Baking Woes

So we're sitting here at home, 20 minutes late for Casey's going away party because I'm waiting on this stupid cake to finish baking. Smittenkitchen told me it should olny take about 20 minutes, as did a ton of her fans' comments, but no, not here in Ecuador.

I'm in a baking rut. Everything that I've made lately comes out too light, too airy. Light and airy is good, dont get me wrong, but not when you want oozey and gooey or rich and creamy or just regular cake. I don't get it.

Does anyone have any ideas why everything I bake isn't cooking properly? and how I can adjust so that it does?

MULUB,

Taylor

Transitional Plan

If you don't have a transitional plan you run lots of risks with Home Cooking for your dog. First of all the pup may not actually like home cooking so you have to ween him on. I've never actually heard of that happening, but I suppose it's a possibility. 

More importantly is the pup needs time to adapt to new foods. Believe me, Chuki has enough stomach issues as it is, I wouldn't want to add one to your pup! So go slow and be aware. You're looking for anything out of the ordinary. Keep your eyes open for vomiting, diarrhea, dullness of coat or glassy eyes. Warning this is kind of gross: You will probably see a change in his poop for the first couple of days, maybe even a week. It will probably be softer and not pellet like. What you don't want is pure liquid coming from his bottom end. Just be mindful of it.  

The Tale of the Missing Cheese

Right after pay day we were feeling pretty low and so on our weekly Wednesday night trip to the grocery store, I decided to splurge and buy some cheese. Real cheese that is. None of this Queso Fresco bologna. It was $7 for a teeny, tiny round. The round was divided into four quarters of four different cheeses. One quarter was a mild cheddar, one was a herbed cheese, one was a gouda, and the other one I can't remember.

Now you may wonder why I can't remember what it was seeing that I, clearly, love cheese and remember the others. Well... let me tell you.

We had just opened said quarter of cheese in the kitchen. We were going to snack on it while watching a movie (or probably more accurately Big Bang Theory on DVD). Said cheese was on the counter in the kitchen, on a cutting board. We each cut ourselves a piece and then I gave a tiny piece to Chuki and we went into the living room to proceed with the movie. When I came back to the kitchen for my second piece (I had every intention of eating the whole quarter that night) it was gone. GONE! What's $7 divided by 4? Because whatever that is, just went down the drain. Or to be more exact down Chuki's little mouth, into his very happy tummy.

Needless to say, I was more than astonished and very, very mad! That was the first time I'd ever known him to jump up on the counter. Oh what a bad, bad dog! But even Chuki will do whatever it takes for some decent cheese in this country.

Now whenever we get the 'good cheese' out I guard it. It goes at the VERY back of the counter with a towel over it and something very noisy in front of it, like a pan with a medal spoon in it. That way the alarm will sound if he even tries to get to MY CHEESE!

MULUB,

Taylor

Photos of Cuyes

2nd consecutive post on sports...

Greetings, earthlings. It's been a while since I posted, and well, you know what they say, "If you don't use it, you lose it." And, well......

First off, and this is not just because I live in a socialist country now, I hate the Winter Olympics. And I couldn't care less about hockey, either. I'm sorry if that makes me a bad person. The only event I watched (not by choice) was the gold medal curling match. And it was terrible. But, back to hockey. It is unwatchable. It's like if soccer were played underwater and you couldn't ever see the ball. What's the point. And most of the other events are all variations on one theme: There's a mountain and you see who can go down it the fastest. Luge, skeleton, bobsled, slalom, downhill. It's all the same look. The Winter Olympics is the Derek Zoolander of sporting events.

Sure, the Summer Olympics has a lot of the same stuff too, but there is a lot more variation. Plus it's exciting. There's basketball, boxing, Eastern European women(possibly) lifting cars, or something. If the Winter Olympics put the pommel horse on the side of a mountain and said, "Okay Nadia, lets see what you're made of", than perhaps they would grab my attention. Or they could draw up a basketball court on a frozen lake. That would really be the Winter Olympics' Magnum.

I finally had my first taste of cuy (pictures to come). I thought it was pretty good, as far as deep fried rodents go. Roasted is up next. Gotta try 'em all. Once you pop the fun don't stop. When pizza's on a bagel.... Oh yeah, Doritos time! Gotta crunch it 'cuz it's good.

That's all, off to bed and a 5:30 alarm.

-Ryan

Just Life

Just a couple of things we've been doing lately...

1. We both have pretty full class schedules. One of my classes might be canceled and Ryan needs one more but we still work a lot. Every day we're up at 5:30 for class at 7. Then about 3-4 nights a week we have class till 7pm. They're long days but it's nice to be able to work, come home, work, play tennis, work, eat dinner, etc.

2. We're taking Spanish classes everyday now. 1 hour/day. Tuesday and Friday at inlingua and Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday with Jhon. Jhon is our boss at inlingua, Danni's, fiance. He's studying to be a Spanish teacher. Classes at inlingua focus on grammar and move really slow. Classes with Jhon focus on conversation and move really quickly.

3. We've been playing tennis. We finally figured out how the courts work. There are about 10 courts in the parque by our house, La Carolina. You have to reserve a court before you just hop on it. It's fun and we're thinking about taking lessons.

4. We're cooking... A LOT. Almost everynight we cook a big meal and then have it for lunch the next few days. It's fun and we're enjoying it. The only problem is by the time we're done just about every dish in the kitchen is dirty and I hate doing dishes. But, I'm learning to like it.

5. I'm looking for someplace to volunteer. Maybe an orphanage or a day care. I'd like to be around kids but I'm not sure I could handle an orphanage. I think I'd want to take all of the babies home with me. And, well, we can't afford that. So I'm still looking. The problem is there aren't many things on the internet that are actually local in Quito. Most places that have a website are international companies. So when I google "orphanages in quito" or "volunteer in quito" there are all of these websites for gap years where you have to pay to volunteer. I'm going to ask Jhon about it tomorrow in spanish class.

That's all. Just wanted to give everyone a little update. Tonight we're going for sushi with Maria Jose and Casey. We're really excited! Then this weekend, on Friday we're going out for a drink or two with some of the other teachers. Saturday, I think we're going to Peguche waterfalls with another teacher and her Quiteno boyfriend. And Sunday we might go to the Leagua soccer game (supposedly it'll be a good one).

We'll it's my turn to do the dishes today.

MULUB,
Taylor

Are you ready for some football!

Today we went to our first football game here in Ecuador. It was actually a lot like an American sporting event. Except that we bought our tickets on the street. For sixteen dollars. Oh, and we bought our jerseys on the street too, five dollars each. The guy told me the were officially licensed merchandise and I have no reason not to believe him. He said it's supposed to give you a rash. That's how you know it's authentic.

We had general admission tickets, so we just went in and found an open seat. The game started right on time, unlike just about everything else. People walked around the seats selling refreshments, like beer, popsicles, cigarettes (sold by a five year old). At halftime we ate traditional stadium fare; fried chicken with rice, fries, lettuce and some purple stuff. The halftime show was a big inflatable milk carton in the middle of the pitch. It lacked some of the panache of American halftimes. Football games in Ecuador are a family affair, even if most members of the family are still breast-feeding. Some of the babies there were so young, as though they just recently fell out, crying because the stadium feels nothing like the womb.

The team that we decided to like, Barcelona, didn't win, they drew. So the Barcelona fans threw their empty bottles at the ref as he left the pitch. That'll teach him to be an idiot.

-Ryan