I don't know how to cook here, by Jodi
For some reason, Kevin and I had it in our heads that we'd move here and just hit the ground running. I don't know why we thought that seeing as neither of us actually speak Spanish. But today, I finally realized the reality of our situation as I walked aimlessly through the Super Mercado trying to figure out what in the world to buy and then what in the world to make with it. We ended up coming home with fruit, rice, beans, bread, and eggs. Then, I realized I didn't know how to read the directions because they're all in Spanish, so as I tried to figure out how to make the rice and cook up the dry beans, I discovered that we had no salt and I had no idea how to season the food we'd bought. We'd had an awesome lunch at a local soda that was a mixture of steak and onions and rice and beans with tomatoes and lettuce.
It was so good, so I tried to recreate it tonight and quickly realized that without any seasonings, it definitely did not taste the same.
Kevin came into the kitchen and found a packet of bean seasonings that he'd picked out at the store and mixed that with the rice and beans. Then he cut a lime and squeezed it over the dish and it tasted way better than what I'd originally made. Kevin kept surprising himself with each bite of tomato that he took that he actually liked it. He kept cringing, thinking it would make him gag, and then being surprised when it actually tasted good.
The kids ate earlier and opted for scrambled eggs over what I made. In fact, Autumn and Sadie went through 15 eggs by themselves. I guess that's the secret of getting your kids to eat well...starve them. Oh wait, Kevin just came in with another plate of eggs, so I guess that makes 20 eggs for dinner.
Anyhow, I'm realizing that I really need some help figuring out how to shop here and then, how to cook it all. I tried to get away with buying some bags of knock off sugar cereal and Kevin vetoed that. So, I guess I can't phone it in. He also wasn't very impressed when he saw the package of Oreos I'd let the kids put in the cart.
The fruit here is definitely as amazing as everyone said. My tongue is going to be really sore tomorrow because I can't stop eating the pineapple we got. The bananas are really good, too and Jack's in love with this fuzzy purple fruit that I think is called dragon fruit. It's been amazing to me how quickly our kids have adjusted to a much simpler way of eating. Kevin cut up a buffet of fruit for breakfast. Then we had our rice and beans concoction and scrambled eggs for lunch and dinner. And no one has complained or even commented on the lack of variety.
Our stove makes me laugh. There is a propane tank on the floor next to it and you have to flip a switch to turn on the gas flow and then ignite the burner on the stove. The stove itself is about 2/3's the width of a normal stove, but somehow they managed to still fit 4 burners on it.
I turned on the TV tonight to find out that our 100 channels of cable are all in Spanish. For some reason I just assumed that with that many channels, there would be a few in English. They had Disney Channel and Disney Jr, but everything is dubbed into Spanish. I found a couple of news channels in English, but since I was looking for a show for the kids, that didn't really work. So, they ended up piling on our bed and watching a show on youtube.
It's hilarious watching the kids with the pool in our yard. They take the boogie boards out and push them against the water to create a wave pool. Then they give each other rides around the pool on the boogie boards. Then they take Cheeto in a pretend she's a baby and has to learn how to swim. Then someone gets mad and they start yelling my name at the top of their lungs. Kevin isn't convinced that he wants to invest the money in sending them to private school here. I'm just wondering how they're going to survive each other and how I'm going to survive them if we keep homeschooling. Autumn told me today that homeschool is the worst thing we've ever made them do. I don't know why she hates it so much seeing as she gets all her work done in a couple of hours, but she thinks it's torture. Jack just pretends he's studying and skips through the lesson and then guesses on all the questions. I have to sit next to him through all his lessons to get him to do it right.
It was so good, so I tried to recreate it tonight and quickly realized that without any seasonings, it definitely did not taste the same.
Kevin came into the kitchen and found a packet of bean seasonings that he'd picked out at the store and mixed that with the rice and beans. Then he cut a lime and squeezed it over the dish and it tasted way better than what I'd originally made. Kevin kept surprising himself with each bite of tomato that he took that he actually liked it. He kept cringing, thinking it would make him gag, and then being surprised when it actually tasted good.
The kids ate earlier and opted for scrambled eggs over what I made. In fact, Autumn and Sadie went through 15 eggs by themselves. I guess that's the secret of getting your kids to eat well...starve them. Oh wait, Kevin just came in with another plate of eggs, so I guess that makes 20 eggs for dinner.
Anyhow, I'm realizing that I really need some help figuring out how to shop here and then, how to cook it all. I tried to get away with buying some bags of knock off sugar cereal and Kevin vetoed that. So, I guess I can't phone it in. He also wasn't very impressed when he saw the package of Oreos I'd let the kids put in the cart.
The fruit here is definitely as amazing as everyone said. My tongue is going to be really sore tomorrow because I can't stop eating the pineapple we got. The bananas are really good, too and Jack's in love with this fuzzy purple fruit that I think is called dragon fruit. It's been amazing to me how quickly our kids have adjusted to a much simpler way of eating. Kevin cut up a buffet of fruit for breakfast. Then we had our rice and beans concoction and scrambled eggs for lunch and dinner. And no one has complained or even commented on the lack of variety.
Our stove makes me laugh. There is a propane tank on the floor next to it and you have to flip a switch to turn on the gas flow and then ignite the burner on the stove. The stove itself is about 2/3's the width of a normal stove, but somehow they managed to still fit 4 burners on it.
We see random farm animals all over when we drive...horses tied up on the side of the road, chickens running around, those cows with the droopy ears all huddled together in a field. I love it. And everything is surrounded by a curtain of tropical plants and trees--tons and tons of different kinds of trees. Tessa has decided we have a bean stalk in our back yard because we have this huge tree that's surrounded by vines and these huge green and yellow striped leaves.
I turned on the TV tonight to find out that our 100 channels of cable are all in Spanish. For some reason I just assumed that with that many channels, there would be a few in English. They had Disney Channel and Disney Jr, but everything is dubbed into Spanish. I found a couple of news channels in English, but since I was looking for a show for the kids, that didn't really work. So, they ended up piling on our bed and watching a show on youtube.
It's hilarious watching the kids with the pool in our yard. They take the boogie boards out and push them against the water to create a wave pool. Then they give each other rides around the pool on the boogie boards. Then they take Cheeto in a pretend she's a baby and has to learn how to swim. Then someone gets mad and they start yelling my name at the top of their lungs. Kevin isn't convinced that he wants to invest the money in sending them to private school here. I'm just wondering how they're going to survive each other and how I'm going to survive them if we keep homeschooling. Autumn told me today that homeschool is the worst thing we've ever made them do. I don't know why she hates it so much seeing as she gets all her work done in a couple of hours, but she thinks it's torture. Jack just pretends he's studying and skips through the lesson and then guesses on all the questions. I have to sit next to him through all his lessons to get him to do it right.
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