Mike Cooking

Twenty points for the one who can tell what it used to be...

Becky studying language

Two are better than One

Why two toddlers are better than one:

They make faces at each other across the dinner table.
They keep each other happy if they wake up before mommy.
They think it's fun to hold hands and run around the airport singing silly songs.
They play peek-a-boo on long plane or bus rides.
They learn each other’s mispronounced English.
They give each other hugs and kisses
They like playing the same kind of games, watching the same kind of movies, eating the same snacks.

Of course they also pull hair, grab toys, wake each other up, fill more diapers, splash more bathwater, and figure out how to climb places neither would have discovered alone—but I’ll take two any day.

Hair Cut

This country is a great place to get a hair cut. For about 6 dollars I got an hour long hair cut, enjoyed some lunch, and got the hair in my ears burned off with fire.

Food...

I'm having some random food thoughts today. Part of that is because I tried a new recipe, a local dish of green beans and rice. Check it out here. It didn't work, but it had promise! I think it needed more water and more time. Rice and I are kind of at war. Around here you can get -- and they use -- pasta. But it seems like it's a second class citizen to rice and bulgur, which are what all the favorite dishes are made of. I figured out how to steam rice till it's good and dead, but that gets old quick. They do lots of neat stuff with pilav. But so far, everything I've tried has either been crunchy, sticky, or burnt.

But I have found a neat recipe idea that does work--although there's nothing local about except that I can make it here. You dip chicken breast slices in honey mustard dressing, and then roll them in crushed cornflakes and bake 425F for 15 minutes. We like it with/on salad. I make my own honeymustard dressing with 1 cup mayo, 1/2 cup honey, 1/4 cup mustard, and I line the pan with foil if I want easy clean up.

Today I discovered a new food at the pazar. There were these things that looked like a small, pale canteloupe. I figured they were probably some type of melons, something like honeydew, but in the interesting of being a life-long learner, I asked the seller "what's this?" He responded almost automatically with the fruit's name, but my favorite part was the look on his face when I asked him to repeat it and he realized I didn't know what it was. He found it quite amusing when I told him I had never seen one before, and he told me it was sweet like honey and really good. I bought one for a little over 2 dollars, which I doubt was a good deal since he knew I was pretty clueless. I came home and cut it open, and it's basically just like honeydew. The word he gave me just means generic "melon."

My guys are back! Matthew had a trip to the big city this week for medical reasons. Monday he got a fever (not that unusual) and Tuesday we took him to the doctor (again, standard procedure). But the doctor couldn't find a reason for his infection, and when he did a blood test Matthew's white blood cell count was pretty high, so he started him on antiobiotic injections. In addition, Matthew was complaining of stomach pain. So Wednesday he and Mike got on a plane and went to see another doctor for further evaluation. That doctor determined that Matthew had strep, said that Matthew should continue the 6 days of antiobiotic injections (poor guy) and could come home when his fever came down. When they got back home, one last test by the local pediatrician showed that he also has amebiosis. Now he's worn out and tired of "icky medicine", but happy and fever-free. He has two more days of antiobiotic, a week of Flagyl, and we'll go back to the second doctor for follow up and another blood test in two weeks.