Rainy Day= Cooking Day.

Loja is a cold city. One wouldn;t think it- but it is truly very cold here. There are no heaters in Loja. we just dress warmly and suck it up. However, last night was the single coldest I have ever been. I laughed when I was lying in bed thinking that if I had been in the US and my heater had been broken on a night like last night, we would have gotten a hotel room.

Living without options has changed the way I think about living. Period. No heater? Live with it. Shoes falling apart? Take them to be repaired. Short full of holes? try not to look at yourself after you get dressed. Clothes still wet after three days on a line? Wear the same dirty clothes until they finally dry. City having a shortage on gas? Cry while taking a cold shower in the frigid morning (or night) temps. (I didn't have to do that. I forfeited my showers instead. Peeeuuuwww)

Anyhow... It's raining today. No sun makes for a cold day after a long cold night, and because I didn't have Spanish class, I decided to declare it a cooking day.

Tomatoes taking a boiling hot bath. I was jealous. I soaked them for a minute or so and then transfered them to cold water. The skins peeled right off. Easy Peasy lemon Squeezy. (My Spanish tutor LOVES when I say that.)










After being frustrated with my broken budget after making granola, I kind of made up my own method. However, it is amost identical to THIS ONE. Scroll down for a budget friendly method. I do exactly like it says, use what I have and can afford.

For the Pasta Sauce, I used Val's recipe for inspiration. Next time I plan to make it exactly as written. Mine is yummy, but IMAGINE that roasted tomato taste! I don't have a blender (or the 100.00 that they cost here) but the next time I spend the day making pasta sauce, I will barter to borrow one. One blender for a jar of pasta sounds reasonable to me!

I only have two small quart sized bags left (and they are as valuable as gold here) so I froze the diced tomatoes on old butter containers. We save EVERYTHING. And what I don't save, someone picks out of my garbage. One of these days I am going to do a blog post on the Ecuadorian version of recycling. They have a tremendous understanding on the re-use portion. Anyhow, I plan to use the diced tomatoes in soups.

I will use some of my precious gallon sized bags (because I have more of them) for freezing the sauce.

Next freezing cold day, I am hoping to use all the black bananas in my freezer. Any ideas?