Mince Pies

Today, two American girls got together to make an English holiday staple - mince pies. Rachel's husband, Jonathan, is British and really loves them, so we wanted to have these on hand for our Christmas dinner in a few weeks.

Our pies turned out pretty good despite the fact that we had to make everything from scratch, from the fruity mincemeat filling to the pastry. We even had to borrow a proper food scale from my neighbor to be able to measure out the ingredients for the recipe since we Americans don't tend to measure food weight in grams. (And...c'mon people, you just don't find many recipes for mince pies with American measurements!)

We rolled and pressed and filled and topped.

We egg-washed (it's a technical term).

Then we baked. It was a little tricky getting them out of the muffin tins when they were done, but most of them came out successfully.

Rachel took one home for Jonathan to sample, and they have been approved for consumption.

Not too bad for two American girls.

Recipe Fail

You'll never know unless you try.

That is my cooking motto here. Even though I can find many of the ingredients that I need for the food I want to cook, I make a lot of things from scratch and I end up making substitutions often. The internet is a great help for substitutions. And I've found a lot of good ones.

But even though substitutions are out there, they don't always work for your specific recipe. And then your dish fails. (Oh, this perfectionist hates failing...especially in the kitchen!)

It happened to me this week.

Yesterday was Paul's birthday. One of his favorite desserts is New York style cheesecake, and in America, I successfully baked it for him many times. So, I decided to give it a go here in Tanzania.

The only problem is that you really can't buy cream cheese in Dodoma, and if you buy it in Dar es Salaam it is very expensive and doesn't taste good enough for the price. A friend of mine has had some success making cheesecake from plain yogurt that has been strained overnight, so I decided to try her method and substitute that for the cream cheese.

I had high hopes for my bowl full of strained yogurt as I whipped up the cheesecake batter and poured it into my springform pan. The taste was a bit off, but it looked a lot like what I had mixed up before in the States.

As it baked, I was further encouraged. I puffed up like it was supposed to. It started browning like it was supposed to. The top jiggled a bit like it was supposed to. So, when I thought it was done, I pulled the cheesecake out of the oven and let it cool. My hopes continued to be high. It looked pretty good.

But that evening, as I went to cover the cooled cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight, I realized that liquid was weeping from the bottom of the pan. That's certainly never happened to my cheesecakes before. I started to get a little concerned, but put it in the refrigerator and hoped for the best.

Josiah hoped for the best too. This was his message to Daddy yesterday morning: (Translation: Happy Birthday, Dad. I love you very much. I hope you have a great day. I hope your cheesecake tastes great.)
Unfortunately, my hope started to decline, when I took the cheesecake out of the pan to serve it. There was quite a bit of liquid sitting on top of the cake, and it wiggled WAY more that it should have.

But we stuck candles on it and sang to the birthday boy anyway.

The moment I cut into it, I thought something wasn't right. The moment I tasted it, I knew something wasn't right. It was wobbly. It was wet. It was NOT cheesecake. In fact, it was more like sweet cheese than cake. My cheesecake attempt in Tanzania had failed.

I have some ideas about why it failed. It's probably not a good idea to substitute your main ingredient (all 5-1/2 cups of it). The strained yogurt just has too much liquid remaining in it to make a firm, thick New York style cheesecake.

But hey, I tried. The birthday boy appreciated the effort even though neither he nor I will likely eat another piece of the...creation.

And like I said before. You'll never know unless you try.

What the First Rain Brings...

We had our first big rain of the rainy season here in Dodoma on Friday, which means that we also received a big invasion of flying termites.

After the first rain, a huge swarm of these innocent, yet annoying, insects emerge from the earth and swarm the air in a reproductive flurry. Then they drop their wings EVERYWHERE - all over our front porch (the picture below just doesn't do the mess justice), the ground, our car. And when you have to go outside, they stick to the bottom of your shoes, and then they come inside. While I'm happy for the rain that we so desperately need, the termites kind of gross me out.

Obviously, our insect-loving children aren't so bug-squeamish. They spent literally hours on Saturday morning, picking up termites, playing with them, and collecting them in a bucket.

Some Tanzanian kids like to collect termites after the first rain too. They gather up a bunch of the them, pick off any wings that haven't already fallen, and fry them up for a snack. (I'm told they taste like - you guessed it - chicken!)

We didn't enjoy a termite feast in our house, but they did provide a full morning of "fun" for our kids. Yes, they must be MKs.

Making 'Cents' of American Money

Now that furlough is months away instead of years away, I decided it was probably time to start (re)introducing the kids to American money. Josiah and Anna are both beginning to figure out counting with Tanzanian shillings, but pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters and dollars are quite foreign to them.

So, after finding this great money game idea at No Time for Flashcards, we decided to set up our own dining room table shop during their recent school holidays.

First we picked out some plastic food and made our price list.

Then, we reviewed the different coins, and how much they were worth. This took a little practice, but they seemed to catch on fairly quickly, especially Josiah. However, he was baffled why the oh-so-small dime could be worth more than the clunky nickel. (I don't know, son. I don't know.)

Finally, it was time to shop.

They each took turns picking an item, and then finding the correct coins to pay their bill.

It was a wonderful way to fill up a morning and teach them something at the same time. Josiah thinks he's ready to pull out the paper money next time and give that a try.

We'll see.

Five Years of Anna

(So, technically, the girl has already been five for a whole month now, but this slacker mommy is just now getting around to blogging about it. Better late than never...right?)

She started off so small and tiny 5 years ago, with gorgeous eyes and thick, dark hair that everyone commented about.

The next year went by in a blink (if you don't count the middle of the night feedings and fussy afternoons...those went on FOREVER!). Before we knew it, we had a spunky, I'd-rather-be-running-than-walking, one year old in pigtails blowing out a candle on her first birthday cake.

By the time the next year rolled around, she had mastered exciting skills like talking and sleeping in a big-girl bed. She never met a stranger, and continued charming the world with her sweet grin.

Year three was all about new adventures for our confident, blue-eyed cutie. This year, Anna celebrated her birthday in Africa with a cake baked over charcoal at our Swahili language school. It's a good thing that cake is a cake is a cake to a 3 year old!

Last year, Anna turned four princess-style at our home in Dodoma. Ever the outgoing, friendly one, she enjoyed it surround by friends from all over the world. (One of the great blessings of missionary life!)

And that brings us up to five - five wonderful years with our precious Anna. She lights up our home with her joy and her passion. She's affectionate and sweet and knows her own mind. She loves running errands with Daddy, cuddling with Mommy and doing her best to convince her brother to play babies with her.

As my friend told me today, "You've got a lot to be proud of there in that back seat."

I'd have to agree. Yes, we are definitely proud. May God continue to give you many more incredible years, my darling daughter. We love you!

Mario Party

On Friday, Josiah turned 7, and we celebrated with a Super Mario Brothers birthday party.

The Birthday Boy

The Cake

FriendsGames

Gifts

Happy Birthday, sweet Josiah! We love you so much!

"Summer" Holiday Recap

Last Monday, Josiah and Anna started back to school after 5 weeks of "summer" holiday. However, since it's technically cool season in Tanzania at the moment, I should probably call it "winter" holiday.

Josiah started Standard 2, and Anna entered the Reception class. So far, the kids are really enjoying their classes, and we're all happy to be back in some sort of routine. (Yes, we are one of those families who thrive on routine.)

Having a few weeks of unstructured life was nice, though. Here's a brief recap of our "summer" activities.

Everyone's favorite activity was traveling to Kenya for our organization's annual conference. Each year, members of our branch gather together from our locations around Tanzania and Uganda for spiritual refreshment, fellowship, relaxation, and business meetings.


The conference theme this year was "Following Faithfully." The conference speaker, a former missionary in Tanzania, spoke to us out of the book of Mark, and both Paul and I appreciated the opportunity to sit under great teaching again.

Paul was asked to coordinate and lead the conference worship this year too, which was a lot of fun.

The kids loved getting to reconnect with friends, and spent LOTS of time swimming, even though it was cooler and rainier this year than last.

Anna had a blast playing in the sand nearly every day with her friend, Abigail.

The kids' program was also a huge highlight for our kids. Anna cried the day after conference ended because she couldn't go to her VBS class. Apparently, she had a good time.

Once we returned home to Tanzania, the last few weeks of the break weren't quite as exciting. But we had several fun play dates, did lots of coloring, and Josiah learned to ride his bike without training wheels. OK, that was pretty exciting!

It was a great "summer"!