On Valentine’s Day Carey and Bonnie Samford, along with George and I, decided to go on a double date for Valentine’s Day. Our kids babysat their kids. We had a wonderful evening out with just the four of us. Fast forward 48 hours later – BAM! We were hit with the “love bug”. What is that. you ask? A not so pleasant bug. One that I don’t recommend. Food poisoning. Yep. For the last number of days we’ve been paying for that date. Not exactly our idea of a fun way to spend our days, but at last, we are feeling better. A real big thanks goes to LINZ, who has been a huge help with cooking and cleaning these past few days. Thanks, sweet Linz!
The Way to a Man’s Heart?
You’ve all heard that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Now, I don’t want to short change men, because many of the men I know think much further than their stomachs; however, it IS true that you sure can bring a smile to their face when you make a special treat. Yesterday I made some doughnuts and then posted a picture on facebook. Let’s just say there were some happy folks at my house, and it wasn’t just the guys. (aka Linz).
On facebook, there were several guys who were very interested in their wives duplicating such doughnuts in their own home, for their own enjoyment, so that they don’t have to drool on the keyboard. That’s messy, and well, kind of yucky if you want my opinion.
I said I would share my recipe, so here it is for all of you wives who want to make your hubby happy. And if you are a guy reading this, you are more than welcome to try your hand at it. You just might shock your wife 🙂
Doughnuts
(will make approx. 15 doughnuts, plus the holes).
Step 1:
Warm 1 1/4 cups milk. Add 2 1/4 tsp. of yeast and 1 T. sugar, stir till dissolved. Add 1 1/2 cups flour. Beat well. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Step 2:
Stir down, then add 1/2 cup sugar, 3 T. butter (softened), 1 egg, 3 cups flour, 1/4 tsp. mace or nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. salt. Mix together and knead until you have a soft dough. Place in well-greased bowl. Cover and let rise again for 1 1/2 hours.
Step 3:
Punch down and roll to 1/3″ thick. Cut out doughnuts, place on flat surface like a cookie sheet, and let rise for 45 minutes. Fry in hot oil.
Glaze:
I don’t really measure my ingredients, but here’s what I do: Approx. 1 box of powered sugar – sift into a bowl. Add 1 or 2 T. of melted butter, 1 tsp. vanilla, and then mix, adding enough milk to make a glaze of desired consistency. If I want more than one flavor (chocolate, for instance), I take desired amount out and put into another bowl, sift some cocoa powder, stir again, and add a little more milk if I need to thin it down some more. I took some of the plain glaze and added maple flavoring. Yum!
Enjoy!
Let me know if you make some and feel free to share a picture.
But you’ll have to hurry. They’ll disappear quickly!
Blogging Blues
I’ve been playing around with the design for my blog. It was past time to get the wintry holiday design off of here. What is ironic is that where we live there is no such thing as winter, but the seasons are so ingrained in our thinking it’s hard not to think of the seasons we know so well, especially when the weather is such a hot topic on social forums like facebook.
In reality, playing around with the blog design has been a way for me to space out a little; to avoid thinking too much. The past couple of days – okay, weeks – have been a little tough for me. When I get too worn down physically, it is so much harder to cope with life here.
For instance, worship on the Lord’s Day is very difficult. The only time there is translation into English is when one of our guys teaches or preaches, and that has only happened once since we’ve been here. So, try as we might, it is very difficult to worship. I struggle with that. 1 Corinthians 14 teaches the principle that if one speaks in a different language, it should be interpreted so that those listening will be edified. We are in a unique circumstance, because we are trying our best to cause the least amount of disturbance to their way of doing things. We have worked and are still working on learning the language, and we do understand some, but there is something significantly lacking when one cannot worship in their native language. There is a reason God commands us to worship together; there is something about worship together with other Christians that independent Bible study simply cannot replace. So, as missionaries, here for the purpose of helping other people spiritually, we find ourselves struggling for spiritual sustenance.
We were supposed to have a “day off” Friday and we went to a game park for the day. We got up at 4 a.m. and then spent 15 hours bumping along all day long, returning home around 8:30 that night. We were chewed up by tsetse flies. The park was beautiful, the animals were a wonderful sight, but the day just wasn’t exactly the most relaxing or restful. We brought stuff to make some sandwiches, and due to the tsetse flies, we could not stop and have lunch. Therefore, bumping along in the back of the vehicle, I tried to assemble sandwiches. Spreading mayonnaise on the bread proved to be a challenge, with a glob of mayo landing in my lap as we hit another bump. I did laugh about it, really, I did!
To top it off, I think that especially the female sector of missionaries tends to feel more alone. At least that’s the way it is in our family. Real, true friends are few and far between, since it doesn’t take long for “out of sight, out of mind” to kick in with regards to folks back home.
Most of the things that wear me down are things that I simply have no control over, and so I need to get over it, since I can’t do anything about it. But there are some things I can do to improve my outlook, and I plan to make more of a concerted effort. A little more sleep won’t hurt anything either.
I very rarely talk about things that bother me. Oh, sometimes I mention the electricity challenges or our water issues, but that’s pretty superficial stuff. For one thing, I don’t want pity or to be patronized. I’m not extraordinary, super amazing or superwoman. I am just like everyone else. Additionally, I am a private, more reserved person and generally just tend to keep things to myself. However, every great once in a while it may not be such a bad thing to let you know what’s going on my in my head and my heart – at least a little bit anyway. The things that I struggle with are things that many other missionaries struggle with also. Maybe, just maybe, by sharing these things with you, it will help you understand some things that we struggle with, and perhaps it will help other missionaries in some small way.
Thnaks for listening.
Setting Up Shop
It seems like a long time since I’ve written a post – it’s been about a month. SO much has happened over the past month. If you follow our other publications, then you know that our family made a move to the south-central part of Tanzania, to a town called Iringa. It was a 16 1/2 hour trip – a LONG trip on bumpy Tanzanian roads. But we made it! We’ve spent the last three weeks getting some repairs done and just trying to get things operational in our house.
I thought I’d include a few pics of my kitchen.
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| Bookshelf used for storage |
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| See our red upper wall? Thanks Linz! We are using a dresser for storage. |
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| Stove, complete with propane tank. |
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| Kitchen sink and folding table to the right, which serves as a work area. |
Hope you all have a great week!