Delicious, Warming Soup

Yellow lentil soup with star anise and Thai galangal (purchased in Thailand last year) with delicate chunks of cooked squash

We have really enjoyed soup a lot this past several weeks.  I've made chili/beef back soup, turkey rice soup, chicken/carrot/pasta soup, and broccoli cheese with potato.  The discovery of homemade tomato soup has made any possiblity of future Campbell's canned tomato soup pretty uninteresting. 

I consider onions a necessity in making just about any soup.  I start with olive oil and chopped onion.  Garlic would be a nice addition, but Kevin can always smell it when I add garlic, and he really dislikes that good stuff.  So, being the "good wife," I avoid garlic...well, most of the time!

So, as the olive oil and onions are simmering away, I chop up any meat which will be added.  That goes in next.  Beef and chicken are my only real choices here.  I could branch out and get camel, horse, goat, or lamb, but why ruin a good stew with those?  They just aren't our favorites.  When making any soup with chicken, I consider at least one leg and thigh a necessity.  The marrow in the bones makes a better broth.

Next goes in any vegetables.  The standards seem to be carrots, potatoes, or broccoli.  I like celery, but it's pretty rare to find around here.  Later, at the very end of cooking, spinach is a nice addition (3-5 minutes of cooking time).   After the vegetables cook a short time with the olive oil, I like to add several cups of water and a bouillion cube.  Is this cheating?  I don't know, but it sure makes a good soup base!

Tomatoes are nice in some soups.  And, like I said, I really enjoy the tomato soup I've discovered in the Wycliff Cookbook.  Saute some onion (of course!), then, make a roux, then add basil, tomato juice with no sugar, 3-4 fresh tomatoes (I just wash them and gently dig out the center core and plop the whole tomato into the mix.  Let this simmer for awhile, stirring often, and then pull the tomatoes back out, peel them, and dice them up, returning them to the pot.)  At the very end, add salt, a couple small spoonfuls of sugar (if desired), and a cup or two of milk.  Just warm gently and eat!

As you can tell, I've fallen in love with soup.  I make large batches so we can eat it for at least three meals, since we eat almost all lunches and suppers at home.  I'm making myself hungry just thinking about this!  

Soup...it's a pot full of comfort. It's what warms us from the inside out.  And we've been needing that lately with daily temperatures in the negative range.

Samaritan's Purse Heart Project

Last week, we had a visitor from Rochester, Minnesota, the city we've recently moved from.  She was accompanying a Mongolian child and mother back from Mayo Clinic in Rochester.  The woman from Rochester is in the black sweater on the couch, next to me.  The Mongolian mother is in the pink sweater.  The other Mongolians are from Samaritan's Purse.  We were so excited to meet Eegii (in the pink sweater).  Her son has had a heart surgery AND a hip surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester.  

What a privilege, then, to take Eegii along with us to fellowship this past Sunday.  We hope our relationship continues with this sweet woman.  We were especially thankful to a friend who accompanied us and translated, since Eegii's English is sparse and our Mongolian is "survival level."

Last week, I spent time with one of our office ladies for the organization we are with.  She has also gone to the U.S. as a translator for Samaritan's Purse patients.  She commented that S.P. is like a strong arm reaching down into a deep, dry well to pull desperate people up and give them a helping hand and hope. 

Imagine that your child will only live another year unless he has a desperately needed heart surgery.  You have no husband and no job; you and your son live in a ger alongside another ger in a fenced-in yard.  The other ger houses a few other family members who share their food and resources with you.  You have no money to go to the doctor, let alone get an expensive surgery that isn't even done in your country.  The hope you have is overwhelming when you find out your son qualifies to go to America for this surgery, and all of your expenses are paid!  A church hosts you in America.  A loving family welcomes you into their home for many weeks.  You hear the good news from your host family through your translator.  Your life and your child's life is changed forever...and I do mean forever. 

I am excited to consider being a host family for Mongolians in the future when we live back in America! 

Art in Mongolia

On December 2, we enjoyed a visit to an art exhibition.  Tuya Natsagdorj and Tsegmed Tserennadmid invited us to their exhibition, after meeting Kevin when he was visiting Zorikhtuu at their daughter's English lesson. 

This man played a couple pieces of music on his horsehead fiddle.  I love listening to this instrument!

Here, Kevin and Zorikhtuu (an English teacher who has taken our course on teaching English better), pose in front of one of Tsegmed's paintings. 

I chose this painting as my favorite of Tsegmed's.

And, this is one of Kevin's favorites, also painted by Tsegmed.

Here we are with the two artists.  They are married.  Tsegmed is the husband.

Lost in Translation: "A minestrone bath, anyone?"

My wet wipe package:

Another interesting thought...these are to be used when water isn't available, however, if you get these wipes in your eyes, you should rinse well with plenty of clean, warm water.

Conversation During a Manicure

I recently painted each of my fingernails a different color.  I have a lot of colors to choose from, and sometimes they look different on nails than in the bottle.  The plan was to do our organization's office ladies' nails the next day, and I wanted them to see what their choices were, and how they actually looked on the nail. 

The office ladies are two Mongolian women who guide us through life here in Ulaanbaatar.  They work for our organization and do everything from securing our paperwork for living here, help us with language difficulties, collect our mail from the post office, help us with purchases that are a little more difficult (i.e., plumbing or electrical supplies) and most recently, one took me to the "uuschin" (hair stylist).  I have had three haircuts in UB, and have always taken one of the office ladies along with me to get a good explanation communicated.

Anyway, back to the day of the manicure.  I showed the ladies their choices and we laughed about my multi-colored nails (which I decided to keep like that for the next five days!).  They each made their choices, and our time of visiting was a good, bonding time.  We talked about language, our children, and our futures.  One of the women was bemoaning her husband's absence.  He had been gone since July to study in Finland.  She was missing him so much!  But the studies had to be completed before he came back since it was all for his job, learning to be a pilot.  We were painting her nails for his return in two days.  Since then, he has returned and it was a happy reunion.  Can you imagine your spouse being gone from July until early December?

The simple things in life can be used to encourage and bring friendship.  Bake some cookies with a friend, go shopping, get a haircut together, or do your friend's nails.  What seems to be a temporal activity can be used for eternal fruit.

Small Business in Mongolia

Something to watch....

http://youtu.be/TD4pmR0zhcg

Take notice of the small fruit and vegetable stand in this presentation.  These are the kinds of stands that I buy my fruits and veggies at.  It's amazing to me that some families live off the profits of these very small, specialized stands.  No diversification...no bread sold on the side...no cartons of milk to go with that broccoli...no bottles of dressing sold with the lettuce.  It's amazing to me that they can actually "make it"!