Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Pancakes

Language and Culture sharing usually involves food. In China and here I have tried cooking and serving Western food.

Chinese kitchens don’t come with ovens, but I had a small one, looked a bit like a microwave (similar to the one we have now, see blog post from May). I used it to bake pumpkin and one of my Chinese friends really liked it. One day I went to visit her family for dinner. She had bought a pumpkin so I could show her how to make the baked pumpkin she liked. But she had no oven.

I’ve discovered pancakes are great to cook and serve to Khmer people if I want to feed them some Western food. I can cook them using the same things Khmer people use to cook dinner everyday- our gas stove and frying pan. All the ingredients I can get at the local market. Some Western dishes I would need to make a trip to a supermarket in town. Things like cheese, butter, cocoa we can buy in Phnom Penh but only at certain shops.

In the pancake batter I put water, eggs and flour. I serve them with sugar and lime juice. Limes are common here. They are sold along side chilli and ginger at the market, rather than with fruit, as they are used a lot to flavour meat dishes.

As my previous house mates can tell you I love pancakes, they are great for any meal!



3 comments:

ang said...

Its true i can attest to the fact that you LOVE pancakes :) you got me on to them :) although they are better with milk, is it hard to get milk?

I LOVE reading you blog i feel that in some small way i can enter your world.

Things are going ok here, i want to be on holidays NOW! but i have enjoyed writing a doctrine essay and we have Barry Webb for Isaiah which is fun!

Bec Spires said...

Hi Kath
There are three things in your last few posts that I can really relate to :-)
Cooking pancakes in random asian countries as an example of western food. (my breakfast treat in Mongolia)

Crazy dodgy construction work with bamboo scaffolding (in UB)

Leaving meat out on a hot day even when you have a fridge!

As Ang says it is fun to read your blog and see what you're up to.

Lisa said...

I am loving the fact that the quilt cover keeps popping up in photos as you use it for your table cloth. It always reminds me of the crazy times we had a MAC together. I enjoy reading your blog and hearing your news. My Pastoral care class continues to pray for you each week.
love Lisa