not exactly top ramen, but pasta!

I spent all day in the kitchen it seems, we're going to have a fair bit of company in January, more than we're used to anyway, so I'm trying to get a head start on cooking at least. In the picture you can see this cannelloni dish I'm making for the first time. I was amazed that we could get the noodles here, but lots of women go and work as house maids in Italy, so they must develop a taste for that cuisine, hence the demand for it in the shops here. I bought this box some time ago, and found a recipe, you can check it out if you like here. This recipe tells you how to make 'em using lasagna noodles, but I had fun stuffing these big macaronis! I more or less followed the recipe, then I had a bunch of sauce left over and I used it with lasagna noodles to bake lasagna for lunch. I like to cook in bulk, because it seems like good economy of time.
Also made roasted cauliflower soup! Recipe here.
There's enough for us to have it with our visitors when we bring them back from Lutsk. Hot soup should be good after 5 January hours in the bus!
And I just finished up by making an apple pie, couldn't get nice lard, so I made the crust out of vegetable oil. The pie is shivering in the freezer waiting for the middle of January when it will be the life of the party!
Can you identify the strange cooking gadgets in the picture?

Teaching English

Here is the last group I taught at the university. I don't expect to be teaching much more now for a while...that leaves me with mixed feelings. There are lots of nice kids there.

Staying in the Dorm in Ternopil

A few years ago Karen and I were on the train and met a nice girl who was eager to practice her English. That led to several nice visits with her in the park over the course of a year or more. Now in the past 2 years we have started visiting her and her roommates in their dorm room. Anita and I spent the night there a few weeks ago. Here are 2 of the girls fixing supper for us! We have very nice reads with them. So we have great hope! :)

finishing touches

My new hobby, but takes a long time to make one pair!

Footwear

Here are my slippers! I'm really happy with them, they turned out great, now I wonder if I'll give them to mor for her birthday!
vil du ha dei mor?!

And here we have new boots, for me and for mor!

Walk-in freezer

When Lars Lund was here 2 years ago he stayed in a home which he later described as the coldest he'd ever been anywhere. We were just there ourselves, and ironically in that place the man of the house is building a walkin refrigerator! He's quite brilliant at what he's doing, it's a job for a man in town who has a butcher shop and the client can't afford anything much, so our friend is inventing this setup for him. Here you can take a look...

Sveinung, maybe you can see the tool he's holding, it's a tool for flaring out brass pipes, I think the brand is sunshine? Have you ever heard of that? He wants to know if he really got a good thing. Let me know and I'll pass it on.

Sunday night supper

Anita ordered popcorn, but I wasn't in the mood. Here's what we had instead. I didn't have all the ingredients, like the frozen peas, but it was pretty good.

Progress!!!

Here is the step by step progression, at first I sewed them inside out, but it made them really bulky in the boots, then after I sewed the braid on I decided they are far too cool to wear as boot liners so I'm going to find some leather to make soles out of and use them as slippers. Anya saw them tonight and liked them, so I think I might make some more for her and her family. I can get old wool sweaters at the second hand place in the bazaar, also a pair of old boots to cut apart for soles, also tire tread soles would be interesting, but maybe heavy to pack around on the weekends...wonder if I could make tire tread sandals for summer?
well,now that I'm going wear them as slippers Anita says I should redo the front seam and turn it in, I think she's right, also I'll sew more of the braid up the back and cover the raw edges there.
It's fun making them like I said I'll make some more and give them away to some deserving soles.











I feel like Geppetto when I'm working on these, and it makes me wonder, why DID he make Pinocchio??

Step by step unravelling a sweater

you see the kofte on the back of the chair? Got it at the second hand here in town!

boiled Norwegian wool sweater

Here it is: instead of the former striking black and white we have a mottled two shades of gray. Hope to post the boot liners sometime before winter's over!

unboiled wool sweater

I just want to add that knitting is a great endeavour. My first year in Ukraine I knit an ethnic Norwegian sweater which I a few days ago decided to boil down for making boiled wool boot liners, well, I boiled that sweater in the good old fashioned way on the stove top in a pot and then plunged it into cold water only to then boil it some more, and I want to tell you that that sweater did NOT shrink...isn't it good - Norwegian wool.

We don't do our laundry by hand any more, but the tumble dryer hasn't made its début into workers' baches yet, at least not in Ukraine. Here is a shot of the rack full of dry laundry. In fine weather we can use the balcony, today however we have snow, "Like a light case of dandruff," as Viola Fridley would say; the rack is here in Anita's room.
I want you to note the home-made hook keeping the balcony door closed and hermetically sealed against the elements.

and finally...the Sudafed song!

Back by popular demand...

Sudafed Sudafed
Why do I feel you defeat me?

Nasal spray, twice a day
Cartons of Kleenexes daily

Dristan and Tylenol clear my head
Then I'll get out of bed

Cough and sneeze, sniff and wheeze
Oh how I'd love to breath easy

to the tune of "Edelweis"

The bronical chronical

This is me, a victim of chronic sinus abuse...the trickle down effect is an annoyed, inflamed, nearly clogged up larynx. Think of it as a fairly decayed Adam's apple, in my case a crab apple since we don't encounter women sporting Adam's apples.



Let me explain the title before I submit this for publishing; one of my first co-workers was Viola Fridley. She had got bad bug the year we were together, and told us, "it's in my bronicals", that's such an interesting word, the spell checker doesn't know WHAT to do with it. Another thing she said once was when we were driving along in the dark of the night out near Lake Elsinore was, "you don't see many more of those jumping nylons"...I knew immediately what she meant...flashing neon lights!

I'm working on the sudaphed song, see if it's in my next post...