Cookbooks galore

Shockingly, I finished my first non-academic book and have opened number two.  Ok ok, so it's my fourth book on food waste and garbage but who's counting?  My time abroad has taught me to live with less, and now that I'm doing my thesis work on composting and food waste, I've gotten a bit out of control with my obsession.  Our friends are having a garage sale next weekend and although it appears we have little to sell, we do.  If we don't use it, it's going.  An unused desk lamp, plastic mixing bowls, and non-functional dinner plates will all meet their fate.  However, I've met my match.

The cookbook shelf in our kitchen is packed full of my collection.  I've received some wonderful books as gifts and have acquired some amazing church cookbooks from my late Grandmother Hazel.  Last month at an end of the semester potluck I won a first edition 1961 New York Times cookbook.  There is something go great about them and they all tell an interesting story.  This one in particular falls open to certain pages that have been well used.  What did this cook like in particular on page 438? Was is the green mayonnaise or the mona lisa dressing?  Other books from my Grandmother have notes written in the margins which I adore.  Mine have also begun to tell stories themselves, like the spinach splattered pages of my Indian cookbook when a blender mishap caused a sprinkler-like affect of green.  Oops.

None the less, I can't part with them.  Even if I did, I'd try and compost the pages.

.... the photo above is our first tray of finished worm compost, the product of months of hard labor by our hundreds of little red worm children. Nice work guys, into the garden you go!

Thailand amoeba 1, Lizz 0

I am back in the States.  After being released from the hospital, I spent the next 4 days laying in a hotel/motel room trying to recover.  A rainstorm took out the electricity and plumbing one day and I spent the afternoon at our guide's home.  I tried to test the waters of the 116 degree heat index but was unable to brush off the nauseous and sick feeling.  Knowing my group was working in a school was not air conditioned and dealing with my unruly spleen (again), I made the very very difficult decision to come home to recover.  I have so much respect for all Peace Corps volunteers that have served in Asia... not only because of the heat, but also due to the lack of American cuisine that I longed for even after 10 days.  Not to say I didn't love the food and I didn't eat some amazing things.  I do not, however, want to see a side of white rice anytime soon. 

Amazing basil wrapped ginger slaw

Delicious, but so hot it made me cry

Chinese style dumplings

Thai hospital food

And this is what my breakfast looks like today.  I've spent yesterday afternoon and last night in the Chaing Mai hospital after an interesting night of stomach issues.  Enough said.  Most of yesterday was spent enjoying the cool tile floor of my bathroom at the Green Palace Hotel, but soon I realized that would not be enough to combat whatever demon had entered my body.

Our group was off visiting a National Park, so TukTuk arranged for a hospital car to come pick me up.  Can't say I smelled great.  I checked in and was wheeled into my room.  As soon as that IV was started I knew it was exactly what I needed.  The doctor (and my blood test) stated that I had picked up a bacterial infection from something.  Further tests of other bodily fluids will help reveal its origins.

The hospital culture in Thailand is interesting.  I've told 4 or 5 nurses my story and if I am allergic to medicine, etc.  When I was awoken at 6 am this morning for the same routine questions, I told the nurse I'd been asked them before.  She responded "Nurse not good at remembering details."  Fabulous.  Another pleasant surprise in the night was all the lights being turned on to take my blood pressure.  They were left on when the nurse was finished.  Awesome.

None the less, I am about ready to rock on out of here.  Luckily, no one else in our group is sick and they have all been incredibly supportive.  And, thanks to modern day wireless and skype, I've been able to connect with family at home.    The doc will come back in an hour to let me know my fate.  Fingers crossed I will be released today.  Thank goodness for travel insurance!

You like strong or soft?

Day One in Thailand is coming to a close.  I’ve already seen half of my colleagues naked, eaten my own weight in white rice, and made some new friends.  I am here with a group of Educators from Montana State who are hoping to set up a study abroad program for undergraduate education majors here in Naikon Sawan.  Our group consists of 3 faculty members, 1 Doctoral student, 2 graduate students, and an undergraduate music technology major.  Why they’ve asked a Sustainable Food Systems graduate (that’s me) to come along is still a mystery, but nonetheless I am happy to be in “the land of smiles.”

After 18 hours on 3 different airplanes, we arrived in Bangkok a bit after midnight.  No visa needed here.  In fact, forget to fill out the second sheet of your entry form?  No problem, head on in!    We hopped into a van with our driver named Tuk tuk and started the 4 hour journey north to Naikon Sawan.  We all crashed hard and met up this morning, using the “point and smile” menu technique to order our breakfast.  (Most of the menu was in Thai but included some stunning photos.) Some fared better than others. I was jealous I didn’t get the French fries with my fried rice and eggs.  Maybe tomorrow.

The head of this trip has been working with educators in Thailand for over 7 years.  Not surprisingly, he knows the good stuff. Like where to buy 3 kilos of delicious lychee fruit and the pleasures of Thai massage.  A sassy Thai woman named Kitty scheduled our group massages for the afternoon.  We arrived at the hotel and headed upstairs to the “spa”. Much to my surprise, we were rounded into a single room, which housed 8 different Thai massage mattresses.   The 7 of us were handed Thai style fishermen pants and a loose fitting button up shirt.  We looked around in confusion as to where we were meant to change.  The staff took this confusion as ignorance and began to show us how to wear the garments.  Sorry ladies, not the problem. 

The men left the room and in spite of the numerous mirrors overhead and being surrounded by strangers, I began to strip down.    A colleague Christine commented that without her advanced skills in sleeping bag changing, her quick and discreet change would not have been possible.  A few awkward minutes later, we began to relax.   The Thai women giving us the massages, however, enjoyed the horrendous Thai pop music being played on the flat screen in the corner and some of them loved to giggle.  They giggled a lot.  They giggled when we winced in pain and at Susan’s hairy legs.   They giggled at my tattoos and they giggled when I didn’t understand which way they wanted me to roll over. It sort of felt like an 8 year old girl’s slumber party.  Comfy clothes and lots of giggles.  All that was missing was a bowl of popcorn and a VHS cassette tape of The Little Mermaid.  Would I have guessed that seeing my professor’s middle aged bellies would happen on Day 1?  Don’t get my wrong, I loved it (the massage).  So relaxing.  And, it was an authentic Thai experience.  I think the end of the massage had 2 different paths the men could have chosen.  Luckily, we changed back into our "American" clothes and headed back into the crazy heat.

We are now in northern part of the country in a city called Chaing Mai.  More to come soon on riding elephants and street food.

Wait, it's May?

Oh blog.  You are still here, waiting patiently for me to finally have a moment to write.  Thanks for waiting!  I've just finished my first year of graduate school. At the moment, I'm sitting in the Seattle airport awaiting a flight to Thailand.  Ahh, a moment to breathe.   Before I begin to record my next adventure (fingers crossed), I thought I'd recap the past few months.

Meat.  Ate lots and lots of grilled meat in Australia.  Here I am having some kangaroo.  We marinated it in some dijon mustard, olive oil, and spices before giving it a quick bbq.  A bit tough, but good flavor.  Made me want to jump around, weird.

George's lovely friends Anna and Rick made us this fantastic homemade pizza in Brisbane one night.  Crispy thin sliced potatoes on top made it our favorite.  Plus, I've got the crust recipe to boot.

Chickens!  Our friends Brett and Morgan are renting a fabulous apartment in Brisbane and we had the pleasure of staying our last night with them. Their host family/landlords were gone on vacation so Brett and I were in charge of putting the chickens back in their cage.  We looked all over the yard, and began to worry until we realized they were in the cage the entire time.  Video of this is too embarrassing to share.



We removed our first tray on finished worm compost in April after our little worms worked hard all winter long.  This tray is about 18"x18" and produced about 5 lbs of fresh, delicious smelling castings.


I'm off.  Bring on the street food!