Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Did you know quinoa is great in chocolate? It's my first time popping quinoa. I rinse the seeds and set them out to dry while we walk the dogs. Then they get popped in a hot pan. After melting part of a TJ bar, I stir in 2 cups of popped quinoa. It sets in the fridge in a silicone ice cube tray. I push out the little heart-shaped chocolates once the mixture cools. The crunchy and DELICIOUS healthy(ier) sweets are stored in the fridge since it's often 80oF/27oC in the house.
Thursday
There's no one to hike with today. Even W is resting. The helpers have a great view from the working kitchen. They're baking for Christmas again today.
There's no one to hike with today. Even W is resting. The helpers have a great view from the working kitchen. They're baking for Christmas again today.
At the last place, the dirty kitchen was at the back of the house. The tiled walls and cramped quarters made for uninspiring work. The laundry was on the second floor, with an open area above the stove to waft away the grease from deep-frying. Here, we have a stove fan. Three windows open at one end. When the staff is frying their lunch, they close the slider to the rest of the house so the smells go outward.
Someone else enjoys his new view: Bruno loves to poke his nose through the gate to see who comes and goes on the busy street in front of the Project. If someone nears the gate, barking erupts. He's a quick learner, copying Gypsy, the loudest of the big barkers who guard the Project.
It's hard to remember names and faces. It's tricky here. Many Asians think Caucasian Westerners look alike. Their markers for identification differ from ours. I haven't figured out all the characteristics they're looking for.
Often someone says to me: "You look just like someone I know from the Netherlands (Canada/ Switzerland/ Austria/ England/ Croatia/ Russia/ Australia/ Belgium/ France/ Ireland/ Finland/ Norway)," etc. Really, I do? I thought I looked like every other German Oma.
Our recognition markers are also learned. We look for hair, eye, lip, & skin color, or the shape and placement of eyebrows, eyes, ears, and cheekbones.
When someone says hello, I wonder: "Do I know this person? I should know who it is. S/he looks familiar..." Why do many Asians also look similar to Westerners?
Almost everyone has dark hair, dark eyes, and tan-colored skin (we don't instantly measure darkness or lightness as Asians do). We begin to learn which people groups have eyes tilted up or down, round or long, set wide or narrow - never mind their height, body shape, or way of speaking.
When we arrived in Indonesia 12 years ago, almost no one covered their heads or draped arms, neck, or feet completely with fabric. In the last 5-6 years, most Muslim women (and girls as young as infants) in Bandung have adopted head coverings.
It's a recent cultural revision. Young singles may wear trousers or jeans and long-sleeved blouses (almost no one wears Western-style skirts) but a fashionable scarf hides their hair. A few married women have begun to wear full black Saudi robes, pulling black Saudi-style veils over their beautiful faces.
Chachanels is downsizing. She swings by with a few folding chairs, hand towels, and some baked banana snacks. She edits the photo to wipe away my wrinkles.
Bruno rests in the nearby shade of a palm tree. He likes the cool ground outside my office window. Poodles do like to stay close to their people.
Friday
My mom taught me how to cook when we married, but it took W a while to get used my kitchen repertoire. He preferred KFC, burgers, or breaded veal cutlets to potatoes with a salad and roast beef or steak. He often ordered takeout until we agreed that whenever he bought himself a meal, he'd have to buy me one as well. Haha.
My mom taught me how to cook when we married, but it took W a while to get used my kitchen repertoire. He preferred KFC, burgers, or breaded veal cutlets to potatoes with a salad and roast beef or steak. He often ordered takeout until we agreed that whenever he bought himself a meal, he'd have to buy me one as well. Haha.
As I visited with C yesterday, he texted me, "Do you want some food? I'm ordering mine." Sure. I thought of how his and my tastes have expanded since that first year of marriage. We enjoy many international foods now, as well as Western dishes.
I'm usually not hungry in the evening. I make supper because W wants to eat. Once I cook, I might as well join him. When I waved goodbye to C, he had already finished his take-away. I saved mine for breakfast. So good! Meat is expensive for most Indonesians, so it is considered a flavor for rice, not the main course. Look at the amount of meat from a 1/4 chicken (wing and breast). Portions are a quarter the size of the huge chicken breasts of N America.
I putter a bit before working on my research. I harvest flowers left from last week's arrangement and spread the little pots around the house. IbuS cleans the oasis before PakG returns it to IbuTitik for reuse.
I grade a comprehensive exam question by one of my graduating students and send it off as "passed" = well done indeed, JT. One of the most profitable learning experiences is reading papers written by our doctoral students. They research, write it up, and cite their sources. A lecturer accesses the information ... without doing all the work. Papers also give feedback on how well we've communicated the information or moved the heart.
We take Alice out for her birthday. She chooses Waorung Ethnic from the possibilities nearby.
The restaurant is owned by its founding family and the food is uniformly excellent.
Dr Hanna, Alice's mom, always sent birthday noodles to us. We do the same for Alice.
I consider a break from FB - maybe the time is needed for research. Same for journaling here? (Though I won't remember what I don't write down.) Maybe a blank month is a good thing.
Read more:
* I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. Psalm 18:1-3
* Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. Isaiah 40:28
* Because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:31
* For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:36
Moravian Prayer: Everlasting Creator, thank you for the glorious world that you brought into being. Each day, help us recognize the beauty around us, and teach us to care for all that comes from you.
Merciful Judge, you know our faults and foibles, yet love us without fail. Lead us in ways that help us live lives of goodness and service, so that when we face that final judgment day, we will be deemed worthy to join you in heaven. In your loving name, we pray. Amen.
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