." So, here's the scoop on what is now known by me as Papas la Juan Caina:

Ingredients:

For the Sauce -

• One pound Fresh San Juan Cheese - this is a soft, fresh, mild cheese - I am sure any kind would work - get creative.

• One half pack Ala Cena Salsa de Ají Molida - if you're interested you can order it here.

• Milk - I don't know how much, but enough to turn the cheese and aji into a sauce.

For the salad -

• 4-5 medium size potatoes, peeled, boiled and then cut in slices

• 5-6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and then cut in half

• Nicoise olives - however many you like

• Romaine lettuce - left in big leaves

For the onion salsa -

• One onion halved and very thinly sliced

• One Serrano pepper, halved, seeded and very thinly sliced length-wise

• Ala Cena Salsa de Ají Molida, olive oil and salt to taste

To make the sauce simply put the cheese and a little milk in a saucepan, heat until melted and add the ají. Add milk as needed to make the sauce creamy - you want it to be like a thick salad dressing. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.

To serve -

Place the lettuce leaves on a plate and top with slices of potatoes. Pour on sauce. Top with hard-boiled egg, olives and onion salsa on the side.

Enjoy!

Peruvian Crema Volteada

Our new nanny/housekeeper was rumored to be a good cook and, thank god, we are quickly learning this to be true. She shares my passion for food and when I set out to make a dish, she follows me around the kitchen taking mental notes of what I'm doing. This, admittedly, was a little annoying at first, but now I'm used to it. She has only been here two weeks and we are already learning from each other. This week she announced she would be teaching me how to make Crema "Boteada." I had no idea what that was, but imagined that it had something to do with cream and floating…or boats. Once she started dragging out ingredients I realized we were making flan.

A little Internet research revealed that what I believed was "boteada" (which means nothing) is actually "volteada" - as in "to turn upside down." And, that is exactly what you do with this Peruvian flan. Here's how you make it - without using measuring devices because Vilma doesn't use them. But, I have attempted to make guesses.

Peruvian Crema Volteada

About one cup sugar

One can Carnation Milk

One can condensed milk

Five eggs

About two tablespoons of butter

A pinch of salt

Somewhere between 1/8 c. and ¼ c. white wine

About 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°

In a saucepan, pour one cup sugar and cook over medium high heat until it turns into syrup. Pour the syrup into the bottom of a square, glass baking pan. Pour water into a larger metal baking pan and place the glass baking pan into this pan. Make sure the water is not so high that it goes into the glass pan - a couple centimeters is good.

In a blender add the other ingredients and blend completely. Pour mixture into the glass baking pan. Cover with foil. Bake 1 ½ to 2 hours - checking after 1 ½ hours. It's done when it's set and the top is lightly browned.

When it's done, remove it from the oven and from the metal baking pan. Invert it onto a serving plate. Store in the refrigerator.

Our final review was that this is probably the best flan we have ever had. We found it to be denser than typical flan. My husband liked this because he normally finds the texture of flan kind of off-putting. The flavor was rich and creamy without being too sugary. The next day, I couldn't help myself - I ate it for breakfast. It's one of those perfect dishes where you just close your eyes and meditate on the flavors. Enjoy!