A Long Way

This photo above is a photo of my first dinner in my flat when arriving to London.  When four of us arrived as newbies, the three girls who had been living here went out to do some work that they do every week.  There wasn't much to eat in the fridge as grocery shopping is done on every Monday and we had arrived late on a Sunday.  There are four Korean girls in our flat, one girl from Switzerland, and then two Americans.  In the cabinet there was a lot of unfamiliar Korean food of which we had no idea how to make, not to mention being clueless as to what some of the ingredients were.  What did we eat?  Salad (with homemade dressing made by my Swiss friend!), rice, nuts, bread, some ham, and best of all...Gummy bears I brought along from Germany.  (What can I say?  I am a bit of a candy junky lately!)  Regardless of what we atel: We were able to bond and have much laughter over the experience of our creative meal!

Monday we went grocery shopping.  We bought food and stocked up for 8 girls (since the first dinner a week and a half ago, a girl from Germany has joined our flat for a couple of months).  We also have a list of who makes dinner on which nights.  Tonight was my night.

Now, if you know me...You know I don't cook much.  I know a few basic meals but I am limited in my knowledge.  While I don't cook much, I do bake.  I bake a LOT.  Cheesecakes, lava cakes, truffles, brownies...You name it, I bake it!

Tonight was an adventure.  The girl from Germany helped me a LOT.  The girl from Switzerland was in the kitchen as we cooked.  We worked together making a wonderful team.  For dinner we made salads, toast, and Chicken Stock Stew.  While listening to our comments about our cooking work-in-progress such as, "Oh no!", "Eh, we can wing it", "Do you know what you're doing or how to do that?", "Oh, we don't have that...", or "It's okay - I'm sure it'll be fine!"...and not to mention all of our laughter, I'm sure she was praying the whole time while we cooked!

The Chicken Stock Stew was suppose to consist of: Chicken, onions, carrots, garlic, mushrooms, potatoes, and celery.  We didn't have potatoes or celery.  Instead, we improvised.  Our version of the recipe had: Chicken, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, onions, and noodles.

To say the least, our meals have come a long way since our first night in the flat.  We've eaten more rice in one week then I usually eat in a month in the States.  (Again, four girls are from Korea.  It's neat to see all the different ways in which they eat rice!)  I've learned to cook a new dish and bonded more with my new German friend.

While we have come a long way, one thing is for sure!  Both nights we improvised ingredients for our dinners.  The first night, there wasn't much around but worked with what we could find.  Tonight there was food around, just not what the specific recipe listed to add to the dish.

Flexibility and improvising - those are two of the main skills you need when traveling and living overseas, right??

Last night I asked for prayer on my Facebook page for the seven girls I live with who would be eating the food, and for it to at least be edible.  What do you know?  God does answer prayers!  After eating all of the food, we even lived to talk about it! ...Then again, I guess we should wait at least 24 hour to make sure we're okay! ;-)

The Traveling Chick,
Crystal