September 3, 2020 - 356 - "Cooking in a Foreign Land"

 

Fun Party Game:  BYOE

     Our beloved neighbor, Kip, has been a godsend.  We regularly say:  TGFK. (Thank God For Kip).  He has helped us in a million ways.

    We've been excited that on this trip we can start to have a slightly more normal life.  Now we can entertain (distantly) and begin to do nice things for Kip.  

     We're getting settled in and cooking at home most of the time.  Partly because of Covid, but also because we've accumulated a lot of the things you need to prepare meals...like a kitchen that's not full of rubble.  

     But you don't realize how many things you need until you start to make something. 

     We keep inviting Kip over and realizing in the last minute that we don't have a pan to cook the brownies we were so excited to make.  (Costco Ghiradellie mix...yum.). So, Kip went back to his house across the street and got one.  No lime for a drink garnish.  No problem...Kip can run and get it.  Guacamole...but no chips?...  You get the idea.  (So it’s still strictly ‘Bring Your Own Everything’ right now.)

     Kip is working off his dinner before he even gets to have a bite.

Cooking is Part Spanish Lesson - Part Scavenger Hunt

    I had a hankering for key lime pie so I looked up a recipe...then attempted to get the condensed milk.  
Dairy projects in general are a bit challenging.  It took us a while to find sour cream that was close to ours at home.  Most are thinner and less tart...like the sauce you find on red enchiladas at some restaurants.  

    Looking for whipped cream I read about a hundred labels in one cooler at the grocery store. .I was looking for the word I pulled up for whipped (azotada)...but I turned around and saw in another case one that had a dollop of whipped cream on a cupcake and said 'crema batida'.  (Synonyms are a pain in my ass.) 

   Pictured above:  Sour cream & cottage cheese jackpots on the left...and some of our many attempts to find thicker yogurt.  Right now we're just thrilled to find some without sugar.

 

          I felt pretty sure this was the right stuff (on the left)

                      ...until I saw the stuff on the right.

    These aren't actually official Key limes...but I think they will work.  We didn't have a zester...but I was thrilled we had a grater that could grate to a pretty fine point. We also had a lime squeezer.  Perfect!  

     I was feeling like we are getting on top of things...then saw where we went a little overboard.

     Two nearly-identical sets of measuring cups and spoons.

Ancient Implements

     Then I thought:  Crap!  Do we have a can opener for this (hopefully) sweeten condensed milk?

     Good news:  We had a can opener left from previous owners.  

     Bad news:  It was so rusty it barely turned.

     Went through a similar thought process with a strainer...Yay!:  We have one.  Uh oh:  It might make the pie rusty.  

     I put these items on the list of things to hunt down.

   I forgot to take a picture of the finished pie.  We spent a very long time taking turns whipping the cram. (No mixer yet.). It started out way thicker than heavy cream in the US. And no matter how long we whipped it, we never got it to the forming peaks stage.  

     But it tasted wonderful!  If I can improve on the whipped cream topping I’ll have that down. 

     Which reminds me...there’s leftover pie in the fridge.  What am I doing sitting here updating this post when there’s pie to be eaten!

Daily Hits of Happy

    -Baking in our HOME
    -Tiles on our stairway to heaven
    -Friends in foreign lands

    -2 years ago today we got an awesome daughter-in-law

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"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure.  

In cooking, you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude."

-Julia Child

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"Travel far enough, you meet yourself."

-Cloud Atlas

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