It was never my intention to leave this little slice of the world on the wayside.   Life has a way of sneaking up on you, and leaving you with this feeling that everything on your To-Do list needs to be checked off before you can take the time to write in your beloved blog.

But, I had a little a chat with my To-Do list, and it told me not to worry, and go do what you love.  And that is why, here I am, back today sharing with you.  I missed you.

These past few months Jon and I have pulled out our teaching hats again, and are in full swing teaching three business courses and English.  We also completed an advanced computer class for the employees of a local university.

In February we also got to celebrate carnaval. Our town has the second biggest celebration in the country so we had the pleasure of hosting 14 other volunteers in our home and getting to watch scantily clad women with big feathers walk down the sambodromo.  Allison blogged all about it.

(Yes, we cook on a camping stove and use matches to light it up every.single.time)

And for even bigger news, last weekend Jon and I were invited to our first ever quinceañera, my excitement for this event was through the roof.  The quinceañera was for an English student of ours who loves all things Korean, specifically KPop, so her party was Asian themed. There were even chopsticks for us to play with.   We each also got glow in the dark bracelets, masks, Mongolian hats, a ceramic Asian doll, candy galore, and super sweet Bratz socks with grips on the bottom.  I provide you with a couple of images of the party extravaganza.

Though, let’s not forget the most important topic at hand, these homemade tortillas.  I made these for a national Peace Corps publication (which makes me practically famous, thanks Mary!), and was surprised how easy and slightly soothing it is to make them.  The key to getting them perfect is to roll them out as thin as possible. And yes, these guys are far superior to the store bought ones. Enjoy!

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Makes 12 tortillas

Ingredients:

3 cups of Flour

1 teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoons Baking Powder (optional*)

⅓ cups Canola Oil or Melted Butter

1 cup Hot Water

Instructions:
1. Mix flour, salt, and baking powder together.
2. Add oil/butter and mix together with fingers until all of the oil is incorporated and the mixture has the texture of cornmeal.
3. Pour the hot water into the mixture.
4. Mix everything together with your hands until a ball forms, then transfer the ball to a floured surface and work dough until it’s smooth and round.
5. Let the dough rest covered with a dishtowel, or similar, for at least 30 minutes.
6. Divide dough into twelve balls.
7. Flour your surface and roll out balls as thin as possible (you can use a wine bottle or similar type of receptacle), approximately 8 inches across.
8.  Cook in a frying pan or griddle on medium heat (with no oil) until it bubbles slightly and turns a golden brown in some areas.  Flip tortilla, then remove from griddle when both sides are perfectly browned.

*You can omit the baking powder and the tortillas will still be delicious, the baking powder just makes the tortillas slightly more puffy and lighter.

Source: Tasty Kitchen, Healthy Homemade Tortillas

This a three part post of recent and not-so-recent happenings in our Peace Corps life. *All photos were taken with a point & shoot, please forgive me.*

Part 1:: Reading & Crafts Camp

During training there was a session on secondary projects given by the ever talented and amazing Peace Corps Volunteer Amy.   During it Amy told us all about the reading camps she had done in her community; I instantly fell in love with the idea and decided that somehow I would make this happen in my own community.

Shortly after arriving in site I started campaigning for the camp, telling every contact along the way about this amazing thing we could do during summer vacation called “Reading & Crafts Camp.”

I found one enthusiastic follower, and with that once summer was approaching we started planning. To find kids for the camp we went on the radio, handed out flyers, taped flyers through out our town, and the best system of all: word of mouth.

Unfortunately, the more challenging part of the camp was finding children’s books. Jon and I weren’t able to find children’s books in our 60k population town, except for those in the American Culture Center that were donated by the American Embassy.  In the end, I also traveled to a fellow volunteers community an hour away to get some additional books.  Fear not, for in the end books were found!

The camp was divided into two weeks, the first week’s theme was “World Cultures.”

Our first task at hand with the kids was to make passports, including the first page which included a drawing of themselves with all of their life information.  Every day after that the kids got a stamp for the country they visited to put in their passports.  Um, one day, I forgot to print off the stamps and they were. not. happy. Shame on me.

The crafts and places we visited ran a wide gamut.  Including learning about Puerto Ricans living in New York, that day we made Maracas (folded paper plates with beans inside and sparkly decorations outside) and NYC taxi cabs!  Other fascinating countries we visited included Greenland, the Maldives, Mexico, and the Galapagos.

During our visit to Greenland we made cute inuits, furry coats made out of cotton balls included.

And during our saunter off to different tropical islands we learned about the wildlife found on them and made some fun tissue paper fish and a mobile with different sea animals hanging off of it.  The kids were clearly not familiar with the epic mobiles by the artist Calder, they kept stating their mobiles were for hanging over a baby’s crib.

Our second week was themed “Discovering Nature.”  Though, in the end, it became more whatever crafts that I could come up with that related to the few books I had on hand. The kids loved it nonetheless.  We read a book about a boy, a sailboat, and his dolphin, then had fun making finger puppets for each character. Jon also taught them how to make paper boats, afterwards their boats raced each other with the help of some blowing. Oh, there was some balloon popping and toucan mask making going on as well.

For the book “Where the Wild Things Are” Jon came up with the idea of making crowns, which were a hit. There were sequins, glitter, and diamonds involved. I am still wishing I would have made my own.

To continue on the accessories theme we made African paper beads. The kids had fun rolling up their colorful beads and then stringing them to make necklaces and bracelets.

We also made toilet paper animals and lion masks.  The lion masks were not very well executed, but I do dare say that they were mighty scary.

While at times stressful and overwhelming I couldn’t have been happier with the results of the camp; the kids had fun, we read books, crafted, and learned a couple of new things along the way.   Afterwards, the kids and the parents were all asking “When’s the next one?”

Part 2:: English Class Awards Ceremony

Our English students completed our class, clocking in more than 60 hours of class time in just a few months time.  To celebrate and receive their certificates we invited the students and their parents to a little ceremony.  In addition to receiving their certificates, there was much laughter and happiness as we reminisced about all of the experiences we had together in our little classroom.  I also made some treats, including banana bread, chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting, and brown butter cookies (with white chocolate instead).

Part 3:: Leadership Camp

As a part of our sector in the Peace Corps we host two leadership camps per year, one during summer vacation and the other during winter.  Each volunteer is encouraged to bring youth from their community to the camps.  While the camps are an am amazing opportunity for the youth, finding ones that are available and with parental permission is more difficult said than done.

Thankfully, we found one amazing young lady, Lilian, who was more than ecstatic about participating.  During the camp Lilian got to: meet other youth from all over the country, learn about and do community projects, go to a pool party, make this American thing called s’mores, and in general, just have the time of her life. By the end of it she and I were in tears and shared a heartfelt embrace captured by Jon.

Here we are, the three of us, ready to conquer the world.  And with that, my friends, I leave you to whatever shenanigans you might of been doing before I summoned you over to my little corner of the world.

1. Avocado is eaten as a fruit. Paraguayans like to sprinkle some sugar on top and eat it in its skin or in a smoothie with milk and sugar.   This means they won’t eat it in a salad, or in their sandwich, or savor the all-time American favorite: guacamole.  In fact, the day Jon and I made guacamole not one member of our host family tried it.

2. The preferred breakfast is white bread; there might be some dulce de leche or jam to spread on it.  This means no eggs, no pancakes, no yogurt, no granola, no fruit, no cereal, no oatmeal, no French toast, none of it, just good old white bread.  There is no need to get complicated so early in the morning, Paraguayans enjoy keeping things simple.

3. Red meat shall never be eaten with the slightest trace of blood.  Once I showed Paraguayans images of how Americans like to eat their steak, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing and continuously shook their heads.  Ironically, they love blood sausage, while Americans stay away from it.

4. Vegetables are chopped as small as humanly possible and you must not be able to see them in your food.  Because of this one small green pepper is enough “vegetable” in a meal for 8 people.  And for those of you who are vegetable averse, I repeat, don’t you worry, you will never find a side of vegetables with your meal if you come visit Paraguay (Ahem… Mark).

5. You can only find falafel in the capital, Asunción, and since Jon and I don’t live anywhere near the capital we fulfill our falafel cravings by making it ourselves, in our home.       

We have been preparing our own falafel since the Seattle days and this has always been our go-to recipe.  The key to making falafel is using pre-soaked dried chickpeas. Do not boil them or buy them in a can as this will cause the patties to disintegrate into nothingness when you fry them due to too high of a water content in the mixture.  Trust me, I’ve been there.

My favorite way to eat falafel is in a pita sandwich with some tahini or tatziki sauce, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, and whatever else strikes your fancy.  You can also eat it as a part of a salad on a bed of greens.  Enjoy!

Falafel (from the cookbook Joy of Cooking)

Makes approx. 12 patties (depending on size)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup dried chickpeas (rinsed and soaked overnight)
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 Tablespoons AP Flour (or other flour if you are preparing it gluten free)

Instructions:

1. Soak chickpeas over night in water.

2. In a food processor blend all of the ingredients together except for the flour.

3. Stir in the flour.

4. Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes.

5. Prepare patties the size of your liking, mine are usually between 1/8 and ¼ cup of filling each.

6. On medium heat, heat a small-medium frying pan with oil at least 1” deep.

7. Let the oil temperature reach 350F to 375F.

8. Test fry one patty in the oil.  Flip the patty every couple of minutes if the oil doesn’t fully cover it.  Within five minutes the patty should be perfectly golden brown.  Remove from the frying pan and place on a paper towel lined plate.

9. Continue frying the rest of the patties, I usually do four to five at a time.

I have a question for you.  Well, before I pose my question I would like for you to excuse my ignorance, and Jon’s ignorance for that matter, for he is perplexed as well.

The question:  Why do we refrigerate our eggs in the United States?

I have most certainly not been to every country in the world, but enough to where I have seen a trend, a.k.a. no one refrigerates their eggs… except for us, the Americans.   We love them so very much refrigerated that we buy them already refrigerated in the supermarket and it wouldn’t surprise me to know that they come to the supermarket in refrigerated semi-trucks.

The rest of the world doesn’t do this and are certainly not dying, yet we spend, I am sure, an inordinate amount of energy to refrigerate our beloved eggs.

I rest my case.

In other news, I made some cookies (with non-refrigerated eggs); they are my new favorite.  The key ingredient you may ask?  Well, it’s the combination of all of them: browned butter, oats, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg… Let’s just say that today I ate 7 of them, I have amazing self-control.  In order to not fall in the same conundrum that I did I recommend sharing with others; you will be showered with compliments and praise.  Enjoy!

Brown Butter, Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Cookies (from Simply Recipes):

(Makes 4 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 ½ cup All-Purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ tablespoon vanilla

2 tablespoons water

1 ½ chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup shredded coconut

3 cups rolled oats

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven at 350 F (175 Celcius).

2. Brown the butter.  (for detailed instructions go here)

3. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon

4. In a separate bowl mix together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth.

5. Add eggs and vanilla, mix again until smooth.

6. Mix in the flour mixture.

7. Stir in 2 Tbsp. of water.

8. Stir in chocolate chips, pecans, and shredded coconut.

9. Stir in rolled oats.

10. Spoon heaping tablespoons of mixture onto a cookie sheet.  Afterwards, slightly press down each cookie prior to baking.

11. Bake for 10 minutes and then enjoy!

There are two types of mangos that grow here, the little mango that grows on big mango trees and the big mango that grows on little mango trees.  The big mango trees are much more common than the little mango trees, which is unfortunate because the little mangos are very fibrous and not very pleasant to eat while the big mangos have no fiber, are juicy and delicious.

Jon and I unfortunately do not have a little mango tree in our yard, so to attain big mangos I came up with a simple strategy:  to tell every Paraguayan I know that I l-o-v-e big mangos.   After my mango campaign I stood at my door and waited to reap the benefits. Paraguayans didn’t disappoint; I received 12 big mangos in two days. Jon was amazed.

To enjoy all of this bounty I have been making these smoothies.  They are a tasty, healthy treat.  This was my first time using chia seeds and I can officially say that I am a true chia seed advocate.   They add a nice texture to the smoothie (plus the health benefits). Enjoy!

Mango-Banana Smoothie with Chia Seeds 

Makes 4 generous glasses

Ingredients:

3 cups chopped mango (chilled or frozen if possible)

3 bananas

1 cup ice cubes

8 ounces or 1 cup plain yogurt

1 tablespoon honey

½ tablespoon vanilla

dash of nutmeg

dash of cinnamon

1 tablespoon chia seeds

Instructions:

1. In a blender mix mango, banana, ice, yogurt, honey, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon until smooth.

2. Pour in chia seeds and blend for two seconds. Pour in a glass and enjoy.

We left off last time with a promise of food for this post and yet here I am instead with a recap of our trip this past Christmas and New Years. Please forgive me.  I hope you enjoy this eye candy instead.

After 6+ months in Paraguay Jon and I were ready to start exploring the land beyond our new home.  During Thanksgiving, with Isaiah and Allison, the idea of a Christmas trip was mentioned. Quickly thereafter out came a map of Argentina and adjacent countries and with that the planning had officially begun.

On the day of Christmas Eve we flew off to Mendoza, Argentina, the largest wine producing area of South America, most famous for its Malbec.  Maybe I am too easily impressed in life, but I quickly fell in love with Argentina.  There is a great variety of cuisine available (including seafood paella!), fun/cute shops, and pedestrian walk signs.  Ah, yes, you folks living the fancy life in the first world should say a small prayer of gratitude thanking whatever higher being you believe in for that flashing walk sign that tells you when to cross the street, because it’s worth gold. Ahem, back to Mendoza.

During our trip there was a recurring theme of climbing hills and Mendoza was no exception.   Our first hill was Cerro Las Glorias, which is located inside a gem of a park, complete with a lake, gardens, lots of glorious fountains, and families out on picnics, all with a view of the Andes Mountains.  At the top of the hill there is one very impressive statue, an epic view of Mendoza and the surrounding desert.

As we learned through many a wine tours Mendoza is in a desert so all of the wineries siphon water from the snow melt in the Andes Mountains. Because they have great control over how much water their vineyards receive, along with rich soil, they have the perfect climate for growing grapes.

I also conquered my fear of biking. I might be married to the best biker in the world, but I am most certainly the worst biker in the world.   When crossing the street I am the biker that gets off the bike, crosses the street, and then gets back on.  It’s much safer this way, I promise. Although it sounded like a good time for my fellow travelers to get on bikes and bike to vineyards, I was unsure, to say the least.  I conquered my fears, told myself I wouldn’t die, and biked, very slowly. We made it to the vineyards, even got to bike through vineyards, went on tours and I lived to tell the tale.  And oh, since I love food, I must mention that we ate lunch at a lovely winery with, of course, lots of wine.

After our rendezvous in Mendoza we crossed the Andes Mountains by bus to Santiago, Chile.   The views out of the window continued to amaze me, which made the 9-hour bus ride go much quicker than expected.

I was excited to visit the city named after me and Jon was full of lots of jokes in regards to me being in my namesake.  For example:  “If Nalena gets cold, she’ll be a chilly Santiago in Santiago, Chile.”  He is one funny man.

Santiago didn’t disappoint.  It was a grand, metropolitan city, with even more cosmopolitan food than Mendoza, lots of great museums, and majestic plazas. I have never been so excited to be eating sushi again.  We made it to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, created in remembrance of the years that Pinochet was dictator of Chile. The building itself was a work of art; the architecture student in me was maybe a little too excited.  Hello! The plaza goes underneath the building! How cool is that!?!?

Whenever I travel I am always on the lookout for the local foodstands.  In Chile there was one that seemed to be at every corner, it sold the drink Mote con Huesillos.   I was unfamiliar to such a thing and the adventurous eater in me was a little startled by the word huesillos, meaning bones in Spanish.  I finally asked on our final day in the city a lady what it was, purchased it and was pleasantly surprised.  There were no bones to be found in it.  It consists of a sweet drink, cooked wheat berries in the bottom and dried-and-then rehydrated peaches.  Have some for me the next time you visit Chile. (Also, don’t be surprised to find mini-firefighters in the middle of a plaza honing their skills.)

Being on the coast, Santiago has a bustling Central Market full of seafood. I am pretty sure it’s trying to compete with Seattle’s market (I should send them a memo that they are lacking the flower stands).  Inside there are also lots of seafood restaurants where we got to try some tasty and lime-y Chilean ceviche.

We also visited the Museo de Moneda y Cultura, where the special exhibition was a portion of the private art collection of Peggy Guggenheim.  I am pretty much a renowned Peggy expert now; did you know her father died on the Titanic? The museum is another architectural feat seeing as it is three stories tall, all underground.

During our stay in Santiago we did a day trip to the coastal town, and a UNESCO world heritage site, Valparaiso.  In Valparaiso everything is located on one or another of the city’s many hills. Due to this, homes are stacked on top of each other.  This, along with the brightly colored buildings on the meandering roads makes it quite the endearing town.  Oh wait; it also has funiculars, which assist you in going up said hills.  (Seattle, this is what you need, funiculars, forget the flower stands).

As you might have noticed, another recurring theme during our trip was the graffiti art.  Jon kept snapping pictures left and right of all the amazing art that adorned the streets of these cities. They also made a great backdrop for the classic “jump” photo that I am so fond of.

On our last day we went up our final hill, to find Mary up above and a view of Santiago, with the Andes in the background once again. I hate to repeat myself, but it was epic.  And to repeat myself once more, it was an epic way to start our travels through South America.

(Also, cheers to our amazing traveling buddies and amazing guacamole makers Allison and Isaiah – more pics of the trip on their blog!)

When folks from back home email/chat/talk with us, a question we always get is “What all do you guys do down there in Paraguay?” So, here you have it, a post solely dedicated to what we do in Paraguay with pictures galore.  And yes, we do things other than constantly sweat and kill bugs. (Please excuse the quality of some of the pictures– they were mostly taken with a point and shoot).

1. I teach/taught typing. 

For the past two months I taught typing at a local middle + high school.  This school was the very lucky recipient of a fully equipped computer lab courtesy of the Korean aid organization (KOICA), but unfortunately since the Korean volunteer has left the lab was only used for two class hours per week.  My original plan was to teach Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. but I quickly discovered that many students could barely manage using a mouse and a keyboard.  So, we started at square one, typing.  The students have a way to go, but I plan to continue once summer vacation ends and school starts back up.  (Yep, we are in the midst of summer here on the other side of the hemisphere).  During the same time Jon taught PHP at the technical high school, the same stuff that runs those websites that go by the name of “Facebook,” “Wikipedia” and even this little blog.  

2. We walk a lot and drink terere. 

A significant chunk of our day consists of simply walking. We live a good distance away from the center of town, and once in town have to walk from offices to schools to markets to home, etc.  Thanks to a sweet little birthday gift (a.k.a: a Fitbit) I received from a friend all the way from the U.S. of A. (love you Eab!) I now know that on average we walk 7 miles per day.  To cool off from all that walking we drink lots of terere with fellow Paraguayans.  Terere is the national drink of Paraguay/a way of life. It consists of a guampa (metal or wood cup), a bombilla (metal straw with a filter at the bottom), a thermos (filled with really cold water to refill the guampa), mate (a loose herb), and friends.  You get together with friends and alternate drinking from the same guampa via the same straw.

3. Attend Municipal Meetings.

Every Wednesday morning we attend a local inter-institutional meeting.  Through this meeting we have made contact with local movers & shakers in town and it has given us the opportunity to participate/help in a variety of events in town.

4. Encounter cows.

Almost everyday we have some sort of encounter with cows.  This country is full of cows and their owners let them roam the streets freely, which means they mow our lawn everyday.  While driving on the main highway in Paraguay it is not uncommon to have to stop to let the cows cross the street.

5.  Lead/organize one-time events in a variety of forms.

Thus far, we did a two day computer training for school teachers, a self-esteem speech/activity for middle schoolers organized with the local Rotaract club, an environmental/disability awareness day long training organized with the local tourism office (we even came out in a local magazine with this one!), and a Halloween cultural event (pictured above) with the kids from the local American Cultural Center.  About Halloween, those kids were deathly afraid of bobbing for apples and refused to try it, until one bold child went for it and then suddenly bobbing for apples became the most popular thing on the street, even if it meant getting completely soaked.

All of these smaller events were learning experiences for Jon and I, full of successes and some failures.

4. Take electrical hot showers in our very own little house!

To keep cool in the insane heat we take lots of showers.  The shower heads are a little different here though, they have electricity running through them which converts the water from hot to cold.  So yes, this means we could electrocute ourselves.  But um, hot water showers are totally worth the risk of electrocution. More exciting than electrocution is that this past month Jon and I moved into our very own little house! That’s her in all of her cute orange glory. Hopefully you’ll get a tour very soon.

5. Teach our very own English class.

Our little English class has a whopping 5 students, but we like it like that.  The previous volunteer left us with two very hardworking students and from there we invited a few others that we knew were also interested, but still keeping it small since we didn’t really want to overwhelm ourselves teaching something we had no previous experience with.  I am slightly in love with our students and have enjoyed the challenge of finding fun and creative ways of teaching English.  The bottom picture is of them enjoying those Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Brownies. This past class for Alvaro’s birthday I made Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies, they were very popular as well.  (Let me know if you guys are interested in a post about these!)

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6. We cook and share the food.

Jon and I have been rocking the kitchen and sharing the bounty with Paraguayans.  I can proudly say that my host mom can now make carrot cake and quiche all on her own. Above is the food we prepared for our Site Presentation, where our boss comes from the capital and introduces us to our community.  The bounty above included: mini quiches with pancetta and caramelized onions, apple pie empanadas, hummus with pita, and carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (more potential posts if there is interest!).  Those Paraguayans devoured all of it.

7. We lead a weekly discussion group with the English students at the local American Cultural Center.

We’ve had fun in coming up with all sorts of games to get them to practice their English, including games of Jeopardy, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?, and Celebrity.  The bottom picture was the little surprise birthday party the students organized for me which included lots of cookies, candy and soda (yum!).

8. Spend time with Peace Corps friends and family.

During Thanksgiving week Jon and I had our very first visitor, my dad!  We enjoyed visiting the the countryside of Paraguay, going to the lake, buying a few too many artisanal goods, and listening to traditional Paraguayan harp and guitar music.  We also had the pleasure of hosting our very first Thanksgiving with my dad and a very special Peace Corps couple, Allison and Isaiah.  Side note: Allison and Isaiah were married on the exact same day as Jon and I and took exactly the same planes from Cedar Rapids, IA to Miami before we headed off to Paraguay.  It is truly the people that make all of this worth it.

And that, my friends, along with a couple of other things we have up our sleeves, is what we do in this country that some call Paraguay. Next time, though, let’s talk food!

Today is a big, big day. Well, it actually happened 11 days ago, but we shall celebrate today instead.  It has officially been a year since the inception of this little blog.

As many of you know, before starting this blog I was an avid blog reader (and still am).  Reading those blogs pushed me to be more creative in the kitchen and try new things I had never done before, like cupcakes, sugar cookies, and cakes.  Despite my drive those first attempts were mostly disastrous. Very disastrous.

My sugar cookies would puff up, my frosting would droop in very sad manners, and my cake would stick to the pan.  But I was convinced that if all of these folks out there who were self-taught could do it, then I could too.  I kept trying, kept learning, and kept reading.   Slowly, I started having more successes than failures in the kitchen.  I can now bake and decorate sugar cookies, swirl frosting on cupcakes, and make a cake (even if it topples over).

This is not to say that I am a master at any of these things, but I am happy improving and continuing to try new techniques.

The second element of a blog is photography.  Before the inception of this blog I had never so much as touched Jon’s camera.  But I figured I was set to have stellar photos considering Jon has a dSLR and the same lens that all of the food bloggers recommend.  Oh man, oh man, how wrong and ignorant was I.  I took pictures of a salsa, what I thought would be my first post, and they were catastrophic; dark, out of focus, and poorly composed.  I called Jon at his work and asked what button I needed to push to make his camera take good photos.  He laughed and told me it wasn’t so simple.  I was left confused.

I again went to the almighty Internet, started reading, and kept attempting taking pictures of food.  I bought a book about food photography and read it all in two weeks.  I then bought an external flash, a light reflector, and Adobe Lightroom for photo editing.

For the composition aspect of my photos, I built a fake table top out of wood planks and painted it to make the background of my food photos look more “rustic” and less shiny.  I bought white plates and got cloth napkins for photo props.

My first goal entering the food blog world was to simply to be “published” on Foodgawker or Tastespotting, I submitted the picture of my first post, a carrot cake, sure that it would be accepted.  But, of course, the photo was very tactfully rejected.  I had a long ways to go (and still do).

After many attempts I did manage to get a photo or two accepted.

I tell you this story today simply to serve as an inspiration.  With some dedication and will to learn we can accomplish things that we never dreamed of being able to.

This little slice of my world is not perfect, nor shall it ever be.  Sometimes, despite the best of intentions it takes me three weeks to post something new. But, it is with much fervor and love that I will continue baking and cooking for all of you.

Thank you to all of my friends, family, and strangers alike for supporting and cheering on this small endeavor from day one.

It is with this that I leave you with the chocolate chunk (because there are no chocolate chips in Paraguay) cookie dough brownie. Note:  my brownie might not appear as dark as the one you might make due to the fact that I wasn’t able to find semi-sweet chocolate, so I resorted to milk chocolate.  Delicious, nonetheless and very fudgy. Regarding the cookie dough, it doesn’t use raw eggs so it’s safe to eat and is crunchy just like real cookie dough.  I hope you like crunchy.

Recipe (from Recipe Girl):

Brownie:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips or a chopped up semisweet chocolate bar
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Cookie Dough:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature or almost melted
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk or cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped chocolate chunks/ miniature chocolate chips
chocolate sprinkles to decorate the tops (optional)

Instructions:

Brownie Layer:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×9 (or similar size) pan with aluminium foil, with enough to hang over the sides.  Butter the foil.

2. Melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring between each. Mix in the white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt.  Mix in the flour until just combined, you don’t want to over mix. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 25-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Place in the fridge and let cool completely.

Cookie Dough Layer:

3.  Mix the butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and salt together.  Add milk and vanilla until combined, then add the flour until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chunks/chips.

To Assemble:

4. With wet hands spread/pat down the cookie dough layer on top of the brownie. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.

Enjoy!

My friends, you might already know this, but let me tell you anyway: the Internet is truly revolutionary.

While in Seattle I met a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Africa over 20 years ago.   To keep in touch with his family he wrote letters and would wait months to receive a response.  To make calls back home he was able to go in to the capital city twice a year.  His only other method of knowing what was occurring in the States was via Newsweek, which would arrive a month late.

Fast forward to the experience of your modern day Peace Corps volunteer.  We can now video chat with our family at any time of the day, peruse the daily news, instant message with our friends while they are at work, and watch our nieces and nephews grow (incredibly fast) via Facebook.  We know what is happening in folks’ lives regardless if they are in the States, Puerto Rico, England, Guatemala, or the Dominican Republic.   Unfortunately, the wonderful access to the World Wide Web continues my unhealthy addiction to “clicking.”  Nonetheless, the pros far out weigh the cons.

This small prelude was somehow supposed to lead me to telling you about the power of the Internet in Paraguay; specifically a small little video that has gone more than viral, aka Gangnam Style.  How do I put this?  Paraguayans LOVE Gangnam style.  Ok, I, Nalena, love Gangnam Style as well.

When Jon showed me the video four weeks ago, I was more than amused, so I subsequently showed it to our two host sisters, and they loved it as well.  Several days later my host sister tells me she heard the song on the radio, I figured she was confused. There was no way that Paraguayans were listening to Korean pop music that they didn’t understand on the radio.  I was so, so wrong.

Soon thereafter Jon and I are watching a high school parade and it seemed like every “float” was blasting the song. Except not only were they playing it but they were dancing to it.   Yes, they more than know the very emblematic Gangnam dance.

This, my friends, is the true power of the Internet.  Also, Psy: you should come to Paraguay, we will be much more welcoming than Britney was.

In other news, that I am able to share with you as a result of the Internet, Jon has become the master at making crunchy delicious granola and I have been reaping all of the benefits.  I love his granola because it’s in “slab” form so if you want to take some with you “on the go” it’s easy to eat, or you can choose to crumble it up into your granola with some fruit.   It serves dual purpose; it’s fancy like that.

Without further ado, I leave you with Jon to show you the ways in making the most perfect granola.

Crunchy Granola Bars

Ingredients:

2 mugs (3 cups) oats

1 mug (1.5 cups) shredded coconut

½ mug (3/4 cup) assorted seeds (Here, we used flaxseed and sesame seeds, but you can customize as you wish.)

1 mug (1.5 cup) nuts (We used peanuts because they’re easily available in Paraguay, but use what you want.)

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/3 to ½ mug (1/2 to ¾ cup) honey

½ mug (or more) (3/4 cup) dried fruit (We used dried plums—I guess that’d be prunes, but dried plums sounds so much more appetizing—since they didn’t have raisins when we went to the supermarket.)

Instructions:

*The recipe is measured in mugs, because that’s how I actually measure the recipe. Amazon seems to think that a coffee mug
is about 11 ounces normally and 12 if you fill it to the brim, so if you insist on using actual units, the amounts are shown in parentheses. Disclaimer: that’s an affiliate link, so if you decide that your life would be more complete with a mug that has a genuine picture of a genuine Shetland pony on it, (and how better to make granola?) then we’ll be able to find out that somebody somewhere bought that fine example of mug-makery.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start by toasting the oats, coconut, and seeds in a pot on the stovetop, stirring frequently. As they become aromatic and start to brown, add the nuts. Cook a couple minutes more, then pour off into a bowl.

Add the butter, sugar, and honey to your now-empty pot, and return it to the stove. Once the sugar has all dissolved and the mixture begins to foam, add your dry ingredients back into the pot and turn off the heat. Stir to combine.

You’re looking for a texture that’s slightly sticky, but not soaking. If you like a crunchier, sweeter granola, you can add more honey. If you prefer it more on the crumbly side and not as sweet, you can use less.

Grease a baking sheet. Mix in your dried fruit, and pour the mixture into the greased baking sheet. Spread it out, but don’t worry about pressing it down yet—you’re going to stir it a couple of times during baking. Stick the sheet in the oven and bake for about half an hour, stirring every ten minutes.

Be careful to incorporate the edges into the center when you stir, since those are the parts that will burn first. Once everything is sufficiently browned, take it out of the oven. It might not seem very crispy yet, but don’t worry. Press it down into the sheet with the back of a spoon, then let cool.

If everything’s worked out right, when it cools it will harden into granola bars. Cut it up into chunks the size of your liking.

Back in the good old days, when I was a carefree child, one of my favorite things in the world was eating Velveeta Shells & Cheese.  In my mind this was the real stuff, it had “real” cheese that came in a squeezable pouch, none of this powder shenanigans.

It wasn’t until college, when I met a certain someone by the name of Jon, that the wonderful little bubble that I lived in was burst. We were wandering the aisles of the supermarket and I was telling Jon how much I loved Velveeta, it was so smooth and so tasty.   Jon very kindly told me that Velveeta is not real cheese, along with American cheese slices.   “What do you mean, Jon?  It is SO cheese, just look at its color.”

Jon walked over to the Velveeta section and kindly showed me where it states, “Cheese product” on the box.  The difference between real, normal “cheese” and “cheese product” still perplexes me to this day.  But, the general gist of it, is that more than a few chemicals and a lot of fat are added to a tiny bit of cheese to make “cheese product.”  As Jon likes to state, cheese shouldn’t be shelf stable- it should be in the refrigerator section.

With this newfound knowledge I stopped being an advocate for all things Kraft cheese.   This is not so say that if you offer me some melted Velveeta dip I am going to turn you down, but we simply never purchased it back in the states.

This is what brought about my search for making homemade mac and cheese, via the stovetop, with no baking.   After many attempts at this I can tell you that the most important thing is to eat/serve immediately once it is ready.  Because the base of homemade mac and cheese is almost always béchamel if you leave it for too long it will start to thicken.  But if you eat it as soon as humanly possibly it will be deliciously creamy, soft, and cheesy.  Though this is not to say that leftovers wont be delicious, because they will be.

The great part of this recipe is that you can use whatever cheese that strikes your fancy, or any combination (like I did).  I recommend grating the cheese yourself, if you buy it pre-grated it has anti-caking agents which don’t allow for that super smooth mac and cheese you are looking for.

A final look at the mac and cheese deliciousness. And with that, bon appetite!

Stovetop Homemade Bacon Mac and Cheese (inspired by PW Mac and Cheese):

Ingredients:

• 12 oz. dried pasta (any shape)
• 7 (or more) slices of bacon
• 2 medium onions chopped lengthwise
• 1 whole egg beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 pound grated cheese (not pre-grated cheese) — I used fontina and gouda, cheddar would be a good option as well
• Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
• dash of hot sauce

Instructions: