With the addition of the Girls Kitchen and the volunteers cooking for themselves in the café on weekends, the kids have been more involved in preparing food; either by themselves or assisting the adults.

Some things are relatively easy…cooking eggs (from our ducks) for example

Roasting peanuts from the market, grinding them up and mixing them with a little sweetened condensed milk and ground up crackers to make Wat Opot’s famous peanut butter balls!  SORRY, we ate them before I could snap a photo of the finished product!

Mixing pesto from our fresh basil grown near the volunteer dorm

and peeling tomatoes and carrots for some delicious homemade pasta sauce.

But then there is the more work intensive “umboi” or salt/sugar/peppers mixture that they love to dip the tart tamarind fruit into.

Using our very large and heavy Mortar and Pestle the sugar and salt is pounded together with fresh picked chillies.

Until just the right consistency.

Gathering the Tamarind fruit is the more challenging part; although the kids make scampering up the tree look like it’s a walk in the park.  Sometimes you do not even know they are up there until someone drops a piece of the small fruit on your head. If you’re a bit thick headed, or it’s your first time, you don’t realize it’s a child (ahem…usually VENOT!) until everyone around you starts laughing.

Harvesting our fist big batch of coconuts comes with it’s own challenges.

and rewards

Of course what compliments all that hard work gathering our natural foods?  Well, it’s a lot of little baked goods now and again!

Cupcakes for meditation snack!!!

Enjoy!