Who Are You?

And What Have You Done With My Wife?????!!!!

Welcome to our kitchen. This is the one part of this house that I almost cried over right after we moved here. It wasn't really the kitchen so much as the odor of the kitchen that almost made me cry. This is the 3rd house we've lived in and our first two houses really had great kitchens (especially after apartment living). Too bad the microwave was the only thing that saw any action. Well, that and the pantry with its designated chip shelf.

I never really liked cooking. There were times that I have said I actually hate to cook. I was a complete convenience food shopper in the US. I bought more fast food meals than I care to admit for most of our marriage. When I was living on my own in college, I had to call my mom to ask how to make an egg salad sandwich (I seriously have a recipe card from my mom with the instructions written on it--my mom loves me like that) and how to make a baked potato. If anyone out there reading this has ever mocked my cooking or attempts, I remember (but don't worry, I'm not mad...anymore ha ha!) I didn't think I could ever be good at it so I didn't really want to try.

It was more than just not liking cooking. I didn't like taking the time to plan ahead and look up recipes and make lists of ingredients before I went to the store. (What a whimp I was!--24 hour stores, no kids to take with me...little did I know how much easier it would have been to learn then). Countless times have I started making something only to find I don't have half of what I need. I guess I was just easily discouraged. It was too hard. I didn't really try.



Fast forward to now. In this kitchen that almost made me cry, with its tiny Euro-oven, minimal counter space, even more minimal pantry and cabinet space, along with lack of space for my laptop (the Internet is my new best friend in the kitchen--if I don't know how to do something or what something is...google and voila!) and zero view of the TV or my family as they play and enjoy life outside of the kitchen; I have begun to learn to love to cook and bake. Me!

Last week we decided to try some vegetarian dishes (actually the grocery store kind of helped us "decide"--as there was no beef or pork that appealed and NO chicken...seriously, zero). We had vegetarian chili. Yum! I put two recipes together for that one. Yes, me! Problem is, I'm not sure which two or what exactly I did. Note to self: write things down because Internet history can only go so far.

We had baked salmon with mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach. Yum! Saved that recipe. We had fish tacos. Double yum! Those actually got the approval of every family member.  Kids picked certain parts of the salmon dish they approved of...I do not understand why none of my kids like tomatoes except in pasta sauce, ketchup and salsa!



This week I made pulled pork in my crock pot. I didn't get it started in time so it wasn't quite what I wanted. I also made BBQ sauce (a different one from last time I made the pulled pork because that one had a little too much mustard for me) and it was ready way later than I needed it to be. Too bad I can't only cook. I also have a little "helper" at home all day who does occasionally need and want her mother, there are kids to pick up, after school activities, homework, laundry and the shopping. Ugh, the shopping.



It is so frustrating how long it takes me to shop here. The challenge for a beginner cook in a foreign country is that I can't tell what things are by sight. Knowing what items are called in English is slightly helpful, but I find myself staring at packages for quite some time looking for something that looks even a little bit familiar. It takes my brain so long to process the other languages that I feel like there is something wrong with me. Many times I get home and realize I did not buy the right thing at all. There is also the challenge of being in a very crowded store that is stocked during the day. I am always in somebody's way and it gets old.



This week the shopping was especially challenging because not only was I shopping for our family, but I was also shopping for Hannah's preschool class.

Today my neighbor (mother of 5 girls) and I made sushi with 12 PreKers and our daughters (Sarah, her daughter who is also almost 3 and her baby who was born last summer).

It was insane, but so much fun. Because it was so insane and busy, I forgot to take my camera. The teachers were very impressed with our bravery and took a few pictures--maybe I can get those from them. Sarah was a nightmare in the beginning, but she really got into making her own sushi and then she carried her little bag around until we finished with the other children. We asked for 3 groups of 4, but we took so long with the first 4 that we got all 8 who were left at once. Yikes! I was so sick of the smell and process that I couldn't really eat any of it, but Joe tasted some tonight and said it was really good. I told him not to get too excited because it was a lot of work and my neighbor made the rice--pretty significant part of the process there.  These are Sarah's.  She got a little carried away with wetting the wrap so hers was a little on the soggy side.

I came home from cooking with Hannah's class and got busy baking bread. We are bringing Hannah's snack tomorrow as well. Friday is vegetable day and we have had that one a lot this year. I can't fault anyone but myself because I put the snack rotation together each month. I can't remember what all I've done for vegetable day, but the teachers like for us to keep it interesting. Last year I made zucchini muffins (I didn't think of that myself--stole the idea from another mom). Today I made two different kinds of salsa. One mango salsa (recipe from my lovely friend Jennifer--who also shared the pulled pork recipe--she's nice like that) and another tomato salsa. (I started making my own salsa last year when I was complaining about the way most salsa here tastes like a cross between ketchup and sweet and sour sauce--a facebook friend commented that "salsa is so easy to make" and I decided to give it a try. That first experience took hours and my eyes, fingers and lips burned for days from the peppers. Now I can make it without looking at the recipe in about half an hour. I'm a little stingy with it because it is a lot of work. If the kids take a big helping of it that I'm sure they'll never finish, they pretty much get the evil eye until it is either all gone or they put it back--I'm scary like that).

Just in case there is any doubt that I have transformed, I (me!) actually chose to watch an episode on the Food Network on Sunday evening for entertainment.  Yes, me!  It was a good one.  Iron Chef America...the secret ingredient was vegetables from the White House garden.  Wow!  So amazing!  Now I know I went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over my head here, but I had to try the Cauliflower Au Gratin recipe that the celebrity judges (kind of random panel we thought) raved about.  It tastes better than macaroni and cheese?!?!  So last night I made it. 

Lately my husband has come home wondering what exciting things his "new" wife will be cooking up.  Comments range from "Mmmmmmmm...Smells good!" to "Wowza!".  Last night I got, "What is that smell?"  Not exactly what one wants to hear when one is trying a new recipe that one is totally unsure about and the smell is already causing doubt.  I had also made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for the kids just in case it was a total disaster.  It wasn't.  It was good.  Smelled like stinky feet, but so delicious.  Two out of 3 kids and 1 out of 1 husband approved.

To top off the evening of odors, my neighbor called to say she did not have any pickled ginger as she had thought.  I didn't think the kids would eat it anyway, but she really seemed to think it was important as a part of our little sushi presentation so I got to work.  Using my best friend, Mr. Google, I quickly learned how to make pickled ginger and used the fresh ginger I had in the fridge.  Yes, me!  I had fresh ginger.  Told ya!

I had to substitue apple cider vinegar for rice vinegar and maybe I didn't have enough time for the ginger to actually pickle, but this morning what I tasted was not good.  I threw it out.  Oh well, the point is, I'm not scared to try anymore.  I'm okay with messing up.  I'm not sure my husband is as okay with that since two of his least favorite odors are ginger and vinegar.  He was less than thrilled with my late night experiment and might have pouted just a little bit.

Other than Google, I also am learning to ask.  I used to be embarrassed to ask.  I mean you read the part about the egg salad sandwich, right?  One should only ask one's mother such things.  One's mother has to love one. 

So I have put together a little binder of all of the recipes I've been collecting since I got over my fear of asking.  I also like that each one has the name of the person who shared with me. 

Tonight we had another baked cod dish, spinach and broccoli (kids all love broccoli, but haven't convinced all of them that spinach is as delicious as I think it is--I have never liked broccoli, but I fake it for my kids sake).  Yum, yum!  I was going to go with a baked cod recipe including the Gruyere that had offended my  husband the night before, but decided against it. 

So I know it isn't very nice to only post pictures of food when there are 3 children living in this house.  They are around here somewhere I think.  Since I'm always in the kitchen, I only see them when they start thinking they need something to eat or drink.  My daily apprentice is in and out of the kitchen using her new baking set to make me "pies" and bring me coffee or tea several times an hour. 

This is what she left behind this afternoon.  She had grown bored with baking and went upstairs to "dress like a princess".  Wouldn't it be nice if I could leave my kitchen as is and run up to dress like a princess?  Oh well, I had my turn.  I was 3 once.

Speaking of 3.  We have less than two weeks before we celebrate another TSE birthday.  We discussed on the way home this afternoon (the kids and I were talking about Sarah's birthday and the talk of one child's birthday party always leads to talk of who will have the next birthday in our family as a way to work in discussion of the other children's party plans) that Sarah's birthday might be the last family birthday we celebrate here in Belgium.  We have heard whispers of a possible relocation coming soon.  It is all talk right now so we're doing our best to be patient, but it is a very real possibility that we will be leaving Belgium in the next few months. 

After 4 weeks of snow on the ground here in Waterloo (unheard of!), it turned into a lot of mud and slush today.  The kids came home from school today in very muddy snowpants and coats with soaking wet boots.  They have been out enjoying the snow quite a bit at school and even went sledding on Sunday afternoon.  It has been nice, but it looks like we're back to muddy fun instead of snowy fun.  The sun was out again today.  I am starting to feel like I might be slightly solar powered because I am sooooo much more productive on sunny days as opposed to cloudy ones.  Here's hoping we see more of that sun tomorrow.  I've got a lot more things to do!