Ciao for Now

Confession time...

I've been blogging somewhere else lately.  Why didn't I tell you, you ask?  Well, I wasn't keeping a secret, per se...I just didn't know what my new blog was going to become yet.  And now I {sort of} do!

click the picture to visit the new blog

Honestly, I was tired of the limits.  I wanted a place where I could write about whatever I wanted!  A lot of that time is still sharing food photos & recipes, but it's also random reviews on books or movies, trips I take and oh, so much more.

I'd love to have you join me over there!  You'll still see many more new recipes to try, hopefully for many years to come.  You can follow by "joining the site," which of course boosts my self-confidence haha, and you can also scroll a bit down to "follow by email."

The DK will still stay live and, who knows, I might be back on here one day.  For now, I'm liking the simplicity of one blog. :)

See you over there and have a good weekend!

Back & Fruity

I’m back, I’m back, I’m baaaack.

Oh, Drinkwater Kitchen blog, I have thought about you often.  It’s been one humdinger of a few months, and I’m glad to be back.

I’ve been out of country/town for almost the whole month of May and definitely have some fun foreign photos for you all!

Let’s start out short and sweet.  The first place I went to this month was Colombia [for work].  I came across this fruit that I’d never seen before, even when living in Peru with all their hundreds of different fruits.

It didn’t have a very powerful taste, very mellow, and you could eat the seeds.  Can anyone name it??

I Always Want to Spell Hiatus with a Y

OBVIOUSLY, I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus lately.  Sorry about that.

One of my close friends suddenly died in a single car wreck a few weeks ago.  That combined with many other things has caused for one strange month.  But, although I miss my dear Alicia friend, I know without a doubt that she is dancing with Jesus right now.  That comforts me.  God’s glory will shine through everything, even when the world seems to dim in a tragedy such as this.  I’m sure his grace is the only reason I’ve improved as well as I have since the shock and I thank God that I have my relationship with Christ to carry me through this sad time of mourning…

Unfortunately, this is not me saying “hi, I’m back!”  My schedule is not better and probably won’t be for a couple months.  I miss cooking, I miss writing, I miss sharing!  But it just can’t happen right now.  In a few weeks I will be traveling to South America for work and hopefully can share some fun food photos if I get the opportunity!  I WILL be back.  I promise.

In the meantime, have a HAPPY Easter.  I love you all. :)

Cheese Ice Cream?

It has been a COLD last several days here.  Not only that, but after receiving our first electricity bill since 9 months ago, our mouths gaped open and we turned down the heat even more.  I spend my days in at least 3 shirts, sometimes 4 – two of which are usually a thick sweater AND a heavy hooded sweatshirt.  A little crazy, right?

Well, I suppose there’s something even crazier…as you can see, I made ice cream.  It wasn’t on a whim and it wasn’t because I was needing a cool-off.  There actually was a reason for making it, but still – what kind of crazy person makes ice cream on a wet and frigidly cold Oregon day in the middle of winter?

I guess me.

So, my friend Erica asked us to help with her kids' missions lesson on Peru this month.  Long story short, this was the reason I made Peruvian ice cream - for the children!  It is called Queso Helado Arequipeño, which literally means Cheese Ice Cream from Arequipa (the city we lived in).

Don't worry, there is no cheese in it, although I'm not so sure how bad that would be?

It was fun to mess with the kids just a little bit, along the lines of “fear factor,” by pretending that this ice cream was really made from cheese.  We dared them to try it, and after the first one did [and loved it] they all suddenly were brave enough to try it, too.

I never perfected my Spanish vocabulary in the “food” realm so when I asked my dear friend Lely for her recipe, I definitely had to look up some words to make sure!  But, alas, I have it properly translated for you in an easy format.  And it's authentic because she is, of course, Peruvian!

Print the recipe here.

Make sure you turn up the heat to enjoy this…or save it for the summer!

Note #1: For any of you who are mostly lactose intolerant (or just want to be), I actually made this with Lactose-Free milk and it turned out well!

Note #2: Have I mentioned how much I love my kitchen scale?  It's just fun.

And, last but not least, check out this video I found on YouTube to watch the more authentic way of making Queso Helado.  You can find these ladies in many places around Arequipa, Peru!

Perfect Pumpkin Cookie

When we had to go to Idaho last month I brought with me all sorts of ingredients I needed for various things I wanted to cook while there.  I needed to keep up the blog!  But cooking in various relatives' kitchens was harder than it appeared...As you know, I ended up posting almost nothing during that time, but I did manage to bake these terrific cookies!  When it was posted 2 months ago, I had saved it immediately.  A must-try.  And now I'm finally sharing it with you!

Adapted from Erin Cooks, enjoy the Perfect Pumpkin Cookie!

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin puree (I used fresh)
1 egg, beaten
1 t. vanilla extract
1 pkg. (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. cinnamon chips


Instructions
Set oven to 350 F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Set aside.
In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment combine the butter, sugar, pumpkin, egg, and vanilla - beating until just blended.
Mix in the dry ingredients.
Remove the bowl from the mixer stand.  Stir in the chips.
Using a cookie scoop drop the dough 1-inch apart on the baking sheet.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 2 minutes.  Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

And share the joy of this tasty cookie with those around you!

Umm...

Well, you can certainly tell when the Drinkwater Kitchen has too much on its plate [no pun intended], can’t you?!  Sparing you details, we’ve had quite the last month of surprises, sadness, more surprises, and a little bit of fun too.

We were in Idaho for 2 weeks for Thanksgiving slash a funeral slash my job slash Husband’s job.  That combined with a key employee quitting (and me therefore taking over all her duties until we can find a replacement) PLUS a strange medical issue PLUS having to speak to 100+ ladies last week when normally I’m terrified of public speaking PLUS adding a member to our household all caused little sleep and zilch blog writing. 

Enough complaining for now?  I think so.  I’m just fine.  Exhausted but fine.  The hubby is traveling again but I have a new companion!  We were going to wait a couple months till we moved back into our house, but the local humane society was inundated with ~60 small dogs from a breeder who could no longer care for them.  We took advantage of the opportunity for a good dog and welcomed little Chicha into our home.  Here is the only good picture I have of her so far:

The story even made the news and, after successfully avoiding the 2 stations that were there with cameras, I was eventually pinned in and interviewed by one of them.  Mike caught a screenshot of me.  Makes me laugh.

But anyway, back to FOOD.  That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?  Thanks for so patiently waiting for my next post.  I am planning on quite a few coming up, what with all the holiday baking I have done none of so far!  I must catch up!  (Not only with cooking but I’ve missed so many posts from all my favorite bloggers…must read those!)

I have a couple restaurant reviews from our Idaho travels that I’ll post here shortly, along with a couple other items I made while there.  And then here I come, Christmas!

The Disappearing Act

My goodness!  So sorry for the delay in writing!  The Drinkwater Kitchen had to be put on a sudden hold due to a surprise trip to Idaho (and staying in a place without internet).  I thought I’d get another post in there but then we needed to turn right around and head up to Portland for my youngest sister’s major surgery.  We knew it was coming but it was still a big emotional event.  Lots of driving, little sleeping, and many other crazy things happening in the Drinkwater home that I am just now clearing the fog that was my brain for a while!

The surgery went very well, by the way, and she will be recovering in the hospital for the rest of the week before allowed to come home to recover many more weeks here.  You can follow any more updates we write on our other blog.

 I completely forgot that I had 3 pumpkins in the garage!!  I picked them out last week when we went to the apple orchard.  They were going to be my weekend project and then my weekend was spent entirely different than planned…

So, stay tuned for super awesome pumpkin posts.  Oh wait, maybe I shouldn’t speak so soon…I thought I’d have super awesome apple posts, too…haha.