Thursday, November 5, 2009

update!

From Heidi!

Thanks to everyone who donated to this wonderful cause. We have received about 4,000 so far which is enough to start building. If you are still interested in donating, we will continue to accept donations on the paypal site. The money will go towards buying food for the orphans once the center opens.
We drew a random number for the quilt drawing and the lucky winner is Jimmy Wells. Congratulations!
We will keep everyone posted on the progress of the Karabo Asara (meaning Hope is the Answer) Orphan Center.
Isn't this the best news? We are so thankful for everyone's continued generosity to make Karabo Asara reality! Heidi and I go this weekend to Eesterust to meet with the committee to start plans for building! YAY!

Will and I have battled a mystery virus that presented very scarily like malaria. Luckily, we're both malaria free but it took a few days to beat that monster back.

Our computer has a new hard drive, iTunes is fully recovered, and the camera is still missing. BOO.

Swaziland looks just like Ireland... in Africa. What a fantastic place! I can't wait to go back with Will for a weekend. Swazi has amazing crafts, including amazing glass works from Ngwenya. I've been in love with the glass hippo for years but at R450 (about $60), I've kept passing it by. In Swazi, the glass is CHEAP so I got dear ol' hippo for R115 (about $15)! Except, I of course picked a hippo with a flaw... now I think we need the elephant or buffalo book ends. I'm in love. Now if only Swazi had a good pub with Irish music...

Cooking has been going awesome these days. Last night I made Pioneer Woman's pasta alla vodka - what an amazingly yummy (and simple!) week night dish! I made a thai peanut chicken dish for Will that was fairly good - he liked it better than me. I also made these southwestern egg rolls - Will and I thought they were yummy, but would be better fried (we just can't kick our southern roots!).

The Pioneer Woman cookbook came in the mail and I'm a wee bit obsessed. There are so many recipes I can't wait to make! Quite specifically things that require ramekins. Except I don't own ramekins (but I really want these Le Creuset ones - don't laugh).

For Halloween, Will went as a very scary demon (with black hair and a black beard!) and I was a witch. We went to a fun party we helped cater. I was in charge of helping with dips and I made some really awesome ones, if I do say so myself. Here are some ideas for you the next time you take a veggie platter to a party...

Spicy Black Bean Hummus
Ingredients: 1 can black beans, at least 3-4 cloves of garlic (I think I used 6!), 1/2 cup of tahini, 1/4 cup of plain yogurt, lemon juice, a generous squirt of Sriracha sauce

Simply mix together until smooth in a food processor. Taste as you go and add as you like. I love garlicky, spicy hummus and the sriracha just adds the right flave. Enjoy!

Creamy Avocado Dip
Ingredients: 2 avocadoes, 3/4 cup of plain yogurt, 1-2 cloves of garlic, 2 tsp. of cayenne pepper, lime juice, salt and pepper to taste

Simply whip together until smooth in a food processor and taste as you go and adjust seasonings as you need feel is best. Again, I like spicy so I probably had a teeny bit of a heavy hand on the cayenne pepper! This is so very good with carrots. YUM.

If you've bought a carton of yogurt to make dips, use the remaining to make a ranch dip or a fruit dip for a fruit platter. Yum!