Pancakes, Anyone?

One of the surprising food items here is Pancakes. The thing is, it’s really rare to eat them here, but everyone talks about them. My Bapak and Ibu (host parents) have asked a few times if I know how to make them. I don’t get the fascination, but I plan to make them some time before we move to our permanent location. I think they would appreciate the gesture. Mom, can you send me the recipe? I’ve only made pancakes with instant Bisquick!

OK, onto the fun food of Indonesia. They eat a lot of, guess……. RICE. Yep, rice at every meal. Naci Putih. And then add lots of fried food. (Goreng = fried). At my house, most of the dishes so far have been: rice, fried chicken, fried tempei, fried potatoes, tofu, eggs, spinach, and water spinach (it tastes the same but is more stringy instead of leafs on regular spinach). The sauces have usually been a yellow color (I think it’s called Tamerick???) Also they have a “hot sauce” called Sambal. It’s really hot red peppers that are ground up and added to food. You don’t need much to feel the heat. Daniel loves it. Saya suka sedikit (I like it a little).

What do we drink? Water, tea-the sweetest tea you have ever tasted, coffee with a ton of sugar and sweetened condensed milk, and some amazing juice. For the tea and sugar, once you ask for a little sugar, it’s pretty good. The sweetened condensed milk is something to get used to. It wouldn’t be that bad, but the glasses my family uses are really small, so the drinks can be sweet. Daniel’s family are farmers. They have 4 cows and we finally asked them to try some fresh milk, boiled of course. I wasn’t really a fan. It wasn’t sweet at all, and room temperature, plus it has a film to it, from boiling. But if you add sugar and drink it warm instead of room temperature, it’s amazing. It might become a daily drink for me. We also tried Avocado Juice. It’s creamy and green. Good. The best is the fruit juice. We’ve had pineapple and guava juice. Absolutely amazing.

At my house, we have bananas, oranges that are actually green, and then a fruit called Salak. In English, it’s called Snake Skin Fruit. It is the size of a lemon, and the peel looks like snake skin. It’s scaly and has corse spiky hairs on it. When you peel it, inside you will find three white pieces, each with a large brown seed inside. The fruit is crunchy like an apple, and tastes like artificial grape flavoring. Kind of like a grape jolly rancher. Yum!!! Plus, if you are having stomach issues and using the mandi (bathroom) too much, it’s supposed to help you feel better. That will come into use, when I get my first encounter with bad food or water. All of the volunteers will be sick at one point or another, we can count on it. It’s kind of like an initiation

Everyone have a healthy week!
With love and lots of carbs,

Paige

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