Learning New Things...

MAKING DELICIOUS FLOUR TORTILLAS:

A few weeks ago Sara and I got our own private lesson on how to make tortillas. Virginia, Marlon's friend, who if you remember from an earlier blog, taught me how to make pan de coco, was nice enough to teach us.

Marlon came to meet us at our house, and from there we went into town to eat lunch at the boardwalk and have a few drinks near the beach in town. After enjoying the sunny day, we went to the store to pick up all the ingredients we needed, then went to Marlon's friend's house to cook (Virginia was house-sitting for this mutual friend).

I absolutely love being around Virginia, like I mentioned before she has the silliest personality, and within a few seconds of being around her, you can't help but laugh, smile, and have a good time. Just look at Virginia laughing in the picture below, she's so much fun! I especially like her teaching me to cook because she's very patient, and speaks slowly and patient, and doesn't mind repeating things 3 or 4 times. I'm so glad that I've had the opportunity to meet her through Marlon, and spend some time with her!We started by mixing about 2 lbs of flour with 1 tbsp of "manteca," which is basically a solid version of vegetable oil that they use for many dishes here, it is sold in tubes, and you just have to cut off however much you need. To make this at home, Virginia said 1/4 cup of vegetable oil would do just fine. Then we mixed in 1 tsp of salt, and 1 tsp of baking powder, while mixing all these ingredients together with your hands, you add water little by little, until the dough is formed. When everything is blended together, we took it out of the pan, and had to knead it over, and over, and over again.

After that we took the large ball of dough and had to tear of little pieces of it, rolling each in our hands to make small little balls. We covered each ball in manteca to keep them from sticking to each other, then placed the small dough balls into a pan, where we let them sit for about 10-15 minutes. When we returned to the kitchen, and the fun part began. Trying to take each ball of dough, flatten it using your fingers and hands, and try to even it out by slapping the dough back and forth between your hands. If you recall from an earlier blog, I've tried this before, and didn't have much luck, the tortilla ending up on the floor. So today, of course that happened again, until I finally gave up trying to make flatten the dough the traditional way, and opted to put the dough on the counter and just work my fingers into it that way, much more easy. You could also use a plate to help flatten the dough out. Then we placed the flattened dough onto a flat grill pan on the stove where they cooked up beautifully! One more thing I can add to my list of things I'm learning to cook here. I can't wait to cook for my friends and family when I get back home!

MAKING FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS:

My friend Genesis has come over to our house a few times to teach Sara and I how to make friendship bracelets. You may remember her from a previous blog (I went over to her house to cook tortillas and have dinner one night after class). She is one the students that attends the adult English class I teach at a nearby church every week. She is 15 years old, although the first time I met her I thought she was much older, and like Virginia, she is an excellent and patient teacher.

She taught us how to make different kinds of bracelets, even one that spelled our names out in the string. All off the bracelets took tons of time and concentration, but it was worth it because they all turned out beautiful!Genesis is one of the millions of reasons why I'm so glad I chose to teach those English classes at the church. Through the classes, and attending the services there every Saturday night, I've met so many nice, caring people, and have made many new friends, from little kids, all the way up to older adults!

MAKING "MANTAS":

That one night that I was invited over to have dinner at Genesis' house after teaching my English class, I noticed that Genesis' mom, Sumaya, was placing all the freshly cooked tortillas into this white cloth with adorable flowers and fruits sewn into it. I commented on how nice the towels were, and Genesis mentioned that she made them. She said they are cloths made especially for tortillas called "mantas." I was surprised when she told me that all the girls and boys learned how to make them in school! She offered to come over and teach me how to make them.

Though it took me quite some time to catch on, Genesis again was extremely patient with me, correcting all the mistakes I was making when I stupidly put the needle though the wrong hoop (over and over again). Eventually, after hours of practice, sewing the trim and a few flowers, I finally caught on! After Genesis left, I was able to work on it a little bit each night, and within a few days I was able to sew the rest of the flowers and even sew in cursive letters! I'm not saying it was perfect, but I thought it turned out pretty good for my first time, and at the very least you could at least tell what the letters say. I made the manta above for my grandma, I call her "Inang," which means mom in Tagalog. I decided to make it for her so she could use it in her kitchen, and instead of wrapping tortillas in it she could wrap "pan de sal" (Filipino dinner rolls) in it! Hope she likes it!:)