surprise birthday cakes and cookies.

Myra, one of the SOs here, is turning 23 on Thursday and happened to mention this on Monday. She said that she would be at the pool buying a drink and was wondering if we were going to be coming to the pool on Thursday as well. That got us thinking - we know that her husband has a full day of classes, and obviously, she is planning on celebrating on her own, so we wanted to make sure her day was semi-birthday eventful and celebratory. We don't know her very well, but we do know that she taught as a music teacher before moving here. SO, we are making a music note cake :)

Currently, the cakes are in the freezer so we can cut it well tomorrow and ice it with chocolate icing :)
Jessie is holding the bottom part of the cake, and it looks like Marieke is eating a bit of the other cake out of the freezer.
Yup, tisk tisk. It's ok though, we are cutting the music note out of that one :)
I will post the final product/Myra's reaction [hopefully] after Thursday.

Later, after dinner and before he jetted off to campus to study, J mentioned that he would *like* to see more cookies in the house, you know...maybe ;) Hmmm, really?? [all the pumpkin ones are gone, but we DID split them with Marieke and Ryan :) ] Sooo...I looked up recipes for brown sugar cookies, because that is the only sugar we have in the house. Oh, and we ran out of eggs earlier today, too. Dilemma? Never fear, the internet is here.
If you find yourself without normal sugar or eggs, the recipe for all such situations is here!

• 1/2 cup butter [I used 1/4 cup, I always cut butter/oil :)]
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs [see egg substitute below - it worked!!]
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups flour [I did 1.5 white flour, .5 whole wheat]
• dash salt

Prep:
Cream butter and sugar together until light; add vanilla and eggs; beat well. Dissolve soda in milk; add flour, salt and walnuts. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto a lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake at 375° for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Egg substitute:
1 whole egg = 2 tbsp water and 1 tbsp oil and 2 tsp baking powder.

Looks good, no? Tastes good, too!
The little plate I have strategically placed in line of sight from the front door :) Excited for him to find it!!

Hope everyone is having a great night! Much love.

"no one told me it was TARO!"

Oh geez.

So...today was another pool day, and since Sayeh had never been to the pool we decided to go ahead and go again. Marieke, Jessica, Natalie and I all piled into Sayeh's car and we drove to the pool. On our way, Natalie turned around to face Marieke and I and said, "So...I almost killed you guys."

Rewind to snorkeling day:
We are sitting on the beach and everyone is enjoying their lunches that they had thought to bring ahead of time [Marieke and I did not, and so we watched as everyone else who was smarter than us ate their meals] and I noticed that Natalie had what appeared to be spinach in her stir fry. Since I had not yet found spinach, and my husband had just recently requested some "leafy greens," I asked her where she had found it. She said that it actually wasn't spinach, it was callaloo - a local alternative to the more expensive, imported spinach. Hmmm...I was intrigued.

Next day:
Market time, and I find callaloo right away [well, I was actually asking for "Hallabaloo" or "Hallabah" or something ridiculous...I had misheard the actual name. Awesome...] So after I learned the correct term, I was able to purchase some callaloo - Huge, deep green leaves on the end of harder, thick stalks. J was so excited for leafy greens that I actually threw one in our meal that night...good thing I didn't make a salad out of it, like I was planning...

Forward to this morning:
Marieke came over early to talk to the landlords about the apartment we are almost positive we are going to rent, and she told me that she had had a very strange reaction to a piece of callaloo the night before. She had taken a little bite just to taste it, and I quote, "My mouth started burning - it felt like a thousand little pixies stabbing me all over the inside of my mouth." And it didn't end there! Apparently, her mouth and throat kept burning for another two hours. I suggested she might be allergic. Psch, some doctor I would make...Little did I know....

Back to the car ride:
Natalie: "So...I almost killed you guys..."
Me: "What? What are you talking about?" [At this point I'm wondering how I could've been so oblivious to almost being run over by a car or something...]
Natalie: "So, you know how I told you about callaloo?"
Marieke and Emily: "Yeah..."
Natalie: "Well, apparently it's poisonous and I freaked out because I had told you guys about it and I knew you were going to get it at the market. I tried to find you on Facebook, but I could only find Marieke so I messaged her...didn't you get my message?"
Marieke: "No..."
Natalie: "Really? I sent it Saturday..."
Marieke: "Oh, maybe I just thought it was another SO announcement, so I ignored it..."
Jessica: "Yeah, I do that too..." [awkward laughter because apparently THIS message should not have been avoided]
Natalie: "Well, anyway, for some reason, I really don't know why, I decided I would look up callaloo online because after we found out about that one tree [there is a tree here with fruit that will burn through your skin on contact, very dangerous] I was wondering if there were other things on the island we ought to know about, and I had heard about a plant that was poisonous so I wanted to check it out. Well, turns out "Callaloo" is a native dish here, but it really has nothing to do with the plant - the plant that they CALL "callaloo" here is actually TARO! Taro! No one told me it was TARO!"
Everyone: "What's wrong with taro?"

[at this point I will insert the Wikipedia definition of taro, because someone else in the world explains it best...]
"The plant is inedible when raw and considered toxic due to the presence of calcium oxalate crystals, typically as raphides. The toxin is minimized by cooking, especially with a pinch of baking soda. It can also be reduced by steeping taro roots in cold water overnight. Calcium oxalate is highly insoluble and contributes to kidney stones. It has been recommended to take milk or other calcium rich foods with Taro. Taro leaves also must be handled with care due to toxicity of the leaves, but are completely safe after cooking."

Awesome. Back to the conversation.

Natalie: "So the minute I found out, I got a huge pit in my stomach because I thought I had killed you guys or something, so that's why I tried to get a hold of you right away."
Emily: "Wow, that's crazy, because Marieke JUST tried it the other night and got a burning mouth or something! Glad I know now, I was about to make a salad!"
Marieke: [restates aforementioned reaction]

...end of story, pretty much.

So there you have it, folks. We've learned our lesson, too...apparently, you should ALWAYS ask about foreign foods, and not just assume that since they are sold at the market they are automatically alright to eat...at least not raw. On a better note: the avocados are amazing here :)

Here is a picture of the culprit [and me in all my pool wetness/sweaty glory], just in case you ever run into it. Be warned.
And just for the record, everyone is fine. And I am still stir frying my callaloo...I mean, taro.

pumpkin goodies and the smallest cell phone known to man. maybe.

Well hello again, faithful blog readers, as well as those of you who might have accidently stumbled upon this blog via Google or some other random means :)
It is only 7:30ish here and already pitch black as the day is almost exactly 12 hours long [sunrise 6am-ish, sunset 6:30pm-ish]. I have just completed a full day of church, baking, talk-a-tone-ing with AJ YUEN!!, neighbor-visiting and now blogging :)

To begin, we have a sad story: Marieke's convection oven broke [too much voltage] and she is now limited to only two stove-top burners [the sadness of living on campus].
The happy story: we have decided to inaugurate "baking days" when she ventures over to use our oven and cook some goods, and I get to share in the joy of baking :)
Another happy story: they sell PUMPKIN puree here! Hooray! For those of you who don't know, I was a little worried about what was and wasn't going to be available in the stores here, but I can tell you that I can get almost anything I could at home. This was a surprise for me [and a lot of other girls I've since spoken with] since the impression we all had was that there was hardly anything here and we would be scrounging for food. Well, fear not - we are fine. Beyond fine, apparently, since there is pumpkin. And if you know me well at all, you know I LOVE fall and anything to do with fall, including pumpkin bread, pumpkin chocolate bread [very different, mind you], pumpkin cookies, pumpkin spice lattes [which alas is unavailable in and probably much too warm for the island environment]...you get the idea.

Well, Marieke was the one who spotted it at the grocery store and so graciously shared her findings. We are now plotting a "Christgiving" day somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and many a pumpkin goods will be included :):):)!!! So here is the product of our baking endeavors. Meanwhile, as fall heads toward you state-siders, enjoy it for me - relish in every glorious moment of changing seasons, crisp air, crunchy leaves, and the consumption of hot beverages on cool walks :)


Pumpkin bread baked Grenadian style: in ramekins and any Pyrex dish we could find ;)
Marieke demonstrating the art of checking on the readiness of delicious bread [it was still too gooey]...The finished product: 5 ramekins of pumpkin bread and aplenty of pumpkin oatmeal cookies [a MarEmile Concoction] - YUM! The little plate was taken to my neighbor, a woman named Sayeh who is originally from Iran. Her husband is first term with J. She has a super cute 8 month old named Lilia...we hung out there for a while and we're meeting up with her tomorrow to go to the pool :) Hopefully I can share some pictures of them soon :)

I also wanted to include a picture of my cell phone. I meant to do this earlier, and it really is a rather silly thing to share, but I thought it was probably one of the smallest phones I'd ever seen. It fits on my track pad! [it looks bigger in this picture, too...I promise its super cute and tiny!] Now you all know what my local phone looks like. Good thing I only have about 7 numbers - its probably too small to hold much more ;)

snorkeling and some random tid-bits about grenada.

Yesterday I went snorkeling for the first time in my life. To be honest, the first couple times I went under the water I was hyperventilating, even though none of my gear was malfunctioning or anything. I have no idea why I reacted so strangely since I wasn't panicked or anything, but I guess being able to breathe under water is something you have to get used to. It was an amazing experience, though. I went with a bunch of other SOs and Marieke, Amanda and I became a little snorkel group, pointing things out to each other, etc. :)

I personally saw a lot of "Dory"s [think Finding Nemo here] - a school of them that moved with the strong current - pretty cool, as well as some crazy large sea urchins, some funny looking zebra striped fish with crazy mouths, and some large crabs hiding in the coral reef. It was a really awesome experience. Marieke and I are taking the husbands back today as a little study break for them, and for another experience for us. I'm really excited for J to be able to see it :)

Just a random plug for my hus - he has been so diligent to study since I've been here. He is a very hard worker in general, but I am very proud of how hard he is working in such challenging classes. It is a joy to be able to cook and help in little ways for a man who values my efforts to make his life a little simpler :) I wish we had more time to enjoy things together while we are here, but he wants to go to the beach on the weekends for hour long walks or so, so I will be happy with that [and random outings like today :)] even if that's all we get :) I am not very involved with his studies although I've offered to quiz him, but he has performed some "tests" [muscle tone, reflexes] on me to see if I "check out"...I was fine :)

So I also wanted to include some random Grenadian "life facts" before I forget to do so:

• EVERYONE honks for EVERYTHING here: to say hi, to acknowledge that a car is near by, to get the attention of people on the side of the road, to say thank you - it is the most bizarre thing, and I am often caught off guard [I wonder how many people have seen me jump because I do it a lot]. At the same time, I feel like I never know when they are being "serious," as in warning or danger. Oh well - I guess they know.
• Speaking of roads, there are no rules, so driving is rather crazy, and they drive on the opposite sides of the road, so hopefully I don't come back to the states too confused about driving rules ;)
• People "hiss" here. As in, men hiss at women, etc. Annoying, and it takes a lot for me not to say something [some of my friends know this about me, I have a low tolerance for cat-calling, whistling, etc.]
• When you are on a bus, you are supposed to knock on the walls/windows of the bus to alert the driver to let you off. That still feels really uncomfortable to me since it seems rude, but usually someone has to get off the bus at the same time as me, so they knock :)
• EVERYONE wants to give you a ride. I could just be leaving my house, and I get honked at asking if I need a taxi or bus.
  
• The market is very interesting, everyone is selling almost the exact same things, I don't really know how anyone makes any money. I will try to do a whole post on the market soon, I just haven't been brave enough to carry my camera around there while also trying to shop - daunting.

I went to an orphanage beach day today, but it was so full of volunteers that the kids were way outnumbered and it was more overwhelming than anything. I've heard that once the semester gets more in full swing, people don't come as often, so I will continue to be involved then when I can actually do something. Well, that's all for now folks.

Much Love.

Grande Anse Beach :)

These pictures were taken yesterday, as you can see a storm was rolling in, but I thought it made for really cool pictures. These past couple days have been SO much more bearable temperature-wise because they have been overcast - the less intense sun the better! The temperature may READ 82, but it feel likes 104! Enjoy the pictures! Love to all.
As you can see, the water is VERY clear and there are hardly any shells on the
beach. Its very very clean, and the sand is very soft :)

Storm's a-brewin'...

We saw a fishing boat and a scuba diving boat...ironic, I think. See that ROCK? That's how CRYSTAL CLEAR this water is!! Glorious :)

DONUTS! and the "squirrels of grenada."

Good evening, everyone :)

Today was a new adventure with Emily and Marieke. Early on in our wanderings, we had spotted a fine local establishment called "Nick's Donut World." Marieke decided that it would be an awesome "Grenadian experience" to try it sometime...like, today. So we did.

Oooohh yessss!Stash was already low by 9am! And no AC meant that they were guaranteed to be warm...and very sticky/melty haha...
What my choice boiled down to...but you know that I can't resist chocolate. Maybe next time, glazed...
Marieke, very excited/pleased with her purchase.

We met the man we assumed to be Nick and the woman we think is his wife, bought two sprinkled chocolate glazed donuts, and sat in the semi-shade of Nick's with a man named Owen [everyone shares tables here]. Turns out Owen is a native Grenadian who lived in Brooklyn since he was 5, but recently returned to renovate his family home. He doesn't like the locals, and apparently they don't like him much either. Oh, America and its rep here *sigh*...Anyway, we've decided it will be our new "Luke's" [for all my girls who get that reference] and we want to try and hang out there at least once a week/every two weeks or so, and try to get to know some people :)

We then headed to Grand Anse beach, but I will make that a post for tomorrow so I don't run out of things to post on here. Plus, I don't want to overdo it on pictures and such :) But I DO want to share what I've personally dubbed as the local "squirrels"...crabs. There are everywhere, especially in little burrowed holes all along the street drainage system.
Apparently, they are not well liked as demonstrated by this picture:Do you see Stan? Don't do it, Stan! It's a trap!!! [I kind of wish I could know what they have in that thing that could possibly tempt a CRAB, but it LOOKS ingenious regardless]

On a random note, this is one of the grocery stores I frequent, IGA, as a matter of fact...located in the Spiceland Mall:

Anyway, that's all for now. Tomorrow we resume/finish our comparison shopping for apartments, Lord willing, and try to decide on which one might be best :) We are also going to back to the pool, where I will be hanging out in the shaded part. Awesome.

Hope all is well with all of you!! Please send/comment me questions on what you would like to see/know about the island! For real - I will need inspiration soon! :) Love to all.

when it rains, it pours...the pool and the burn

So if you must know anything about Grenada, you should know that it has the most random storms ever. Our friends on campus could be chillin' in the sun, while unbeknownst to them we have been caught in a surprise torrential downpour [this is, as a matter of fact, a true story...see photos below].
Sunday morning, as J and I were getting ready to go to the church service on campus, we were caught in such a crazy rain shower that my umbrella blew out the other way, and we were both completely soaked by the end of the hill. Luckily, we eventually got to campus, but we were wet for a good portion of the day.

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for. The long anticipated answer to "When will she finally post pictures of something worthwhile so I can save it as the background of my work computer and motivate myself to go and visit? Her apartment is messy and boring..." Well, patient blog readers, here it is. THE POOL and THE BEACH. The beach is actually not the best beach on the island, but if you think is IS, just wait, there is a better one that I will post pictures of later...promise. The SOs of campus [Significant Others] get access to the University Club pool every Monday and Thursday, so Marieke and I decided to check it out. The Club is actually for Faculty and Staff members only, but I guess they consider us SOs well enough behaved. I'm thankful :)

One side of the pool was completely open to the beach/ocean...it was beautiful!

Mmmmm...beachy :)
Marieke checking out the water...it was so warm!
Me...pondering life, unburnt.

Let's just say we will be pretty busy every Monday and Thursday from here on out ;) HOWEVER, while we were at said pool, my sunscreen [apparently] wore off and I got this [and if you look closely, you can see one of the many ginormous bites that I have all over my legs right now...eeee]

I was pretty ticked at myself, especially since I had been telling everyone that a bigger goal of mine was to NEVER get burned [I was SO diligent with sunscreen! I even REAPPLIED!!! Ahh!] But alas, the sun will never cease to remind me that I am as white as they come. So, nerdy sun hat, I guess we must be friends after all :(
On a more fun/informative note, here is some samplings of Grenadian money, "EC"...fun fact: the 5 and 10 cent coins are actually made out of ALUMINUM, so they are SUPER light, and feel completely fake. Below: 5 EC, two different types of 1 EC, two different 5 cent EC, and two [front and back] 10 cent EC....I think you're looking at roughly $2.80 American dollars. And yes, I just calculated that on my phone :)

Ok well, that's all for now kids. I think I'm going to be staying inside tomorrow reading to wear off my burn and not perpetuate it :( We had a pretty full day today, Marieke and I went apartment hunting so that she and her husband and J and I can hopefully all move in together next semester to cut down on some expenses :) How awesome to have provision like that!

Love.

tribute to the yuens and pieces of home

Before I ventured off to a foreign piece of land in the middle of the ocean, I was able to join in and witness the glorious wedding of my dearest Alyssa to her Josh :) It was wonderful to be able to spend a good 1.5 weeks with all my favorite women in the world, and the wedding was a blessing on top of it all :) Everything was perfect, very Alyssa-esque, and something I will cherish forever. To give everyone a taste, here are some snippets of the perfect day...

The friends at the rehearsal dinner!
The Soon-to-be-Yuens the day before!
The best girls in the world -
minus Em C who had deserted us by the time we figured we should take a picture ;)

The getting ready day of the wedding!

The gorgeous, perfectly suited dress!
The super cute dance!

The "big girl" pose!
The amazingly awesome Heather and Ward!
The greatest wedding crashing care group known to man!
The token picture of wonderful friends!
The beautiful new mom and my favorite nephew :):)!
The Eli - LOVE this face!!!
And last but not least, the Lydder Bug -
who has made my husband realize that little girls are just as great as little boys :)

All of this makes me want to jump in the car and come see you all! As much as living here is exciting and adventurous, my friends are SO much better. But since no car is available, and driving through the ocean would pose more problems than solutions, I am going to be content with email, Skype, Google Voice, etc...without which I would have...no communication :) I am looking forward to using said technology over the new two years, and beyond, of course :)

To my dearest sisters in Christ: encouragements to my soul, joys to my heart, you know my faults but love [and challenge!] me just the same. I love you all so dearly, and I miss you all so much more than you can ever know. But I am grateful that we "meet to part, and part to meet" and that I will have fellowship with you always - even in eternity...when technology won't even matter :)

for real this time, this blog will work!

Family abode: number 21! :)

Hello all :)

This is the 6th post on this blog, but you will never know it since I deleted all the former posts to re-start completely. Basically, the first 5 postings on this blog covered a span of 3 years, and that's just embarassing...

So here I am, ready to start all the way over, and what better time to do it seeing as I no longer work, and I am currently residing in St. George's, Grenada while my husband attends med school. That's right folks, I'm writing from the Caribbean. Now you can tell all your friends you have a vacation hook-up on a random island for the next two years [seriously, we want visitors!]

I don't really feel like recounting the fights here again [I sent out an email to some friends about it], or that fact that I completely missed my last flight's take-off since I was knocked out by motion sickness medication, but everything has gone relatively smoothly thus far :) I've been surprised by the heat - I'm in a constant state of sticky-ness, but it's ok, I'm hoping I get adjusted to the heat quickly and before I know it, I won't even notice it anymore.

I've learned that Grenadians are rather wary of the students here, unfortunately I think our predecessors have laid a poor foundation for us to build upon, so I'm trying to be SUPER friendly to everyone - hopefully that is the right work-around in this situation :) OR I might be known as that "really eager red head" who seems desperate for friends. Oh well...

Here are some pictures of our apartment, just so that those of you who care to see it can picture my locale :) Our apartment here is bigger than the one in Lou, but it definitely "grew" in the pictures I took, haha. Still, it is a great place and right now, my laundry is getting washed right below me in the laundry room, after which I will hang it on the clothes lines in the back to dry in the sun :) God has been so kind to us to give us a great location, internet!!!, new friends, and a great experience to grow and learn to trust Him more and more, I look forward to posting on THAT more...but for now, here is basic, trivial info about where we live :)

This is the living room - obviously, my hard-working hus has been living here for a week and a half before me...I guess this has been made the official "study room" - but there IS space for relief in the form of hosting friends! Look at all that furniture!! :):)

Here is our beautiful wrought iron break-in deterrent...and a little view from our sliding door :)

Our kitchen! Hooray! I love it, it's perfect :) Jessi V - can you spot a sourdough starter?? [it may look a little strange, I made a "barrier" for ants, just in case they decided to invade...none yet though ;) ]

View from our apartment balcony, looking to the left and right, respectively.

Ok, well, off to hang the laundry. Much love!
-ev