So I have a english club that I´m doing with the Fulbright voluntter here at the University. We have decided to start bringing different types of traditional dishes to class. I started out with a dessert, as in, I offered to bring a dessert traditional to the United States. I thought for awhile as walking up and down the isles of the Mega Maxi of something simple but sweet. And then it hit me, DIRT DESSERT! All I would need is oreos, pudding, and worms. Oreos were easy to find, in the isle with the crackers and cookies. The gummie worms were a little bit trickier, hidden by some of the candies. The last ingrediant I needed was a simple package of pudding mix. I asked, no one knew what I was talking about....I looked, nowhere to be found...I went up and down isles. I looked in the gelatine isle and let me just say Ecuadorians must love their jello because there were tons and tons of different types of jello, even flan mixes...but NO PUDDING!!
I realized that this might be a bit trickier than I thought. So I decided to call my father, who is quite knowledgeable on baking. He was busy...So I called my friend Paige who had the internet to look up quick an easy recipe to make pudding by scratch....turns out there was a pretty simple recipe using cocoa, butter, flour and sugar..easy enough. Well as I was picking up these ingrediants I ran into yet ANOTHER problem. Baking cocoa must not be used here as much as in the states, because I got to the isle and the majority of the cocoa was for mixing with milk and water for a drink, thus had sugar in it. And I needed cocoa WITHOUT sugar...You´d think with a country that produces the cacao beans there wouldn´t be any problem with making and selling the powder...I looked at various packages and found the one that appeared to have the least amount of sugar.
That evening we had a dinner for Hannah´s birthday (argentinian friend) and then after I set out to make my concoction of pudding. My dad had called me that night to see how I was going to make it and of course had his own ideas. So at around 11 pm I started my pudding. I ended up mixing egg yolks with sugar to help with the consistancy. Boiled milk with the cocao that turned out to not have a lot of sugar, thank god! The milk took awhile to boil but once it did I added it to the egg and sugar mixture. At this point I was supposed to bring all of this back to a boil. The consistancy was still pretty watery and so (as my father recommended) I added some flour mixted with butter to the chocolaty mixture...from there it was just a waiting game. Finally the mixture came to somewhat of a boil. From there I transfered it to another cooler pot. Then realized that I forgot to ask what to do after I was all done cooking it! Should I let it sit for awhile and cool? Should I put it directly into the fridge? It was still pretty watery..what if it wasn´t going to thinken and I had chocolate soup instead of pudding?!?!
I stepped away from the kitchen for a bit and brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. The time was about 12:45. About 10 minutes later I stuck the pot in the fridge hoping that while it cooled the mixture would thicken. That night I don´t think I´ve ever had so many dreams about desserts and pudding..
In the morning I opened the fridge to find somewhat of a pudding mixture in the pot...THANK GOD! I figured I would wait until a couple minutes before the club to make the dirt dessert just in case as it warme up it melted, lol
So about 15 minutes before the club I put it all together and grabbed a taxi to the University for the club. Alas, it was a hit! The pudding was very chocolaty and had a pretty good texture. I think everyone liked it! So, below I will attach the recipe. I did a lot by guessing and tasting but this is (mas o menos) more or less how to make homemade pudding!
PUDDING!
2 tbs butter
1.5 c. sugar
3 egg yolks (I only had 3, four might be better for the consistancy)
1.5 c. cocoa
2.5 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. flour mixed with 1/2 c milk (if you need to thicken it)
Mix egg yolks and sugar together. Add milk, cocoa, butter, and vanilla. Bring to slight boil stirring consistantly. Once bubbly add to yolks and sugar together and bring to fire once again until it starts to bubble. Depending on the texture you can add the flour mixture with it. You also might want a pinch of salt.
Set aside to cool a bit before putting in fridge. You will want to cover it when putting it in the fridge otherwise it will form a type of skin on top. Let set for a few hours and serve!
I also added a chocolate bar to the milk and cocoa mixture because I wasn´t sure if it would be chocolatly enough, lol
Speaking of chocolate bars, I would also like to add a shout out to my lovely family and friends who have been so gracious, sending me cards and care packages! Keep up the good work!!! love you all
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Post Vacation
As always, the days after vacation are always dreadful. But I went into work that next monday with "animo". We were scheduled to start our open houses and present the results of the survey that was given to the first semester students last semester. I arrived to the office to find it closed. With all my keys in my backpack that had disappeared I had no way to get into the office. I went to the nurse who sometimes knows where Eulalia is and she told me that she had ran out saying she had a conference in one of the facultades. So I went to Civil y Mecanica to see what exactly the conference/meeting was about.
Turns out we were starting to give the presentation on the results that day! So I was thrown into the presentation and started out with the results. I think it was better this way because I really had no idea that I was supposed to present, so there was really no way for me to get nervous. I did my schpeal and then a psychologist did a little talk on how the students should have a mission in life and that they are not just another puzzle piece in the the whole scheme of things. That they should over come the pressures to use drugs and alcohol. It was a nice little talk and I think the students understood and all put attention. Then it was Eulalia's turn. I have come to realize that she is not the best with students. She had this whole presentation that was presented to what is called Consejo Universitario. Consejo Universitario or Academico is when all of the Dean's from the different colleges meet to discuss University matters. Anyway she decided to present practically the same presentation to second semester college students that she had presented to old men...this did not go over well. Within the first 15 minutes practically all of the students were distracted with other things and we had completely lost them.
After monday's presentation we did the open house on wednesday with music and various theatre. The students that organized it and did the open house also happened to be part of a christian group here in town. This caused some problems because after awhile it seemed that the focus was mainly about being able to have a healthy lifestyle with God in it. There were many religious references and at one point they prayed with the students!! I was very surprised and upset, so I talked with Eulalia, explaining how this University is what they call LAIKA (separation of church and state) and that everyone does not have the same religion, or any religion at that! She talked to the Students and we came to agreement that it would be a good idea to keep most of the religious statements out of the presentation and focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle with out drugs and alcohol.
Being the first week of presentations I believe that it went really well. Clearly there is a lot to change and I think that with time we will be adapting different things. The students that we are working with to coordinate the open houses are great though and very energetic about helping!
Turns out we were starting to give the presentation on the results that day! So I was thrown into the presentation and started out with the results. I think it was better this way because I really had no idea that I was supposed to present, so there was really no way for me to get nervous. I did my schpeal and then a psychologist did a little talk on how the students should have a mission in life and that they are not just another puzzle piece in the the whole scheme of things. That they should over come the pressures to use drugs and alcohol. It was a nice little talk and I think the students understood and all put attention. Then it was Eulalia's turn. I have come to realize that she is not the best with students. She had this whole presentation that was presented to what is called Consejo Universitario. Consejo Universitario or Academico is when all of the Dean's from the different colleges meet to discuss University matters. Anyway she decided to present practically the same presentation to second semester college students that she had presented to old men...this did not go over well. Within the first 15 minutes practically all of the students were distracted with other things and we had completely lost them.
After monday's presentation we did the open house on wednesday with music and various theatre. The students that organized it and did the open house also happened to be part of a christian group here in town. This caused some problems because after awhile it seemed that the focus was mainly about being able to have a healthy lifestyle with God in it. There were many religious references and at one point they prayed with the students!! I was very surprised and upset, so I talked with Eulalia, explaining how this University is what they call LAIKA (separation of church and state) and that everyone does not have the same religion, or any religion at that! She talked to the Students and we came to agreement that it would be a good idea to keep most of the religious statements out of the presentation and focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle with out drugs and alcohol.
Being the first week of presentations I believe that it went really well. Clearly there is a lot to change and I think that with time we will be adapting different things. The students that we are working with to coordinate the open houses are great though and very energetic about helping!
The Fam comes to Ecuador
As usual the time flies by too fast for me to take some time and write in my blog..then it's so late that I have to take like HOURS in writing everything... The main reason why I've been wanting to write is to update on my Family's VISIT!!! I can't believe that it's almost been a month since they were here. We were all so excited to see each other and then they came and now they are gone.
The trip was really great. They took awhile to get here, due to flight problems but finally arrived on saturday night (instead of saturday evening). We decided to stay until sunday and went to a soccer game in the morning. Ruth of course didn't believe me when I told her that the sun was really strong so she instantly got burnt...she realized hours later. We then left on sunday afternoon for Ambato. We arrived in Ambato around 6ish, took all the luggage out of the car, only to find that my backpack was no where to be found....the weird thing is we were in Chino's car driving back and my backpack had been on my lap the entire time. It somehow was left or stolen in the TWO times that we got out of the car. My keys, Ipod, all debit cards, my Peace Corps cellphone and Id's along with some clothes and all my make-up were gone. That night we were supposed to eat over at Chino's house. I was a complete mess because I had lost practically everything that was super important to me. We luckily cancelled the cards and could really do nothing else that evening. We had dinner and my parents gave the gifts to Chino's family. I believe they all went over really well.
Monday was a day of more chaos for me because I had to run all around the city getting police reports and make phone calls to Peace Corps in regards to the robberies. On top of that my parents wanted to see Ambato. I felt so bad that I had to send them loose on their own in the city, but as good well traveled people they did just fine. Later that afternoon a friend of ours took us to Parque de la familia. It's this large park wayy up on one of the mountains, and has a great view of the city!
Tuesday morning we left for Misahualli. I was so glad to get out of Ambato and have vacation ACTUALLY start. We arrived to the same hostel that I had stayed at with some peace corps friends. It was sooo nice and relaxing. We did two different tours each of the two days we were there. One of the nights we also went into Tena and walked around. There really isn't much in the town itself, kinda hard for me to believe that I lived there years ago.
On Thursday we headed back to Quito because Ruth had to leave us to go back to school... :( :( we arrived on time and were able to go to "La Ronda" for dinner. It was Howard's birthday so we went to this nice restaurant and even had some people sing for him! The funny story of this night was when I left for FIVE minutes to go put money on my phone. I left the family with an idea of what they wanted to order. There were also menu's in english so it didn't appear that they would have any problem ordering the meals. I come back and asked how everything went and they said just fine. When the food comes, it turned out that Mom and Ruth had ordered PIG FOOT. Literally the hoof of a pig. Apparently the translation on the english menu had been wrong and said pig leg instead of foot. They had to order something else....lol
Friday early morning we said goodbye to Ruth, sad but I know that very soon I will be seeing her again. On the way to the Airport I realized that I was not feeling the best. Ya know, one of those, "what did I eat? Im going to pay for this in a couple hours" type of feeling. I was able to go to the airport and say goodbye but once we got back to the apartment I was up practically all night in the bathroom. I ended up staying back all day friday while mom and Howard did a walking tour of the city. I was able to rest and get some books read! It was a nice relaxing time that was much needed.
On Saturday we left for Ibarra/Otavalo. I had never been to Ibarra so I was excited to see what the city was like. We stayed at a hotel that Peace Corps uses and were given a reduced rate which was nice. That evening I met up with Portia and some other volunteers, it was really good to see people and hear updates on their lives. Sunday we walked around the city and went to one of the lakes nearby.
Monday we went to a really neat AfroEcuadorian community where Portia works. It was in the middle of nowhere. The weather was very very hot with desert like conditions. The woman that we talked with works at the school teaching art and also does some of her own mask and jewelry making. She also works with teen girls in the community making different dresses. Portia helps out with different Youth groups. We made our way back in the afternoon to a old famous ice cream place where they make the ice cream by HAND. They put down ice and hay and then on top have a wooden bowl where they stir ice water with whatever flavor (usually a fruit juice-all natural) into what we call a type of sorbet.
Tuesday we did Otavalo. I had been there the last time I was in Ecuador but I didn't remember it being so pretty! It is a very indigenous community, and very clean and pretty. We walked to some famous, magical tree. The map that we were given was very VERY misleading because the walk was supposed to take around an hour. Well after an hour and half of walking uphill and not finding anything we luckily ran into a taxi. He gave us directions and we decided that it might be easier to just let the guy take us. Thank god he did because it was another 15 minutes to the tree....all up hill. We finally got to the tree, that looked over a different community on another lagoon, very pretty. How we were going to get back we had no idea, walking would take hours....and we had to be back for a tour of surrounding communities... Another taxi was driving by with some people and said that he would take us on his way back down.
We arrived just in time to do a tour of surrounding smaller indigenous communities where different artesian crafts are done. Each community had something a little different. We ended up back in Ibarra around 7ish to eat.
Wednesday we did more touring of the city and saw the different churches. Ibarra is very colonial and there were several different churches and old buildings. We then headed back to Quito that afternoon because mom and Howard were leaving on Thursday morning. We went to eat at this really good italian restaurant and then went back to the apartment to rest. We played a card game which was really nice, to "be family" (as mom would say lol) for the last hours together. We got up early again on Thursday to say goodbye....So weird to think that I won't be seeing my family again for another 9-10 months.
All in all the trip was really great!!! I had a blast showing them around and giving them a look into my life here in Ecuador.
The trip was really great. They took awhile to get here, due to flight problems but finally arrived on saturday night (instead of saturday evening). We decided to stay until sunday and went to a soccer game in the morning. Ruth of course didn't believe me when I told her that the sun was really strong so she instantly got burnt...she realized hours later. We then left on sunday afternoon for Ambato. We arrived in Ambato around 6ish, took all the luggage out of the car, only to find that my backpack was no where to be found....the weird thing is we were in Chino's car driving back and my backpack had been on my lap the entire time. It somehow was left or stolen in the TWO times that we got out of the car. My keys, Ipod, all debit cards, my Peace Corps cellphone and Id's along with some clothes and all my make-up were gone. That night we were supposed to eat over at Chino's house. I was a complete mess because I had lost practically everything that was super important to me. We luckily cancelled the cards and could really do nothing else that evening. We had dinner and my parents gave the gifts to Chino's family. I believe they all went over really well.
Monday was a day of more chaos for me because I had to run all around the city getting police reports and make phone calls to Peace Corps in regards to the robberies. On top of that my parents wanted to see Ambato. I felt so bad that I had to send them loose on their own in the city, but as good well traveled people they did just fine. Later that afternoon a friend of ours took us to Parque de la familia. It's this large park wayy up on one of the mountains, and has a great view of the city!
Tuesday morning we left for Misahualli. I was so glad to get out of Ambato and have vacation ACTUALLY start. We arrived to the same hostel that I had stayed at with some peace corps friends. It was sooo nice and relaxing. We did two different tours each of the two days we were there. One of the nights we also went into Tena and walked around. There really isn't much in the town itself, kinda hard for me to believe that I lived there years ago.
On Thursday we headed back to Quito because Ruth had to leave us to go back to school... :( :( we arrived on time and were able to go to "La Ronda" for dinner. It was Howard's birthday so we went to this nice restaurant and even had some people sing for him! The funny story of this night was when I left for FIVE minutes to go put money on my phone. I left the family with an idea of what they wanted to order. There were also menu's in english so it didn't appear that they would have any problem ordering the meals. I come back and asked how everything went and they said just fine. When the food comes, it turned out that Mom and Ruth had ordered PIG FOOT. Literally the hoof of a pig. Apparently the translation on the english menu had been wrong and said pig leg instead of foot. They had to order something else....lol
Friday early morning we said goodbye to Ruth, sad but I know that very soon I will be seeing her again. On the way to the Airport I realized that I was not feeling the best. Ya know, one of those, "what did I eat? Im going to pay for this in a couple hours" type of feeling. I was able to go to the airport and say goodbye but once we got back to the apartment I was up practically all night in the bathroom. I ended up staying back all day friday while mom and Howard did a walking tour of the city. I was able to rest and get some books read! It was a nice relaxing time that was much needed.
On Saturday we left for Ibarra/Otavalo. I had never been to Ibarra so I was excited to see what the city was like. We stayed at a hotel that Peace Corps uses and were given a reduced rate which was nice. That evening I met up with Portia and some other volunteers, it was really good to see people and hear updates on their lives. Sunday we walked around the city and went to one of the lakes nearby.
Monday we went to a really neat AfroEcuadorian community where Portia works. It was in the middle of nowhere. The weather was very very hot with desert like conditions. The woman that we talked with works at the school teaching art and also does some of her own mask and jewelry making. She also works with teen girls in the community making different dresses. Portia helps out with different Youth groups. We made our way back in the afternoon to a old famous ice cream place where they make the ice cream by HAND. They put down ice and hay and then on top have a wooden bowl where they stir ice water with whatever flavor (usually a fruit juice-all natural) into what we call a type of sorbet.
Tuesday we did Otavalo. I had been there the last time I was in Ecuador but I didn't remember it being so pretty! It is a very indigenous community, and very clean and pretty. We walked to some famous, magical tree. The map that we were given was very VERY misleading because the walk was supposed to take around an hour. Well after an hour and half of walking uphill and not finding anything we luckily ran into a taxi. He gave us directions and we decided that it might be easier to just let the guy take us. Thank god he did because it was another 15 minutes to the tree....all up hill. We finally got to the tree, that looked over a different community on another lagoon, very pretty. How we were going to get back we had no idea, walking would take hours....and we had to be back for a tour of surrounding communities... Another taxi was driving by with some people and said that he would take us on his way back down.
We arrived just in time to do a tour of surrounding smaller indigenous communities where different artesian crafts are done. Each community had something a little different. We ended up back in Ibarra around 7ish to eat.
Wednesday we did more touring of the city and saw the different churches. Ibarra is very colonial and there were several different churches and old buildings. We then headed back to Quito that afternoon because mom and Howard were leaving on Thursday morning. We went to eat at this really good italian restaurant and then went back to the apartment to rest. We played a card game which was really nice, to "be family" (as mom would say lol) for the last hours together. We got up early again on Thursday to say goodbye....So weird to think that I won't be seeing my family again for another 9-10 months.
All in all the trip was really great!!! I had a blast showing them around and giving them a look into my life here in Ecuador.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)