Baby’s first Halloween!

Likely the cutest (and only) elephant in Guinea.

Not a bad haul for someone who doesn’t eat solids!

Happy Halloween

In Conakry, we get our American TV fix through AFN (Armed Forces Network). Instead of proper commercials, AFN fills the air time with various things like city/state/country quizzes, tales of war heroes, and last but not least, public service announcements. When Adele was born, our good friend had onesies printed that are identical to those found on one of those ads.

We were watching AFN while brainstorming about what to wear to the Halloween party the Marines were throwing, and it came to me. We’d all be PSA’s! I thought it was quite clever, although we did end up having to explain our costumes to the many guests who are not lucky enough to be in the know.

To my AFN viewing readers, can you tell which ones we are??

Running, or lack thereof

I had grand plans for jumping back on the running wagon when I returned back to Guinea. Sadly, excuse after excuse has left my running shoes collecting dust in my closet. My favorite one? I can’t run because Mister often gets home when it starts to get dark and that’s when the cobras come out. Seriously. I mean who uses cobras as an excuse not to exercise?? Ridiculous. There is a bit of truth in that, though. We really do have a cobra infestation in our compound (don’t worry, I haven’t seen any), and I can’t go during the day with Adele because the path is too bumpy for the BOB, and while I could go out if Mister gets home at a reasonable hour, I’m usually pretty exhausted by then.

As I’m typing this, I’m realizing that the only thing keeping me from running is ME and my dumb brain. The reality is that running HURTS. Long gone are the days when I could block out the pain and push through it. Now, the second I feel a twinge of discomfort I just want to stop. I hate that I feel this way, and I hate that I can’t get past it.

I’ve made a commitment to participate in a virtual run next week, and while I’m sorely undertrained (ie not at all), I’m going to do it. I’ve been on Amazon all morning downloading songs for a fresh playlist, and I’m going to try to get outside for a run (wog) at least three times this week. I’ve been using the 5k app, which allows you to listen to your own music, and I appreciate that the screen flashes red during the running intervals, which matches the discomfort I feel as I do it.

Any one have any tips or tricks to help motivate me? How about some music suggestions?

Dreaming of the future

As I mentioned a while back, we are currently in the middle of the infamous bidding process. Misters final bid list was due last Friday and now we are doing a lot of thumb twiddling and dreaming. Literally. We’re so consumed with this that we’re even dreaming about it. Two nights ago I dreamt that we were given early consideration along with the priority bidders (people coming out of Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan). I didn’t ever find out where we were going, but it was nice that we didn’t have to wait months and months.

This morning, Mister told me that he also dreamt about our future. According to his subconscious, we are headed to the fictional city of Tareeqa!! Tareeqa is apparently in Pakistan, and apparently we’re thrilled about it.

When I’m awake, I’m also thinking about the future, mentally preparing myself for a move back to the states by way of dreaming about all of the delicious restaurants we could dine in. Thinking of foods that are unavailable here is torture, just as having the next few years of our life decided by a group of people who only know my husband by some information on a piece of paper is torture.

In a bit of good news, the results of the final early panel came out and we didn’t lose any of our bids! Our future has been narrowed down to 9 cities around the world and now we wait. Let’s just hope, for sanities sake, that we find out soon!

4 months!

One of the most frequent things we hear about this little girl (other than she’s so cute) is that she is very alert. She totally is. She’s very aware of her surroundings and is so very curious. She’s got a few new tricks, having just discovered her thumb, and while she has been able to pull her binkie out of her mouth for weeks, just today she figured out how to put it back in (upside down though). She’s basically the smartest baby ever. Does every parent say that about their child? She isn’t a very good nap taker these days (which makes me a bit crazy), but will sleep a good 12 hours at night. In the morning she will lie in the crib quietly and will greet the lucky one who goes to get her with a huge smile. She is a joy.

Delicious things I’ve made lately

Poor Mister. I’ve never been a good grocery shopper (not to mention the fact that it’s kind of difficult for me to go grocery shopping in the first place) and cook, so most of our meals lately consist of fun packs of Doritos and hot dogs wrapped in tortillas. We’ve even eaten only cake for dinner (and breakfast and lunch) on more than one occasion. Occasionally rarely, I will actually put some thought and effort into it and cook something, and we’ve eaten some quite delicious things. Check ‘em out. You might want to try them too:

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread: I even ground my own wheat for this! I’d say that’s pretty hard core. Considering the last time I tried to make bread it was a gooey mess, the fact that this bread turned out, and was even delicious was a big deal. It was extra good eaten warm with butter and creamy honey.

Zucchini Lasagna: This was so so good. I agree with the author that the zucchini should be grilled. I didn’t have that option and there was definitely a pool of liquid in the bottom of the pan of baked lasagna. I only had enough ricotta for a 9x9 pan but I didn’t half the meat sauce. I thought it was just the right amount. I used ground beef, but I’d prefer to use ground turkey. Sadly that doesn’t exist in Guinea. If I make it again while I’m here I’ll probably omit the meat completely.

Honey Almond Ice Cream: This is probably the easiest ice cream ever (no ice cream maker needed!), and so delicious.

Pumpkin Ice Cream: Definitely not an easy recipe, but if you like pumpkin pie it’s totally worth it. Instead of adding the individual spices, I just added a few teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. It froze rock solid (perhaps it wouldn’t have if I added the bourbon?), which isn’t so awesome for scooping, but it tastes just like pumpkin pie.

Chicken with Basalmic Garlic Sauce: I love this sauce so much that I double it. I’ve served it with both mashed potatoes and cauliflower mash. I think the cauliflower mash is best.

Ritz Cracker Parmesan Chicken strips via my brother:

· 1 package Ritz Crackers – crushed

· 3 T parmesan cheese (I add more because I like it parmesany)

· 1-2 dashes garlic salt

· Salt and pepper to taste

Take your chicken strips and coat them with sour cream, then cover them with the cracker mixture.  Shake of any excess crumbs and place in a 9x9 or 9x13 baking dish depending on how much chicken you’ve added.

· 4 T melted butter

Drizzle the melted butter over the top of the chicken and bake at 375f for about 45 minutes or until it’s done.

*I added a few shakes of ranch dressing mix and used plain yogurt instead of sour cream. I also wanted them to be more crunchy, to resemble chicken strips, so I omitted the butter and cooked them on a baking sheet. Worked like a charm.

Happy cooking!!