I’ve been here for almost seven months. I have no idea what we ate the first month but it certainly was more difficult and stressful than it is now. It takes a lot of grace and time to figure things out when you move overseas. Everything takes longer to begin with but things took even longer in the beginning when I was googling things like “How do I keep bugs out of flour doing Monsoon season.”
There were moments during the first few months when the last thing I wanted to do is be in the kitchen because it was stressful and exhausting. But even just a few months later, I feel like I have learned so much and that little room is now a place of joy again. It’s a place where I listen to a variety of podcasts, music, vocabulary as I study language, or connect with people over FaceTime. The kitchen is a place for thinking, praying, learning, inventing, and connecting.
When I think of the kitchen, I no longer think of bugs in the noodles (like the first week), blender explosions, or moldy eggs (yes- black inside). I think of the beauty that is created when you slow down, make things from scratch, know what’s in your food, and are forced to innovate by altering recipes to use ingredients that actually exist where you live. I think of the joy of creating meals that can be enjoyed with guests over laughter and stories.
God is good and his grace is enough- its enough for everything, from covering sin to helping you figure out overseas kitchen woes. He cares for you and he cares about it all. I still have a lot to learn and I know people make way more from scratch but I have seen evidences of His grace in my life over the past several months. Here are some ways I’ve learned to adapt to life overseas (whether through friends, blogs, books, or just figuring it out).
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1. Learning how useful cheesecloth is
- PUMPKIN : baked a pumpkin and froze the flesh of the pumpkin after blending it. Pulled it out of the freezer and it was way too liquidy to use for the Pumpkin Alfredo I was making. Whipped out my cheesecloth and strainer and within 5 minutes, had the perfect thick consistency of pumpkin
- GREEK YOGURT: I made yogurt once but it was pretty time consuming. Now I just buy the local yogurt and strain it into greek yogurt. It takes out the bitterness and becomes think and creamy.
2. Making bread, breadsticks, rolls, and cornbread
3. Whipped cream from coconut milk
4. Making Reese's PB Cups or other tasty things (gotta have sweets in your life)
5. Chunky PB Granola (This is usually on a weekly basis)
6. Storing cut carrots in a bowl of water in the fridge so they don't dry out. Cooking chickpeas in large batches so I can make hummus at the drop of a hat.
7. Making sauces from scratch: honey mustard for fried chicken sandwiches, sloppy joes, Alfredo sauce, and Red Thai Curry Sauce for stir fry
8. Rehydrating dried berries (since certain fresh ones don't exist here)
9. Making Khombucha (yum!)
10. Soaking fruits and vegetables to clean them from who-knows-what
