South American Guava

The lady at the shop said I should try this, I agreed with her and found myself buying something new. (My interest in this particular guava was spiked after watching the guys on Master chef make the guava snow egg dessert, but the guava they used is completely different.)

It was really hard to open up, and the white bits were really soft and fluffy with a big seed inside. Overall I thought the flavour pretty unspectacular.

I'm more impressed with my quince paste that I made after finding quinces in the market. They were 50c each which I baulked at as expensive but a friend back home assures me this is incredibly cheap for quinces. I might have to make some more at the rate that Evie is eating it up!

Vida Ventura

Went out for lunch today. Good food, lovely spot, great company (my family). I am trying to quickly dig into my food before Annalise kicks up too much of a fuss for being stuck in the pram. Evie can't figure out what the big deal is. Thanks Lord for an opportunity to enjoy today. Oh, and only 4 people thought Annalise was a boy (see earlier blog).

Roadworks

It's our barrio's turn for roadworks. Good but bad...

The method is for the workmen to go around for a week and dig out all the existing holes, making them excessively big and, at times, impassable (I saw someone stall in the ditch below the other day). Cars come careening down the hill, and slide to a skidding halt as they realise the new driving impediment that has now occurred.

When all the digging is done, the following week (or the week after that) is spent filling up all the holes. It makes for a continued need for defensive driving!

Evie turns 5!

We celebrated Evie's fifth birthday this past weekend. We had cake with icing that stained our teeth, we played the potato and spoon race, pin the tail on the donkey, painting and general party shinanigins...has it really been 5 years since we welcomed our little girl into the world? Thank you Lord for this little life.

The power of a symbol

It took me a while (being a bit slow on the uptake at times) to figure out why I can have Annalise dressed up like such a girl and still everyone saying how handsome he looked.

I know she doesn't have any hair yet and that makes it a little tricky, but doesn't the dress or the various shades of pink give it away? Apparently not, if you are Ecuadorian.

While I take my cues about the sex of a baby by what they are wearing, an Ecuadorian will almost exclusively zoom in on a baby's ears to see if they are pierced or not, and that's the clincher. When 100% of baby girls leave the hospital with pierced ears, it's a pretty sure way to decide if you are looking at a boy or a girl....unless it's an australian baby with a mum who hasn't pierced her baby girl's ears!