Grilling

Grilling is quite the undertaking around here. Depending on the materials available, it varies in difficulty. I prefer the method involving scraps of paper, pile of charcoal and the impressive whoosh of kerosine to get it going. The local methods normally involve small twigs or a plastic bag, which burns and melts over the charcoal resulting in the charcoal catching. (Yes, we know about those baby polar bears...)

Note to the reader: The charcoal cooking method and I go way back, but I have yet to feel like I have fully conquered it, even after years of using it.

Today I had no kerosine and decided it wasn’t worth it to go hunting around to buy some, so I had to go with the old sticks and putrid burning plastic method. I actually started with just a plastic bag, as the locals are want to do, and thought I had succeeded, but soon realized I hadn’t. The only result was inhaling the poisonous fumes of a burning plastic Walmart bag. Yes, we brought those from America because they are just so useful. What else are you going to put your raw meat in that you buy at the market? And how else do you get that charcoal going? (Sorry baby polar bears.)

So off I went to gather sticks and have another try. After wasting dozens of matches I finally had victory using paper, melted plastic and sticks. It took me over an hour. (Yep, that’s how I spent nap time.) Note to reader: I hauled the charcoal grill from the neighbor’s house. We don’t have one anymore. It was heavy. When Molly woke up she observed the proceedings.

With these type of grill situations there isn’t the nice even distribution of heat that we might prefer. You’ve gotta keep a fork in hand and keep that meat shifting and rotating at a right smart pace. Note to reader: there is a reason grills in America have the option to close.

I sliced up an onion into rings, dipped it in oil and water and put those on at the last minute. After another 1 and 1/2 hours, I finally had the result I wanted: a plate of nicely grilled and slightly-burnt-in-places chicken and ribs topped with grilled onions.

The turtle habitat

We set up a home for the turtles outside, complete with some plants and a mini pond.

Outdoor games

Happy 4th of July to our American friends and family!

We won't be celebrating July 4th today, but Molly is wearing her patriotic t shirt and she ate some fried chicken too.

We have started doing some outdoor games with the kids. We pulled out the frisbee and magnetic dart board and Orcxance led the kids in a lively game of darts and then a scrambly game of Ultimate.

Big sister Molly

Molly loves babies. Anytime she hears a baby crying she looks concerned and says “baby!” (Which is quite often!)

She loves to help feed and entertain Eileen and she can easily make Eileen smile and laugh.

Right now one of her favorite books is a really cute one called "Everywhere Babies."

Turtle 1 and Turtle 2

Modern conveniences home tour

Since I have a foot in both worlds, sometimes I feel like I'm roughing it or toughing it, but in reality, most people don't get this kind of luxury.

Our refillable "sink" for handwashing is a real nice contraption. Just dump clean water into it and dump out the dirty water from the bucket down below.

That burner is where we have been doing all our cooking the past two months. It's a bit of a downgrade from the setup we had before but it will be modified when Eileen starts moving.

Our one water source, which is currently off unfortunately. This is where we get water for washing dishes, clothes and baths. We haul in drinking water in our car from farther away.

My "dryer" is a good old fashioned clothesline rig-up in our yard. I have a love-hate relationship with those hot sunny days...

Our most luxurius luxury is, of course, our fridge:

and the pantry shelf would be a close second. This also serves as dish storage. To date, we only own one breakable dish, which we don't use anymore. Everything is metal or plastic. We never break anything! Molly loves helping and knows how to put dishes away on the bottom two shelves which she has permission to access.

And last but not least, my dish washing station:

The Boys

Molly had a visit from some of the neighborhood boys; children of friends of mine. We were all pregnant together and Molly was the last one born of a slew of 2019 babies. She was the only girl so she’s in pretty high demand as a future wife.