The Most "Depressing" Valetine's Day Ever

                     With high hopes and happy hearts/To the forest we went for our getaway/Skies were blue and the sun was rising

  The rain and mud tried to stop us/Cows, goats, and trees got in our way/Strong winds almost blew us over/and cold attempted to dampen our spirits 

But we persevered/Determined to find joy in this tropical storm/There is beauty in green fields, plentiful wells, and kind words  

God provided a beautiful rainbow demonstrating His grace in our lives,
reminding us of his all-consuming love

We enjoyed a magnificent sunset on top of a water tower, 
ever thankful

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The Tropical Depression heading up the SW Madagascar coastline

Homemade Sweet Granola

Today I made a delightfully easy, fast, and delicious snack: homemade sweet granola! Thanks to my mother-in-law, Laura, and a missionary from West Africa, I had some good homemade granola recipes on hand from which to draw inspiration.  All of the ingredients I used can be modified and/or exchanged for different things, such as dried fruit, nuts, etc. for a different or more savory taste.

Here are the ingredients I used:

4 c. old-fashioned oats

4 tblsp. Brown sugar

½ tsp. salt

6 tblsp. vanilla extract (I used this in place of 1/2 c. maple syrup because I don't have any maple syrup here in Madagascar! Okay, and I just really love vanilla. I didn't notice any taste issues with this substitution, either.)

6 tblsp. oil

2 tblsp. water

6 tsp. cinnamon (You can use as little as 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon, I just really love cinnamon and added more for flavor).

1/4 c. carmel chips

1/4 c. chocolate chips

Easy Instructions:

1.     Adjust oven rack to middle position; preheat oven to 275^oF.

 Coat a 9 X 13 metal pan with cooking oil.

2.     Mix oats, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

3.     Bring vanilla extract, oil, water, and cinnamon to  a simmer in a small saucepan over low heat.

4.     Drizzle syrup mixture over oat mixture and stir to combine.

5.     Pour mixture onto prepared pan; spread evenly.

6.     Bake for 30 min., stirring after 15.

7.     After 30 minutes, add carmel and chocolate chips and stir.  Bake for an additional 15 min.

8.     Cool and store in air-tight container.  Can be eaten dry or with milk.

 Enjoy!!!

Old Dress --> New Skirt!

Today's easy sewing project only took 20 minutes! If I can do this, than you can, too!

I started with a dress that was too long and hot to wear during the intense heat of our summer here in Madagascar.

 I then chopped off the top of the dress, sewed a new waistband, added elastic in the waistband, and sewed it closed.  Then, 20 minutes later, I have a mid-calf length skirt that is much cooler for me in this hot weather.  I like it a lot! What do you think?

Easy Display Board

I have been trying to figure out an inexpensive way to decorate the blank wall behind my sewing area in our living room.  It is was plain white and pretty drab-looking.

See for yourself:

So, I was reading one of my favorite craft blogs (check it out here: www.makeit-loveit.com) and she had the cutest tutorial for something called a "Project Display Board."  It only requires wood/cardboard/thick paper, any kind of material/paper/tissue/pictures, some glue and clothespins! I have all of those things here in my house in Madagascar, so I decided to try it out!

Here is her lovely tutorial: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/12/project-display-board.html

And here is my finished product! 

It is SO simple, and SO quick to make! I used regular-sized clothespins (her tutorial uses large clothespins) on which I glued purple and pink tissue paper (which I received in a care package for my birthday recently!).  I used fabric from the local market here that was leftover from a quilt back I recently made for a birthday present.  And, I cut up the boards (well, not really...the hubbie helped me cut the boards...I think he enjoyed using his knife for this!) from an old cardboard box that we had in our house.  So, the total cost of this project was $0! (The hubbie was especially excited about this!)

I currently have pinned some birthday cards and a few pictures to these display boards, but I know that I will find more things/papers to rotate onto the board.  I'm also super excited that I have some color on that wall...and not just hospital-room white everywhere! 

Here are some close-ups of the finished product: 

As always, happy crafting!

Fun & Fast Craft Project

I am in a crafty mood today and have limited craft supplies here in Madagascar (and today is Sunday, so all of the stores in town that may have had some supplies are closed) so I had to get a little creative. I have been storing all my pens/pencils/highlighters/markers in old tin cans, and so I decided to make them look a little better!

Here is the finished product: decorated pen/pencil holders! :)

You will need: 

Tissue paper (I used pretty purple flower tissue paper that I received in care package!)

Tin cans (I used old tomato paste cans, cleaned and dried)

Glue
Scissors 

Simple instructions:
1.  Cut tissue paper to fit the circumference of the tin cans
2.  Apply glue generously to the outside circumference of the tin cans
3.  Roll each tin can (with glue on it) on cut, & measured tissue paper
4.  Glue excess tissue paper to the bottom of each tin can and on the top, inside of each can

Happy crafting!

Homemade Dish Soap

Here in SW Madagascar, it is difficult to find inexpensive liquid dish-washing soap.  So, thanks to a care package from my mother-in-law, Laura, Drew and I decided to make our own dish-washing soap.  It turned out pretty well and it made a lot of soap! I think we can definitely save money and stock up by making our own homemade dish soap.  

Here are the fairly easy directions for making your own dish-washing soap:

Ingredients:

3/4 tsp. Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1/4 bar of Octagon Soap

1/2 gallon of water

This recipe will make 1/2 a gallon of dish-washing soap. 

Directions:
1.  Grate soap into some water in saucepan.  Heat while stirring, but do not boil.

2.  When soap is dissolved in saucepan, add the washing soda into the saucepan and stir for about 1 minute.

3. Pour the remaining water into a big container with a funnel.  Add the saucepan mixture to this container.
4.  Cap container and shake.  Sit overnight.

* Important Note: Make sure to shake the soap container before you use the soap.  Also, the soap does not lather, but it still works well.  

We put some of our new homemade dish-washing soap in an old container.  It works great and we won't run out of dish-washing soap for a long time!

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Today I tried out a new recipe: chocolate fudge brownies! (I have been craving chocolate lately, so this sounded perfect!) This was only possible for me here in Madagascar thanks to my awesome mother-in-law, Laura, for sending me a care package that included COCOA POWDER!!!! I literally was dancing around the house when I opened up this care package! :)

 Oh, and also, I wanted to introduce y'all to my best friend in the kitchen....

He doesn't say much, but he is awesome at keeping me cool in my hot kitchen in the hot weather here in SW Madagascar! I'm so thankful for my fan!

Now, on to the mouth-watering, delicious, chocolate fudge brownie recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups margarine
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup cocoa (I'm so excited that I have this now!)

Easy Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (as you know, this is a relative term for me...I just put it on the medium-hottest setting this time and kept a close eye on it while baking)

2. Melt butter and add cocoa; mix. 

3. Stir in sugar and blend in the eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Stir in flour; mix well. 

4.  Let hubbie taste the chocolate fudge brownie batter (this step is optional but highly recommended for a happy marriage).

5. Bake in greased 9 x 13-inch pan for 30 minutes in preheated oven. (I used a muffin/cupcake tin because I don't have a 9 x 13 inch pan...and I like how they turned out like little chocolate fudge brownie cupcakes!)

6.  Let cool on rack, 20 to 30 minutes. 

7.  Devour!!!  

And, you know me, I also need these chocolate fudge brownies to pass The Hubbie Test:

The verdict this time?

His literal response was: "These are perfect!" (I never hear that about my cooking!!!)

YAY! Success is so sweet :)

Rice: 7th Time is the Charm?

Rice.  This is an easy food to cook, right?

Wrong.  Rice has been the source of my cooking frustration for the last month, as it has been impossible (for me) to cook this seemingly simple food.  The only reasons I haven't given up trying to cook this food is because it is one of the most abundant foods available in Madagascar, and it is one of the cheapest (about $2 for a kilo)...(okay, okay, I also haven't given up because it is so easy for Drew to make rice!)  So, after 6 failed attempts to make rice, I have finally cooked delicious rice for us! So, do not lose heart if you have tried to cook rice and it has burned, been too watery, or something else (I have also washed rice with filtered water and then stored it in an airtight container for a week before using it...which led to fermented rice that smelled terrible and wasn't suitable for eating! Sheesh).  
Here are some simple, fail-proof steps to making good (edible) rice:

1.  Memorize the 1:2:3 Rice Ratio: 1 cup of uncooked rice (plus): 2 cups of water (yields): 3 cups of cooked rice.
2. Measure (exactly!) 2 cups of water and put in a pot on the stove.  Cover the pot with a lid and turn on the heat, bringing the water to a strong boil.
3. Measure (exactly! again) 1 cup of rice and pour this into the pot of boiling water on the stove.  
4. Quickly stir the boiling water and rice in the pot a few times (but not very many times) and then put the lid back on the pot.
5. Lower the heat on the stove and let the rice cook in the pot of boiling water for about 10-15 minutes.
6. The rice is cooked when all the water has evaporated from the pot and the rice has "grown" in the pot.
7. Serve the rice and enjoy! You've conquered the rice at last!

Introductions

Hello, friends.  My name is Christina and I am a young wife living in a third-world country far away from all of our family and friends with my husband of two years, Drew.  Two months ago, Drew and I packed up all of our worldly belongings into 5 suitcases and moved to SW Madagascar to work as community developers.  While I was definitely not the best cook, seamstress, or gardener in America, I have even more trouble with all of these domestic duties living here in a developing country! So,  I decided to start this blog to document my mishaps and (rare) triumphs in cooking, sewing, and learning how to be a great wife here in Madagascar.  I hope that I can help others avoid my many mistakes and hopefully provide some good laughs for those who read this!

Drew and I on Ifaty Beach in SW Madagascar

Drew and I with our dog, Harold Humphrey, back home in the U.S.