Do this with your eggplant

Didn't think to take a pic of the first part of the process. Roast, no burn, whole eggplant as close to the flame as you can get it; flame should be fairly high and the eggplant should be right in it. Our stove is gas, so I just sat them right on the burner. (If you do it on the grill, you likely have to take the rack off... flavor is better if they're burned fast and totally charred.) Roast, no burn, turning from time to time, till nice and tender all through. *Note: creates quite a strong smell- which I sort of like, but you might not.

Hold by stem peel skin off with paring knife, making sure to get all the black charcoaly stuff. Rinse under running water. Cut off top and discard. Slice in half and place on a slanted cutting board so that the oil and water drain off. Pic over there at left.

Here's the skin and tops. pretty, eh?

Use a wooden (or plastic) spoon or spatula to mash up the eggplant, breaking up the long fibers that run the length of it. Be very thorough about this.

Mash garlic (plenty) with salt. With electric mixer, beat in milk and oil (lots of both- you want big-time creamy...sorry, didn't measure) and the salt and garlic. Beat and beat and beat until nice and smooth and Oh So Creamy and Yummy. Spread on bread and completely pig out- this is one of the tastiest eggplant dishes I've ever had...it is WOW! And if you want to see a video of the process, ask my mom. She and I did it when they were here 5 years ago...and she got it all on tape!

This is what the stove looks like when you're done- ashes all over. Quite a messy job, actually.

But it cleans up

Our stove is *magic* I can even lift the top right off and clean that, too... no screws in it at all...

All back together again! See, cleans up pretty well...and quite quickly, actually. Have fun! (just having fun with my trusty little cell phone camera! Thanks a million, Trude!)

misc stuff

two things that proved to be essential to survival the past 6 weeks, both on the trains and in the various sleeping quarters... flashlight and ummmmm, well ear plugs






Ukr gets a lot of things wrong, sadly... but one thing they sure get right around here... flowers in public places. Always pretty. Even in the 1-horse places where I took this pic.






Speaking of 'getting things wrong'- this is just outside our apt building. An open man-hole with the cover missing...so someone has 'planted' a pole in it and laid an old door by it so that you don't fall into it. The cover was likely stolen and sold for scrap. That, and the fact that it's not been replaced and who knows when it will be replaced- are what they got wrong here. However, someone was thinking about our safety and put the pole and door there... a fairly common sight.





I couldn't resist sneaking this shot of the kid in the checkout line in front of me. The back of his head totally took me by surprise; can you just see that wad of guaze on the back of his head? Well, it's attached to his head with a stitch... is that to catch seepage from the wound? whooaaaaaa I have never seen this before!

more pix from the past month

This is a long old post, so I'll keep it short, word-wise.

umm, peeking out of my corner at Fergie and Hazel's

out to the village- where we had good good days, once more, in spite of all of us being tired as can be by now. It rained a lot there... and check out the fence with the jars...I love it! So which came first, the fence-idea or the jar-idea???
Hazel thinks there's too much water for her taste
she also thinks the doorways are a tad short. Whenever Mr Homeowner hits his head here, his wife (Auntie H of earlier posts, way back in Dec, I think) says: Serves you right... he built the house, after all...
I took a nap...and someone got it on camera
water came from the well
and was poured into the gravity-run outdoor hand washing jug (that door by his elbow is to the outdoor shower; this is by far the most rustic of the places)

Some people slept in tents, including Fergie
more tents... bless those boys' ummm what? hearts? bones? whatever, we're just glad it was them and not us... that's all I have to say
in fact, everything except cooking and girls' sleeping was outside- here's the gen'l gathering area- both for eating and other stuff
the outdoor drink station... I used a lot of bleach water here- it just helped my nerves
eating

some more eating... duhhhhh
2 special kids headed off for a walk
Sharon A doing, What else? Feeding the dog, of course!
oooo... I love this. It's the underside of the ceiling of the barn. Was in there, happened to look up and saw.... that's where they store their tools!
more barn

the 2nd room in the barn
room for clothes drying
this place is fascinating
it really is
then there was the preps kid/massage therapist

and an arm wrestling match...covering his eyes because he realizes he won't be able to beat his SIL... oh the shame... *note: I was in the shower just to the left of the pic and could hear all the uproarous laughter from the spectators while this was happening...and I sure was curious
apples drying

view of the house during tear down- tents and canvas draped over fence to dry

resident goats and chickens

something new

in my life.

I use a backpack all the time. And I think I already said that I tend to overstuff suitcases and the like. Well, for the past I don't know, 6 months or so I've been struggling more and more to get the zipper on my faithful and beloved backpack to shut...it kept unzipping itself. I had visions of being on a train or bus or, worse yet, racing down a platform and *pop* the zipper busts open and out pops all my stuff. That b/p had been in my life since Vienna, 2001...I was having a hard time coming to terms with maybe having to say good-bye...but it was becoming more and more undependable.

Sharon A and I went last-min con shopping last week... I'm racing through the new Interspar store (which is like Super Target or something- it's fabulous), zipping through the sporting goods dept en route to the food... *screech*

That looks like a backpack...like a good one...I mean, the zippers look good, Whoa- there are compartments, secret cubby-holes, adjustable straps to make the thing exactly fit your back (I mean it goes from large to petite- I'm not just talking about the shoulder harness; the whole back thingy adjusts)... its very own rain coat. oh man... the color isn't exactly my thing but that puppy came home with me anyway. I moved right in... got a pic of that process at Fergie and Hazel's... so far, so good. The bad thing is, it holds more than is good for my back, so I'll have to be careful about that.

Oh- and there are so many straps and buckles and things- I feel like I'm hitching up a horse every time I put it all

together...and all the little zipper pockets just make me giddy. It also reminds me of when I moved into a suitcase for the first time ever and lost things- I mean lost, like

for months at a time sometimes- in that thing. It had so many pockets and stuff...and then Margaret and I took out some of its stuffing and made 2 more pockets... I actually lost things in it...well, here we go again... it's so fun, though...

what you already suspected

umm, yes, I'm back...at the apt...with my computer and a fast connection. So, I should be getting heaps done as far as updating, right?

Well, except that I'm only here for a little over 48 hours. So, first I slept in- grandly. I mean, I didn't get up till Oh, 8.30 or so on Thurs... wheeee (ok, Sharon A and I fled the last gathering place about halfway through clean up Sun eve- fled all the way back to the city...and then, at the last second, she went to their bache and I went on over to Fergie and Hazel's...and since it was just them and me there that night, welllllllll Mon am.... well, I slept *cough cough* till 9.57...there, now it's out. AND- it was blissful. Mind you, any morning the previous 5 weeks or so, getting up AFTER 6 am was already sleeping in, soooooooo- and if you're the kind that is at work by then or always has to do that, it's official: My Hat's Off To You. I'm In Awe.) Where was I? hmmm oh yes. So, Thurs. Yesterday. I puttered around the apt in the am and then hit the street about 1.30- it was sprinkling (when our bus got in the previous afternoon, the parking lot and parts of some streets were flooded, so there'd obviously been rain). Well, I'm smart- I took my umbrella. I started by going to the train station to get tickets. Oh yes- let it be known that it was blisteringly hot back east where I'd come from...but here in the West- well Wow- I had big goosebumps in my short-sleeve shirt. Came back and changed into a long-sleeve t-shirt. Off I go. On foot. Because this is a small town and I love to walk...I really do. With my umbrella. You see where this is headed. Right? Yup. It started to rain. And then a bit harder. And then harder. And then it poured. Most of what I had to do after the train station had to be done on foot because well, transportation doesn't go there and it's a small town. Got back at 5 pm. Soaked to the skin. Freezing cold. It was great. :) (I did swing by the market and pick up super yummy produce! Peppers! Tomatoes! Zucchini! Summer Squash! Eggplant! Garlic! Peaches! See pic of today's supper and the peaches up top.)

Just cut up veggies, mashed the garlic- 3 cloves!- with salt, mixed in olive oil and drizzled it over the top, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and then popped into the oven for about 30 min or so.

Had gotten huge mushrooms the night before- saw them and instantly got hungry for stuffed 'shrooms... got a few. No pic, but they were fantastic. Popped the stems off of them, chopped the stems, finely chopped an onion and 2 cloves of garlic and sauteed all that in *somewhat of a lot of* butter, mixed it with cracker crumbs, parmesan cheese and faux cream cheese and then stuffed that back into the 'shrooms. Oh my. Oh wow. It was so yummmmmmmeeeeeeee.

Oh yeah- got distracted...we don't get a lot of fresh stuff here during the busy days we just had- feeding a crowd and all... it was fantastically superbly supercalifragilisticexpealidociously delicious. Actually, it's all I ate all day...

Oh, except for this:

Did these yest, too. Cleaning out the cupboards you know...

Anyway, what with more errands to run and then taking time to skype with Mom and Gina and the Monkeys- (K&M must still be at Nana and Poppie's- couldn't get them) and f/b chatting with my bro Paul... and cleaning and packing again... it's kept me quite busy, thanks very much.

Oh, and it rained all evening. Then we had about 3 major storms in the night- woke me up with all the thunder and lightening. Then it rained this am. Then it sprinkled this pm. Now it's pouring and storming some more. Really, we just may get washed away here soon...

Oh- and did I mention that I spent over an hour last night in an online chat with the Symantec help staff going through why my antivirus (*insert* you can tell me all about why I do or don't have the best antivirus on the planet...I'm not all that comp bright, so it likely won't make a whole lot of diff...just so you know) was all messed up...and then uninstalling and reinstalling it again. So I'll have to say- the guy was Indian (I'm sure- with a name like that) and he was very polite, very smart and *sit down* his typing was fast and grammar was perfect... so I'll have to quit sending around that 'I have spoken with him' email- you know, the one that shows tech support being powered by an Indian on a bike...

you know how sometimes a round thing falls and sort of rolls and twists?

Will here's a round thing doing cool stuff. I got it off of Neatorama, but I can't link to that site (like they pulled the post or something- but it'd already shown up on Google Reader...that happens).

oh the things we did!

I love this window

Feel sorry for us...because of the view (it's always busting out in red poppies right then and Oh it's Beautiful!) Just some pix from a couple weeks ago... with more to come later

These 2? They're Kiwis... and they're the Best... Oh, and they spackled (and who knows what other toil-y verbs) our prep sis quarters

We cleaned the girls' quarters

and drank tea (we take tea seriously here)- this is Little A- a favorite of mine (had you noticed?)

a better shot of the rug operation

Little A overseeing the chair moving... he's got class, I tell ya! (Ok, you wouldn't know it from this pic, but he's actually one of the hardest working people you'll ever want to meet.)

the upstairs part of the chair business...

there were heaps of berries.... and some dear soul made heaps of these cakey thingies...

all's I know is they were way yummy

we washed trays... the royal WE *cough cough*

and had a hot dog roast

and welcomed guests!

and kept our quarters clean *ting* (that's for you, Linda D!)

and painted (know this guy, anyone?)

and did the mundane stuff... like type up lists of all sorts and work on shopping junk and fun stuff like that (did you say you wanted to help with the dish washing? yay!)

and dealt with a last minute water crisis (getting ready to fill containers at a nearby spring)

oh- and cleaned heaps and tons of potatoes (and wore cool hats)

and some of us slept in tents (some of the boys... sleeping in tents is for boys... but they sure *ting-ed* it, eh?)

and climbed trees

yup

boy did we ever

and if you think I'm always late for everything, be aware that I was the FIRST one ready for this pic... yes, indeedy (notice the prim hand clasp...)

and we looked up up up- up to the sky and beyond... and we saw things and had such good days.