International Food Day

Just to give you some insight into what I pedaled to school in I thought I'd video the rain. It's often like this...one drop, two drops, soaked!

Some of you have the impression that we no longer cook. Well, we are cooking more now that we are getting used to our cooking situation which resembles camping more than anything. The hotplate works at 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200 etc. Yeah, I don't know what that is either but I do know that it won't go to 700 which I think would be perfect simmering temperature. Odd numbers don't come into play. Also, for it, and the oven, to run you need to set a timer which takes some getting used to. Do you ever think about how long you want the element on for? Nope, me neither but I am certainly getting the idea now.

In case you forgot (or never saw) our kitchen, this is it! We have a rice cooker and 1 more hotplate but space is precious so the rice is cooked on the floor and the other element is rarely used. 

I made a fantastic red curry last week and am on the look out for buying the spices at the market. Of course I saw them all the time before I actually started looking. I am not 100% sure about buying chicken the market since it's usually 30+ degrees outside but I have been told that if you cook it that night it's fine. So, I might give it a go. Very few of the vegetables are like what I am used to but I am slowly figuring out what is a herb and not eaten, what is eaten raw and what is cooked. The language barrier doesn't help so it's a lot of trial and error and the internet. One of the nicest things is the small Thai eggplants which are the size of small limes and found in curry.

My delicious curry.

This is International Week at RIS and it is funny to think of North America as being international. The highlight is the food fair which is going on as I speak in the middle of a torrential downpour which has been going on since last night. The following shoes the mobs of people at one section of the food fair. I ate some sushi and I am not sure what was in the Japanese balls....and maybe I don't want to know either.

The food fair.

Tons of people.

Newsflash: My kids just told be that they are called Takoyaki and that was squid inside. I told you I didn't want to know. there is a LOT of squid here. Speaking of squid, this is one of the popular foods here.....dried squid. It's kind of like "squid leather". That's a dipping spicy sauce, with lots of peanuts. This lead to a discussion concerning "acquired taste".

My class took a "field trip" to watch the Jazz Band play at lunch in the canteen which I have finally stopped calling the Caf (Galt) and dining hall (LCC)