The Kitchen

Hi, friends--I have such joy today. Yesterday I was able to talk to my brother in Indiana on the phone and it was a GOOD connection! Yea! Also, while online, a friend and I talked through instant messenger. It was so nice. It made me feel good all day and through the night. Which was a good thing since the electricity was off from 5am until noon today. The city periodically turns off all the electricity in a section to do work or to save energy or to do whatever. They announce on TV when it will be off and where and how long--but since we don't watch Vietnamese TV, it's always a surprise. One day it was off for only about 15 minutes. Today, 7 hours. No fans, no lights, no AC--and I have to remind myself--NO complaining! Ha! It's back on now and I am a happy camper. I am in our office, sitting under the cool breeze of the air conditioner. I admit it--I'm a wuss, a wimp, a whiner; a baby, a boo-hooer, a babbling...hey, don't you dare finish my sentence!I wanted to tell you a little about the kitchen. It has green polished tiles on the floor. The space is quite large,I would guess it to be about 12x16 feet. Mr. Bo put a large dining table with 8 chairs. The dining set is black wood with a glass to fit the top. With Enoch and Marissa here, we just add one of the desk chairs to seat all 9 of us. There are lower cabinets on one wall and down part of another in an L shape. There are no shelves in the cabinets--just empty space. There are no upper cabinets on the wall. There is a double stainless stell sink, but no hot water. We heat the water for dishes in the tea kettle on the stove--but most local people just use cool water--it never really gets cold. We have a 3-burner hotplate for cooking (gas), and no oven. The refrigerator is shorter than me (probably just under 5 feet) and only about 20 inches wide. The freezer portion takes up the top 10 inches or so--enough for 4 plastic ice trays and not much else. The freezer is separated from the refrigertor by a plastic door, so it takes the ice a long time to freeze. Tony surprised and blessed me three days ago with what I consider and early anniversary present: a small chest freezer. Yea! We have ice! Plus, we are now able to store some frozen foods--although not too much because of our precarious elecricity situation. I don't even mind that the freezer has to be right beside the dining room table. After all, we have ICE!!!! Making coffee is easy, but is a little time consuming. The automatic drip coffeemaker here costs about $50, so I don't think I want one any time soon. To make coffee in the local style, you need a 3-piece set and your coffee cup. The apparatus is made of aluminum. The first piece looks like a saucer and it sits on the cup. The bottom part has holes like a strainer. The second piece is a cup whose bottom fits into the saucer, and it also has holes in it. You put as much coffee as you desire for one cup in this second piece. Then, you take the third piece, which is round and flat (with holes), and put it on top of the coffee and press down hard. When the water boild, you pour only about a tablespoon of water into the metal cup and wait two minutes. Then you fill the rest of the cup with the hot water and wait for it to strain through the coffee into the cup. Voila! Hot coffee. I have learned to get to the kitchen early and have the coffee in the cups ready for Bee, because the Vietnamese make VERY strong coffee--no amount of sugar or milk can get the best of it. There is no "coffee cream" per se. We do have powdered Coffeemate, but our favorite flavoring is whipping cream, which we have found at only one market. MMmmmm--good!I most often drink instant coffee. Tony is a purist, so we have to use our special apparatus to make his.That about covers the kitchen. Oh..for storage, I was able to buy plastic shelving--heavy duty shelves for dishes are only about $10.I wish you the joy of the Lord today. I will cover some of the cooking stuff another time. I have to run now. Duty calls.