Family stuff

Maddy and Sofia hit it off right away at church - they are inseparable! / below - Sigel and Maddy watching Tristan and John play Soccer.

Sigel and John were playing catch / below -our outdoor cooking stove



Last weekend we had a cookout at our house with 2 of our neighbors. This was a big deal meal :). It's called Estofado - and it's a meat that you have to cook for 12 hours before it's ready to eat. apparently it's a really expensive plate to buy at a restaurant and it's a luxury. We've gotten to know our neighbors pretty well since living here - they have been so kind to us and I hang out with the ladies at least once a week - we go walking or something. I've taught them how to make banana bread and now they've taught me how to make this Estofado.

Estodafo is a piece of roast beef basically that you cut a pocket into the middle of and then you make a stuffing of tomato, onion, pepper, potatoes, carrots, hamburger meat, sausage meat, and seasonings - then you stuff the pocket full - put it in a big pot and cook it over a fire for 12 hours until it's all really soft and smooth - then you add tomato paste, seasonings, more of the stuffing stuff, cilantro, and other stuff and let it cook a little longer. Serve with rice and tortillas. So Claudia, Carmen, and I started cooking Friday morning - after preparing the meat in the morning we cooked it all afternoon and evening on our outdoor adobe stove (cool huh!) and then again in the morning on Saturday - then the rest of their families came over and we ate it for lunch! There were over 15 of us and we had tons of leftovers. (it was over 15lbs of meat!). it was a fun, new cultural experience for us!

Then that night they invited the boys to play soccer at a field with them - so we went that night and Tristan, Sigel, and John (our intern) all played soccer for 2 hours.

It was a lot of fun!