The Cheerful Yellow Quilt top is completed

Just a short post tonight to note that the yellow/black/white quilt top is completed.  I could tell you all of the mistakes I made but instead I'll tell you that this quilt makes me happy.  It turned out to be much larger than I expected - my quilts have a way of growing like yeast bread.

I'm waiting for the backing fabric to arrive. I ordered it from equilter.com in Colorado, using the service of Correos. I expect the backing fabric to come this week. Once I have the that fabric, I will layer the quilt and do the quilting.  I'm excited for those steps. I brought batting with me from the US so this next part should go well once I get the 3 parts layered. Most of my quilts have been for other people. It gives me great joy to see others enjoy something I created.  However, I am happy that I am keeping this one to enjoy.

This is a photo of one of my favorite flowers in the garden I designed in my Oregon backyard. Echinacea, or coneflower, is related to black-eyed susans. It is a perennial that will give you years of joy if you get the plant established. From the Big Sky series, this variety is named Sunrise, if my memory is correct. It was fragrant and attracted butterflies and hummingbirds. It glowed at dawn and dusk, like a lantern in the garden.
The new quilt reminds me of this flower.  For a good site with photos of many varieties of coneflower go here"  http://www.daytonnursery.com/encyclopedia/perennials/echinacea.htm
Looking at plant selections online made me long for a small garden. Sigh.
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Right now, the quilt top is on the twin bed where my 9 year old granddaughter ECM will sleep when she comes to visit and it looks fabulous.  There will be chilly nights when I drag it into the living room and snuggle under the cheerful colors while reading in my chair. Looking at the photograph, the border fabric appears to have a green reading.  In person, it looks great, matches the yellow in the leafy fabric.

Tomorrow I'm going to swim and  have dinner with friends. Later this week, we play cards with some lovely Cuencanas we have come to know.  4 months in Cuenca and I'm feeling more like an ex-padorian than a tourist. Len and I love it here.

Soon I will start on the next twin quilt, one my 5 yr old grandson AEM will sleep under when he visits with his sister.  Then, not to be forgotten, will come a quilt for BRS who is 3 now.

I hope you have enjoyed Monday and have a great Tuesday coming up.
Sharon

A "Block of the Month" quilt lingers on

 City buses on Solano Avenue, Cuenca, Ecuador. Buses run every 4-6 minutes all day long. Cost to ride? 25 cents.  The US dollar is used here, making it easy to drop a quarter in the slot.

A languishing project? This began as a "block of the month" quilt project.  It will be a king sized bed quilt for us. Here is how it unfolded:

I took a "block of the month" quilting class with tons of good intentions in 1/2010. The idea is that you take a class that meets one time each month.  At each class you get the directions for one quilt block to do that month.
The goal:  complete the block to show at next month's class to avoid paying $3extra for that class.  The next class is where you get the second block to complete, and then the third and so on.  By the end of a full year, you should have a completed quilt, right?

A festival in the town of Tarqui, outside of Cuenca about 15 miles. Women in traditional dress.

Well, I started out pretty well.  I spent 3 solid hours picking out the 12 fabrics that had to be in specific color groups. The full quilt pattern is not given until the last month.  The example the teacher gave out was a scratchy black and white copy that was hard to figure out just what the quilt would look like.  A beautiful sample quilt was hung in the shop but the colors were not at all to my taste so it was hard for me to visualize what I could do to make this project mine.

I am pretty independent when it comes to fabric.  I did not want someone else picking out my fabrics ,but I worried quite a bit about how to make my quilt "look right".  It needed to suit both my taste and that of my husband and still turn out to be something beautiful for our king size bed. Not being able to really see the pattern before spending over $250 on fabric is not something I will sign up for again!

However, selecting fabrics and coordinating colors is one of the steps I especially enjoy in the process of a quilt. There were several color issues I needed to address: I really like eggplant/ deep purple and found a great sunflower batik fabric in a deep purple and sunset orange to become the outer border as well as the center of each block.  However, my husband really likes blue so different shades of blue needed to be incorporated that would coordinate with the sunflower fabric. I needed to create a quilt that is somewhat feminine but is manly at the same time. So I ended up with a couple of shades of lavender/purple and several shades of blue.  I selected a range of vanilla through rose-tinted tans for the third color group to suit to the pattern and add contrast.

 Here is the stack of fabrics I selected:

Here is what the first blocks look like:

Around the fifth month, I got a little derailed in spite of all my good intentions. From day one, I had some challenges with this project.  First, class members are not allowed to see the entire quilt pattern but have a vague black and white sketch of what it will look like. A sample quilt was hanging in the shop but it was hard to sort out colors and no one knew which block we were doing first.

Class members could not get quilt block directions ahead to cut out fabric for later blocks if one had some unexpected time. This was hard for people with handicaps and limitations (time, physical, etc) and was not made clear until the 2nd month of class.   Because I was working full time, I rarely had extra time to cut out fabric for a project.  And yet, sometimes, I would be feeling well and have the energy so that I could have cut out extra pieces to help me stay current. But I understand this is a"hard and fast rule" of block of the month classes. It also would have helped me know if I had enough of each color of fabric.  Even today, I worry that I will not have enough of one or another fabric as I continue to complete the quilt. Although that worry is misplaced because any fabrics I purchased in 2010 are long gone by now.  Plus I am living in Ecuador! A quick trip to the fabric store is not easy to accomplish.

I am not an advanced quilter. The talent of the women in the group taking this class was phenomenal and exciting to see...and more than a little intimidating. I only saw these women one time per month so there was not a spirit of camaraderie developing where I might have felt comfortable asking one of them for a little direction. The teacher also was quite busy with an unexpectedly large class. So I remained quiet about being a little off the rails. 

The first 5 months, I did great and was pleased with the blocks. Then I got behind when my elderly mother fell and broke her hip, leading to frequent trips to another state to help out a bit.  She is doing much better, by the way.  She is 93 and quite a pistol, spunky and strong. Then in August of 2010, my father had a very bad reaction following a hip replacement so that he also was not doing well at all.  I am glad to report that he is much improved but has a longer road to regain his former mobility. He turns 94 in about 2 weeks.  I am so grateful I was able to make several trips from Oregon to Idaho to visit/help out the year before we moved to Ecuador. I have 3 brothers and sisters-in law who live near my parents and are a tremendous help to them. Thank you to my siblings for your careful work and devotion to our parents.

However, my quilt project was officially now languishing. There was one block I simply could not figure out and the teacher was not available for specific questions.  Finally, I asked my wonderful other teacher Victoria if she could help me sort out what I was doing wrong.  She looked at the teacher's directions and found places where specific corrections had been made to the pattern - by the pattern company - but I had missed the classes where this was explained. So some of the directions handed out each month had incorrect directions. Sheesh!

I got discouraged about the time a few of the other women were showing their completed projects in December, 2010.  Many of the were quite beautiful. A couple of them were actually stunning. Several others had not yet finished their project. I imagine some dropped out entirely. But this is the way of quilt classes and projects.

When we decided in January of 2011 that we were moving to Cuenca asap, I decided to wait until my move to Cuenca was complete and then find the right time to pull this project out again to make the king size quilt.

One thing you need to know about me and quilting is that I always have about 3 projects going. For example, this week I put more borders on the cheerful yellow quilt, I learned to make button holes for a pillow I am making and I finished a pair of pajama pants. Iwill put a project away for awhile if something is a roadblock but I pull the project back out later on.  I will complete this quilt.  I have a "quilt queue" as I call my list of projects.  The king bed quilt is slated to be completed by 12/12/2012.

Looking at the fabric and laying out the completed blocks to photograph for this post got me interested and psyched up again so it may get moved up in the queue.A few months from now will be the right time to pull this project out again and complete the king size quilt.


Wish me luck in getting this BIG project completed by 12/2012 which will make it a 2 year long quilt... or as I have dubbed it (tongue in cheek), my "block of the year" quilt.

Hey: Here is a peek at another project in the queue: a tribute to my great-grandfather on my dad's side, Milton Sovereign, who was in the civil war (I showed in a previous post the fabrics for another civil war tribute to my great-grandfather on my mom's side, Spencer Douglas)

I plan to fussy cut that fabric in the center as it has about 4 different flowers like the one above. The flower will go in the center of each star in the quilt.

So my days are busy with quilting, meeting people, exploring tiendas in different Cuenca neighborhoods, working to learn Espanol and the usual activities of cooking et al. I am a happy jubilada (retired woman).

Happy quilting. Thank you for your interest in my blog!
And happy weekend to each of you!
Sharon

PS  If you are interested in civil war era fabric, you should know about the site:
http://www.reproductionfabrics.com  it is really fun to browse.  They carry fabrics representing many periods in the 1800's.

    

A Few More Thoughts About Life in Cuenca, especially if you are sensitive to glutens

  Much of this has been written elsewhere in the blogs but I thought I'd touch on a few issues I've discovered after nearly 4 months of life in South America.  First the info I've gathered about being gluten intolerant or celiac= cannot eat wheat, rye or barley. May cause intestinal problems with permanent damage, inflammation all over, keeping certain areas irritated and painful.

This typical almuerzo (lunch) made in the home of a friend was nearly all safe for those who cannot eat wheat, barley or rye. The pancake looking things center left - some were made of corn only. Incredibly considerate of this friend!

  There is a lot of barley here in Cuenca, it kind of sneaks into things like soup and cereals so this is one to watch for if you react to it.  If you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance, it seems reasonable to be a little nervous about eating in Ecuador if eating glutens can make you sick.  Being intolerant of gluten just makes life a little more complicated.  I am sharing some thoughts about ways to manage.  These are just my own ideas because people react to different things.

Making a transition to local foods is fine with this caveat: if you are moving here, I would bring a whole suitcase of brown rice flour, some sorghum flour, and a gluten free mix for either bread or pancakes, because those things are NOT available here anywhere  that I have found. Pamela's or Authentic Foods both have fine products in the US. Can be ordered on Amazon but watch the prices and be sure it is free ship.  Finding products locally is also a great option in the US. I have not been able to locate teff flour here.  I liked adding a little teff because it is unusually high in protein and adds a slightly nutty flavor to baked goods.  Related to that middle eastern grain, there are not many Thai foods here in Cuenca, such as the noodle mixes, coconut milk for some reason is beyond expensive here, and I have not located any coconut flour although coconuts are everywhere. I tried pulverizing coconut in my blender and it was successful but fairly coarse. Fine for cookies.

On the positive side, in Cuenca I have found banana flour, quinoa flour, blue corn flour (which Ecuador calls harina de negro) and something I don't think I'll use even though I bought some: vetch flour. Its gluten free but later I read that it is described as a noxious weed in the US. On the plus side, these grains are packaged in small quantities (approx 1 pound) and usually well under $1. so you can experiment without a big outlay of cash. The banana flour made a marvelous cake!

 I have ground brown rice in a coffee type grinder but it is not fine enough although its ok for cookies in a pinch.  I went to a specialty shop to get corn starch and potato starch (to make the gluten free baking mix).  I plan to buy a grinder when I visit the US next - expensive but I believe we will realize a savings because of grinding items I simply cannot find now.like to bake  and usually make all of our food.

Remember I have only lived here about 4 mo so there are a ton of tiendas I have not explored.  I have had both a Cuencana friend and ex-pats try to locate brown rice flour and finally the woman/owner of Kookaburra Cafe, Jenny, told me I just would not find it anywhere.  She had some good tips and is aware of the needs of people who are gluten free .Her husband Chris told me where to buy fresh pan de yuca - little rolls with a bit of melted cheese inside, delicious when just baked. I have yuca flour but have not tried making pan de yuca yet myself.  Must do that.  It is easy and gf.

We do not go out to eat often but that is just how we normally are. I like to make healthy foods and manage the type of oil used, etc. And I need to manage how things are prepared. Also Cuencanos will tell you what they think you want to hear so if you ask if there is wheat used in the soup after explaining to them that it is not ok for you to eat it, they will say "Oh, no wheat" (in Espanol of course).  They are not lying, they genuinely want to please.  There seems to be no understanding of celiac disease or gf needs of some people here. I'm sure there are celiacs here but perhaps it is much less known/diagnosed/treated. More than half of the population of Ecuador does not get adequate basic health care. 

I love the fresh veggie markets. The tropical fruits are cheap, exotic and delicious.  There are supermarkets "SuperMaxi" has 3 of them around Cuenca where a lot of upscale Cuencanos shop, as well as a lot of gringos.  Prices are all over the map.  Peanut butter, the imported brand name is $7+/jar.  Most people who are addicted to peanut butter bring it back and then have others bring some down. Products made in Ecuador tend to be surprisingly inexpensive.  2 kilograms of sugar for $1.25 (that is over 4 pounds). Bananas 30 cents per pound but on Wednesdays, all produce is 20% off at SuperMaxi.
Good to know!

Breakfast is no problem, easy to work around regarding wheat sensitivity, so we go out for breakfast  usually once a week.  Sometimes, I can find a gluten free granola cereal at SuperMaxi grocery but not always. It is made in Ecuador and is called "Quinua y Amaranto". Today it was in stock and cost $3.28 for about 1/2 pound.  Everyone says if you see something you like, stock up because it may disappear and not be stocked again for a long time.

Lunch is great if you have no allergies but hard for celiacs because it is fun if you bump into someone and they say "lets get almuerzo".  You never know just what will be served or how it was prepared(dipped in flour?).  They love corn here and make it into many things: breads, tortillas, etc, etc. So that is ok except that sometimes there is wheat flour in the recipe too. After a few more months of living here, I predict I'll know where are good places for people who need to eat gluten free.

We don't go out for dinner often.  We are aware of a couple of places where there are things on the menu that are fine. The Hotel Victoria, the restaurant is called Les Jardins, has a fabulous chef who speaks English, was trained in Argentina, is such a great, friendly fellow.  He was very solicitous when we were there after I explained the gluten thing.  I'd recommend having Hotel Victoria on your list of places to eat.  They also have a fantastic view and the prices are not high compared to the US.  You'll be creating your own path to restaurants you like when you are here.

Remember people are all different so what you react to may not cause the next person any problem. And what I like may not be a place you'd enjoy.  Weaving a path that suits you is really what retirement is all about. Most people have budget concerns but can work within those boundaries here in Cuenca. Many people need to try a number of things before settling into retirement that includes activities, people and places they love. Cuenca lends itself very beautifully to this quest of retirees and others.

Back to food for a minute: pasta and pizza are big here and several are delicious but...all wheat so far as I've found.  So that is one item you may want to bring if you buy any prepared gf stuff to pack because I've not been able to locate pasta, pizza crust or gluten free bread mixes.  I had a favorite pasta brand but cannot recall the name.  I believe it had quinoa and something else and did not get soggy like some do.

Well, this got too long as my things tend to do.  Hope this is helpful.   If you are researching a place to which you may move, spend as much time there as you can, explore other cities in the area, try to get a sense of each place - how are people treated, how clean is the area? Is housing available?

Oh, one more thought.  There is an airline approved foot locker you can order on Amazon for $40 plus free shipping.  It holds a LOT and counts as one checked bag. A retired airline pilot told us about it.  Of course it cannot weigh over 50 pounds but....still.  Some people bring their favorite "Costco sized" detergent because those sold here are kind of different.  I have not had any problem. We decided not to buy a washer and dryer now because a laundry service is a block away.  They wash, dry and fold all of our clothes for about $2.50/week.  We take the detergent (it saves a little).

 I have had moderately dry skin all of  my life but it is better here.
The cream used for whipping is out of this world delicious. Rich and thick like cream from the 1950's
The water in Cuenca is treated AND it is delicious right out of the tap.  I took probiotics (at Target or any drug store) for 2 weeks before I arrived and 3 weeks after and had no intestinal upset or related issues. Check with your doctor, of course.

If I step one foot out of Cuenca, I drink bottled water.  There are parasites and amoebas and nasty things.  We soak every single edible fruit or veg when it comes in the door.  The soak stuff Kilol, a bacteriacide, required only 3-4 drops in a quart of water, soak for 3 min and rinse off.  Kilol is available in every grocery store in the produce section, lasts a long time and is not expensive.

Well, lets wrap this up for today.
Hope you are having a tremendous week wherever you are!

Sharon

Feisty the cat just cannot seem to relax.  Yes that is a heating pad  - she likes to lie on it (it is not on).

And the next blog post will be something about quilting. These things seemed timely.

 Cuenca University is very centrally located.  They have a nice pool for swimming.

 The Tomebamba River
Below, a bag of 40 limons (like limes) cost 50 cents today.  Len the photographer thought it looked pretty on the new quilt.

Learning about vegetables in Cuenca

  See info in post on Aug 15, for discussion.
The purple and white vegetable is...
Two people thought it looks like a Peruvian potato which is indeed, well, purple.  However, a friend who was born and raised in Cuenca, said the photo looks like a type of yuca.  She did not see the actual vegetable in person so I"m leaning more toward potato, myself because the texture seemed between that of a potato and the fibrous, almost stringy nature of yuca.  Perhaps shredding it in a food processor helped with the tougher texture.

Len brought home a different vegetable that was small and dark colored on the outside like a beet but shaped longer with a little pointed tip like a yam.  It was a very deep "eggplant" color of purple but when I peeled it, it was a palest buttery color inside.  It was pretty tough but not fibrous/stringy.  It seemed to be some sort of yam.  Its in today's soup so I don't know the texture or taste yet.

Len also brought home a camote, a different type of yam, not very pretty - kind of like a knobby brown potato, but it too is delicious when cooked.  I'll post pictures next time he brings those home.  I forgot before peeling them yesterday.  {:-D  I was hungry!

I'm working on the next post which is about quilting and some of the things that arise in Cuenca for people who sew.
Have a marvelous Monday!
S
A reader, Carol N, shared a great link about sweet potatoes and yams.  Sweet potatoes go back in South American culture 5000 years! I'm going out to hunt for some sweet potatoes and yams.  kumar is the Quechua word for sweet potato while ipomoea batata is the word in Espanol.
The word for yam in Espanol is camote. For more info go to
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/difference-yams-sweet-potatoes/
Thanks for the great resource and info, Carol.
Sharon

A Brief Change to the look of the blog

Made a brief change to see if it is easier to read.  Let me know what you think.  Thanks.

Can someone identify this Cuenca vegetable?

I never tire of the views around this gorgeous city!

Lenny does nearly all of the produce shopping in our family.  He loves finding good bargains and takes joy in bringing home new things we have not had before moving to Cuenca.  He makes a delicious smoothie every morning with a variety of fresh tropical fruits and yogurt.

A terrific selection of lovely tropical fruits and veggies.

So the other day, he brought home what he thought were some dark skinned yams. Len bought them at the Coopera where there are often no signs identifying produce. I was making soup today so I got the purple things out of the fridge and peeled them.  The outside skin was almost black.  Just under the outer skin is a gorgeous deep purple color but it is a thin layer.  Then, as you can see in the photo, the inside is kind of white with purple veins or dots.  I shredded it and put it in the soup.  It had a wonderful texture, between a potato and a carrot.  The shape before i peeled it (oops, I did not think to take a picture BEFORE I peeled it) was like yams or sweet potatoes in the US.  However, the flavor was not like yams and the cooked texture was more like a carrot.

Can someone please tell me what this interesting vegetable is?  I liked it and will use it in soup again.

The soup was a tomato base.  Len found a dozen tomatoes for $1, on special because they needed to be used right away. For about two hours, I cooked the tomato with some onion, garlic, a little hot sauce, the mystery vegetable, fresh pepper, dried oregano and salt with some chicken broth.  At the last minute before serving, I added some cream and heated through.  Then I topped it with a slice of avocado.

Hey, this was out of this world!  It made enough for 2 or 3 more meals for both of us if I make a salad or side dishes to go with. I'll freeze one meal. I'm really enjoying cooking in SA as a jubilada (retired woman) with time to experiment!

Looking at Cuenca. That is Solano Ave going up the center of the photo.  The view is from Turi. The old part of the city would be toward the top of the photo, beyond this view.

Have a terrific Tuesday in your corner of the world!
S

some more thoughts about packing/shipping...and another week in a new continent

If you move to Cuenca, you may notice several things you used to take for granted are not on the grocery shelves.  It is not a BIG deal for most people.  After all, Cuenca has friendly people, pleasant weather, luscious tropical fruits at inexpensive prices, beauty all around us and many of the conveniences we were used to, as well as some fantastic new experiences.

I have a few more suggestions to help you think about what you may want to pack, if you are bringing a container or buying some space on someone else's container or shipping goods in any way.  We had the good fortune to rent a little space on another couple's container.  I was very occupied with what few household goods to ship.  I am glad for all the things I DID bring but I wish I had packed a couple more boxes.   I am enjoying life here every day so don't get me wrong. Its not a big deal.  Some of it is getting  used to living in another culture with the new lifestyle of retirement.

It reminds me a bit of when I moved from Berkeley, CA to Washington D.C. many years ago.  I could not find a brand of yogurt I favored.  I needed to learn which seasonings to buy because there were different regional choices .   Back then, there were no chain stores so it was a bit of an adjustment to find the products I was used to on the West Coast.

So let's imagine that I had 2 large moving boxes to fill up with some things I'd like to have now, even though I can live very well without them. 2 new boxes of baking soda, plenty of good quality tupperware type of items - the ones here are cheaply made and incredibly expensive. Lots of printer paper - the paper made here does not fit American printers.  A powerful blender. Any small appliances or electronics that you think you may need will be less expensive in the US and possibly better quality or the very same brands.  Toaster, mixer, food processor, microwave are all considerations. Also DVD player if room, (you can get most DVDs here but if you already own favorites, bring them). Your fav reference books.  I gave away about 20 cook books and miss a couple of those greatly. Remember, although books are very heavy, buying books here in English is a little complicated.  There is no Barnes & Nobel down the street! A Kindle or similar reading device allows you to have books without the weight and you can easily add books here.

More warm clothes for chilly evenings and early mornings.  I gave away 5 beautiful 100% alpaca sweaters  of my husband's and mine because I could not imagine we would need them here. Duh! Pack warm pajamas for cold evenings. Consider an electric blanket - it is cheaper to run than the room heaters they sell here. By 8 am it is warming up most days so it is the darkest hours of night that may challenge you regarding temperature. Also pack plenty of good quality towels and linens (bath, bed, kitchen).  They do not seem much cheaper in price here but it is hard to find the quality you are used to in the US. If you have favorite shampoo, other personal products, toss a bunch of those in because you will run into that inflation for imported products, even if they do have the product you want here. Well I think the two boxes are getting full.

A total aside:  yesterday my grandson in Oregon turned 3.  We had a wonderful visit on Skype.  Happy Birthday BRS

An aside about shopping here:
 I just located a place to buy rice noodles so that is great. I was down to my last 6 oz of rice noodles brought from the US.  We really like them with stir fry. There is good pizza here to suit all sorts of tastes. I plan to make some gluten free pizza crust soon.  Grinding whole brown rice in a little coffee grinder is working for now.  But I will probably burn it out soon.  I tried almonds and it got pretty hot.  Either the almonds were moist or they are naturally oily and gummed it up a bit.  still it worked to make some flour for cookies. I'm researching powerful grinders - boy, they get expensive quickly! But it would make life easier and can be amortized over several years.

I'm about to break down and ask a friend to ship me some Nestles Toll House chocolate chips. I still have half a package...like an alcoholic looking at that half bottle of vodka!   What an obsession I have going. I sometimes go months without eating chocolate but right now is not one of those times.  Generally, I'd rather skip dessert if I cannot eat toll house choc chips cookies. I pass on chocolate that is not dark and semi-sweet. We found a couple of good, responsibly grown and produced Ecuadorian chocolates but they do not come in chip form, as I've mentioned before. It is good eating chocolate - very healthy for that one bite you are supposed to have per day. But too expensive, even here where it is grown and produced, to put in cookies. So Nestle Toll House remains my favorite.

We joined a service here that ships things from a Miami address to Ecuador.  So I can order something on Amazon, for instance, have it shipped to this Miami address, they open it, clear it for drugs and contraband, etc, it cannot be over 8 lbs and then charge us $5 per pound additional shipping and send it on to us.  It takes about 2 more weeks from Miami to Cuenca but has worked great on a couple of things we tried. For us, it is to be used for important needs only due to that extra shipping plus we get charged Florida tax on the purchase.  Gets us coming and going but then we get the item that seemed important/needed so it is worth it in some cases.

Social front:
We have met some lovely expats who are quite interesting and have some things in common with us.  Len is kind of a hero to a guy here who loves anything Apple = IPhone, IPod, IPad 2 so those two talk on a similar geek plane. We met up with them 2-3 times this week. Meeting people is helpful and easier than I had imagined, easier than when I was in Portland because peopled live so far away and did not have much time.  Being retired has great advantages!  And Cuenca is 400,000 people but in a basin, much less spread out than Portland, OR so things seem closer and more accessible in ways. The ex-pat community is smaller than some inflated numbers indicate. Probably not over 1000 English speaking expats but no one has hard numbers. Even the US Consulate representative - she estimated only 400 US expats here in Cuenca but many point out that does not include those of us who are awaiting residency status, nor does it include those who are here illegally.

 We hosted an Espanol-speaking card party this week.  Ironically we never got to cards but we spoke Spanish all evening with 3 women who are the most generous, welcoming Cuencanas.  I prepared a great dinner of Italian soup, antipasto platter, made a new kind of coleslaw with the great cabbage they grow locally. I also made cobbler from Ecuadorian mora - black berries.  The berries looked gorgeous but were quite sour.  R. told me they are usually used in juice but I had the crust made, waiting, the oven hot and my mind set on cobbler.  I added more sugar and some canned peaches and baked it for an hour. With a dollop of whipped cream, it was delicious.  The dinner turned out really well and the company was excellent. Thank you R for the tip about sour mora!

Oh, I have to praise the whipping cream here.  It is divine! Like the silky, rich cream I recall from my youth on a farm in Idaho.  My mom used to make the most fabulous butter.  Sometimes she shaped it into roses, which I doubt we 4 kids appreciated. Hey - I do now, Mom. That butter was a work of art!

A favorite colonial building facing Parque Calderon, the city center.

Not knowing Spanish is my biggest issue.  I went out each day this past week, to shops to a meeting, to wander around looking at the beauty and unique scenes that make up Cuenca, and tried speaking Espanol as much as possible.

Last week I ordered some curtains for my sewing room - you may have read that in my blog.  Riding in the taxi for about 2 miles in total silence because the seamstress/decorator did not speak a word of Eng and I did not have enough Espanol to get a whole sentence going.  Interesting. Kind of uncomfortable but I lived.  I'm so used to chatting.  But once we arrived at her studio, she and I got the basics covered and I LOVED the textile place where we got the curtain material.

This week she came to hang the curtains.  They are lovely. I am really pleased with them.  Now I'm enjoying the thought of painted walls so I'm browsing the Sherwin-Williams web site.  You can upload a photo of your own room and then try out a combination of paints on the walls. It is really fun!  Here is a photo of the room.  Remember, it is a work in progress. The light through the curtains  made the walls look spotty, they really are a solid color.

The walls are a light cream now.

One wall will be an accent wall and the rest will be a fairly light but not too neutral color.
 Selecting colors is 60% of the fun of painting a room for me.

Now back to the issue of what to bring:

If you have special dietary needs, check with the shipping company to see if unopened boxes and cans of food can be shipped in a container.  If it can be, load up on the products you need/like and bring them. Include a note in large font taped securely on the top of the food box written in Spanish and English that explains your food sensitivity and why you are bringing these foods.

I brought some food in this way, not in the container but packed in a suitcase with a bilingual note, and had no problem at customs or with security.     GREAT TIP: You can purchase an airline approved foot locker on Amazon.com for about $45, free shipping to a US address. A former airline pilot who is living here told us about that. The foot locker can be used as a suitcase/checked baggage on future flights.  It would help keep your food secure while in the container and then could be used on flights back to visit the US, etc. I worried, perhaps unnecessarily about varmints on a ship being attracted to the container if it had foodstuffs.  But your shipping company will have advice about that.

It is helpful to know that there are airline approved foot lockers you can check like a bag, it must meet the weight and size limits,  it counts as one of your checked bags.  But it holds a lot.  Just remember it cannot be over 50 lbs.  Otherwise, pack that puppy to the brim!



A brief aside about food issues:

Ecuador has wonderful coconut that is not sweetened. Its dried and full of natural flavor, shredded very fine but long shreds -  it is terrific.  I used to love Baker's coconut but this healthier coconut is great.  Anyway, I'm quite sure I could beat the heck out of it in the blender and it would be like the coconut flour I have been unable to locate anywhere in Cuenca... so thanks to Lynette in Oregon for another idea. "Blenderize" the dried coconut.

I have looked at Vitamix over the years and always nearly pass out at the cost. A reader of the blog suggested a high quality grain grinder so I checked out the brands that are rated highly for quality of grinding and durability - and again nearly passed out in a heap at the cost.  But maybe I'll save toward one of these.  I know that Vitamix would do juices nicely with pulp and skin of some. However, we are doing fine making smoothies with the blender we bought here.  And it is the grains and nuts I need help with for eating gluten free.

So back to what to bring in the container or boxes you may ship? That is your tough decision to make. Others have blogged about the difficult choices of what to pack and what must find a new home.  A moving example is Nancy of nancynrich writing about her camel box - does it go?  does it stay?Those tough decisions are part of the wrenching yet exciting decisions you face if you are launching a new adventure.

Regarding packing your valued objects, I bought almost no packing material because it worked so well to wrap things in my fabric stash, towels, sheets, etc. We brought basics by renting space on someone else's container, as I mentioned.  We had about 10 boxes and a few household goods. Amazingly, everything arrived with only one casualty - my office chair had an important piece broken.  But the chair was 10 yr old and can be replaced.

All the china, art objects, paintings, computer equipment, etc arrived in perfect condition - just as I had packed it.  If you sew and are coming to Cuenca, pack your things in fabric.  It gets your fabric here and protects your belongings from breakage at the same time. I lined boxes with bath towels and small rugs, cushioning the china and other delicate objects inside that protective cover. When I packed pans and pots, I added Tupper-ware type stuff to keep the box as light as possible.  I lined the sides with cookie sheets and flat objects, only wrapping things with a fragile component, such as a small handle on a pan.  I wrapped those items with kitchen towels.

Shipping a container is risky and expensive.  Sharing a container with someone else is a good solution for some. Just as some people elect to have a moving company pack their goods, others elect to come with just 4 suitcases and leave all the rest for a brand new start.  These are personal decisions and quite overwhelming at times. You will sort out what is right for you and what works for your budget and time-line.

So, I hope this is helpful to some of you reading this who are contemplating coming to Cuenca.  It gives you a peek into one person's process.

Have a terrific weekend - enjoy each day, wherever you are in your life journey.

Black Corn Waffles and Finding A Great Tienda

A friend in the US began talking on Skype about Waffle House on Sunday and got a craving going.  The West Coast of the US has no Waffle House restaurants and I'm in Ecuador anyway so....I made gluten free waffles using some blue corn flour  harina morada (the package says 100% negro maiz - grown in Ecuador). I added about 1/3 cup to the usual gf flour mix of brown rice flour, sorghum, corn starch and yuca starch. Black corn sounds dramatic, the waffles were the color of blueberries.

I used some of the ultra-pastuerized MILK  (in a plastic bag kept on a room temp shelf at the store) that I was afraid to try. It smelled like the milking parlor of my childhood farm. Poured in the mix, it was fine. The yuca starch seems to make the waffles rise very nicely, compared to when I use corn starch.

 Of course, I added baking soda which is so hard to find here and very coveted, along with the rest of the recipe from a gf cookbook.  The result was quite tasty.  Could be either savory or sweet, depending on topping. Lenny who does not have to avoid wheat pronounced the waffles "delicious!". 

Photos of what is still around.  The waffles disappeared before I pulled out my the camera .

Today I went to a tienda, Cadelaes, on Remigio Crespo Tor and felt like I hit the jackpot. It is a tiny store maybe 20 feet wide - you step up to a counter where you can see a lot spices and other goods but cannot browse or touch.  You quickly ask for what you want and one of 2 staff women complete the transation fast because there are usually 3 or more people instantly waiting behind you needing attention. A friend invoked Seinfeld in desscribing the owner as the "Spice Nazi" (remember the "Soup Nazi" skit?) because she sits back in the corner while her two helpers race from front counter to her desk at the back, asking her where items are.

I saw a HUGE Nestle's chocolate bar, 10 pounds of cooking chocolate, but that was not my mission.
Instead, I found cornstarch, sesame oil, rice vinegar, vanilla and potato starch.  The starches are used in making gluten free flour mix because wheat has a stretchy quality that needs to be somehow created/imitated in gf baked goods. 

Oh, they had several types of nuts including pine nuts. Hooray!
And I bought a tiny bag of baking soda. The government requirement of giving passport number, picture ID, phone and local address again occurred because soda is used in some way related to drugs.  I am too naive to know what. But it cracks me up, in a way. The use of the word "crack" was not an intentional pun.

Baking soda in the largest package you can buy.

Next time I go, I will get some chili flakes (I saw them but forgot) and a couple of other things they have there. Paprika.  The sesame oil will help Len get back to making great stir fry dinners - just a touch adds such flavor. I also found out where we can buy fresh "made on the spot" tofu that is great tasting.

Len is a great chef when it comes to stir fry:

Things are slowly beginning to reside on our pantry shelves so that we can cook a variety of meals more easily.

I did practice Espanol, telling the cab driver directions and I was able to interact pretty comfortably with the tienda senorita (who spoke a tiny bit of English). I had written out translations for the flour, spices and other things I was seeking so that helped.

Feisty the cat named it a pretty successful day.

I hope yours was a good day also and that tomorrow is terrific !
Sharon

Sometimes it's hard

I am new to Ecuador and Cuenca. 12 weeks ago, my husband and I elected to move here.  I'm a guest in this country. I have great intentions to maintain a good attitude about honoring the Ecuadorian people and learning the ways of a new culture. I do NOT want to be "an ugly American",  pushing my values on another culture, expecting a little American community to be set up in a 3rd world country to cater to ME.  I really want to be the non-complaining ex-pat in a new country... but I will note that at times it is harder than I'd imagined.

So I don't mean to complain. My intentions are good.  Things crop up that are frustrating no matter where one lives. Of course they do.  There are so many positive things here in Cuenca - the delicious exotic fruits and some wonderful vibrant organic vegetables.  Beef and chicken that are grass fed, hormone free, not raised in inhumane and unclean conditions.  Accessible health care that is inexpensive. Dramatically less conspicious consumption.  Content children who rarely seem to whine and scream. Friendly native Cuencanos who greet us warmly and welcome us to their beautiful country.

I can go on and on with positives and I've only been here 3 months!

So what's up?  I'm a little down and homesick.  I miss my kids. My grandchildren are going to be growing up without seeing me often. My plan to fly to the states every 6 months to see my 93 yr old parents and the rest of my family and friends is on hold for now because we do not have our residency papers.  We do not have our residency papers because the minister of immigration is in jail for fraudulent immigration practices and the new minister has not been appointed yet.  Oh, and the government talk is of changing the whole process and doing immigration differently.  No one has a time line. No one knows just what is happening.  A lot of people,"ex-pats" like us, are waiting "in line" for the same thing we need.

What else is bothering me. I miss friends with whom I've developed connections over years, I miss my quilting buddy/friend Cindy who postponed lots of things to spend time together.  I miss wandering aisles of gorgeous, varied cotton quilting fabrics and I miss my favorite patient, kind, funny quilt teacher.

I miss picking out milk that is in the cold case rather than sitting on a regular shelf in a plastic bag (I'm afraid to even try it!). I miss smelling the luxurious scent of a pink rose in my garden.  I miss the occasional Starbucks cupa.

I miss Target, for God's sake. Oh, the convenience of having many different items under one roof at fairly good prices, where I know what brands I like from years of experience.

I miss the warm weight of a child sitting on my lap, the soft cheek against mine.  I miss the bedtime routine of reading a story to bright little faces while their breath slows and their muscles still, preparing for sleep.

So what do I need to do?  Well, I just need to buck up when these waves of home-sickness wash over me. Of course I miss familiar things. When a person spends over 50 years immersed in a culture, it is a BIG change to learn a new one.

What else?  I need to double up on the efforts to learn Espanol and learn faster.  I need to practice the words I know by speaking to people every day... rather than doing that deer in the headlights thing.

I need to walk by the river every morning and soak up that positive energy.

I need to recenter my self.
I need to recommit to being adventurous and brave and upbeat in this new life adventure.
I need to ask my dear husband, who is being so incredibly adventurous and adapting so quickly, to give me more hugs.
I need to take a trip on Monday going out alone to deal with the new culture by shopping for a few spices and a couple of other items I need.  Blundering through with my herky jerky Spanish will give me confidence.

And maybe I need to loosen up and buy one of those ghastly expensive grain mills so that I can more easily live gluten free here, grinding the grains I need to more easily avoid wheat and prepare foods I enjoy and can eat safely.

So this is "Buck Up Sharon" signing off. 
Tomorrow is a new day waiting to unfold with new adventures.

Exploring Cuenca

  San Blas Catedral, one of many beautiful churches in Cuenca.

Cuenca has many small shops and businesses. Whenever I ride in a taxi, I look out the side window at the shops and scenery I'm passing. NEVER sit in  front or look out the front window of a cab!  There are 2 reasons for this.  Looking straight ahead is too terrifying because you see the near misses and seemingly crazy risks drivers take here.  I really do not know how anyone is brave enough to drive in Ecuador!  The second reason is to spot shops for future reference.  You know, where to look for a sofa, when we decide to get more furniture, for instance - our place is partly furnished.

Tiendas - there are many tiny shops all over Cuenca.

Another way to learn about services is to ask others in the ex-pat community. People tend to be very helpful with information and generous with their time.  Most of them have been in the same situation of trying to build a new "nest" after leaving most of one's belongings behind. And getting acquainted with new people, building a support network, sorting out who you may have interests in common with, etc.

In the past few days,  I got recommendations for different people who could make curtains for my sewing room. Yes, I know how to sew but I'm not confident I would do justice to filmy organza curtains.  I want to have sort of embroidered organza elegant curtains which will be very pretty and then a heavier fabric for drapes at the same window for privacy when I want it. I called several people. Or I should say I had help from my friend Silene who grew up in Venezuela and is very fluent in Espanol.  Silene has been very kind, helping me by translating, bargaining on fabric, asking questions and generally doing a great job.

That is Silene in the white shirt.

It is SOOO frustrating not to speak the language of this country.  My next Espanol classes begin in Septiembre, which cannot come soon enough!  I am not sure I will ever be fluent but I surely would like to know most of what is being said and to be able to participate in a conversation beyond the "pidgin" Spanish I attempt now.

So I selected a person, Daniela Delgado, after she came over to measure the window. I showed her what I had in mind. Dear Silene was on the phone with her explaining  Then we went to Daniela's studio in El Centro near San Blas church, where I looked at some fabric samples and showed her the type of fabric I had in mind for the drapes. I changed the color of the drapery to a shade between ivory and taupe. After that, she drove us to a textile/fabric store, Decortextiles.  Wow!  I could spend 3 hours there just looking at fabrics.  This was my second trip and I still longed to look around more.  But we stayed on task and bought the fabric I had picked out on my first visit.

The store is on Av. Hurtado de Mendoza y Jose Joaquin de Olmedo.  Honestly!  The names of the streets here are so challenging for a gringo who does not speak Espanol.   I am having a bit of a challenge learning my way around because the street names are so complex and because I don't speak the language.  Kick kick kick - that is me kicking myself for not taking Spanish when I was 16 or 20 or 30, etc.

Once the transaction at the fabric/textile store was complete, we went back to Daniela's studio so she could finish the paperwork.  Now, imagine, all of this is completed with me speaking very little Espanol and her speaking NO English.  But she was good at pantomime and I am also so we did ok.

All of that completed, I stepped out on the busy street and hailed a taxi to get home.  I actually was able to exchange a bit of information and pleasantries with the cab driver.  So it was a great afternoon adventure and I'm proud of myself for venturing out.

San Blas from across the square.

I'll post a photo in the future of the curtains/draperies once they are completed.  She estimated she will be ready to hang them by August  10.

Hope you are having a terrific Tuesday!
Sharon
PS a warm nod to my esposo Lenny, my IT go to guy, my fav photographer.  For more fantaastic photos and a different perspective, check out his blog Faces Of Cuenca