Backing fabric, quilt top and Cuenca is glorious!

Today I am racing to sew all the pieces of my backing fabric together to layer this quilt.

The quilt top has been complete for 2 years.  it was close to queen size.  When we moved here, I decided I wanted it to be our king bed quilt so I added about 10" more borders (2 borders added) which made it cover the mattress/box springs edges that show here.

However, I've been using it just alone, not completed with batting and backing as a quilt should be.
I have 4 friends coming Wednesday to help me layer it, pin it and get all the wrinkles out so that I can at last quilt it.  The quilt is 101" x 101" before quilting and binding so it will finish out as a "BIG BOY" size in my book.

Cuenca continues to delight me.  We have had a number of social activities.  Last week a lovely couple took us out for lunch at a great place for a gluten free person, El Maize.  It was one of the best meals I've had in Ecuador, certainly the best lunch!  Every item on the plate was delicious. and there was no wheat flour in anything I had. Healthy for me and a great relief to be able to order and eat without worry.

I also visited Fiere Libre, a huge indigenous market, for the first time.  I bought a couple of plants.  A gorgeous 3 toned bougainvillea which I put outside on the "sorta patio"  I look at it with the other bright colored plants when I am sewing.  Against the clay color of the brick, the plants look gorgeous.

And I got a lovely small fan palm that is supposed to be a house plant and not get over 3 - 4 feet tall.

We were treated to a dessert/ tea/coffee at Bill and Dean's.  She made a flourless chocolate torte which was rich and delicious.  No gluten there!

I made a big dinner Friday night for our friends who are Cuencanos.  We had 8 aadults at the table and 3 ninos at a little breakfast bar.  I made India spiced chicken with rice and all the other things.  We finished with a limon' cake that was gluten free, my last mix from the United State. It was pretty tastey. .  The conversation was all in Espanol with either one of the two lovely young women(below) translating when I would get stuck understanding or expressing myself.  It is pretty tiring to me trying to follow a conversation but I am getting more all the time ...and thank goodness for context!  This family is are so lovely that the conversation is secondary.

Bernardita turned 31.  I made this wall hanging for the serious owl lover.

 At one point, Bernardita was translating for me and then turned to tell her mother who only speaks Espanol what we were discussing.  She got mixed up and said a couple of English words instead of Espanol.  That started a series of giggles, laughter to the point of tears that was wonderful to be part of.

Rebeca(in photo standing on the left below) translated to me that in Espanol when people laugh really hard, they get tears.  We all looked at each other and burst out laughing because of course that is universal, at least between South America and North America.  It was a great evening and a very successful dinner.  I feel so grateful to know this extended family who include us as if we are one of their own.

This is the group of women who will assemble the quilt in a couple of days.  I'll do the quilting myself on the machine. This "quilt party" will be the first for the Ecuadorian women who don't really sew and had never seen quilting in progress until they met me. Very cool!  Cheverey!!  They are great sports to help out in the layering process which will be on the hardwood floor and be hard on knees.

Cannot find a picture of the quilt backing fabric - next time.  It is a luscious paisley flannel - should be very cozy when the batting is added.

I had some great skype time with my kids and grandkids recently.  My youngest grandson, Blake, said "I love you gramma" for the first time.  it was such a delight...but I got off the phone and cried really hard because I was not there to hug him in person.  Blake clearly still knows who I am and enjoys the skype calls.

We have tenative news on our progress to getting residency finalized with a cedula in hand someday.  The attorneys who are a husband and wife couple, Grace and Nelson, notified us it was time to give them our passports to be sent to Quito for the inspection process that is required.  So we did and now we are living in a foreign country with the 90 day extension to our visa about to expire and we have no passports in our possession.  A little frightening if you think much about it but we decided not to.

We are told that in about 2 weeks, we should have our passports back and be able to fly to Quito later in November to meet the attorney's rep and spend one day getting the cedula all finalized.  Then we will be legal residents of Ecuador. As a pensioner, Len will be eligible for 50% back on airfare that originates in Cuenca, a 50% discount on the already cheap bus fare, and a decrease on utilities, which are amazingly low.

Ironically, our attorneys are to be on vacation for the next few weeks so we will be going to Quito after they return from vacation and get the next steps in order.  I must be making some progress on being "Cuenca like" because I felt it was not worth getting upset about.  So we continue to get settled but feel joy each day to be here.  There is also pain each day that we cannot be with loved ones as well.

back to sewing that pesky quilt backing.  Have a terrific week!

A Lovely Lively Day in Cuenca

           A view of the city, taken near Mall Del Rio

Thoughts about making friends and living in Cuenca:
Recently, I corresponded with a couple from Nashville, TN who are moving to Cuenca. They are here for a week to get things started.  It is their first visit.
We met them at a local cafe to talk and have coffee. Cafe Austria is frequented by expats and Cuencanos and has a pleasant sunny exposure for the intimate tables.  While we were at the cafe, in walked three other expats we know. Two of them live in our building but we rarely see them so it was nice to chat for awhile.

  When we parted ways, Len and I  walked to a farmacia we have come to appreciate for the owner who is both a pharmacist and a doctor. Most of the pharmacies here seem to have a doctor on staff who is also a pharmacist. This particular farmacia is tiny to the extreme but the prices are very competitive and the owner, Marta, is friendly to everyone who comes by. 

Lenny waited while I conversed with Marta in my very basic Espanol and Marta answered as if I was a native speaker (read: she said a lot of words and I got about every 6th one).  A woman was sitting in a chair waiting so Len struck up a conversation in Espanol with her. It turned out to be Marta's sister who tried to recruit Lenny to volunteer-teach English in her school. She suddenly sang a famous Latin American song, Besame, and was so proud she was singing it in English. Quite a sweet character.
    
Lenny and I continued our walk. A block later we ran into Santiago, our Spanish teacher's brother. We chatted with him for a brief time in Espanol.  He knows to talk in basic sentences so I can keep up. We invited him to join us for a casual meal next week when several members of his family will be over.

Three blocks farther on our route we met an Californian who attends Lenny's IPad Users Group. They exchanged a couple of tech ideas and we moved on.

Suddenly it was time for lunch. We met with an American couple, our amigos Dean and Bill who had invited us to celebrate her birthday. Tiesto's - we had been there once before. It is not cheap but it is a great experience and the food is excellent. The chef Juan is quite a showman, delivering each patron's main course himself with a dramatic flourish.  You really feel that he cooks each dish just for you and you are welcome in his casa. He invited Lenny into the kitchen to taste the birthday cake before it was delivered to Dean, the birthday girl.

It is amazing to see so many people we have met in just 5 months of living here in one random trip into El Centro (the older part of the city). Remember, Cuenca has the same population as the city of Portland proper (not Greater Portland) but because most people walk or take the bus it "lives" like a very small town. One could say it is very user friendly!


After lunch we walked across the Rio Tomebamba for an appointment at the Chamber of Commerce to consult with an attorney who is a legal counsel/attorney for the Chamber.  He is also our Espanol teacher's son.  He is the picture of professionalism. We were talking with him about the overly-lengthy process to get our residency/cedulas completed, to see if he has any suggestions.

The Cuenca attorneys we hired (and paid 80% up front) came very highly recommended by 3 people we respect.  The attorneys say the same thing every time we call them: "the application looks fine and it is out of our hands - it is just taking a long time for many people and we must all be patient".  When we talked with them yesterday, they reported that our "applications are in order and are in the office of the Director of Foreign Affairs and has been assigned a file number."  So someday...we will get the call to go to Quito to finalize the process but no one knows when.


We have been in Ecuador long enough to be patient to a degree but not long enough to accept fully how inefficient this system is.  But is it Ecuador, not the US, and we have chosen to live here... so enough about that.

OK, back to the happy stuff.   We are now hoping that we will have our residency and can visit the US in January. At the suggestion of my very wise friend, Cindy, I am seeing 1) how much Espanol I can learn and  2) how many quilt blocks I can complete before our visit.  Just a way to keep a positive focus in the glorious setting in which we are living.

By the way, I don't feel "homesick" for my kids/grandchildren/family/friends all of the time, every minute. But it is there, quietly behind the scenes, all the time.  Planning a trip to see everyone is a positive way to manage those feelings. Calling with Skype is very positive as well.

It's been only 5 months since we arrived.  We have things we need to be better at: Espanol, patience, remembering street names...but I feel we have adjusted to life  high in the Andes near the equator quite well.  I cannot say enough how wonderful it is to have such a resource as the group of ex-pats, many of whom offer assistance at the drop of a hat.  And I could go on and on about the kindness, generosity and warmth of many, many Ecuadorians.

So loved ones, expect to see us in January 2012, more likely.  I look forward to it!!  Know that we are safe and enjoying SO many aspects of our new life adventure. And I miss you!   All for now.  S.

Link to make your own coconut milk

I labored over a wonderful post about making your own coconut milk. And posted it a week or more ago.

 The next day, I read it and found 2 typos so I went in to edit it.  When I had it completed to my standards, I went to save it, I somehow wiped out the entire post.  It is gone,gone,gone. My techie husband, Lenny, could not find it either. aaeeyyyyyyyaaahhhh!

I have not had the heart to try to recreate it.
Here are some links about how to make your own:
Making Coconut Milk  many choices abound  The easiest form I found is posted last at the bottom.
http://nourishedkitchen.com/how-to-make-coconut-milk/

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art6474.asp

http://asiarecipe.com/cocomilk.html    this one looks like the authentic, harder way to achieve coconut milk

Here are some great photos of coconuts in one form or another:

                                  Coconut sticky rice looks tempting!

Preparing green coconuts for tourists and locals alike. People drink the water with a straw and toss the empty coconut.  This is not the mature coconut one needs to make coconut milk.

         Coconut Lime Curry Soup

How to Make Coconut Milk

Learning how to make coconut milk is easy.  Select a ripe coconut by holding it up to your ear and gently shaking it; if you hear the sweet slosh-slosh of liquid, you’ve got a good one.  In this recipe for homemade coconut milk, we call for hot water which produces a richer coconut milk that’s higher in coconut oil; however, if you’re intent on making an unheated coconut milk, you can use cold filtered water.

Ingredients

• 2 brown coconuts
• 3 to 4 cups filtered water, preferably hot

Equipment

• sharp knife
• mixing bowl
• hammer or rolling pin
• kitchen towel
• vegetable peeler
• blender
• butter muslin
• mason jar or pitcher

Method

1. Pierce the eyes of the coconut with a sharp knife and drain coconut water into a mixing bowl.
2. Split the coconuts by covering in a kitchen towel and smashing with a rolling pin or hammer.
3. With a sharp knife, pry the coconut meat from its husk, then peel off any remaining brown bits of skin that adhere to the coconut meat.
4. Place the coconut flesh and coconut water in a blender, adding three to four cups hot water.
5. Blend until the coconut and water forms a smooth slurry.
6. Pour coconut mixture through a butter muslin or nut milk bag into a mason jar or pitcher.  Squeeze out as much liquid as possible, and transfer the coconut milk to the refrigerator.

YIELD: about 1 quart.
TIME: 20 – 30 minutes (preparation), under 5 minutes (blending)
NOTE: Save the coconut pulp and dry it in your dehydrator.  It can be used like any dessicated coconut – in pastries, baked goods, sweets and as a coating for fish and chicken.

If you are moving to Cuenca, Ecuador or coming for a visit: Bring enough warm clothes. I knew ahead of our move that Cuenca is not humid and never gets over 85 degrees F. But I did not quite"grock" how cool it often is. I have only lived here 5 months so perhaps the next 5 months may be very different... but I've been a bit surprised by the temperatures. Now, this is nothing compared to facing winter in Michigan or the humidity of Washington, D.C. in August. And I realize as I write this that winter is approaching fast for much of the United states and other parts of the world.









A friend who is coming to visit soon asked for advice in packing. So I told her I did not pack our winter coats when we moved here from Oregon. I was thinking we could leave them with my friend Cindy and would then have them when we fly to Portland for our first visit back to the US. Well, that was not the best decision I made.









Lenny's stir fried shrimp and vegetables made a delicious dinner!




The dwellings here are not heated nor are they air conditioned. When we arrived in May, we rented a cute cottagein a gorgeous setting that was not tight. The wind would come up and blow right through it. So the first week we were COLD several evenings! A hot shower before bed felt SOOOO good. Luckily, we had a new electric blanket in our luggage - it is a great thing to have.




Often, during the daytime, Cuenca gets up to 70 or 75 degrees degrees. The sun is out, it is gorgeous. But when that sun drops, the Andes Mountains keep things very chilly many night year around. By the way, "Cuenca" means basin - the city is at 8200 ft altitude with a ring of mountains around it. For those of you who have been to Mount Hood near Portland, OR, this is about the same height as Timberline Lodge.






Cuenca has a population of about 500,000 people but it feels smaller. Lenny walks every day and bumps into people he knows nearly every time he walks. A trip to the grocery store usually includes seeing at least one person we have met. And you often strike up a conversation with another English speaking shopper or practice Espanol there. It is a very nice thing about Cuenca - the friendly people living here.




Back to the coat issue, I bought an alpaca jacket for about $20 at a local market. It is warm and beautiful - that is a great solution. But I'll still bring our winter coats back from Portland when we visit. So I am writing this to underscore for people planning a visit or a move, you probably will not need long underwear in Cuenca but sweaters, a rain jacket and a warm coat will all be useful.




I am not complaining about this because I am not a great fan of very hot weather or humidity. I enjoy the fresh breezes that often prevail here in the late afternoon. The wind seems to come up many days at this time of year around 3-4 pm. About that time, the clouds often roll through and a heavy rain may ensue and continue off and on for an hour or two. and some spectacular thunder and lightning quickly rolls through the city.




Another thought about what life here is like: you wear layers and change them often. Something warm is helpful in the morning, you'll need to peel layers off by noon, you may enjoy wearing a tank top for a little while but then you'll often need to have rain protection by 3 pm. And most evenings this time of year require a jacket or coat as the temperature drops to 40-45 degrees F.









Weather is really a background issue in life here. Visiting markets, meeting kind, warm Ecuadorian people, chatting with friendly ex-pats about where to find certain household items or who found a great place for organic vegetables, wrestling with the challenge of learning a new language and practicing new Espanol words in public, sampling South American fruits, observing ways Ecuadorians parent young children...all of these things are what it is about to me.






This young nina is enjoying an ice cream cone on a lovely Sunday afternoon.




So why am I mentioning storing our winter coats in Oregon? it is just a word to the wise: when you are packing to come to Cuenca, pack that coat too!




Hope this finds you having a fantastic week end and looking forward to a fresh new week.

Sharon

Is Sharon Capable of Writing a Short Post?

Buenos dias, readers, friends and family,

            The flower market 1 block from Parque Calderon in El Centro

This will be a short post today.  I am determined to do it!  Once I start to write, it just pours out but this time I will really, actually keep it short. Honestly.  "For Reals" as my kids used to say. BTW, when I was thinking of moving here a year ago, I was hungry for any photo of Cuenca and to know approximately where it was...so I add photos here we shoot when we are out for any reason.

I made a  list of all the "quilt kits" or specific quilt projects I have created. Then I added how many quilts I have to complete. The number is around 20!  Several are near completion. 
OK, this was a sobering thing to do.  The post will be short so that I can focus on quilting!

A pretty good sized chunk of the fabric is in Oregon at my friend Cindy's, waiting for me to bring it down in a suitcase (or suitcases) after our visit back to the US, whenever we get our cedula/residency papers.

Yup, we are still waiting for our residency to be approved/cedula.   It is supposed to take 90 days and its been 5 months since the day we turned everything in to our attorneys.  There is no specific problem but the ministry of immigration got way behind when they fired a couple of directors and then fired the whole staff due to fraudulent behavior or something similar.  And now they have converted to a new computer system. But it is a bit FRUSTRATING!

However, I am practicing being adaptable, going with the flow.

                                          Looking across the Tomebamba at the hanging houses

Not counting the quilts I have given away in the past, I have 20 projects to complete.  Some are complex and at least one is beyond my skill level.  Some are simple wall hangings and will be fast to complete. Some will require new skills I will be happy to learn.  Some are Christmas gifts so I'm working on those now (like small wall hangings). The majority of the projects will be lap quilts or twin size quilts and will be displayed on the walls of our home or reside on beds. One very positive thing about Cuenca usually being around 40 degrees at night is that quilts are quite welcome and can be stacked on a bed.

The flower market in El Centro.  I bought bags of soil here to repot some of my little garden residents.

It is wonderful to be retired and know I have lots of time to focus on this hobby. And my work on learning Espanol is showing some progress - hurray!  Also, my goal of slowly learning the city of Cuenca is, well... slowly progressing. 

Today I am full of joy that I exist right here in Cuenca at this time in history!

                      A wall hanging I have nearly completed for a friend who loves owls.

I'm getting back to sewing right now.

OK, that's it.  A short post accomplished!
Have a fantastic end of the week.
Sharon

How does one adjust to life in Cuenca?

 Getting to know Cuenca is exciting.

                           The flower market near Nuevo Catedral and Parque Calderon.

My husband and I both love many things about life in Cuenca.  After 5 months here, we know a lot more than the day we arrived at the airport but we also know we have much to learn.  We approach this adventure of living in Ecuador very differently.... but we each respect the other's process.

Len, since day one, has been the poster boy for how to enter a new culture.  He goes out every morning to walk around the old parts of the city.  He drops off laundry to be done at a lavanderia 2 blocks from our home. Len usually has a camera with him so he can catch some amazing shots. He meets shopkeepers and practices his Espanol.  He bargains with someone selling vegetables, of course in Espanol. He chats with ex-pats he bumps into on his walk - that exchange is invariably in English. He notices street entertainers, including who gets the busiest street corners on which to perform  He smiles as he follows a small herd of goats going to market with their owner to sell fresh milk and nimbly steps around metal rods protruding from the sidewalk and steps over broken cobblestones.

On a bus ride to the Coopera, Len watches older indigenous women board the bus bent over by heavy bags of produce to sell at the markets. Len often chats up a video store owner he frequents, where the owner's 9 mo old daughter makes Lenny's day by breaking into a huge smile when he walks in.

He stops by the local bakery and talks, between patrons, with the owner in Espanol.  He asks after the owner's daughter who is 2 weeks from delivering her first child. Before he circles back home, Len observes where the herd of Holstein cows is grazing along Rio Yanuncay and makes a note to tell me Violetta, our name for our favorite cow, is grazing just a block away.

He returns home with some fresh pan de yuca, a gluten-free local bread made from yuca starch instead of wheat flour.  These tiny delicious rolls have a bit of cheese in the center and are best eaten warm. Lenny usually enters our home with a bag of fresh produce.  He loves trying new produce so he often brings home some vegetable or fruit I cannot identify. Then we ask around, search the internet and show a photo on this blog to ask for help in identifying said produce.  Then, once he has completed that 5-6 mile walk, he makes a fantastic fresh smoothie, layering in the tastes of tropical fruits he has selected.

I, on the other hand, am approaching the new culture at a different pace in a different style. My initial need in this new adventure is to explore slowly.  To me, it feels like there is plenty of time to see places, visit people and get acquainted with life in Ecuador. It is very fortunate that I have hobbies and interests I love that keep me happily occupied much of the time at home.

When we were still working full time and living in Portland, OR, I knew that once we arrived in Ecuador, part of my job would be to relax from the frenetic pace I had lived for the past 10 years.  It was time to change the "climate" of my daily life.  Getting used to retirement is a process and for us, it is mixed in with adjusting to a new life here.


Each day, I luxuriate in the fact that I can elect to sew, if I want, or to look up new recipes that have ingredients I can find in Cuenca, or go out for a walk or a shopping venture.  Then I plan some meals for the next few days because we eat at home most of the time. At times, I read a great book at times of the day when I used to be so busy at my job.  Cool!

I check email, FB and Cuenca Chronicles. I listen to a variety of favorite music all day long. I give the cat a good brushing and hold still long enough for her to take a nap on my lap at some point each day. I look at pictures of my grandchildren and imagine where they are in their development right now. I may make a long skype call with one of my kids, my parents or a friend.

The family Lenny and I created when we married is a blended family.  The 2 sons were virtually out of the home but my daughter Tenley was 14 when we married.  She very much needed a male advocate in her life. Len was very involved in her high school and college years.  He taught her to drive a stick shift and coached her about the driving exam. He went with me to confront the high school when the math teacher was refusing to allow female students any tutoring time with him yet was offering it freely to male students. Yes, that really happened in the mid-1990's!

Tenley is in her early 30's now. She is an excellent mother, very patient and consistent with her 3 year old son.  She works part time but loves her work and takes it very seriously. Her husband is a city engineer for The Dalles, OR. He is very family-oriented, shy at first but very funny once you get to know him. He LOVES to golf but lives along the windy shores of the Columbia River where golf is nearly impossible.  Not much farther east of The Dalles, the Columbia River Gorge is banked on both sides by huge wind mill farms creating electricity for Oregon and Washington.Yes, LOTS of wind.

My son Tyler is 5 years older than Tenley. He has been a high tech guy since he was 3, experimenting with a desk top computer. His life work is all computer-centric but he has excellent managerial and social skills. He is a natural leader but is somewhat self-effacing about his accomplishments and talents.  He and his wife Kathy are raising 2 wonderful kids in San Diego. Kathy just completed a PhD in organizational leadership from Pepperdine. The children attend school close to their home and are busy learning sports and crafts.

Lenny's son Robb is a year older than Tyler, in fact he is turning 39 in a few days.  Robb recently married so we have a new daughter-in-law in southern Oregon. It will be wonderful to meet Connie in person when we visit the US. They are excited to be newlyweds and look forward to shared goals and family life.

A big part of my job right now is to learn to speak Espanol.  So I spend some time working toward that goal every day. I have lessons three times a week.  I plan outings alone to practice speaking to strangers in this new language.  As I do these outings, I am less self-conscious about my poor grasp of the language and less anxious about getting lost in a city where I do not communicate well enough to find my way out of a paper bag!  I still have moments where I forget words when asked in Espanol - go completely blank and speechless - but more often, I am able to move with increasing ease through my outings.

I have some goals of things I plan to do.  In 2012, I plan to take a weaving class.  I also plan to have a trip to the beach and a trip to Otavalo, north of Quito. More immediately, Len and I plan a trip to the US, as soon as we have our cedula  - or residency papers allowing us to come and go from Ecuador. It is a frustration that it is taking so long but it will happen at some point.

I want to note for people thinking of moving here: the ex-pats I've met have been great about asking after me, checking with me to see if I am isolating or if it is a planned "slow ramp up" to more participation outside of home. People who leave one culture to plop into a new one seem to know that depression and avoidance are common traps that can cause a person to stumble. Having been a mental health counselor for 30 years, I am very familiar with the issues of depression, anxiety, denial and avoidance. I monitor myself for these feelings.

I suspect that most people have brief times of being down, discouraged, and feeling alienated in a new continent.  If the feelings continue or expand or a person stays in bed much of the day or avoids all outside contact, those are signs of concern.  So I think I'm doing ok along those lines...but it touches my heart that people who are relative strangers here ask after each other and check in with new arrivals.I had been told by a couple of friends that ex-pat communities tend to be friendly, caring people who welcome new arrivals.  It seems to be very true. 

To balance all of the new things to explore and learn here, I am dreaming of a new quilt.  I want to try a new block, to stretch my skills by working with curves.  Its called "the melon block" because of the shape. If you are curious, go to  backporchdesign.com  look under patterns

           Here is a shot of part of the dreaming stage, playing with colors, contrast and design. What did people do without the internet?

Now its time to study Espanol!

Happy new week to you
Hasta luego,
Sharon

Hankering for Thai food in a Thai-less city

A beautiful spot on Calle Larga, across from the Kookaburra Cafe


As I've mentioned, I have not been able to locate a Thai restaurant in Cuenca. Aiieeeuuuh!Is there one in
Quito?  Yes but it is a LONG way off. Is there one in Guayaquil?  I'm not sure about that but very possibly - still its a 4 hour bus ride.

It is hard to locate any Asian sauces and food needs in Cuenca to make our own version of Thai and Chinese dishes we love.  There are rice noodles, even at SuperMaxi, but no plum sauce, sweet chili sauce, tamari, and so forth.  I'm going to try making my own sweet chili sauce, Ecuadoriana style using the chilies I can find here.

Yesterday, I made a meal of sea bass turned into Thai fish balls.  Usually an appetizer, this was a delicious meal with stir fried vegetables.  Only bad thing is it is fried in oil.  Do any readers out there think this dish could be baked instead of fried?  It is like the coconut shrimp I made a few weeks ago.  Delicious but also deep fried - our Oregon heart doc is crying!

                                                        My main man Lenny
Len and I are kind of wimps when it comes to chili peppers and hot sauces. I like a little but not too much spice. Lenny usually has no hot sauce. But for this dinner, we made the dish as the recipe stated, only using about 1/3 the amount of fresh ahi chili.  The sauce was absolutely wonderful and not too hot for us wimpy former Oregonians.

The fish balls were not hard to make.  Here is the recipe, SO easily adapted for gluten free needs.

• 600 g white fish fillets, roughly chopped(I used a delicate sea bass)
• 2 red chilies, finely minced - This is where I cut it to about 1/3 of what is called for.
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed 
• 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger 
• 2 tablespoons very finely chopped peanuts
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander/cilantro
• 2 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped 
• the sauce:
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup coriander/cilantro, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated lime rind
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• plain flour, for rolling - Use rice flour if gluten free is needed.
• oil, for shallow frying
• lime wedge, to serve 
• 1. To make Chili and Lime Mayonnaise: ~ Combine the mayonnaise, cilantro, chili sauce, rind and juice until smooth and chill for serving later. I add an extra lime for the juice. Chill until time to serve.
  2. Put the fish, chilies, garlic, peanuts, grated ginger, cilantro and fish sauce in a food processor and process until smooth. Place into a bowl and stir in the chopped red onion then cover and chill for about 10 minutes.
  3. When chilled well shape the fish mixture, (this is MUCH easier using wet hands), into 30 × 2 cm balls and roll lightly in flour.
  4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
  5. Cook the balls, in 2 batches, for 5-7 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.
  6. Serve with the Chili and Lime Mayonnaise.
     
                                     Tending my little bitty garden.
     
     Tomorrow, we are having lentil soup  - a rebound from the delicious fried fish.
     Have a great rest of the week end!
     Sharon