Today I was definitely hitting some hunger moments. Fortunately I've been going low on my daily oatmeal rations. So I had some extra "saved up," and thus had the luxury of two servings today-- one at mid-afternoon and one just now. Was very thankful for every last bite. When you're hungry, you don't mind if it's bland--you just gladly welcome something warm and fresh to fill your belly.
So, a quick update on the fundraising. Really super excited that someone I've never met, from Germany, made a donation toward my goal of 10 scholarships for children of the Indian slums. Again a smaller donation, but it just put me on top of the world to know that my hunger is bringing awareness and my little blog is starting to catch on, globally, with 33% of my visitors coming from outside the United States. We also just received another $20 donation from an Instagram referral, putting us up to $650 of my $5,000 goal. Thank you so much!
It's working-- already this means that one child from the slums will be able to attend school this year, and not only that, but receive her first pair of shoes, school uniform, hygiene items, after school care, access to our computer lab, and a fresh meal every day at our education center!
It makes it all worth it.
Barefoot update. Still acclimating. Man, my feet are tender. What we take for granted.
Ok, running through the list from today's menu...
Breakfast. A blogger/instagram teamwork effort here. @_lupin_ from instagram (Annetta) suggested a seasoned cabbage omelette. Genius! It was delicious! As mentioned above, I skipped the usual oatmeal to save as a snack later in the day, and just went with a re-fried bean and brown rice breakfast taco. At a cost of about $0.33, it was just enough to tide me over until lunch.
Lunch. "Improvised the improvised" pasta primavera today, just added some pinto beans to mix it up a bit. With the spicy ramen noodle seasoning, it's a winner. However, I'm glad I saved the oatmeal for a snack, because by mid-afternoon I was definitely hungry.
Dinner. Tried a dry mashed potato side, and it hit the spot. This was a very basic meal, with a small portion of re-fried beans, seasoned brown rice and my favorite homemade corn chips. Nothing to write home about, but it did the job with just enough variety to keep it interesting.
I'm dedicating this blog post to a mother and her children I wish I could have stopped to sit with for awhile. Generally the people of the slums are so warm and welcoming. However, when I visit a slum area I'm not familiar with, I have to keep moving or else I cause a bit of a commotion as a foreigner. I share this image not to make you feel guilty, honestly that's not my approach. They're just on my mind tonight, and the purpose of this blog is to make you stop and think about how good we have it and to make us aware of the reality that's out there. Also, that there's a difference between general poverty and extreme poverty. This is an image of extreme poverty, and I share it to bring that awareness, to more effectively paint the picture for you.
Take Action:
1) Please visit my unofficial sponsor, Amazon.com through this link. 7% of your purchases made through the link are given to Peace Gospel. If you're in the UK, use this link.
2) Please consider giving toward my goal of 10 scholarships for children of the Indian slums. So far we've raised $650 of our $5,000 goal (10 scholarships). Every little bit helps!
3) Leave me feedback. Please comment on this post, especially if you have any ideas about what I should try to cook with these ingredients I have available. I'd love to hear from you! It really helps!
One of our mutual friends posted about you on facebook, and I just read through your blog. And, although I understand it is just your food and feet, it is really inspiring to see someone putting themselves in others shoes, especially those that they work for and serve.
ReplyDeleteRecipe Idea for you: Potatoe Pancakes with Raisen Syrup. There are several simple receipes out there that you could easily modify for the pancakes. To make the syrup, cut thr raisens up into small pieces (you would want as much of the insides to be visible as possible because of the sugar content inside the raisen.) Set about 1/2 water on the stove to boil and add the raisens. Wait until the water has reduced by half (so you will end up with 1/4 cup of syrup). Strain the raisens out (and then I would add them back to your potatoe pancake mixture for more flavor in the pancake.) You could season this with cinnomen or nutmeg if you have either avaliable to give you a different taste. It seemed like more things that you were tasting were savory and adding this punch of sweetness would really change things up for a day. Most of the recipes that I am seeing fry the potatoe, but if you turn them into a mash potatoe like consistancy first, you can add the water and egg to it and use it in a similar fashion to a pancake batter.
Wow, Tabitha, this is a wonderful idea and one I will try to implement when I have the time! Fantastic! Thank you so much!!
DeleteTabitha, I tried the potato raisin pancake with raisin syrup this morning- a huge success! I'll blog about it tonight! Thanks again!
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