Calabaza ~ Calabeza

I hope everyone had a festive Thanksgiving with all the yummy trimmings. The holiday crept up on me and before I knew it I was scrambling in my head on how we were going to celebrate the day. Sister's school had a half day on Thursday and they celebrated with a few parent volunteers who came in with a Thanksgiving meal cooked for all the kids. No stuffing, sweat potatoes or green bean casserole; but turkey, corn on the cob and some mashed potatoes, which I guess were so goopey and runny Sister didn't even know what they were. She said they were really yellow too. Maybe it was yellow gravy? Or butter? Sister brought some leftover turkey home and it was good, but dry. I'm guessing the women who cooked it hadn't cooked a turkey before, though it is easy to dry a turkey out roasting. It was a cute attempt at an American tradition.

I, on the other hand decided I would cook chicken, tzimmes (which are a Jewish carrot/sweet potato dish), a can of green beans (creative -huh?) and mashed potatoes. Sister was begging for pumpkin pie and I thought she would enjoy this little idea I had (see below). I stopped at the grocery store on the way home thinking I'd be able to find a can of pumpkin.

I searched the canned goods aisle with no luck. It's not uncommon for them to put holiday items someplace other than the obvious, so at the checkout I asked if they had any "calabeza". Okay...let me stop here for a moment. I would say that my Spanish is equivalent to a two year old. I often say things wrong or put words in the wrong order and definitely have horrible conjugation of verbs. All this might be cute for a two year old. So what did I ask for??? Well, I guess that would maybe translate as "pumpkin head"? Ha ha ha!

Calabaza = pumpkin. (cal-ah-bah-sa)
Cabeza = head (ca-bay-sa).
So you put the two together and what have you got? A pumpkin head!! I told Papa when I got home and he had a good laugh on me. Doh! See? I told you I needed Spanish lessons.

On with the post. We never got our can of pumpkin that night and Sister ended up having a school program in the evening so we never even got to eat the Thanksgiving meal I made (that night anyway, though we had leftovers for a few days). By the time we left the school event we were starving so just stopped at KFC for kids meals. KFC popcorn chicken is pretty yummy here, by the way.

On Saturday, I needed to make a run for another grocery store here in San Pedro Sula that sells whole wheat flour. Guess what they had? Pumpkin! Yep, we bought a can and here is what we made. It is soo good! And lowfat! We used fat free vanilla yogurt and Cool Whip light. I also used fresh ginger instead of dried and used just a pinch of nutmeg instead of the 3/4 tsp. It didn't freeze completely by the time we ate it, but was stiff and a little icy. The next day it was frozen through and perfect! Maybe you'd like to try it? So here is the recipe I used.

Frozen Yogurt Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1/4 Cup Margarine, melted

Or store bought crust!

Pie Filling
16 Ounces Pumpkin
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
3/4 Teaspoon Ginger
3/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
2 Cups Yogurt, Skim Milk
1 Cup Cool Whip Lite, thawed

Directions:
Heat oven to 350~. Mix ingredients for pie crust. Press firmly and evenly against bottom and sides of 9" pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes; cool. Mix pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in medium bowl. Stir in yogurt. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into prepared crust. Freeze 4-5 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer 45 minutes before serving. Freeze any remaining pie.

Pricemart & My Christmas Wish List

Well, it's been kind of a slow week. I've been you know...doing the usual things like cooking and cleaning and cooking and cleaning some more with some toddler entertaining and tweener raising too. Oh boy. Exciting days here.

I did go to Pricemart this last week, which is always a little fun. I like to see what they have in. We just got a membership not that long ago, so it's still new to me and I like to have an excuse to go there. This week, it was to look for a new cordless phone. A lot of the stuff they have is from the US. It's fun to see all the American brand stuff, but some of it, I still pass up because it's priced so dang high. For example, honey. You can buy a big bottle of Honduran honey for 1/2 what the American brand honey costs in the same size bottle. What's the diff? No complaints here on Honduran honey. They have fresh produce, meats, bakery and cheeses. But the prices are comparable if not more than at a regular, no membership needed grocery store. Where they have the best prices is buying in bulk such as boxed/canned/bottled foods, garbage bags, paper goods, etc. If you shop Sam's or Cosco you know what I'm talking about. They have good prices on toys too. Especially now.

We are coming up on the Christmas season, and Papa and I...well I have been trying to talk to Papa about what we are going to do for the kids. As you know we have our Christmas tree up. Oh! Did I not tell you all that yet? Here's a little photo spread:


Setting up the fake 9 ft tree. Why we got a 9 foot tree I have no idea. A tad tall for our bare little living room.







Here is the Christmas tree decorated and lit. Yes, it's blurry. Oh well. I need to review the picture taking manual that came with my camera. The tree looks really nice. It's only missing those icicle things I usually put on the tree. I couldn't find any at the stores.

I was thinking if I had a Christmas wish list - what would be on it? I already have gifts stashed away that my parents wrapped and left for us to put under the tree. But other than those, I don't think I will be getting anything else. But that's okay. I'm sure one day when Papa's business has become well established he will probably knock my socks off with some kind of gift. He's such a romantic and loves to give gifts. But...as it is, money is tight and I can live without silly Christmas presents. I mostly like to see the kids open their presents. I am so excited this year to be all together and have a hay day Christmas morning...or eve, whichever we decide to do. They usually celebrate on Christmas eve here in Honduras.

So here it goes anyway. I'll do a top 10 most wished for things this Christmas. Not in any specific order. I'm just coming up with this off the top of my head.

1. Snow - it doesn't even feel like Christmas and often feels silly to have the house decked out.
   
2. Berry Spicey/Apple-Cinnamon-y/Evergreen-ish scented candles- I bought some "Christmas" scented oil for L30 ($1.75) at the mall that smells like pine trees thinking maybe it would make me feel more in the mood. It's okay, but there is something about candles that I like. Sadly they didn't have anything else even close to those cozy baked goods smellin' oils. I'm sure I might be able to find some candles at another store. But then it wouldn't be on my wish list.
   
3. New cute shirts- I'm feeling like a bum in my tank tops and tee-shirts.
   
4. Hot Hot Hot heals - I need like 3 or 4 pairs. My 2 pairs are not doing it for me.
   
5. A new printer- I got a free Dell printer with my computer and wouldn't you know...you can only buy replacement ink cartridges from Dell and they don't ship to Latin America. Would it even be worth shipping in the first place? So I just want a new printer.
6. Spanish Lessons- I cannot even begin to tell you how hard and restricting it is not being able to communicate. We just can't afford lessons right now. Yes, I've been trying on my own, but it's very slow.
   
7. Good books to read- I need an escape. Computers can only bring you so far, but curling up with a good book with a great story...now that will transport you.
   
8. Curtains- It just gets old with no curtains and the sun blasting in. I feel so exposed.
9. Storage cupboards/shelves- I don't know about too many other homes around Honduras, but the homes here are not built for people that want to store anything. We have bins stacked in Brother's room and in the bathroom. Trying to find what you are looking for is very frustrating. The kitchen is less than adequate for storage space too.
   
10. Robo vacuum & cleaner- This one vacuums and this one cleans. Oh please Santa!!
    

Chair Project

The top photo is of the table and chairs the first week the kids and I first got to Honduras in June. Bright, sparkling new they look - eh? I knew immediately upon seeing the chair seats they wouldn't last. I probably had the chair turned upside down within two hours to see how the seats were connected so that I could be sure I would be able to reupholster. There were three screws holding the seats in place. Easy.

I mentioned to my mother that I needed some upholstery that could wash easily but also needed to be cheap. Looking out for her daughter, my mom brought a bunch of this beige colored upholstery vinyl from the states last month when my parents came to visit.

You can see how desperately it was needed. It took a matter of days until the original seat coverings were wrecked and disgusting looking. The new upholstery has been on for a few weeks now and things are holding up great and cleaning beautifully. At least until my two year old may take a tool or permanent marker to it. But so far so good.

Happy Birthday Sister Sprout!

Tomorrow is Sister's 10th birthday. It's hard to believe I have a 10 year old. What a blessing to me she has been in so many ways. She is a beautiful girl inside and out.

On Friday we brought cake to share with the class. A box cake that I made into cupcakes. I didn't want to mess around with cutting and making a mess. I forgot how sweet those cakes can be. Toothache city. Especially with the frosting from the tub. The photos were taken in groups. One with girls and the other with the boys. I also took a video of them singing Happy Birthday to her. I think the way the kids sing the song is so cute! With their little accents and whoops or what ever it is that they do. Here's the video


We celebrated last night with two girlfriends at Applebee's (Sister's favorite restaurant from the states) at the City Mall. After dinner the girls burned off energy running around. It was so wonderful to see Sister laughing and playing. I worry, you know, about her adjusting and being a happy little girl.

Unfortunately, I can't share photos from dinner because I forgot the card reader for my camera in the computer because I was downloading the video I took in her class. One of her friends spent the night and stayed all day today too. When we went to drop her off, we talked with her mother for a while and she was such a nice lady. We basically said that our girls are welcome at each others homes anytime. What a blessing that they can be friends.

Mixed Green Salad

This green find made this mama very happy. There are pros to living in the city. There are big grocery stores with a lot more variety. I must have looked like someone that just found lost treasure when I saw this sitting on the shelves at the grocery store. My eyes bugged out & my mouth turned a smile. The office that I used to work in had a cafeteria and a really good salad bar to get all the greens and veggies I wanted. I have been missing those salads. Spinach grows in Honduras too, but it's a little different than what you find in the states. Still pretty good, except I think it would be better for cooking than in salads. Anyway, I picked up these greens and a bag of spinach and we had very good salads for a few days.

Although Honduras has a lot of good soil and the right climate to grow a greater variety of good foods to distribute, because of lack of resource and infrastructure to properly package and distribute there are a lot of missed opportunities, I think. But there is a growing amount of smaller "green" farms that I've heard about and Greenhouse Harvest was on of them that helped give me my yummy salad.