Hong Kong – Stanley

We ride the bus #15 over to Stanley this morning. Stanley was notorious during World War II as the home of Japan’s largest POW camps in Hong Kong. But it is now known for its picturesque market. The SUN IS OUT! It is a 30 minute trip. The sky is blue and the sun is shining all is good. The ride is beautiful we ride on the upper deck of the bus on the front row. We arrived in Stanley just as the shops are opening. The I Drive of Hong Kong. All that was missing was the shell shops, but there were little stalls of everything else imaginable.



DonT wanted some chop sticks so that was our mission when we arrived. It did not take long to discover a shop with quite a selection. The shop keeper told us they were made of mango wood. I bought several sets.



We walked the stalls for several hours. Sam bought a pair of swimming trunks for his summer job. We bought several other small items. As we were leaving the market area a art gallery caught my eye. I ended up purchasing a framed etching.

There was a sign for a Buddhist temple. So we made the short walk around the cove. Something didn’t seem quite right. It was in an area that might remind you of an abandoned strip mall. The Tin Hau Temple (temple of the Queen of Heaven) was built in 1767, and during the First World War. Villagers took asylum from war in this temple. It is one of the oldest temples in Hong Kong. It did not seem to be this old. I guess the outside had been redone.



We rode the bus back to Doug’s around 1pm. Doug was going to take us out to a restaurant. First it was Chinese; then sushi; we ended up an Indonesian restaurant. The name was Indonesian Restaurant since 1968. It was exquisite the perfect place for lunch, small and intimate. Our first course was Gado-Gado a salad made with green beans, sprouts, cabbage, carrots, and tofu covered in a peanut sauce. It came with a side of shrimp chips. The next course was egg rolls, then Spicy Nasi Goreng a fried rice dish with lots of soy sauce and no eggs. Then came a dish with roasted of smoked vegetables. Then came Semur Terong an eggplant dish, with a sweet soy sauce, very good! The egg plant was long and skinny and bright purple. Cut in half and sliced. Then coated with this dark delicious sauce.






After lunch we departed for a department store near by and went to the third floor. To a store called Muji a Japanese store. They had all kinds of different stuff ranging from storage to cooking to furniture. We got a small white porcelain tea pot and some serving spoons.

Doug and Bess went home from here; we went out on our own. We roamed the street, kitchen stores, book stores, endless street vendors. We made it to a 2 story food market with smells galore some good some bad. We went out on a walkway between two buildings and could see the street below. Below us were thousands of people buying their daily groceries. When it was time to go home we hailed a taxi down and road back to LaRue Doug’s apartment, named after Abram La Rue. Chinese Adventists trace the beginning of missionary outreach among Chinese people to Abram La Rue, who arrived in Hong Kong in 1888. La Rue, an American, was in his mid-sixties when he began his work. He was a shepherd and woodcutter with no formal training as a pastor--a fact that, along with his age, led the General Conference to reject his request to serve as a missionary to China. Undeterred, La Rue found his own way to Hong Kong where his work paved the way for J. N. Anderson, the church's first official missionary to China, who arrived in 1902.

Doug had been working late so we ordered Pizza Hut Pizza after we had our pizza Jeri gave us some mangostein fruit. It was very different don’t think I could describe it.

Shenzhen – Hong Kong

We woke up at 2:15AM 2:15PM at home. We watched TV for a few minutes National Geographic Channel about alligators in Sanibel Florida. Tried to go back to sleep. I got up at 6:30. It is still very cloudy outside. The city is slowly coming to life. Around 8:30 we leave the hotel for the market. On the way we stop in at the McDonalds across the street. We have pancakes, hash browns, and I had cup of corn. It was very sweet.



It is dreary and dark out side with a sprinkling of showers. We walk the wet streets with our umbrellas. The wetness makes the smells stronger. We went over to little tea shop across from the hotel. The proprietor insisted that we have tea ceremony. It was oolong tea. We ended up buying several things there, a little brown tea pot and 8 little cups, a 3 legged frog that you have at your ceremony, and a bamboo handled brush that you also use in the tea ceremony. Doug bought a small butane burner, that I ended up with when we got back to his home. Doug will get another one next week when he returns.

Form there we went to a ceramics / china shop Tian Wen Star in the mall on the lower 3 floors of the hotel. I bought 8 folded square plates for Y520 = $66.00. They weighted 15Kg – 33 pounds. So as we were leaving Shenzhen later that day we bought a new carry on case to carry them, it cost Y200 = $24.00.

From here we went back to the hotel to check out. We left our luggage down in the lobby.

We went back to the cloth market around the corner. We picked out two fabrics’ for a comforter cover. We negotiated a price and paid for the fabric, then it turned out the sales girl had to go somewhere else to get the material we needed. It was time for us to leave we were planning to catch the 1PM bus from the hotel to the boarder. The girl had been gone to 5 or 6 minutes. Doug told us to go and try to hold the van while he tried to resolve the problem. We made our back to the hotel and got the luggage. They loaded it into the van and ask where our friend was. We told them that he would be there any minute. Doug had told us that they always leave on time. We stood outside waiting. Doug appeared about 1:08. he was quite surprised that we were still there. He had gotten our money back for one of the pieces of fabric.

At the boarder market Rhonda picked up her 2 skirts. Then we looked around a little longer. There was a little of everything in this mall.

We crossed the boarder and road the train back to where Doug’s car was parked. We arrived there about 3PM. We make our way back through Hong Kong a 45 minute trip.

Jeri had an appointment down town so they went in the car and we road the bus. Bess was our guide. We met Doug and Jeri at a place down town and had a veggie burger. The we went to the escalators, a famous shopping district in Hong Kong. We road up the escalators and then walked back down shopping along the way. There were many restaurants and shop in the area. We went in to a Japanese furniture store that had a Japanese soaking tub made out of wood. Rhonda thought it was a bit too tall for her.
We made our way back to Doug’s. Doug fixed me some corn coffee from Indonesia. It was quite good; I think that the big blob of fresh cream and sugar helped.

Hong Kong to Shenzhen

We started the day with a brisk walk in the muggy still air of the morning. Doug, Sam, and I walked about 3 km along this very nice flat trail along the side of the Mount Nicholson that Doug lives on. The views of the buildings of down town Hong Kong was fabulous from the trail as it snaked around the mountain side. Right beside the trail were two apartment building each 70 stories tall, they were perched on the side of the mountain towering into the fog above our heads quite a sight. One of them was called The Summit the other The Highclift.

When we returned to the apartment Doug fixed us blue berry pancakes with freshly made maple syrup.

We left for China around 10:30. Our first stop was an electronics mall in down town Hong Kong. Doug showed us his favorite place to purchase electronics and had them cash a check for him as well. Then it was a 45 minute drive the station where Doug parks his car when he takes the train to Shenzhen . The train ride was very smooth and only two stops. The interior of the train was very different. The train was probably a 12 car set but was entirely open on the inside. You could see all the way to the end of the train and it was just one big open area. We arrived at the Luohc Checkpoint and crossed the boarder in a mere 15 minutes. Form there it was off the Luohu commercial center (Luohu Shangye Cheng) a 5 story mall right across the street. We were instantly wrapped in the frenzy of Shenzhen, a wild city whose population has exploded to 7 million. Twenty years ago, Shenzhen was a series of sleepy fishing villages of 20,000 inhabitants. Each vendor in the mall had a small area filled with his specialty merchandise. There were shops with sunglasses, copy watches, cheap electronics, and tailors. We stopped by Doug’s favorite tailor Shanghai Fusheng Tailor Desigh CO. the tailors name was Yifu Sheng Sam. Then up to the top floor which was entirely fabric. How Rhonda found two pieces of wool among the vast selection in a mere 20 minutes was amazing. She is not a fast shopper. The price for the fabric started out at Y250.00 Chinese dollars but quickly went down to Y130.00 about $16.00 US. Everyone seamed happy with the deal in the end. We went back to the tailors to drop off the fabric. The shirts would be ready tomorrow.

We now went out on the streets. Shenzhen is a large city 6 million people. Doug says there are 100 cities in China with more than a million people, and 50 cities with more than 5 million. I guess that this is what impressed me the most One point three billion people are a lot of people.

The streets had a strange odor, a soured smell. Doug says it is the way then cook their food. The place was quite dirty. They throw everything on the ground. The shops seem to have no trash cans. Everything is thrown on the floor then at night it is swept in the streets. The streets are cleaned every night ready to go again in the morning.

For supper we go to a noodle shop where they make hand pulled noodles. It was quite a process here is something I found on the web as to how they make them.
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Hand Pulled Noodles
The Chinese were making noodles as early as 300 BC using several techniques. One of them is to dip a chopstick into a batter of flour and water. The batter has to be thick enough to adhere to the chopstick, but light enough to come off when the chopstick is flicked unto a pot of boiling water. The noodles formed by this technique are not uniform in size or shape.

The Chinese also make hand-pulled noodles (la mian) using a flexible dough that can be stretched easily. This is done by increasing the amount of water in the dough (approximately 1 cup of water for every 2 cups of flour). Cover the dough with plastic and allow it to rest at room temperature for at least 60 minutes to relax the gluten. The dough is placed on a countertop covered with plenty of flour and stretched until it looks like a long, thick rope. The rope of dough is folded in half, twisted, and stretched back to its original length approximately ten times. The twisting is done by holding one end of the rope in each hand while the center hangs down under the force of gravity and flinging one side against the other in a circular motion. The rope is twisted first to the right, stretched, floured by rolling on the countertop, and then twisted to the left, stretched, and floured again. This process creates a structure of soft dough fibers surrounded by dry flour that is necessary for being able to pull the noodles. Next, the noodles are made by pulling the dough, resting it briefly on the floured countertop, grabbing the two ends with the left hand, while holding the middle with the right hand. This process is repeated until the noodles are of the appropriate thickness. Each time, the number of noodles doubles.

Twisting the dough rope and pulling the noodles. To cook the noodles, drop them into boiling water and boil for approximately 2 or 3 minutes. Drain the noodles and serve them topped with your favorite spaghetti sauce, beef Stroganoff, or chicken cacciatore. You can also make noodle soup by adding the boiled noodles to a well-seasoned chicken soup.
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Doug had brought some Ragu Spaghetti sauce for us to eat on the noodles. It was very good. Doug tells us that after translating their menu in to English for them he decided that there were no vegetarian options except the noodles. As were enjoying our meal it was raining outside.

We walked around in the rain, found a kitchen store that Doug says has every thing. I bought two sushi boards made out of bamboo. Back on the streets I bought Kelly her Fu Dog for Y50.00 about $6.50.

We past stalls and stalls of dried shark fins. There were small ones and large ones. These might have contributed to the smell of the place. The streets had many smells and sounds, horns blaring from all directions. We saw some police coming down one street and all of the taxi drivers came running to the taxis’ I guess they were illegally parked, but they were interested in the bicycle taxis. They were bicycles with seats on the back that people were using to carry riders. They had a trailer behind their car, which they filled with bicycles. Later I noticed these taxi bicycles everywhere. You would see them pull up to a corner someone would get off and hand the driver some money.

We went back to the hotel around 7PM we had had it, the day was over for us. With the jetlag and the day of shopping and traveling we just went to bed.

JFK-HKG The Flight to Hong Kong

This departure day, the day we leave for Hong Kong. We catch the 10:30 bus to the airport. Not sure how long the bus will take. I wanted to take the 11:00 bus but there was not one. The next bus was a noon. Our plan was to leave at 3pm or so we thought. It was really scheduled to leave at 3:45.

We arrived at JFK 11:15 the check in didn’t even open till 11:45. The seats in the lobby were not very comfortable. After we checked in and moved to the departure hall I ate at JFK’s Antonios. I had spaghetti and green beans. Rhonda had a tuna sandwich from the 7th ave Deli. Sam had something from target="new" McDonalds.

We boarded our Cathay Pacific flight CX831 at the scheduled 3:45PM. We were in the middle row of 4 seats with the entire row. Thanks to the person at the check in. She said that if she moved one of us to the other isle seat no one would pick the middle seat. It worked.

The flight was a long one 16 hours! I watched the ending of Match Point probably 4 times. Never did see the beginning of the movie. It was Woody Allen’s movie with Scarlett Johansson. We watched a little of Mr. Bean 6 and some of Fun with Dick and Jane. I finished my book Untangling My Chopsticks A culinary Sojourn in Kyoto . I started on a book that I bought in NYC Malaria Dreams . It is the story of two people that drive a Toyota Land Cruiser across a tortuous route from the Central African Republic to Europe via Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Mali and Algeria.

We emerged from the plane at 8PM local time 8am Florida time. After we went through emigration and departed the arrival gate we looked around for Doug. We did not see him for a few minutes, but he appeared in about 5 minutes shorts and all sauntering over toward us. We bought a train ticket to the city for 210 HK for the 3 of us. The train ride on the Airport Express train was a short one. When we exited the station it was raining. Outside the station was one of the tallest buildings in Hong Kong Two International Finance Centre it was quiet a sight disappearing in to the clouds at night. We put our stuff in Doug’s car and went to a shopping mall to a grocery store. It was a City Market. They advertise them selves as “city'super is a 'Mega Lifestyle Specialty Store' that offers true 'one-stop-shopping' to today's busy urban professionals”. It was the fanciest food market I ever seen.


We made our way to Doug’s apartment on the 10th floor of a 12 story building on the grounds of Hong Kong Adventist Hospital . One of the first thing Doug did when we arrived was pull out the Durian from the freezer, he insisted that we try it. He said that he did not care for it but tat Jeri liked it. It has a horrific smell but I did not think that it tasted all that bad sort of like over ripe mango. Rhonda did not care for it at all; she could not get over the smell. We went to bed that night at 11pm. I slept fairly well till 5:30AM.

Queens-NYC Day 2

We had breakfast at Pop Diner*. I had pancakes, Rhonda had eggs and a bagel, Sam had thick cut French toast. We left the diner at 11:17 and started our journey to The Cloisters . We got on the R train transferred to the E train at Roosevelt street. We took this to 50th street, where we going to take the A train going north. But the A train did not leave this station going north, so we took the A train going south one stop to 42nd street then crossed the station to catch the north bound A train. We took this train going north to 207th street and started to walk north, it didn’t look quite right to me but was not sure why. We found Columbia University’s Athletic field. Rhonda ask a lady on the street how to get to the Cloisters, she told us we should have gotten off at 191st street. We caught the M7 bus back to 191st street then had to hike up the hill. When we got to some benches overlooking the Hudson River is was 1:15. It had been a 2 hour journey.

The Cloisters were beautiful the grounds had lovely flowers blooming, the trees were green. We stayed several hours. Rhonda examined all of the exhibits I sat in a cloister and enjoyed the cool weather and sunshine.


We took the subway down to Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. They were having a street market. All kinds of junk for sale. We walked atound for a while until hunger struck up. They Rhonda found us an Indian restaurant the Suryra at 302 Bleeker Street. It was very good. We had a tandoor chicken, a veggie curry, somosa, and nan. We sat at the window in front.


From there we started walking to the Brooklyn Bridge we left at 6:10 and arrived there at 7:45. Only to discover that there was a subway stop right at the bottom where you start walking across. The sun was just setting as we were walking back across the bridge. It was going down between the buildings and was beautiful. When we got off the bridge we headed for the subway station and back to the hotel. We arrived at 10PM. Sam and I walked over to Wendy’s and had a frosty and fries. Rhonda walked straight back to the hotel. We were worn out.

Queens-NYC

We awake in the night to the sounds of wet streets. The bed sleep well even though it makes a funny squeaking sound. Rhonda says “bed feels so good”. Micky wakes us to say that in the news Cathay Pacific has filed for bankruptcy.

We ride the subway into NYC and get off at 14th street and walk to the Chelsea Market. On the way we stop in a kitchen store Chelsea Fine Custom Kitchens.They have some very neat stuff. Green glass counter top the brand is Effeti Cucine Uniche. The owner also told us about European Furniture.

It is pouring when we leave we are soaked to the bone in the block and a half to the market. Rhonda hitches a ride with a willing New Yorker.

When we arrive at Chelsea Market we discover that it is the home of the Food Network. We have breakfast/snack Rhonda and I have soup at Hale and Hearty Sam has Pad Thai at Chelsea Thai Wholesale

I shopped at several of the food markets. I discovered Taccole Pasta mini lasagna pasta shapes at Buon Italia. I think that they could ordered from the web.

2 PM
When we left Chelsea Market the sky had turned blue. We walked over to Union Square via some back streets. We stop in at Saint Lukes Chapel the 3rd oldest existing church in Manhattan built in 1821 on the way. It is empty and quiet. Unlike Union Square were I sat and walked the farmers market while Rhonda shopped Filenes Basement. I had a chocolate croissant from one of the bakery vendors.

From here we walked to Greenwich Village. There were lots of restaurants along the way, Chinese, Mexican, and Japanese. Lots of them looked and smelled good.

From here we took the subway to Times Square. When we emerged from the subway it was dark and raining, with thunder cracking all around. It rained for at least an hour. When it slowed we ran over to a Starbucks to get indoor shelter. After we had been standing around inside for a while one of the counter people offered Sam a drink that we miss ordered. A Mocha Frappuccino it was surprisingly delicious ice cold coffee drink. I could get to like those very much. The web site says it 420 calories and 16 grams of fat in the Grande size.

It finally stopped raining and we made our way to the Ed Sullivan Theater to see Rupert Jee at the Hello Deli . He is exactly the same as he is on the David Letterman Show, low key and a bit stand-offish. It was very uncomfortable being in the Deli and not buying something.

We went around the block to see our favorite Italian restaurant on 57th street it had recently closed. Then we walked past our favorite hotel The Helemsy Windsor which is also closed and turning condo. Around the block to the Plaza to discover that it is also turning condo or private residents as it was billed. Across the street we saw an Apple store in front of the toy store, where it use to be a GM something. When we get over ther it turns out that this is the grand opening in an hour at 6pm the line stretches around the block. The store is going to be open 24/365. . We decide that we would never get in so walk over to Crate and Barrel.

For supper we walk up Columbus Ave. to find something. I wanted to eat at somewhere we would not normally eat. We ended up at the City Grill . Sam had a Quesadilla, Rhonda had Penne Pasta, and I had Mushroom Ravioli. All of the dishes were very good, except that mine arrived late. They brought me a lasagna dish out firs, it looked good but was not what I had ordered. Form here we went to Café Ronda for desert. Rhonda had spotted it on our way up the street and thought that we should have a desert named after her, well almost. We had the Ronda Sundae for $7.00. Valrhona chocolate, Tahitian vanilla, dulce de leche ice cream, hot fudge, nuts and whipped cream. It was delicious!

From here it was time to go to the hotel. We traveled form 8:35 to 9:10. Then it was laying on the bed time. We had been on the streets for 11 and a half hours.

MCO-JFK

Thursday May 18

Our departure from Orlando was on Jetblue. We started our culinary journey at Orlando International Airport, at Sabaro’s pizza and spaghetti. We have an hour till he plane leaves. Rhonda is doing a crossword puzzle for the Orlando Sentinel.

We arrive at JFK on time even though we left 20 minutes late. There are no gates for our plane to dock, so we sit on the tarmac for 20 minutes its 11:35 before the bus picks us up for the trip to the hotel. Then we go to LaGuardia to pick up 2 groups before departing for the hotel. The van driver is very jolly and talkative.

The room we arrive to has a king size bed only. Rhonda goes back to the desk to get us a different room. They complain about people that book on hotels.com even thought our reservation says 2 double beds.

MWC Mens Ministry Mothers Day Breakfast

-Pancakes with frozen fruit cooked Syrup with Nuts and bananas
-Breakfast Potato Casserole
-Omelets plain, cheese, tomatoes, onions, and black olives
-Biscuits with sausage gravy / prosage
-Links
-Yogurt
-Cold Cereal
-Canned fruit
-Fresh strawberries and Blue berries form Chuck's farm
-OJ

We served about 375 people.

Breakfast Potato Casserole

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (16 ounce) package sour cream
1 (2 pound) package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 cup cubed chik
1 cup cubed wham
1 onion, chopped
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup crushed potato chips
1/4 cup butter, melted

1 Combine undiluted soup, sour cream, hash browns, cubed chik and wham, onions, and cheese. Pour into a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch pan.

2 Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Top with crumbs, and drizzle with melted butter or margarine. Bake for another 15 minutes.

Makes 15 servings

I'm Not Afraid: the story of Samedi & the Bere Adventist Hospital

Samedi is a nurse who started out as a janitor at a small bush hospital in rural Chad and after working 28 years there has so much experience that during the years when there was no doctor at the hospital was able to save many lives by doing emergency surgeries in addition to all his other duties.

This is a video by James Appel

Friday - The Blizzard

We were planning on getting up and driving to White Rock this morning to see Polly, but it was blizzard conditions outside. Rhonda and I got up and walked down Main Street in the early morning 9am. Just walking in the snow it was fun. When we got back to the hotel we called Polly. They had been sick all week, so with the snow and sickness we decided to spend the night again in Durango. We didn’t really do and thing except walk the street a few more times. After we told the hotel that we were staying at 11AM it cleared up. The sun came out and there were blue skies.





At 2PM we had lunch at Farquahrt’s & Pizza Mia. Rhonda had a salad, Sam pizza, and I had a turkey sandwich. It was standard fair. 30.00. the most interesting thing on the menu was smoors. We saw another table having them. They brought out a sterno container, with Graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows which you melted over the sterno. The waitress said it was something they started a few year ago when they had a big drought and the campers could not have camp fires. It was so popular that they have kept it on the menu.

At 3:34 we went to see The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. It was good although somewhat violent movie with lots of F words. There were more people in the theater than I thought there would be at 3:45 on a Friday afternoon.

Supper was a loaf of French bread from the bakery across the street with cheese and jelly. It was very good. I don’t know of a bakery in Orlando that had French bread that good. Sam had ice cream from Stone Cold Creamery for desert. We walked down to the local bok store and browsed for several hours. The snow outside was beautiful even in the dark. We saw a jeep limo go up and down the Main Street several times. I bought a Indian southwest cooking book.

On the way back to the hotel, the streets were coated with ice. Cars were slipping all over the place. It seemed like the road conditions could be worse tomorrow than they were today.

Thursday moving back to Durango

We had the best skiing today. After all the snow they groomed the trails se there was lots of snow and smooth runs plus it was still snowing. By the third day I was worn out I quite at 2PM because I started to fall on every run, my muscles were exhausted. We had pizza fro lunch at a place in the village.

We had to check out of the room before Sam and I started to ski as we were moving down to Durango that night, in preparation for our trip to White Rock, New Mexico. Sam snowboarded till 4PM closing time.

We drove back to Durango in the snow and checked into the General Palmer again. We stayed in room 215 that night. It was a nice big room overlooking the main street. We ate a Gazpachio’s again. I had the combination plate this time with Enchilada, Tamale, beans and rice. The rice was a bit dry I thought. 32.50 with tip.

Wednesday in Durango

It snowed 9” last night the powder was half way to our knees. The skiing was a lot harder. The temperature was in the 32’s instead of the high 50’s. At 3pm went to Rockaway to catch the Durango train. The snow was perfect the sun had come out and the shy had puffy white clouds. As we waited for the train the men from the meeting were throwing snow balls at each other. The train arrived about 3:40 everybody loaded up and we started through the gorge. After about 10 minutes the train came to a jerky stop. We had left one of the bus’s at the station. They had seen the train go through the pass. We ere later told that this had been the first time in the trains history that it had backed up after leaving Rockaway.

The train ride was about 3 hours long. At the half way point the train turned around at a Y. The ride alone the river was spectacular.

After the train ride we went to the Durango train Museum and had our supper. It was good.










This is were we started backing up.



Camera phone image.

Tuesday in Durango

We skied at Purgatory our destination. The last snow that they had had was on February 19 2 inches. The bottoms of the runs were rock and grass. Rhonda skied the last half of the day after her meetings were out. We had lunch in the room bread and cheese that we had bought in Durango the night before.







That night we went into Durango to eat at Skinny’s Grill. Rhonda wanted a Vegeburger. It was a burger made our of black beans, roiled oats, brown rice, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, Anaheim chilies, and mozzarella cheese. I had another try at a fish taco. Better wait till I get home and can go to Baja Kitchen. Sam had a chimichanga which he devoured. After supper we went back to the HOTEL.

Durango

Monday


Lucnh was at Southern Soy – an Asian Fusion restaurant.
I had fish and chips (Salmon and Tilapia) Rhonda had Three Heart Salad it had heart of palm, heart of romaine, and heart of artichoke salad with a peppercorn vinaigrette dressing (minus the artichoke hearts they were out). Sam had Tofu Pad Thai not enough noodles and too many mushrooms for him. The menu had items with grits, Po’Boys and other items with a southern flair. They all looked good.

We had stopped in a Tibetan restaurant to try their buffet but several of the dishes had coconut in them, so we moved down the street to Southern Soy. The dish that looked the most unusual had soba noodles mixed with vegetables and coconut flakes.

Southern Soy 35.00 with tip. ****

That night we ate at “Gazpacho New Mexican Cooking”. Rhonda had the vegetarian enchilada plate. Sam had The vegetarian chalupa and I had the Vegetarian tamale plate. We all selected the green enchilada sauce, which turned out to be quite hot. The tamales were quite good; they had squash in then both zucchini and yellow. The meal was topped off with warn sopapillas with honey.

Gazpacho New Mexican Cooking 32.00 with tip. ****

Orlando to Durango

Sunday

The alarm beeped at 5:45 am. I dragged myself to the shower. I returned t the bedroom to see Rhonda still asleep. I turned on the light to awaken her saying hello hello. Next I go to Sam’s room and repeat the process. We arrive at the care park and there is a long line of people waiting for the bus. Two men almost get into a fist fight over putting there luggage on the bus .A big brute with shaven head wearing a Louisville, KY. Sweatshirt is threatening to break the other guys noise. I thing that he could have done it if he has chosen to. The other guy’s wife pleaded with them to calm down. They ended up shaking hands.

We arrived at the terminal at 7:15. After electronic check in we headed for the tram. 7:30 we arrived at our gate. The plan was to leave at 7:50. The gate was empty everyone had boarded the plan. We were the last 3 to go down the gangway. For a Southwest flight this is not a good thing. We had to sit in the back on 3 separate rows, all of us in a middle seat.

I have been reading the book “A Cooks’ Tour” by Anthony Bourdain. As we cross the country in rout to Durango I am reading about Anthony’s trip to Saigon, Viet Nam. He is describing all the smells and sounds of the market. It reminds me of the sights and sounds of N’dJemma, Chad. Only not as fresh.

He also describes a trip to Russia, where the cops pull the car he is traveling in over and ask for their papers. Apparently there are never the appropriate papers in these instances. They didn’t even wait for them to produce the papers before saying it would be 50 Rubles. This is just like our trip to Cameron where the cops stopped us and we didn’t have the correct registration for the truck.

While in Chad I didn’t taste the local food , I will next time.

10AM MST we arrive in Albuquerque without incident. We picked up our Alamo rental car. A Jeep Grand Cherokee we got to pick out of 10 SUV’s available. We headed north to Bernalillo. Our first stop was to be Abuelitas New Mexican restaurant. Located at 612 Camino Del Pueblo in Bernalillo, NW. It is a restaurant that we have eaten at before. Once in 1992 when Sam was 2 years old. Rhonda had gone out early and Sam and I came out to join her at the Presidents counsel in Santa Fe. Another time with Rhonda when we had gone to Santa Fe. We all had the same thing. Cheese Enchilada’s with green chili sauce, beans and rice, a very small garnish of salad, and sopapillas. It was as I remember delicious. There was not the over powering taste of cheese as some cheese enchilada’s have. This is a family run restaurant. The grandpa of the clan was there when we arrived, helping us to our table.

After lunch we headed NW to Aztec about 150 miles away. The scenery was stark brown everywhere except for the sage brush. A few cotton woods had a yellow tinge, and the twigs growing by the river banks were turning red. These are the twigs that lamps are made of in Santa Fe. Some day we will make that lamp! The sky was azure blue not a cloud to be seen.

We turned down a side road and stopped at an arroyo and walked around. The sand was interesting harder than sand alone.

We arrived in Aztec and went to the ruins. It was 65 degrees. We spent an hour walking around and watching the video.

About 4pm we left for Durando 30 mile to the north. We found an old Inn the General Palmer. It was a block away from the Durango train station, on Main Street. The room was nice and well decorated. We walked the streets for a while. I bought a belt for the silver buckle that I bought last year in West Yellowstone..

We had supper at Nini’s a Baja Kitchen type place. The girl behind the counter had a bright red hair and a bright streak of green in the front. Sam had a chicken quesadilla, Rhonda and I had a fish taco not the best.

After supper we went back to the room and watched the Oscars.

Pathfinders go to Lake Louisa

Friday Night

Mac and Cheese, and Big Franks.

Sabbath Morning

French Toast
Boiled Eggs
OJ
Hot Chocolate

Sabbath Lunch

Salad
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Chops in Mushroom Gravy
Cherry Pie

After the big wind and rain in the afternoon and expected even bigger rain and wind for the evening. We packed up our tents and retreated to the fellowship hall.

Supper was HayStacks

Sunday Breakfast

Pancakes
Links
Scrambled Eggs

Heather's Senior Presentation Day

The Burning of the Christmas Tree

This is a Christmas tree we burned on our last campout.

An African Experience

This is my video of our Trip to Bere Adventist Hospital it is on Google video

Micky and Nancy in London

Here is a video Micky sent from his cel phone from London. I spruced it up a bit.

Pathfinder Campout to Torreya State Park - Menu

January 13-16, 2006

Friday Night in Route:
-PB&J
-Soup

-High Schoolers Taco Bell, Apopka

Sabbath Breakfast:
-French Toast
-Fruit

Sabbath Lunch:
-Spaghetti
-Green Beans
-Salad
-Brownies

Saturday night:
-Pete's burgers
-French Fries

Sunday Breakfast:
-Hash Browns
-Scrambled Eggs
-Fruit

Sunday Lunch:
-Mashed Potatoes
-Green Beans
-Choplettes
-Salad

Because of the schedule instead of the above we had sandwiches instead.
-PB&J
-FH Chicken salad
-Sliced Vege Turkey
-Chips
-Apples

Sunday Supper:
-Haystacks

Monday Breakfast:
-Pancakes
-Links

Monday Lunch while returning:
-Big Franks

Mens Christmas Breakfast

This is the menu for the Christmas breakfast at Markham Woods Church on December 24, 2005.

-Grits
-Pancakes with frozen fruit cooked, Pecans, and Syrup
-Heathers Egg Disk
-Omelets plain, cheese, tomatoes, onions, amd black olives
-Biscuits with sausage gravy / prosage, and fried apples
-Links
-Yoguart
-Cold Cereal
-Canned fruit
-Fresh strawberries and OJ
-Hot Chocolate

We forgot the syrup warmed with nuts and bananas.
We served about 450 people.

Tangy Coleslaw

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 cabbage, finely shredded or a 16-ounce package of shredded coleslaw mix
• 1 medium red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• Dressing:
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 cup vinegar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil

PREPARATION:
Combine shredded cabbage with sliced onion. Combine dressing ingredients and bring to boil. Pour over cabbage and toss. Cool, then refrigerate. A wonderful topping for sandwiches.

More Cole Slaw Recipes
http://southernfood.about.com/od/coleslawcabbagesalads/r/bl10512c.htm

This is a salad that I made in Africa, several people have ask for the recipe.

Sunset

River, Tchad. October 8, 2005

Photo by Micky Bermile

Notes for Tchad #5 – Sabbath

Our work is done here in Béré. It is Friday night. We have just finished supper of noodles and Fri-chik with cherry/blackberry cobbler. We have eaten well. No one has gotten sick, so maybe I have done my assignment. Two of the student missionaries here are sick. One has malaria; the other is just not feeling well. We finished to building we were working on. The inside ceiling was patched or replaced. The holes were patches in the walls and then painted. It’s a two tone paint job, white on the top and a blue on the bottom. They are calling it scrub blue. It looks really nice. The doors that Graham made look really nice. We also made 3 new pews for the church to replace 3 that were stolen from the grounds. We have been using them for VBS. Ed worked with the accountant here at the hospital and has written up a report for James. We are still not sure about our trip to Cameron. Guess we will find of on Sunday. The people here are all very friendly and helpful. Every one of us will have a different story to tell you about all the things we have seen and done. We will all be changed forever because of the things we have seen and experienced. But we are all eager to see each and every one of you on our return. Yet, it's hard to believe our time here is almost over in this laid-back lifestyle, no timetables to run after, none of the pressures of our life and work as we know them at home. It's Sabbath here and all is quiet except for the hum of the generator, a nice sound to hear.

Bye for now and Happy Sabbath.
DJ and the Béré Bunch

Interesting facts about Tchad:
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 47.94 yearsmale: 46.84 yearsfemale: 49.09 years (2005 est.) Median age:total: 16.02 yearsmale: 15.32 yearsfemale: 16.71 years (2005 est.)

Population:9,826,419 (July 2005 est)
Population density:8 people per square kilometerTime zone GMT -1
Web site of interest about Tchad:
Weather:http://weather.msn.com/local.aspx?wealocations=wc:CDXX0003

Langon River

Trip to Langon River, Tchad

Notes from Chad #4 - Washing and Other Things

Mary-Ann is in charge of our washing. Every morning there is a big pile of clothes in the corner. At the beginning of the week she collected 500f ($1.00) from each of us. This is the going rate for one day of washing. The lady that is doing our laundry complained that this was not enough. Sara simply explained that she could wash our cloth for 500f and be through by noon or she could go and work all day in the rice fields for 300f. We have not had a problem since. Although, Mary-Ann tells me they have a system worked out. The lady washes and rings then hangs the clothes on the fence. Then Mary-Ann comes along and rings more of the water out.

We had chili and fried apple pies last night. The pies are an ode to Rhonda’s Kentucky heritage. There are no apples here in Tchad. I explained to Solomon, through Sara, that they could be made with any fruit. I will leave the left over apples that we had dried and brought with us here so they can have them later. Solomon is making lunch today with the donated squash that we had left over, potatoes, rice and eggplant. I'll need to go check on him soon to make sure there is enough food for our group. He says that he has never cooked for so many. This morning I fixed biscuits, oatmeal, and scrambled eggs. There is a possibility that we may go to Cameroon on Monday. Job, the conference guy in NDJ, is working on it now. We gave him our passports on Sunday. He took then back to NDJ. He says he has a friend in the Cameroon embassy that might be able to work it out for us. Solomon just came over to James and Sara's where I am to ask how to fix the eggplant. I have no idea what he said, but I think we agreed to fix 5 of them however he usually does it. I am sure that he has cooked a lot more eggplant than I ever have.

I went with the groups doing rounds (Ken, Cindi, Micky, and Sara). There are about 15 patients in the maternity ward. Between each patient Ken washes his hands in a little basin while someone else pours water over his hands. The boy that had a section of his small intestines removed sat up for the first time today. Micky helped him up and he walked to the yard to lie on a grass mat. After the surgery they did not give him any pain medication. This little guy had a 9 inch incision down his belly with no pain medicine, not even Tylenol. Micky gave him a back massage while he was sitting up on his mat. Sara called me over while she changed the dressing on an 8 year old boy that had an operation a month ago. It was something about a bone infection. He comes every day to have it changed. When she was through she drew a horse head on both of his hands. He was happy for this.

Last night we sang happy birthday to Rhonda, my wife. She’s back in Florida. The sun is shining brightly and it is warn. A chicken is squawking loudly outside. I believe it is his last moments of life.

Bye for now.
DJ and the Béré bunch

Drawings by Sarah

Drawings by Sarah

Notes from Tchad #3

October 5

A few of us go in to the market in Béré in the morning to buy produce, the few things they have onions, tomatoes, okra, and eggplant. We buy cloth, some to take back and some to be made into local garments. The cloth is made in Nigeria. Since the revolution in Tchad it must be imported. Only about 20% of the stalls in the market are occupied. The big market days are Friday and Saturday. Five meters of cloth is 5000f (about ten dollars). The tailor charges us 3000f (six dollars) to sew it up. The measurements are just shoulder to ground, waist to ground, and arm length. A good time was had. There was laughter all around. They were happy to have us visit their shop.

For lunch we had spaghetti. Supper was rice and an "African stew" cooked up with red lentils, potatoes, and okra. We also had a side of squash that one of the locals gave us. On the first day of VBS there were 72 children, the next 115. There will probably be more today. They are mostly well behaved and seem to be having a good time. The second day they were there waiting for it to begin. The craft the first day was to take photos with a Polaroid camera of each kid and put it on a card with their thumb print. Each one is different was the message.

After supper, (which was James and Sara’s lunch, finally getting to eat), James walked over to the hospital to check on a security issue, but ended up with 2 new cases. One was a 1 month old baby with a bronchial infection. They put her on oxygen and some medicine. The little baby was just holding on with the oxygen, but it was time to turn the generator off. As luck would have it, at least for the baby, the other patient had a bowl obstruction that required surgery. There was no other way to find out what the problem was. The boy was about 12 or 13 years old. His stomach looked like that of a 5 month pregnant woman. The OR had no oxygen, no monitor, no booties - only bare feet, no electric cautery, no staples. The patient woke up in the middle of surgery. The anesthetic was ketamine. The surgery lasted around 2 1/2 hours. They removed a 4 foot section of the small intestine. After the surgery James, the surgeon, cleaned up as he was the only one with gloves on. The family had to cleanup all of the washable items and take the trash out. The cost of the surgery and hospital stay $2.00, but even this was too great a price. They had to pay with a bicycle. During the surgery there were crickets on the floor of the OR. The prep work for surgery was done on the porch outside the OR. After surgery we went back to the baby. Cindi and Laura told us how a bat had come into the room and had flown around and into the ceiling fan. The dead bat had plopped down on the baby’s head. The baby was doing better. The extra 2 1/2 hours of oxygen had helped. Now that the surgery was over the generator was turned off. The baby was admitted to the hospital. She was given to the mother to walk to the bed. We did not know if it would be alive in the morning, all for the price of running the generator through the night. In the morning both were alive.

I discovered the charger for my video camera had blown, probably when the generator came on. Luckily, Steve's charger is the same as mine. Let’s make sure his is unplugged when the generator is off. Lunch on Tuesday was bean burritos with tomatoes, onions, some local peppers and cabbage. It went over well with the group. (Not bad, if the cook is allowed an opinion.) Supper was Italian meatball (veggie) subs with fried eggplant and a tomato sauce. After supper some of us watched Geronimo on a projector video that James had here. This was possible because another surgery was going on.

The building work project is going well. One room is finished, except for the lower half of the room still needs painting. They are having trouble getting the paint. Graham continues to do wonders with a skill saw set up as a table saw, and a planer. He has made the panels for the ceiling and about 10 doors. They have made another trip to Kilo about 20 kilos away, 2 hours. This is the same road we arrived on. They are trying to get the paint needed today ASAP. Everyone tells of the great thunderstorm that passed close by last night. The temperature dropped from 90 to the mid-seventies. I slept soundly through the storm.

Bye for now,
DJ and the Béré Bunch

Notes from Tchad #2 - Native Drums Under a Starry Sky

October 3, 2005

Going to sleep under the stars with the sounds of African drums at night; can it be more surreal than this? Yes, this is Africa, at its best. Micky says the drums and singing went on until 4 am. I would not know this, as I had gone right to sleep. Micky’s tiny mosquito net pup-tent is on the same porch as mine. He says the bats like to dive into the tents.

The repair work on the hospital has begun, the scraping, pressure washing and cleaning. Graham has done wonders with a skill saw. He created a table saw and a template to make the pieces for the ceiling. Painting begins tomorrow.

Solomon, James and Sara’s cook, makes the best whole wheat bread. I have documented it in hope that we can reproduce it at home. Although, I don't think it could ever be quite the same.Church was interesting. Jim Appel preached in English. James translated to French. The local pastor translated to the local language. After church everybody filed out and shook the pastor’s hand, then joined in at the end of the line so everyone shook everyone else's hand then formed a circle and sang a song.

On Saturday night a young man came to the hospital with a big gash/stab wound on his leg. The doctors (James and Ken) and student missionary went over to have a look. The patient was sitting on one of the porches. They had the family go over to the water spigot and get water in a bucket to wash the wound. They were going to stitch it up right there but decided to move the patient to a bed that was on the porch. Under flash light and lantern light they sewed him up. Afterwards, the family was responsible for cleaning up.Stephanie’s VBS is about to start, so I'll close for now.

DJ and the Béré Bunch

Notes from Tchad # 1

Friday, September 30, 2005 9 p.m. local time, 4 p.m. EST.

Coming into N’Djamena we are at 1500 feet and only a very few lights are visible. I spot tiny little fires around. They must be cooking fires. 2PM Thursday - We leave NDJ for Béré. We were supposed to leave at 11:00. The driver was late. It took longer to register with the police and get photo permits than expected. In the city, we stop in the market to buy fresh produce, potatoes, tomatoes and the like. The market is very similar to the one some of us had been to in Peru, except different.

We are zooming down the road through small villages. People are standing on the roadsides. There is a constant horn sound coming from young kids along the side of the road. There is a beautiful sunset on the savanna. Every village has a tiny mosque. Instead of a church, they all have minarets. Sorghum is growing along the road. We see lots of broken down trucks, buses, motorcycles and bicycles along the side of the road. Most of the roads are arrow-straight. No need to curve around anything here. Now that the sun has set the road seems worst. Quiet bad actually. We come to a ferry similar to the one in Peru but again different. Our second van gets stuck going up the ramp. 45 minutes later, we make it across the river.

Africa - Not for the faint of heart. We go through a town that is having a street party in the dark with only fire light. Boom. A dog runs in front of us. We hear the head hit the bumper; then feel the 2 left wheels bump over the body. Dead instantly. We are all quiet now, with the unspoken realization that it could have been a child. We thought that the last 7 hours had been bad, but we had not seen anything yet. Even Graham, the Aussie, says he has never seen anything like this. Lakes of water are in the road. The van gets stuck 10-15 times, who knows. When we get stuck, we have to get out of the van to hook up a truck to pull us out of the lake. We are walking in ankle-deep mud. Our shoes are either off or soaked. It has been pitch black for hours. The milky-way is shining brightly. There is another van that we are helping and they are helping us. We had almost arrived at Béré, when they stopped the van and started taking people out that have fainted. Five, ages 1 to 25, with carbon monoxide poisoning. We transferred them in our van to take them on to the hospital. They have been traveling for 3 days, about the same as us. There are 18 or 20 in the small windowless van. We have been traveling in relative comfort, except the last 13 hours.

We arrive at Béré. No lights. We unpack our 2000 pounds of luggage. Micky and I get to bed around 3:30 am.

The ordeal of last night was made up for when Steve, Micky and I go out and play in the street with about 30 or 40 kids. Steve has brought along a Frisbee. We play this for 30 minutes or so. Then Micky starts singing with them. They jump rope with the rope that Steve has brought. All is brought back into focus when we go back to the house. James and Ken are in surgery. A lady has come in with a still-born baby. She has a ruptured uterus. They do a c-section. This is her 12th and last baby. The thunder storm in the distance is getting closer. Steve, Rick and Bob have their tents under the mango trees. They don’t far too badly. The lights are off as I write this. We are sweating and drinking lots of water. We are having the experience of a lifetime We will see you again, in 12 more days.

Bye for now,
DJ and the Béré bunch

Road to Béré

Road to Béré

Béré Adventist Hospital Mission Trip

Prologue

A small group of us from Markham Woods Church will be leaving Orlando, Florida on Tuesday, September 27 (returning on October 12) for the central African country of Tchad. We know this country here in America as Chad. Our destination is a remote hospital. There are 14 of us going on this adventure. We are nurses, a doctor, a carpenter, construction contractors, accountant, computer engineer, and others. The primary purpose is to do maintenance on the buildings, deliver medical equipment and provide in-service training to the staff.

Béré Hospital’s website:http://berehospital.org/

My Béré web site:http://bere.jeffus3.com/

Here are two maps:

Tchad:http://www.exxun.com/Chad/b_mp.htmlMap of
Africa:http://www.africaguide.com/afmap.htm

We are flying into the capital N’Djamena where we will be spending the night. The next morning, there is a 6 hour trip by van to the southeast about 200 miles to Bere (not on the map) between Kelo and Doba.

While in Béré we will be sleeping in mosquito net tents on the grounds of the hospital under the mango trees. We will be taking with us most of our food, construction supplies and tools we will be using, and medical supplies that we have collected. We are in hopes of taking with us a laptop ultrasound that the local Doctor James Appel can use at the hospital and out in the country side.

We will be sending newsletter updates, if and when possible. If you are receiving this message, it is because someone from the group has requested your name to the added to the group list. We all are requesting your prayers for this short-term project and even more for the long-term on-going work at the Béré Hospital.

Bye for now.
Dan

Ideas for Meals in Chad

Chad Meal Ideas

Breakfast

Grits
Oatmeal
Fried apple pies – Dried apples and spices sugar Flour etc for crust
Pancakes mix for Costco
Granola
Poppy seed muffin mix

Lunch/dinner:

Burger mix for use as patties and as meat balls for Spaghetti
Tomato boxes for Spaghetti sauce. Dried Satake mushrooms. Pete’s burgers cut in squares for meat balls

Spaghetti with olive oil Sun dried tomatoes.
Pete’s Burgers for meat balls - 6 cans = 90 about 4 patties each small ones
Parm cheese in green bottle

Pancit noodles. Rice, bean, and flour noodles
Seeds for bean sprouts
Dried Satake mushrooms
Pad Thai – packets 3 per container 7 containers. With sprouts and onions, and mushrooms

Raman noodles
Korean noodles plus mushrooms for soup
Spring roll wrappers with sprouts/noodles and onions

Lintel soup – onions, celery, carrots

Dried fruit for deserts/ Breakfast

Beans – kidney beans, black beans, great northern
Corn meal for corn bread

Soft Taco’s Beans and Sprouts with Cheese Whiz, Costco Salsa in plastic bottle.

Mung / alfalfa beans for sprouts

Sprout burgers.

Shraak unleavened bread “The African Kitchen page 55”

Popcorn

Couscous and/or rice and raisins with caramelized onions. “The African Kitchen page 119” / Maine Cook book.

Roosterkoek and Ashkoek Bread cooked in coals “The African Kitchen page 121”

Tvp

Processed cheese triangles
Canned mas potatoes
Baco bits

Chops plus bread crums
Green beans (Shelly)
Make gravy out of pan. Oil, flour, salt,

Nuts: Almonds
Pine nuts
Cashew

Deserts Apple Dumplings dried apples
Apricots

Spices:
Garlic in jar
Red peppers flakes
Black pepper
Salt
Rosemary – fresh in jar
Ginger
Ketchup
Onions
Sugar
Oxo
Canned jalapeño peppers
X - Dried onions
Dried celery
Onion soup mix

Deserts
Creamy Banana Pudding “Classic Deserts page 133” No cook cool only.
Creamy Rice Pudding page “Classic Deserts page 143”

Misc

Powered soy milk
Hot chocolate
Trail mix - walmart
Ziplock bags
Aluminum foil
Aluminum pans


Breakfast


prefferences:
Rick Eggs dry oatmeal.
Micky Oatmeal