Cream of Carrot Soup

It's good to be home. It was good to be back on the border, and we had a fantastic retreat--I have many things I want to share with you in the weeks to come--but I also couldn't help feeling a sense of great relief when I stumbled through the door at 3 in the morning, Licha lying half-asleep on the couch, Ruti and Hervey snoring gently in their room, and my nephews each muttering different stories to each other in their sleep on Licha's spare bed. There is a certain kind of stillness in this noisy household that I missed more than I had realized.
Saturday I decided to enjoy that stillness by ignoring my computer, my cell phone, my camera--anything with a battery or a plug. I knit and read all day long. Except for the half hour I spent in the kitchen, learning to make my favorite soup.  I wanted to share the recipe with you, although it's a little out of season for most of you, I think.

Licha's Cream of Carrot Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients:

• 6 carrots
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1cm slice of onion
• 1Tbsp consommé powder
• water
• butter

Directions:

1. wash carrots, cut in 1/2inch slices
2. boil carrots in water with a pad of butter until soft, but not mushy; drain
3. blend carrots, garlic, and onion until smooth
4. add evaporated milk; blend again to mix
5. melt a large pad of butter in a pot; add carrot mixture and a can of water
6. add consommé powder and heat to serve
7. top with sour cream

You're a fool if you think I took the time to take a picture of my soup.
I am mostly in the business of eating, and not of making things look pretty.
This one belongs here.

Isn't that the easiest thing you've ever heard of? And it has the added bonus of being delicious and mostly nutritious.

ProTips:

• You can substitute any kind of milk you have on hand, but I'd advise using more milk instead of adding water for the sake of the texture. 
• You can also cut out the butter in the carrot-cooking step for less fat content, but the butter added to the soup helps the carrot not burn. 
• I have no tips for reducing sodium content, but maybe there's low-sodium consommé in the States?
• I can't get my hands on any here, but I have a suspicion that plain yogurt would be amazing instead of sour cream.

aaaaaaaaand We're off!

Just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry, but I won't be writing a post this week. I've been busy all this past week getting read for our border retreat (I'm still trying to do do laundry in preparation--whoops), and we leave tomorrow morning SUPER early.
Speaking of, did you know that there's a special word in Spanish for the part of the morning when no one in their right mind is awake? Anything between 1 (or later, depending on how late the speaker tends to go to bed) and 5 am isn't la mañana, but las madrugadas. I think that's pretty nifty.
Please continue to hold all of us YAGM-Mexico folk in the light during our week of travel, as well as our communities in Cuernavaca and the people we'll be visiting. I know this will be an exciting and difficult week for all of us, full of opportunities to learn and grow. I'm excited to be "going home" to that troubled and beautiful region known as la frontera.

happy birthday to you!

Another year older, pops. Good work. Keep it up.

Newsletter

My December/January newsletter is now posted here.

Links to YAGM Blogs

I've been trying to focus in the new year on keeping in touch better with people. It can be hard to fully live in the moment here while I'm constantly thinking about things back home, and missing things is not exactly my favorite game. Honestly, sometimes trying to reach out just makes me want to hole up in my house and forget the whole thing.
I'm still not good at calling people on their birthdays. I haven't written any more letters to people in the States. I continue to waste too much time on facebook snooping on people's pages I haven't talked to in six years. But I'm taking baby steps. A couple emails here. An impromptu skype call there.
We've now hit mid-year in YAGM. My time in Mexico is half over. Of all of the things I wanted to do in the last six months and didn't, I only have that much time again to try and fit them in. And there are new holidays to experience, new people to meet. I can't do it all. It's overwhelming. Add to that the anxiety of knowing that as quickly as all this started, it will be over twice as fast. What will my life look like when I get off that plane on July 15th (yep, it's official--I'm coming "home" on July 15th)? Where will I be living? Will I have a job? But mostly, I wonder who will be ready to help me carry the weight of what I have experienced here? With whom will I share the stories I could never write down?
One of the things I've found remarkably helpful is reading the blogs of my fellow YAGMs in other countries. Although we are worlds apart from one another, it's good to know that what I'm feeling isn't completely insane. Good to know that there are people who can understand what this year means to me. Good to know that I am not going to have these experiences at the expense of ever being able to feel at home in the States again. I know that I find these posts interesting for different reasons than you might, but I wanted to share a couple of them anyway.
I'll share Christine's post first, because I think it wonderfully sums up my mid-year transition feelings. Christine serves in South Africa.
Liz is in Slovakia. I loved her recent reflections on names. As a frequent name-changer myself, I know exactly what you mean.
Kate shares some really helpful information on marianismo, which I didn't even know was a thing, and the good (gasp!) parts of machismo, which I spend more time than I should feeling aggravated about.