The Master Chef?

Did I mention I spent almost every night watching cooking shows in Manila?  Well, I did.  Most of them were of Australian origin and my favorite was by far Master Chef Australia.  Despite it being an old season (and literally NONE of the food being vegan), my inner foodie was all like, "No big deal.  We can do that."

So, with our limited supply of produce, my work has been cut out for me.  I'm talking breads, muffins, slaws, salads, humus, baked tofu... Heck, falafel is even on my "to make" list.  It's fun to try recipes, dabble in creating dishes, and hodge-podge whatever substitute ingredients we need.

Granted, this normally wouldn't be the best time of year to go all Martha Stewart.  Hot season is supposed to be cranking up to high heat right about now.  Key word: supposed.  The past couple days have brought some of the coldest weather I've experienced in the Philippines thus far.  We even dropped to 19°C (which is something like 65°F, but still, I had woolly socks on, okay!), so the heat of the oven has been welcomed for the most part.

In addition to baked goodies, I've been enjoying some mailed love from my family.  Letters and packages and even emails from the states have perked me up just as much as Banana-Pineapple Bread.  Trust me, it's delicious.

We're slogging away through 4th and 2nd grades with the girls, but they've seen the light at the end of the tunnel.  Once they realized there are less than 60 school days to go, the morale in the schoolroom brightened considerably. I feel kind of bad because my being here means they don't really get a summer break.  We'll "finish" the school year with the month of June and be neck deep in the next grade by mid July.  Even still, we're all pretty excited for the finish line.  Finish line = a trip out of our village to do some cultural exploring in other areas of Luzon!

I just need to remind myself that this isn't a sprint. It's cross-country through and through. The analogy would probably work better if I was actually a runner.