Bugs and puppies and parties
Look at all the cool designs Edwin and I have learned! Aren't they awesome?
Rainy season started last week, and I already hate it. I left Portland to escape eight months of rain, only to come here for six months of monsoons. With the rain comes the invasion of bugs, and that's even worse than all the muddy paths and gray skies.
I hate bugs. I hate their grasping legs. I hate their dumb attraction to light. I hate their shiny bodies. I hate the disgusting crunchy squish of accidentally (or intentionally) killing them. I hate that they get in everywhere and fly at my face and I wake up surrounded by tiny disgusting bug bodies. Noah has some pics, though they don't even cover the half of it. I have tiny black beetles and GIGANTIC black beetles (evidently eating one of those is how the last dog died), tiny gnats and moths that get through my mosquito net, mosquitos that probably carry dengue and malaria, regular ants and ones with giant pincers, tailless whip scorpions, nasty poisonous scorpions in the roof, wasps trying to build a hive in my door, huge daily invasions of flies, cicadas, moths of all shapes and sizes (one is as big as my hand), spiders with spindly legs and fat round bodies and spiders that are all spikes and sharp edges. Give me snow. Kill them all.
Speaking of pests, we got a new puppy! He was covered in fleas and skinny as can be, but with puppy food soaked in milk and some thorough baths, he's looking happy and healthy. Paprika can't really figure out what to do with him because a gentle nudge sends him sprawling and his head fits easily inside her mouth, but she seems happy to have a new playmate.
Last week I took Edwin with me to visit another PCV to teach a group how to make bracelets and to teach the gringas how to make brownies and cookie bars. We made some awesome mango salsa and guacamole for lunch, then headed off to teach the class. Edwin was great instructing the groups, though I could tell he was annoyed by the ones who just didn't get it who needed their hands held for every step. I guess now that he's a pro he forgot how long it took to get good at the bracelets (and he had the benefit of living with me). I had a great time, and I think the group did too, though it was larger than I would have liked. any sort of artistic work is easier to teach with small groups. It was awesome to see Edwin take charge in the kitchen that evening, instructing us all on how to make brownies and how much everything needed to be mixed and what was the perfect consistency. They turned out fantastic. The recipe's at the end of the post. To be honest, I think the highlight for him is that Catherine has good games on her ipad, but I like to think he lost a little bit of pena and expanded his horizons a little more after that excursion.
Our regional meeting fell on cinco de mayo, so Mario, awesome PCV that he is, arranged a get-together at his house (with fantastic food) to get to know the new PCVs who swore in last month and have some much-needed time together to be our crazy selves. Especially after a tense meeting (we're experiencing growing pains and staff has been getting a lot of pushback about policy), we needed that chance to de-stress and regroup and just enjoy life together in El Salvador. It was also nice to have internet for a full 24 hours and a printer, which meant lots of printing documents and catching up on TV shows and looking at photos and fooling around with no purpose.
Now I'm back in site and INSAFORP approved my sewing class, so next week we start three weeks of sewing Monday through Friday, eight hours a day. I have 20 women signed up and hopefully they all show up. It's going to be intense, but awesome.
Blossom's Brownies
My grandma's recipe adapted by my mom for flavor and altitude, then readjusted for low altitude here
1 cup + 4 tablespoons margarine (or butter, if you're not on the PCV budget)
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa (they sell Hershey's in the Super Selectos)
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup strong coffee
1 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips (sent from the US, because I love chocolate)
1 cup pecans (optional)
Cream butter and sugar. Add cocoa powder. Add eggs and mix well. Add vanilla, salt and coffee and mix well. Add flour. The dough should be smooth and fairly wet (not cookie dough). Add chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into a 9x13 greased and floured pan (or lots of little pans if that's what's in your house).
Bake at 350ºF (190 C) for 30 minutes until the edges are puffed and a toothpick in the center comes out clean. If you are making it in the little metal Salvadoran bread pans, check after fifteen minutes and every five minutes after that because it cooks fast in those and you don't want to burn it.
New Book Tally: 38
Book Tally: 49
Rainy season started last week, and I already hate it. I left Portland to escape eight months of rain, only to come here for six months of monsoons. With the rain comes the invasion of bugs, and that's even worse than all the muddy paths and gray skies.
I hate bugs. I hate their grasping legs. I hate their dumb attraction to light. I hate their shiny bodies. I hate the disgusting crunchy squish of accidentally (or intentionally) killing them. I hate that they get in everywhere and fly at my face and I wake up surrounded by tiny disgusting bug bodies. Noah has some pics, though they don't even cover the half of it. I have tiny black beetles and GIGANTIC black beetles (evidently eating one of those is how the last dog died), tiny gnats and moths that get through my mosquito net, mosquitos that probably carry dengue and malaria, regular ants and ones with giant pincers, tailless whip scorpions, nasty poisonous scorpions in the roof, wasps trying to build a hive in my door, huge daily invasions of flies, cicadas, moths of all shapes and sizes (one is as big as my hand), spiders with spindly legs and fat round bodies and spiders that are all spikes and sharp edges. Give me snow. Kill them all.
Speaking of pests, we got a new puppy! He was covered in fleas and skinny as can be, but with puppy food soaked in milk and some thorough baths, he's looking happy and healthy. Paprika can't really figure out what to do with him because a gentle nudge sends him sprawling and his head fits easily inside her mouth, but she seems happy to have a new playmate.
Last week I took Edwin with me to visit another PCV to teach a group how to make bracelets and to teach the gringas how to make brownies and cookie bars. We made some awesome mango salsa and guacamole for lunch, then headed off to teach the class. Edwin was great instructing the groups, though I could tell he was annoyed by the ones who just didn't get it who needed their hands held for every step. I guess now that he's a pro he forgot how long it took to get good at the bracelets (and he had the benefit of living with me). I had a great time, and I think the group did too, though it was larger than I would have liked. any sort of artistic work is easier to teach with small groups. It was awesome to see Edwin take charge in the kitchen that evening, instructing us all on how to make brownies and how much everything needed to be mixed and what was the perfect consistency. They turned out fantastic. The recipe's at the end of the post. To be honest, I think the highlight for him is that Catherine has good games on her ipad, but I like to think he lost a little bit of pena and expanded his horizons a little more after that excursion.
Our regional meeting fell on cinco de mayo, so Mario, awesome PCV that he is, arranged a get-together at his house (with fantastic food) to get to know the new PCVs who swore in last month and have some much-needed time together to be our crazy selves. Especially after a tense meeting (we're experiencing growing pains and staff has been getting a lot of pushback about policy), we needed that chance to de-stress and regroup and just enjoy life together in El Salvador. It was also nice to have internet for a full 24 hours and a printer, which meant lots of printing documents and catching up on TV shows and looking at photos and fooling around with no purpose.
Now I'm back in site and INSAFORP approved my sewing class, so next week we start three weeks of sewing Monday through Friday, eight hours a day. I have 20 women signed up and hopefully they all show up. It's going to be intense, but awesome.
Blossom's Brownies
My grandma's recipe adapted by my mom for flavor and altitude, then readjusted for low altitude here
1 cup + 4 tablespoons margarine (or butter, if you're not on the PCV budget)
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa (they sell Hershey's in the Super Selectos)
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup strong coffee
1 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips (sent from the US, because I love chocolate)
1 cup pecans (optional)
Cream butter and sugar. Add cocoa powder. Add eggs and mix well. Add vanilla, salt and coffee and mix well. Add flour. The dough should be smooth and fairly wet (not cookie dough). Add chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into a 9x13 greased and floured pan (or lots of little pans if that's what's in your house).
Bake at 350ºF (190 C) for 30 minutes until the edges are puffed and a toothpick in the center comes out clean. If you are making it in the little metal Salvadoran bread pans, check after fifteen minutes and every five minutes after that because it cooks fast in those and you don't want to burn it.
New Book Tally: 38
Book Tally: 49
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