Monday, December 17, 2007

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?

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

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!