The Bare Necessities

When I returned from furlough a few weeks ago, I noticed that there were a few things missing from my house (or that I had missed during furlough) that I considered necessary or life (or just to save my sanity!) here in Papua New Guinea (PNG). I wrote a similar blog post way back when I first arrived in PNG in 2014 (you can read it here), but that post was based more on village living than being in Ukarumpa, which is where I live now (and have lived for most of the last four years).

You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone

Since we here in Papua New Guinea (PNG) live so far off the beaten path, our Store relies heavily on shipments from Australia and the United States…unfortunately, sometimes we end up running out of certain supplies before a new shipping container comes in. Some things are not a big deal to find a substitute for—black beans, for instance. Canned black beans are a lovely convenience, but buying a plateful of black beans at the market and boiling them up isn’t that difficult—actually, I now think that canned black beans are slightly disgusting—I’ll take the fresh kind any day!

The Joy of Cooking—Ukarumpa Style

I don’t generally enjoy cooking—a typical week of cooking usually looks like me making a large pot of soup or a hotdish that I eat pretty much all week. Of course, that means the pickins get mighty slim by Friday…but that’s what biscuits and peanut butter are for, right?!

My dislike of cooking is compounded by the fact that there are few “convenience foods” available—and if the store does, by chance, have one of these convenience foods, it is outrageously expensive. Or, depending on when the last shipment from Australia or the States arrived, what you are looking for may simply be out of stock.

Veggie Tales

One thing I enjoy most about Papua New Guinea is the availability of fresh produce at the market. Papua New Guineans from all over the Aiyura Valley bring fresh fruits and vegetables from their gardens to sell at the Ukarumpa market. The market is outside with long wooden tables set up where the vendors can display their produce.

The market

Market runs from 6:30-8:00 am, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so one morning a week (Fridays this term) I haul myself out of bed (which gets harder and harder as the end of the school year approaches), throw on my “market clothes” (aka a skirt and sweatshirt over my pyjamas and my gum boots), grab some kina, my keys, and my lowlands string bilum, and head out the door. Since the fire-mapartment is so close to the market (down the driveway, past the store, and around the Teen Centre), I don’t have far to walk.

Baking with Weevils

The blacks things in the middle are weevils
and the yellowish little guys are meal worms.

Yes, you read the title correctly...baking with weevils...sounds appetizing, doesn't it?! When I first arrived in PNG last July, a friend and I decided to make tortillas, so we mixed up the ingredients; my friend rolled them out and I cooked them on a skillet. About halfway through, I happened to notice some funny looking little things in the tortillas. When I pointed them out, we took a closer look at the offending tortilla, looked at each other, and said, “Meal worms.” Then we both shrugged our shoulders and finished making the batch of tortillas—and they tasted pretty good, too!

Bread and Tacos and Cookies, Oh My!

One of my better loaves of bread

If you know me at all, you know that I have lots of adventures—generally having to do with either cars or cooking. Since I don’t drive a manual, or have any desire to deal with a vehicle here, this post is about, you guessed it…cooking! Most of my “adventures” in the kitchen back home involved burned food, courtesy of me getting a little too engrossed in whatever I was currently reading. I’m happy to report that I haven’t been burning my meals—especially since I’ve (finally!) figured out the ins and outs of the gas oven.

Where's the Beef?!

We don’t eat a lot of fresh meat in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for a variety of reasons: for one, it’s quite expensive, and for another, many translators and linguists live in village allocations where there is no electricity, so by necessity we eat a lot of tinned (canned) meat. Think Spam, only not actual Spam (even if the store does have it, it’s a bit pricey since it’s imported). If you haven’t ever had the pleasure, you should try some…it can be reasonably tasty when prepared correctly!

Now We Go Wokabaut

One of the “big” deals of Pacific Orientation Course (POC) is the two day/overnight hike. Basically you hike out from POC until you arrive at the village you’ll be staying overnight in, then the next morning after breakfast, you hike out and catch a Public Motor Vehicle (PMV) back to POC. Well, that’s the short story, anyway.

This is the Way We Build Our Haus Kuk

Pacific Orientation Course (POC) is designed to teach us practical skills that we may need to use in our ministry (especially if someone will be living in a village), including how to cook over an open fire. In order to practice our cooking, we have to build a haus kuk (kitchen). Today the staff and local workmen gave us a demonstration on how to build our own haus kuk.