What's For Dinner?

I have come to realize that I am more or less going to eat the same thing everyday for the next two years. In some ways, it is not bad – it certainly makes shopping and cooking easier. But of course, there are a few things that I already miss. For breakfast I usually have a peanut butter and banana sandwich. It seems to fill me up more than cereal and I don’t have to worry about milk spoiling because I don’t have a refrigerator. I take an apple with me to school and eat that along with whatever the school serves for lunch. The choices are usually rice with a soupy vegetable mix or a grainy porridge with cooked cabbage. Sometimes there are beans (brown not green) instead of cabbage; sometimes there are pilchards (basically canned sardines) in the vegetable mix. I don’t always finish my lunch to be honest.  When I get home from school I will frequently make popcorn or boil an egg. Then my dinner is usually a Ramen-noodle like dish called 2-Minute Noodles. It comes in a variety of delicious flavors and only takes two minutes to cook. Can’t beat that. On the weekends I try to spice things up by having eggs or oatmeal for breakfast and making a real pasta or rice dish that includes some chopped up vegetables and sometimes even chicken. There are definitely volunteers (mostly the ones who have electricity) that have no problems cooking here. But as I stunk at cooking at home, and now have even less to work with, it has not really been a good scene “in the kitchen.”

Some of the things I miss are good for me, and I really do wish were here, like peaches and eggplant and strawberries and asparagus and blueberries and yams and raspberries and yogurt.  Some of the things I miss are total garbage and I probably should be thankful that I am giving my body a rest from them.  Cool Whip, Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, Oreos, honey mustard and onion flavored pretzels, cupcakes, pudding, this list could go on.  I can buy a number of American brand candy bars here – including Snickers, thank god – so that will just have to be enough! But the next time you are enjoying a slice of pumpkin pie, know that I wish I was there with you.