I made "Raised Orange Doughnuts" this week for our starter. Some of our students come from quite a distance, traveling for several hours to get here. We have something for them to eat when they arrive. Some weeks it is "Pinoy" (Filipino) spaghetti - with hot dogs in it, pancit, egg pie - what we call custard pie, banana BBQ, or even their breakfast bread - pandasal - with CheezWhiz, or their highly sugared peanut butter. Other weeks I have fun and serve something that will probably be new to them. Pumpkin pie is always a hit. They love the tuna-mac salad with cheese cubes in it. This week I made the doughnuts and for the first time had pastors coming into the kitchen to tell me, "These are really good!" Thank you, ancient Betty Crocker recipe cards! I then had a load of fun having them guess the secret ingredient: sweet potatoes! In a few weeks I will try them out with a chicken quesadilla!
One of the pastors came in to the kitchen after lunch and asked if we have a hundred menus! Fely, my helper and cook for all this food (I am the assistant cook) laughed and told them, "No."
I have 13 menus. While all three groups have the same food upon arrival each week, we serve a different lunch each day. With three groups a week, that is four weeks of menus with one left over. That automatically rotates the menu so they have 13 different meals at our home before they eat the meal a second time. So, I have 13 salads that I serve and 13 main dishes! For some main dishes that are mostly meat, there is also a veggie dish - like today. It really works great. So, I am still laughing at the pastor's question...100 menus?
Filipinos do not usually eat salads, but I have yet to have one not eating salad by the time our class is over - 22 weeks. Today's salad is one of the one that gets them going - Cambodian Salad. It is made with Napa Cabbage (the Ellis' kids' favorite- NOT! It was our "lettuce" while they were growing up. It was always soaked in bleach to
kill the critters and retained some of the taste -yuck), bean sprouts, carrot, red pepper, garlic, basil and mint and topped with fried garlic bits and chopped peanuts. The dressing is soy sauce and lime juice. The pastors declared it very Pinoy! Fely had another chuckle as she told them it was Cambodian.The kitchen is quite the gathering place for about half the ladies during lunch break. They all know where my book of menus and recipes is and freely access it. What is my main task? Teaching 13 ladies or seeing that all 39 of our students eat nutritious and delicious meals? For some of them, class day is the best meal of the week. What a privilege to serve them this way!
