FOOD Archives - Letterbox on the Lane

Homemade Vanilla Extract for Christmas

I like to gift friends and colleagues homemade cookies and candies at Christmas. As I was doing all of my baking this past Christmas – and going through the small bottles of store-bought vanilla, I decided to gift homemade vanilla next year. Vanilla is not easy to get in Indonesia, so it will be a welcome treat. And starting now, ensures a good strong vanilla for next holiday season!

I ordered a pack of 25 Madagascar vanilla beans from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PMUNERY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also ordered these swing top glass bottles. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VPT4XXB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought a 1-liter bottle of Absolut vodka.

Once the supplies arrived in the mail, it was time to get to work making homemade Vanilla Extract for Christmas!

I washed the bottles and let them dry.

The beans were too long to fit in the bottles, so I cut them to shorten them first, then I slit them open and put about 5 beans (total) in each bottle. I don’t have a funnel, so I poured 8 ounces of vodka into a measuring cup with a spout and poured the vodka into the bottles, ensuring that the beans were covered. Combined, the beans and vodka filled 4 and ½ bottles.

I closed up the bottles and now they are stored in a cool dry place (as cool and dry as I can get in Indonesia!) and are ‘brewing’ away!

vanilla beans and vodka in glass bottles

They will be ready to use as early as June, so I plan to use the ‘funky’ one with the tall bean and extra vodka for my own use. The others will be kept until December, to be used as gifts. Who will not LOVE homemade vanilla extract for Christmas?? I’ll have to design a cute tag for the bottles when I’m ready to give them away and I’ll be sure to update the blog with more photos!

CELEBRATE, FOOD, PARTY

Halloween in Indonesia – 2023

What a fun time we had for our second Halloween in Indonesia – decorating, pumpkin carving, and trick or treating!

Halloween Decorations

Restraining myself, I waited until mid-October to pull out the Halloween decorations! I reused many of the items from our Harry Potter birthday party, taped paper bats to the windows, hung a black feather wreath on the front door, and pulled out my spider web door mat and skeleton dishes that I picked up at Kirklands last year, while I was in the U.S. (squeezing everything into my suitcases!)

rinted-Trick-or-Treat-invitation-to-the-neighborhood-Halloween-Gathering

We made a special trip to the fancy grocery store in search of a pumpkin for carving – and we felt so lucky when we found one! We took it home and carved it the very next day. My Indonesian colleague was so intrigued with this real pumpkin that looked just like my fake Halloween pumpkins!! I showed her how we scooped out the insides…this one was definitely real!

I even used an actual recipe to roast the pumpkin seeds. I’ve never added more than just oil and salt, but this time I added garlic powder, pepper, and some chili powder (I was out of the paprika that the recipe called for). They turned out quite nice.

Pumpkin Carving

umpkin-with-top-removed-and-seeds-and-pulp-scooped-out-onto-the-table

Seasoned-Pumpkin-Seeds-ready-for-Toasting

Carved-Jack-o-Lantern-with-Halloween-Decorations

Trick or Treating

The neighbors stopped in after the kids were done trick or treating and I whipped up a pitcher of my ‘go to’ red wine sangria – it really fit the Halloween theme, a Texas Sheet cake – enough chocolate cake for a crowd – with purple and orange confetti sprinkles on top! I love this butter toffee popcorn recipe. I made two batches. The first batch was crispy, buttery, and delicious. Unfortunately, it was late when I made the second batch. I took the tray out of the oven to cool, and went to bed. When I got up the next morning, the popcorn went soft – the humidity here was just too much. I did put the popcorn in a ziplock bag with a slice of bread, to see if that would help…but it didn’t.

Well, we couldn’t have ALL sweets, so we also had the Pioneer Woman’s Nachos. I made these for my dad for dinner last summer (I told him it was taco salad!) and he could not get enough of them! I had the same reaction here on Halloween. My neighbors gobbled them up! This recipe is definitely a keeper!

We also had the roasted pumpkin seeds, fresh watermelon slices, and ice-cold lemonade for the thirsty trick or treaters.

Dripping-Wax-Candles-on-wall-candelabra-

Halloween-Urli-Flower-bowl-with-flowers-and-candles

Texas-Sheet-Cake-with-Halloween-Sprinkles-and-Butter-Toffee-popcorn-in-a-glass-jar

Our second Halloween in Indonesia will be hard to top next year!!

FOOD, LIFE, LOVE, TRAVEL

Cub Scout Camping at Lodges Ekologika – Portibi Farms in West Java

Another campout with the cub scouts is in the books.

We departed around 6:00am Saturday morning and traveled by hired bus for about 1.5 hours to the Lodges Ekologika – Portibi Farms in West Java. http://portibi.com/

When we arrived, we dropped our bags in our respective bungalows, huts, and tents and then enjoyed a light breakfast of bagels, toast, banana bread, fresh fruit, etc. We filled our tummies and then headed off on a hike. The Webelos scouts recited their Outdoor Code and Leave No Trace principles.

Bungalow en suite at Portibi Farms, Indonesia

After the hike, we had lunch – enjoying many of the delicacies of the farm. Lots of fresh salads, local specialties, hot soup, and beef tenderloin sandwiches.

People serving themselves from a lunch buffet of sandwiches and soup.

Then, the kids moved on to a lesson in first aide, before heading down the hill to do some farming.

They discovered that cinnamon grows on TREES! They harvested lettuce, nutmeg, rosemary, cassava. I understand there was also a bit of fighting over whose turn it was to fertilize the plants with goat poop! While the kids were farming, the adults had afternoon tea – Indonesian farm style. Lots of hot tea and fried snacks – like fried bananas – and we had fresh fruits like watermelon, honeydew, and orange slices.

Cassava is also known as yuca or manioc, Cassava is a type of root vegetable that is high on vitamin C. It can be boiled, fried, grated, or pureed.

When the kids returned, the Webelos had a cooking lesson – peeling, chopping, and boiling their cassava. While dinner was cooking – and to keep the kids out of the rain that had started – it was time for some art practice. The Webelos needed to create two self-portraits – using two different mediums. All the kids joined in and we did pencil drawings with colored pencils and then paintings with water based acrylic paints. It was so much fun to see all of the kids sitting together and showing off their creativity. We had to stop at 5:00pm, so dinner could be set up, but I think some of the kids would have been happy to keep on creating.

At 6pm, we had a lovely dinner of beef tenderloin, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes made with purple ‘sweet potatoes’. We topped them with some butter and pesto! We had French fries made with the purple sweet potatoes, and delicious salads.

Of course, it would not be a cub scout campout without a bonfire and s’mores. So, after dinner, we went in search of the bonfire. It was at the very bottom of the hill. We had to navigate our way down a narrow path lined with stepping stones, and it was getting quite dark. Luckily, we had our flashlights and (battery operated) lanterns. The kids enjoyed roasting their marshmallows and lining up for mini chocolate bars and graham crackers to make s’mores. What a fun-filled day. We all wound our way back up the mountain to find our beds. Jackson and I were lucky to have a shower (with hot water!) in our bungalow. However, another mom was in a ‘hut’, and although she was dripping sweat from climbing the mountain in the heat and humidity, she did not want to venture out in the dark to the shared shower room, so she used her fan to cool off before drifting off to sleep. (I think we are all glad to be back to ‘civilization’!!)

Sunday morning included a lovely breakfast of mini waffles, eggs, bagels, and some local favorites such as Nasi Goreng (fried rice). The kids learned to tie square knots and then we packed up and headed home.

We had loads of fun and made new friends.

CELEBRATE, FOOD

Promotions Celebration!

In my line of work, promotions are hard to come by – we compete against our peers to fill a designated number of spots at the next pay grade. Even if you have been recommended for promotion by the promotion boards, there might not be enough spots. In this instance, you miss out on the promotion, and start all over again the next year.

I should have been thrilled when the stars aligned and I was finally promoted. However, I learned that I had received a promotion on the same morning that I learned my mom’s passing was imminent. It was an awful morning, and I was certainly in no mood to celebrate.

Now that a few weeks have passed, I took advantage of the Columbus Day holiday and invited a few colleagues (who were also promoted!) over for lunch. We had the day off, but the kids had school, so we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon talking about how we got to where we are today, and the next steps – for our next promotions!

We started with a glass of champagne to toast our success.

I added fresh squeezed lime juice, lime wedges, and simple syrup to the tray. Then of course, I opened the champagne!

We had fresh lime sodas and mango juice to drink.

We had Italian wedding soup, Greek salad, fresh Italian bread, and baked ziti for lunch.

And for dessert we had tiramisu and pizzelles, served with hot tea and coffee.

I made the tiramisu using this recipe from All Recipes.

All of the tips I read insisted that I use real espresso. So, I had some delivered from Paul cafe!

I’ve tried this recipe before, cooking the eggs in the pan, and my eggs curdled. I now use a ‘double boiler’.

A friend gifted me her Kitchen Aid stand mixer when she received a new one. It is still running strong on the transformer! (Note the UHT (shelf stable) whipping cream.)

Most recipes call for Marsala wine. I didn’t have that, and I didn’t have any rum, so I used cognac.

I tried dipping the ladyfingers into the coffee on a shallow plate, but I ended up dunking them in the measuring cup with tongs. That worked best for me.

After they were chilled, and ready to be served, I sprinkled them each with a bit of unsweetened Hershey’s cocoa powder.

The table was set – ready for food and guests! I put each tiramisu cup on the little boards, with a fresh mint leaf – plucked from our herb garden.

I mentioned earlier that promotions are hard earned, oftentimes taking 6, 8, 10 years or more to achieve. Technically, I am competing against each of these ladies for future promotions, but this was a warm, friendly gathering – each of us sincere in celebrating each other and encouraging success.

FOOD, LIFE

Baking Cookies for friends and teachers; afternoon tea for colleagues

It has been a real challenge to unpack my house, and prepare for Christmas, while working full-time!

I’ve been making lots of lists to ensure I completed my top priorities on time. All of the boxes are unpacked and out of the house. I don’t have everything placed where I want, but I’m ready to move my focus to Christmas.

We got off to a bumpy start: the community water pumped died, so we were without water on Saturday morning. Then, Jackson attempted to plug the ‘strip plug’ into the wall, with an adapter. He blew out the power to the entire house and burned up the strip plug. Luckily, the movers stood up my ‘big’ tree. It is an older pre-lit tree and the lights have died. I picked up some 220v lights in Lithuania, so I wrapped those around the tree, and plugged them right into the wall. No transformer or adapter needed! Win! I put the ornaments on the trees, set up the nativity, and hung our stockings on the window grills.

Next up was the baking. Jackson and I rolled out, baked, and decorated 9 batches of cookies. We gifted the gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies to neighbors, teachers, coaches, the bus driver and the bus monitor. I put the cookies in clear cellophane bags with red ribbon. I baked peanut butter cup cookies for the neighborhood cookie exchange. I think we ate all the cookies while visiting – there wasn’t much to exchange at the end! I also made white chocolate-raspberry scones early one morning – they were AMAZING! I put the warm scones in little kraft boxes with tea bags, gingerbread cookies, and jams – tied up with red and white striped ribbon with nutcracker tags – to make cute little ‘take away’ afternoon tea boxes for colleagues. I also roasted some almonds in cinnamon and sugar. I put those in clear cellophane bags, tied them up with a red ribbon, and attached a gold tag for my office mates and the Marines.

I somehow made time to whip up a batch of Pizzelles for Jackson (special request!), wrap up the Christmas gifts that will go under the tree, and I even purchased a few gifts to bring home. It was a mad scramble, but I (mostly) pulled it off!

CELEBRATE, FOOD

LE Staff Appreciation 2022

Serving our local colleagues a Thanksgiving Lunch

Each year, we celebrate the local staff who work at our embassies. The celebrations vary from embassy to embassy, and from year to year. This year, we organized a Thanksgiving lunch for our (400+) colleagues.

I shared my Thanksgiving decorations – pumpkins, leaves, acorns, etc. – which were set out on the serving tables. I also helped to serve lunch. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, and apple crisp. It was so lovely to see my colleagues, serve them, and let them know that they are appreciated.

FOOD, LIFE

Thanksgiving – Jakarta 2022

Our First Thanksgiving in Jakarta was an adventure. I am so excited to have a full sized oven, gas stove top, and a full sized refrigerator and a stand up freezer. I’m not as thrilled that our shipment is still not here, so no nice dishes, no pie plates, no stand mixer.

I worked to stock the cupboards to ensure that I had enough butter, sugar, flour, and Crisco. I almost forgot the cloves. I did forget the ginger.

I was fortunate to get my hands on mushroom soup, fried onions, Crisco, and a turkey. And I had brought a can of Libby’s pumpkin in my suitcase.

On Monday I put the turkey in the fridge to thaw.

On Tuesday, the nanny made the tart shells.

On Wednesday, I turned the shells into chocolate tarts. The butternut squash was baked, there was a last minute run around town looking for sage and cloves. But the ginger was missed. Without the ginger, I did not get the pumpkin pies made, but the crust ingredients were assembled. The turkey was dry brined.

On Thursday, Jackson was supposed to be in school, and the nanny was going to help me. He got sick, so I told her not to come. I was left to fend for myself. It was then that I realized that my casserole dishes are not yet here. I would have to improvise on the squash, green beans, and corn dishes. I had to get the ginger and get the pies made. Without glass pie plates, I turned to my mini tart pans. I went to roll out the dough that was prepared the day before. It crumbled into dust! I added water trying to save it, but success was not on the menu.

I forgot to hit ‘start’ on the timer, when the turkey first went in. I’m not sure how long it roasted at 500 degrees, but the house started filling with smoke, and the turkey was brown all over. (a little too long, I think). I turned down the temperature and covered the bird in foil. I also added more water to the bottom of the pan.

I mashed the potatoes, made the gravy, heated up the side dishes, and released the cranberry sauce from the can.

We sat down to dinner around 5:00pm, Jackson gobbled up the turkey, and even tried a few bites of the other food on his plate. Then the doorbell rang. It was the cable company, coming to install the fiberoptic cable! (I did reach out to set up an appointment and said any day this week would be fine. I certainly did not expect them at 5:15pm on Thanksgiving Day!)

FOOD, LIFE

Baseball and Dumplings

October 14, 2022

We got up and out the door early on a Saturday morning for Jackson to try out baseball. We found his group and he joined right in. Everything was in Bahasa (the local language), but he managed and actually made a friend. While they waited in line for their turn to run, catch, or throw, they fooled around – giving each other High Fives and such.

After two hours in the heat and humidity and waiting for what seemed like forever for his turn, we finally headed out, unsure of whether we would return. We decided not to make a decision that day, as we were both feeling pretty worn out. We’ll go back one more time and decide if we are going to become a baseball family. Here, the sports go year-round. So, there is not a baseball season and then a soccer season. If we join, we are ‘all in’.

Hot and sweaty, we hopped into a taxi and went straight to a dumpling making class! (Well, Jackson sat in the other room playing video games while attended class.)

It was so much fun! We stuffed and rolled and folded each dumpling with loving care. We packaged ours to bring home and enjoyed the professionally made ones – hot out of the steamer. She had a variety of chicken, shrimp, and pork dumplings for us to sample – and lots of sauces too.

They lady giving the classes lived in the U.S. for a few years before returning to Indonesia. She was full of personality and shared her story of how she started and is now continuing to grow her business. We all left feeling good: with full tummies and the knowledge that we supported a female entrepreneur.