Resolutions and Revelations: I'm hanging on to my "handle"

Living in a third world country has given me so many life experiences. I have learned about things that I probably never would have been exposed to had we never left our comfortable, first-world home.

For example, I know now that if you find little ants all over your bread, all you have to do is pop that bread in the freezer for a few minutes and they miraculously disappear.

I’ve learned that if you open your silverware drawer and find roaches there, they will run away from the light. Just leave that drawer open (never close it) and they’ll stay away.

I’ve learned that if you put your food in a cabinet that has legs and stand those legs in little bowls filled with baby powder, it keeps the bugs away. Apparently bugs don’t like baby powder – I would have never known!

I’ve also learned a lot about cooking.

Because we can’t buy convenience items where we live, I’ve had to learn how to make those items first in order to feed my family the foods they love most.

For instance, we can’t buy sour cream here, but the recipe is so simple. You mix one cup whipping cream with one tablespoon of white vinegar and in 30 seconds you have sweet, smooth sour cream.

You can make an easy buttermilk (perfect for frying chicken) by putting one tablespoon of white vinegar in a one-cup measuring cup and fill it up the rest of the way with whole milk. Stir it around a few seconds and you have exactly what the recipe calls for.

We can almost always get natural ingredients like local vegetables and fruit and pretty much any kind of noodle or rice. We can get different kinds of meat, although they don’t taste quite like the stuff in America because it’s not been processed the same way and there are no preservatives.

The spices are a little different… I’m still learning how to use turmeric and masala and star anise. If you want regular old garlic powder or ground mustard, you’ll have to go to the import/export store for that.

The problem is you can never predict what you’ll find at that store which brings in goods from Thailand, Singapore and the sometimes the U.S.

I’ve been needing mustard for weeks now. The last jar I had was pretty much full when I accidentally dropped it and shattered it all over the kitchen floor. I’ve been wanting to make a replica of Outback’s honey-mustard sauce for homemade chicken tenders. It’s hard to make when you can’t get the main ingredient.

Some things we can get pretty regularly, but they’re very expensive. A small package of Hershey’s cocoa powder will cost upwards of $12.00.

Still we’ve learned to make do, and it’s been fun trying out new recipes and experiencing new foods.

With Thanksgiving knocking on our door, I thought it might be nice to visit the idea of cooking in an underdeveloped country.

Thanksgiving has, over the last ten years or so, become one of my favorite holidays. Oh, Christmas is great, but it can be so busy and hectic. Honestly, I’m having a hard time recalling all the other American holidays because they’re not celebrated where we are. But Thanksgiving has always been the one holiday that is purely about family and friends and great food. I think that’s also why it’s been the holiday that is most difficult for me, living so far away. Christmas is the busiest time of year for folks in our line of work. We have so many opportunities for sharing during the season of Christ’s birth. But Thanksgiving has been the day where I just sit and mope and miss my family back in the States.

That’s why a couple years ago we started the tradition of going on our visa run to Kuala Lumpur over Thanksgiving. It keeps us busy and we get to eat at Chili’s Restaurant (they’re only found in Malaysia in this part of the world.)

But because we’re coming back to America in a few weeks (five to be precise), we won’t be taking another visa run this year. However, as it happens, this year we are invited to a big Thanksgiving shindig with some other expat friends who live in our city. This is going to be a big party with about 50 people all gathered at one house. We’re going to have a friendly, flag-football game followed by what’s sure to be some amazing food, but best of all lots of fellowship and fun. I’m really looking forward to it!

I’m signed up for a few of the requisite dishes including the ever-faithful green bean casserole. So here we go… I can get fresh green beans here (not canned.) Main ingredient, check. Sometimes I can even find the cans of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, so a few weeks ago when I discovered some at the import/export store, I stocked up. Main ingredient number two, check. The problem comes in the dried onions to go on top. It’s just not a green bean casserole without those onions. I had been searching recipes online on how to make those from scratch when I found out a friend was coming in from Thailand. Unfortunately, even in Thailand they can’t get the dried onions, but that friend has a team coming to visit from America before she comes here. So those volunteers (who happen to be from Alabama) are bringing in a couple cans of dried onions to Thailand, and then my friend will bring them with her from Thailand to Myanmar when she comes. Talk about going to great lengths for a Thanksgiving dish.

I’m also in charge of the pumpkin pie. Pie crust from scratch? No doubt. No pre-made here. I did, however, buy a couple cans of pumpkin puree when we were in Malaysia this past September. So that recipe is good to go.

My problem is found in my all-time favorite Thanksgiving dish… deviled eggs. I can’t find mustard! How do you make deviled eggs without mustard? Oh I’m sure there’s a way. I can probably make mustard using the little bit of ground mustard I have stored in my pantry. Maybe that should be the next core ingredient I tackle learning how to make.

I’ve heard people say that when you move overseas, you have to find your “handle.” It’s what you hold on to, to help you keep your sanity when the challenges become overwhelming. For me, that handle has been cooking.

When the power doesn’t work or when I can’t speak the language as proficiently as I’d like; when I can’t remember simple algebraic expressions to teach my home-schooled high-schooler or when I can’t figure out the rules for driving like the locals, cooking is the one thing that I know will work.

You add a smidge of one ingredient to a smidge of a few others, and voila! You’ve created something wonderful.

Oh sometimes there are mishaps. I’ve been working on some Indian dishes – I can’t seem to get them quite right. More often than not the power goes out right in the middle of baking something in my electric oven. But on the whole, it’s been a really rewarding and educational pursuit.

Before we came here, I had to have a map to find the kitchen in my house. Now, it’s the part of the house where you’ll find me most often.

I do have so much to be thankful for during this season of Thanksgiving: American holidays celebrated with friends, a family that’s always willing to try the crazy recipes I come up with, and the opportunity to experience it all from this part of the world.

I am truly blessed.

Now if I could just find some mustard, I’d be even more thankful! J