COMMENCE HUMMUS

... Well, we have been patiently waiting all night for our beans to soak. If by chance during the night your beans sprouted and grew to an enormous height, I hope you will consider giving me a percentage of the profit from the whole golden egg thing. Just be sure to take evasive action if you hear "Fe Fi Fo Fum" at any time. If your beans didn't sprout, you can make some great hummus and I still wouldn't mind getting a percentage of the profit.


STEP #2 - Boil beans for 1.5 hours



STEP #3 - Toast 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds in dry frying pan until a lovely light brown



STEP #4 - Drain beans



STEP #5 - Gather the rest of your ingredients
6 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 Tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 (or more) garlic cloves (pressed)
1/2 Teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 Teaspoon salt
Water for consistency

(An alternative to sesame seeds is to use 6 Tablesppoons sesame paste also known as tahini)





STEP #6 - Process like the wind! You can add a bit of water if you want it more mooshy.


(For those poor souls only have a wok, I am sure there must be non-electronic ways to bash your hummus. I mean, haven't they been making this stuff since before food processors were invented? Be creative! Potato masher? Bottom of a coffee cup? Rolling pin? Mortar and pestle? I'm sure you can think of something.)

STEP #7 - Enjoy your hummus!


Serving Suggestion


STEP #8 - Bribe someone who likes hummus to take care of the mess.


Complete Recipe


STEP #9 - Tell me how it turns out!

My new panacea

When we lived in Durham the only thing we had to cook food in was a wok. We made everything in that wok. Here is a picture of Mikael using the wok to make marmalade.


Here in Västerås, we have all of Mikael’s kitchen gadget collection, complete with egg cups and an electronic devise that does perfect hardboiled eggs, a fondue set, a glögg set, various mixers and blenders, a mashed potato press and those little tiny forks you can use to pick up olives with. If we only had money we could buy some food with which to accessorize all of these wonderful gadgets. If we only had money, we could get a bigger place to live where we would have room to use the gadgets to make food with which to accessorize them.

The point of all this being that we have a food processor.

Because beans are cheap and I like Middle Eastern food, I decided to use it to try and make my own hummus. I eat it so much now that I smell of garlic and seem to be developing garbanzo shaped bumps on my arms and legs. It is good stuff. I want to therefore use this blog to share the joy of homemade hummus in easy step-by-step instructions with pictures. It might just change your life the way it has mine. The magical property of hummus is that you can dip almost any kind of fresh vegetable in it and it suddenly becomes addictively delicious, but also filling, allowing one to thrive on fresh vegetables instead of nibble, starve and be grumpy. My favorite is to spread a bunch in a tortilla and cram it full of veggies and olives for a wonderful wrap of goodness. Since I started consuming homemade hummus, I have lost weight, gotten friends, beat the 3rd level in Tiger Woods Golf PS2, decreased my medication for mental illness, improved my Swedish, taken amazing frozen berry pictures, need less sleep, and have gotten 734 hits on my blog. If I had a mirror and could see my legs, I am sure I would see I have less cellulite. My prayers are more effective, my husband more affectionate, and I just know I will win the trip to the Caribbean that was advertised on the back of the bread package.

I will now share my secret recipe with you, my dear readers, in anticipation of the Thanksgiving season which I am so happy to not have to celebrate.

We will start tonight by putting 200 grams of dried garbanzo beans (1 1/4 cup) in a bowl. Cover them with a bunch of water and let them soak all night.



...To be continued...

My new "Job"

I just got back from my first day at work. It is not as cool as it sounds.
Actually it is the first day at the job search program that the fine city of Västerås has for jobless people that want to receive welfare money. It is cooler than it sounds.

Every day I get to go to this place with Mikael and we can have our little lunch boxes and back packs. I have my own personal coach and there are printers and computers and telephone rooms. You can take motivational classes, practice doing interviews, and consult with hiring companies. There is a little cafe where you can get coffe and eat your lunch. I like going to work every day with mikael. I hope I don't get a job too soon...except that it would be nice to have some money.

Unpremeditated Poop Explosions

Last week I sent in my resume to work at a church. I was quite confident after 2 weeks in the forest with Z that I was the bestest in the whole world, that any church would be insane not to accept me immediately, that I had a fresh voice that the churches of this spiritually crusty country needed.

The rejection letter was short and concise. I had not managed to woo them with my almost complete degree from a prestigious university, with my life-threatening missionary endeavors in Nepal, or with my dapper good looks and charming wit. I had not even been judged worthy enough to be asked for an interview.

Having recently read a book about discrimination and cultural racisms in Sweden, I was suspicious that I had been judged in advance, that they had not seen past the challenges of a new person who doesn’t know anything to the gifts I had to offer. Everything I read really was true. Immigrants in Sweden can only get jobs as mechanics, hotel cleaners and kebab pizza makers. Nobody with a strange sounding name or imperfect Swedish is given a second chance. Secondly, I was convinced that they had failed to acknowledge my years of impressive ministry experience because almost all the work I have done was volunteer. I was falling prey to evil bureaucratic ideals - unable to get paid positions and experience unless I had had paid positions and experience which I couldn’t get because you have to have paid positions and experiences for that.

After getting through the poor-me and righteous anger phases of the experience, I reached the decision that it was time for me to stand up for all the little people of the world. I wasn’t going to take it. I was not going to keep letting myself get walked over because I lack the courage to say what I really think or what I really feel. I was going to break that curse from my life. I wrote a beautiful letter of challenge and encouragement which put a couple clever barbs in a wash of Christian love, good will and mature parley. How much I was going to grow from facing this experience head-on with truth in love, grace in the face of opposition, and maturity in the face of hidden structural malaise. However, M suggested I not send it until I had a chance to let it rest some more.

I am rather glad I followed his advice, for later that day I discovered that I hadn’t really sent that church my real resume. I had attached the wrong file to the e-mail and what they had actually received from me was a bunch of badly spelled early resume-stage brainstorming in a mix of bad English and worse Swedish.

The moral of the story?
I think I need to get out more (once I can show my face again)

Hopefully I can show my face and get a job before we run out of money. I think I could make a pretty good kebab pizza...