FOOD
It is raining, of course, although I see a bit of sun. My laundry will never dry. We went out to the farm yesterday. The occasion was the Celebration of World Food Day on Oct. 16. We are going to be busy that day, so we did it yesterday. Each team was to prepare something to share - a pot luck! That is a novel idea in this world. How much does one bring? There were 20 people - just imagine what would happen if each brought enough for 20!
I teamed up with our "fearless leader" to produce one of my favorite pastas - tuna rustica. I'll put the recipe at the end if you are dying to know. We actually did make enough for 20! There was also a wide variety of other interesting things. Plantains, of course, and a squash with mozzarella on it - enough for 20. I also happened to have 10 Pearson's salted nut rolls, which I cut in half!
As we were getting our food, and I'm thinking about food - why not - it occurred to me as I was standing there that I was the tallest person in the room - except for one young man. And I am not that tall to start with - and I have been shrinking of late. Today, in the international news, I see that the World Food Program is dedicating a large contribution to the children of Nicaragua. On one of my prior visits, we went to a small one room school house with the teacher. Another marvelous experience. The teacher was our friend, Sebastian, of course. We learned that the government provides a small subsidy to provide a basic meal for the children at noon each day. The parents take turns preparing it, and the children eat it at noon. You want to look up the studies on the correlation between development and childhood nutrition. The same phenomenon happens to new immigrants in the states. The children born there tend to be taller - and healthier. There are genetic factors of course - my lovely wife is only 5'2", and I KNOW her parents fed her well - she was the princess!! But the point is, people do NOT reach their full potential if they do not have sufficient nutrition in early childhood. Talk about a good investment.
Dramatics
We also did some preparation for the delegation, which is arriving TODAY!! The two groups, farm and team, are going to do some "social dramas" - nearest translation I can come up with. It is a bit of role playing, and puppets, with audience interaction - explaining how the farm school works, and how the team interacts with villages when they go to visit. It was excellent fun, and the next version will be even better.
One of the minor problems was whether to do it in Spanish or English. Since most of the drama cast speak only Spanish, that part is set. It was the puppets that raised the question. I think, as much as I understood the conversation, that they decided to engage the target audience - the delegation - and do it in English, with a Spanish translation for the team. Turning the tables a bit, as well.
Learning Spanish
This Spanish stuff is a continual bit of work. At the stage I am at, I really have to pay attention and my brain is going a mile a minute. I KNOW the words, I just can't hear them go by! If I work at it, I can guess the sense and that helps me find the words. I've been listening to the local news in the morning on my iPod. They speak more clearly than most, so it helps. I also read the paper daily - and it is about rain- it continues - and politics - the election is early November - and crime and sports! A limited but useful vocabulary in this context.
Noises in the Night
Our night watchman is just leaving and stopped to tell me what happened last night. To my untrained ear, he hardly seems to speak Spanish! There were three LOUD explosions just as I was getting ready for bed. Scared the bleep out of me. They were about 5 minutes apart. He said it was the place across the street - and the police were called, and they were everywhere. It didn't sound like gunshots to me - but what do I know. He had reassured me last night that it was outside our property.
More later. We will traveling about parts of next week - so I will be without Internet access. I have to decide whether to keep up these ramblings off line and inundate you when we connect - or just let you rest a bit. I think the latter!
Tuna Rustica
4 tomatoes - cubed
1/3 cup sliced green olives
1/3 cup sliced black olives
1/3 cup green onions chopped
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic
2 cans albacore tuna
1 sm can capers
1/4 cup chopped parsley or cilantro - I much prefer the cilantro
12 oz pasta - ziti, rigatoni, penne
Salt & pepper to taste - important
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