Russian Chocolate Salami

Chocolate salami? That's right. I wrote chocolate and salami together. Have I hooked your attention now?

I first had this dessert in Palestine, but when I saw it was also served in Moldova, I just couldn't pass it up. Besides, who can pass up a dessert called Chocolate Salami?

You'll be surprised at how easy it is to make and how it tastes delightfully like chocolate pudding.

Russian Chocolate Salami

300 gr. tea biscuits

200 gr. butter

4 tbsp. milk

2 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

optional: powdered sugar

Step 1: Break tea biscuits into small coarse pieces and place in mixing bowl.

Step 2: In saucepan, heat milk, sugar, cocoa and stir until mixture is dissolved.

Step 3: Add sliced butter to cocoa mixture. Stir until melted.

Step 4: Pour butter/cocoa mixture into bowl with tea biscuits. Mix together.

Step 5: Lay mixture onto parchment paper and form tightly into a log shape. 

Step 6: Wrap in parchment paper and chill 3-4 hours. Slice and serve.

Optional: Before serving sprinkle with powdered sugar and rewrap to look like salami!

My mini helper!

Review in Photos

I've missed a few blog posts, so I'm going to keep it fun and catch you up through some photos.

• We were invited for some fun at a harvest festival put on by International Christian Fellowship Church. I tried my hand at sewing, thanks to help from my friend Marie, and made Juju a dinosaur tail. We had a blast! I think the highlight was traveling by bus, all dressed up and accompanied by buddies, Mercy and Addy or should I say Minnie Mouse and Princess Leia. I think it was a highlight for everyone else on the bus as well!

He actually wore his dino tail!

• We had a little Halloween party at our apartment. It was a fun pumpkin theme with reading The Runaway Pumpkin, playing pin the face on the pumpkin, and making pumpkins out of stuffed paper bags. Us mommas had fun making food themes, and the kids had fun stuffing their faces with the goodies...healthy goodies too! Did I mention there was actually candy corn present thanks to a friend bring us some from the States.                                                                                                                                                                

         Did you know that we are like pumpkins? Jesus takes all the yuck that is inside us, cleans us up, puts a smile on our face, and shines his light through us!

         

          Here are the cute faces that were at the party.

The handsome Vlad

Mercy: aka Minnie Mouse

Dino Juju

Princess Addy

• I have no picture for the next event, but it is worth the notice. Hot water! After two months of no hot water, we were thrilled to have it running through our faucets again. This also meant that we could start heating our apartment as we use radiators. Wohoo!

• The Admirals Basketball Academy was approached by the US Embassy to hold basketball camps as a way to promote American culture. We were thrilled to bring in a good friend and enthusiastic basketball trainer Tim Lewis. It was special to see Tim as we served with him while in Macedonia. The camp was a hit and Tim was able to reach into the hearts of many kids throughout the area.

Last day of camp

• Juju Bug turned two this November. We started the morning off with our traditional birthday pancakes and ended the day by celebrating with special friends. 

He blew that candle out 8 times!

Did I say we have extra fun friends!

• Who doesn't love Thanksgiving?! We sure do! We celebrated with a chicken, no turkey, and substituted candied carrots for sweet potatoes. It was a first for making homemade dressing and apple pie. I'm sure glad we did!

Let's eat!

• Mike turned.....how old? We had all the basketball boys over for a get together of endless eating (athletic teens sure do have a good appetite) and playstation basketball. The boys surprised Mike and got him a coffee maker for his birthday. I'm a little thankful for this gift too as it feels more like home with coffee dripping in the kitchen.

Yes. I'm excited over a coffee maker!

• Look who decided was ready to be potty trained. Good-bye cloth diapers, that is until May!

It's a whole new world!

• Dec 25th, New Christmas, isn't an official holiday in Moldova, but this was the first year that it was actually recognized by the government. We celebrated as a family on Christmas Eve as Mike was gone the following days for a youth basketball tournament. Juju and I were invited to celebrate with a small group from our church on the 25th. We had a great time, esp Juju, sneaking way too many cookies!

Christmas letters!

Christmas with small group

• After Easter, New Years' Eve is the holiday to celebrate, and celebrate we did! We had a fantastic time at our ministry partner's house, eating, playing games and passing out chocolates and mandarin oranges. We wrapped up the night watching Putin give his annual speech that was broadcasted on television and tried to fall asleep through an endless firework show that lasted into the early morning hours.

Fireworks over Parliament

• Mike led the second US Embassy camp, which brought in kids from Bender, Transnistria. It was a fun four days. The kids and their coaches were glad to be apart of the camp. Not only were they given basketball skills but every day they heard parables from the Bible.

Kids from Bender

• Orthodox Christmas, Jan 7, is a very mellow holiday. Many of the Admiral boys spent the day at Nick's house, where they cooked dinner for everyone. They did a fantastic job and everything was gobbled up. 

Boys: "Pie like in the movies!"

• We were able to host the first International Coalition Training in Moldova, with special guests from England. It was good time of growing deeper in the Lord and how sports can be used to share the gospel.

Sports and the Bible Lecture

• I can't help but end this post without mentioning snow has finally made it's presence in Chisinau, and it is beautiful!

We ended up in a snow fight with friend Vlad

Our neighborhood park

Borsch

My chopping mess.

If you live in the northeast region of the United States then you've probably heard of borsch, if you haven't let me introduce you to this yummy east European soup.

I believe borsch originated from Ukraine but it is a staple soup throughout east Europe. It is known for its distinct deep purple color and the perfect way to warm you up, all the while
providing a nutritious meal. The base for the soup are beets and it can be prepared many different ways.

The delicious recipe I'm passing along comes from my friend Uliana, who has many times warmed me up with her version of borsch.

Moldovans use pepper kernels

                            Borsch

chicken breast

chopped potatoes

chopped onions

grated carrots

cannellini beans

lot of salt

pepper 

fresh chopped dill

fresh chopped parsley

chopped green onions

thinly sliced cabbage

peeled and grated beets

lemon (squeeze lemon onto beets to preserve the full color of beets)

sour cream

Step 1: Boil one chicken breast, reserving the broth. Shred chicken and set aside.

Step 2: Chop potatoes and onions. Fry partially for quicker cooking.

Step 3: Bring reserved broth, potatoes, onions, and carrots to a boil. Add water.

Step 4: Add beans, chicken, salt, pepper, dill, parsley and green onions.

Step 5: For the last 10 minutes, add cabbage and beets.

Step 6: Serve soup with a dollop of sour cream.

Eastern European yumminess! 

Where Is The Hot Water?

Living in Palestine taught us the value of having water. During the warmer months we had to ration our water, a lesson quickly learned our first year. Once we ran out of water for four days, which was really tough on our home life, let alone at school. Try telling second graders to hold their potties as long as possible. All this to say, those experiences in Palestine helped us with our water issue we are dealing with in Moldova.

Pots put to use. Hot water please!

In the beginning of September we noticed that no hot water was coming out of our faucets. No problem. We'd give it a day before questioning as little things like this can be common. We were patient and gave it two days. However, we soon found out from our neighbors that no one had hot water and it would be off for two weeks as there were issues with the contractor who built our apartment complex. Well, weeks passed into months and we still don't have hot water.

This isn't my complain post. It is just my reality post and how things can operate in Moldova. Evidently everything came out and we learned that the contractor owes the only gas company in Moldova 2 million lei ($155,000). Naturally, the gas company stopped supplying the gas. However, it is the tenants who suffer the consequence.

How have we adapted? Mike showers at the gyms, Josiah gets bath water heated on the stove and I travel to someone's house to take a shower every 5 days…gross...I know. Dishes and laundry are cleaned in cold water. We attempted to sterilize Josiah's cloth diapers in the bath tub with heated stove
water but they began to leak. So we are using disposables.

Juju helping sterilize his diapers.

The biggest problem is heating our apartment. Our radiators heat with hot water. No hot water equals no heat. As the city turned on the block housing heat, we found ourselves bundling to keep warmer. So when are we getting hot water? The new date is at the end of November. Will we get hot water by then? I hope so! Until then we will be grateful that we DO have water and hope the weather doesn't turn extremely cold.

Gathering Chestnuts

Yesterday we wandered through the park, trying to keep warm and trying to wind down the energy of our little toddler. We crossed paths with a couple of women who nanny some of the kids in our apartment complex. Josiah likes to join up with them because one of the boys is always bound to have a toy car with them. I enjoy the company of the nannies. They are sweet, but usually quick to question why I don't have Josiah dressed warm enough. Must keep those ears covered!

In spring, I saw Ana, one of the nannies picking buds off a blooming tree to take home for some tea. Today, she was leisurely talking to another nanny and started picking up some of the chestnuts that had fallen from the trees. That was all the invite we needed!

Soon we were wandering through the trees gathering chestnuts galore until our pockets were stuffed full. After the toy cars drove on with their little owners, Josiah too joined in the gathering. But most of his time was chasing after that one chestnut that kept sneaking out of his stuffed pocket. We had fun, all three of us, out in the wooded park gathering nuts off the ground. In fact, we came back the next day better prepared with a bag and basket, which gathered many other things, thanks to Josiah.

The only thing we didn't know, was that we were gathering horse chestnuts, the other chestnut you are not supposed to eat! I guess we should have questioned why no one else was picking up the abundance  of chestnuts. Maybe the nannies were using them for decoration purposes, who knows. I guess God made some things to taste bitter for a reason.....horse chestnuts are one of those foods.

Oh well....making family memories can be fun, even if they are 'bitter.'

Moldovan Stuffed Peppers

One of the 'yummies' on my list of tasty Moldovan food are the stuffed peppers. I was surprised how easy they were to make, so I thought I would share the recipe with you incase you would like to have a cultural taste of Moldova.

Some of the things you would miss, should you not be in Moldova, is the shopping at the market to buy the much cheaper grown local peppers, now that they are in season. Shopping at the farmer's market is an adventure in itself. Also, carrying your plastic bag filled with peppers home for the night's meal, sure makes you feel like one of the crowd as someone else is bound to be making the same dish that night.

Moldovan Stuffed Peppers:

8 bell peppers (local peppers are small/medium sized and tend to be a little bitter)

1 onion

1 carrot

2 cups of cooked rice

2 cups of mince raw beef

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

fresh dill

parsley

salt

Step 1: Cut a small opening on top the pepper and hollow out. Set aside.
Step 2: Finely dice the onion. Sauté in a fair amount of oil. Grate the carrot and add to the sautéing onion till both are soft. Add in 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and mix together. Let cook together for a minute. Remove onion mixture to a bowl.
Step 3: Add the cooked rice, chopped dill and a good amount of salt to the onion mixture. Don't skimp on the salt. It really enhances the flavor.
Step 4: Add the mince beef to the mixture. If you don't have a meat grinder you can always break up the mince meat into tiny sizes. Mix all together.
Step 5: Stuff peppers full and place upright in a pot. The pot should be tightly packed with peppers to keep them standing up.
Step 6: Cover with water, salt and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. Sprinkle parsley over top.
Step 7: Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the peppers are soft.
Step 8: Serve peppers with a dollop of sour cream.

Pretty easy, huh! Now you just need to be adventurous and make some, or you could come visit us and I'll make a hearty plateful just for you!

Home

It has been four months since my last post, but I don't plan on filling you in on the details of those months. I'll keep it simple and pick up where I left off in my last post....on the hunt for an apartment.

I'll admit, I was a little nervous with what we were finding. I was trying to be humble but some of the apartments would have been a struggle for me to call home, especially with a toddler. And the apartments that were nice and clean were way out of our budget. Then we came across a new, unfurnished apartment that would be on the higher end of our budget but we knew we could call it home.

I was excited! I actually prayed for the apartment! If you know our family's past, then you know we have traveled and lived in different places, some a little rough. So to find a place to call home, in a foreign country that we now call home, was a big moment in my life as a woman, wife and mother.

Sure does make JuJu look tiny!

We were able to furnish our home with items donated to us by a wonderful mission organization called Missions Without Boarders (http://www.mwbi.org). We would not have been able to furnish our home without their giving, and they gave abundantly too!

So there you have it! We have a wonderful home in Moldova!

But I can't write this post without saying how grateful I am to so many who have helped us have a home. My heart and family are truly grateful for your support in helping us. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your support.