Eating Green for Life Blog

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote on Toast for Breakfast

And the recipes are back! Now with my free time this summer and more delicious vegetables during the summer months, the updates should be more regular.

Notes: I use this as a delicious, summery topping. My favorite uses are for toast, ice cream, or pancakes but you can try it on nearly anything you like. Because rhubarb and strawberries are early summer roots/fruits, right now is the time to make this. It stores and freezes easily so you can save it for later months if you want. I prefer my compote to be less sweet but if you want, you can add up to 3 times the amount of agave nectar I use.
Agave Nectar: I use this for the compote because it is a healthy sweetener that is already in liquid form. If you don’t have this, you can substitute an equal amount of white sugar. It will dissolve when the water boils. You can find agave nectar in most health food stores.

Time: 10 minutes
Cost: $8
Servings: 8 or more

Ingredients:
4 pieces of fresh rhubarb, cleaned and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 quart of strawberries, cleaned, stemmed and halved
2 tablespoons agave nectar or sugar
water

Rhubarb and Strawberries from the Wicker Park Farmer's Market

Recipe:

Put the rhubarb in a pan and add water to reach half-way along the sides of the rhubarb.

Add agave nectar or sugar.

Bring the water to a boil and leave boiling for 5 minutes.

Boiling the Rhubarb and Agave Nectar or Sugar

Add the strawberries and boil for another 2 minutes.

Adding the Strawberries to the Compote

Leave in pan to combine flavors for another 10 minutes.

Flavors taste best if you let them sit overnight and use them the following day but you can use them immediately if you would like warm compote

As an update on how the Guatemala Crew is surviving, well we are but by a thread. This week alone the explosion of Volcan de Pacaya has shut down Guate and another city we would have to travel through to reach the beach. To top off the good luck, it has been a non-stop torrential downpour for 48 hours straight, to be followed by another 12 days. The house next to us is already filled with water… we are just hoping that ours stays alright.

To get an idea of what we are dealing with, you can check out Prensa Libre site if you can read spanish:

Last weekend was a blast as you can see from the photos. We went to Lago Atitlan where we crammed 7 of us into a rickshaw to travel to a beautiful vista point to take pictures. Then spent the afternoon shopping followed by perhaps the best dinner that we have had in Guatemala so far- an 8 course candelight meal in our hotel… delicious!

The folllowing morning we hiked a mountain outside of San Pedro. It was definitely a challenging hikes but we finished in around 3 hours. You can check out the posted photos to get a view of what we did. We finished the day with an even more lovely 8 course meal yet again. Went back to Xela on Monday.

Spent the week in some intense clinic days with salsa dancing at night!

So this weekend we are stuck in Xela due to the torrential storms and volcanic explosions. We are trying to make the best of it and treating ourselves to some really nice meals… I am somewhat disappointed that my last weekend is spent here but I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to leave next weekend!

For those of you who know about my love of Kombucha, Guatemala just got much better… I found a place that sells liters of Kombucha. ROCKSTAR!

Will upload more photos and posts once I have time. We have literally been working for 10 hours straight in the clinic and in classes every day!

So as an update to how Guatemala has been…

Saturday: Kim, Sabrina and I all joined a Pop Wuj trip to La Laguna. Although our guide, Alberto, told us it would be an easy 1.5 hour hike up. We soon realized that it would take around 3 hours in one direction, straight uphill, to make it to this sacred Mayan gem. It was an arduous hike that Sabrina and I barely made it through while Kim basically led the pack. The Laguna was absolutely beautiful. Because we are so high up the clouds rolled in every ten minutes or so making the laguna invisible to see. When we finally got back, our legs were shaking from the workout.

However, we didn’t even take a break to rest before heading out to the XelaJu-Municipal Final Futbol game to decide who would represent Guatemala in the Central American cup. It was the first time that XelaJu has had a final game IN Xela so it was a big event for everyone here. Since Xela is considered the “Second City” in Xela, like most underdogs, the fans are INTENSE. People lined up at 6am to get the best seats. They waited in scalding heat and then EIGHT HOURS OF RAIN! We got there around 4p so we stood in rain for 4 hours till the game began. Yes, for those of you who are unfamiliar with Central American Futbol games, there are fireworks in the stands, people throw fireballs at the police, and yes, they also throw bags of urine at them. It was everything we hoped for and more… until the XelaJu decided not to play. Chicagoians, they were much like the Bears. They controlled the ball 75% of the time but couldn’t score once while the Municipal team scored twice when they had control… in the first half alone. We left at halftime for fear of both a riot and hypothermia…. it was an experience to say the least.

Sunday: We took a trip to Fuentes Georginas, natural hot springs an hour outside of the city of Xela. Beautiful hot springs nestled in the middle of several volcanoes. We took a bus to a pickup truck to the hot springs and enjoyed a well-deserved 3 hours soaking in hot water. We were the only gringas to be found, and once again Kim and I forgot to bring our very conservative suits… so we definitely looked like outsiders. It was beautiful scenery and afterwords my legs definitely felt better.

During the week everyone became much more comfortable in their Spanish. I finally feel like I’m not in a country that speaks a foreign language. We have taken advantage of some of the diversions Xela has to offer- salsa dancing, chocolate shops, delicious cheapo restaurants, Avocados galore (yes we definitely made guacamole for the school with over 40 avocados… at an exchange rate of 8 quetzales to 1 dollar, avocados cost less than 30 cents each). This weekend we look forward to an exciting  trip to Lago Atitlan where we will climb yet another volcano and enjoy the tranquility of our private hotel. More pictures to be posted soon!

View from Antigua

Best Food Ever

El Rio de Lava

Volcan de Fuego exploding

We have finished our first week at Pop Wuj, our new home. It has been exhausting but exciting time.

Xela is a great place to learn Spanish since most people don´t speak English. We wake up and speak spanish to our 4 siblings at the breakfast table. Then we work in the clinic with patients, stock the pharmacy (check out the pictures below), or in my case, follow the conmadrona (midwife) in a small village an hour outside of Xela. Take an hour lunch then have 4 hours of  one-on-one school.

Stocking the Pharmacy in Pop Wuj Clinic

The clinic has been a great opportunity. We talk to patients, dispense medications, and work Triage.  For all of you med school nerds, first day there we saw someone with idiopathic  Bell´s Palsy! For the rest of you- its parasites galore; literally 3/4 of the medications we give out are anti-parasite drugs. Today I spent an entire day taking vital signs in Spanish and hopefully next week I will get to actually do patient interviews! Kim has been queen of the pharmacy and Sabrina is queen interpreter.

Spanish class is INTENSE but awesome. If anyone wants to learn spanish and has the opportunity, definitely go to a  Spanish school where you have one-on-one tutoring. They can teach at your learning pace and you get much more time to speak and converse. Here we get 4 hrs in the afternoon because we are honestly too tired for any more than that.

We had the first legit rain of the rainy season today. Good news- It kills all the flies. Bad news- it is REALLY wet.

This weekend we are going on a long hike Saturday to a volcanic crater and then in the afternoon we are going to the final Guatemala futbol game of the season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I´ll update more and post photos tonight!

On Saturday Kim and I went to Volcan de Pacaya, the most active volcano in the Americas (Maybe the world, need to look that up). We lucked out as there had been a recent large eruption that created a rio de lava 5 meters wide! The great thing about being in a relatively unregulated country is that you can get close enough to the lava to roast marshmallows. Yes, they allow you to touch lava that is so hot it melts rocks. Don´t worry mom and dad- we didn´t.

Sunday we took a bus to Xela, our new home for the next 4 weeks for me and 7 weeks for Kim. As luck would have it, Kim´s host family never showed up so we are staying with the same host family a 10 minute walk from school. When we walked in we were immediately introduced to 22 family members. Don´t worry there is only that many people on Sunday. The rest of the week it is just the 5 children, 2 parents, and 2 grandparents. Plus the 1 house dog and 2 security dogs makes it quite a lively house! Everyone is really sweet- they have housed foreign students for years so they all know how to talk VERY slowly and use variations of words to ease the language barrier.

This morning we met up with Sabrina, another amazing person from school with us. She is staying extremely close to the school and will be with us until June 2. We had our orientation to Pop Wuj and we start Medical Spanish classes this afternoon for 4 to 5 hours. Then tomorrow we start our clinic rotations in the morning. Overall it will be around a 9 to 10 hour day so we better be fluent when we return!

Again, will post photos and provide more descriptions later as computer speeds allow! Sending lots of love!

It is May 7, 2010 and this blog is officially being dedicated to my trip to Guatemala. Sorry guys, I’ll update recipes when I get back to Chicago/NYC.

Kim and I both finished a fantastic first year of Medical School and UIC College of Medicine. Literally 20 hours after our last final we were on a plane headed to Guatemala City. Here are some photos from the evening before- having lots of fun before getting 3 hrs of sleep and hopping onto a plane:

We arrived in Guatemala City, on time, with all of our luggage surprisingly enough. Hopped into a Minibus right away to head an hour North-West towards Antigua, Guatemala’s old capital until the 1773 earthquake that destroyed the majority of the buildings. It is filled with old cobblestone streets and colonial houses. Honestly, we literally arrived at Posada Juma Ocag, our hostel, ate dinner and went to bed (yes, at 8pm- pathetic).

Iglesia y Convento de San Agustin, one of our first views in Antigua

We started off our first day with hopes of hot springs… unfortunately Kim thought her contact was stuck to her eye, just to find out she was trying to remove her cornea accidentally- long story but main point is NEVER use my contact solution without its special case. It is now pretty funny considering what a crazy mistake.

We decided to wander around and visit the old churches, convents, and printing presses. Everything has this ancient feel. The building are old and paint is chipping off, yet all the buildings are used so they don´t feel neglected and run down.

Antigua is nessled in between three volcanos: Agua, Fuego (love the creativity in naming), and Acatenango

The city is interesting in that there is a huge amount of wealth- you see teenagers walking around in heels with gaudy purses but it is right on top of massive poverty- old Mayans weaving bags and tapestries for a few pennies. The tapestries are BEAUTIFUL and I will post photos when I get to a faster computer.

The Mayans make tapestries as a form of income. They love bright colors as you can tell...

Built in 1542, destroyed in 1668, rebuilt in 1669 and 1680, damaged by the earthquake in 1773, rebuilt in 1780 and 1820 but still is only a portion of what it once was. The ruins are massive columns with vegetation growing out of every corner. Quite impressive.

Catedral Santiago, at night, adorned with lights. Picture is taken from Parque Central which becomes "lover's park" after dark.

In the guidebook: Make sure to hire a local guide when hiking in the highlands, as they will bring machetes with them- precautionary only, of course. These are in El Museo de Santiago... apparently machetes are a cross-generational theme.

The city has been safe so far and the people are quite accomodating (aka they speak very slowly for us). Tomorrow we head out to Pacaya, an active volcano 1.5 hrs away from Antigua (yes Maggie, we caved). We head out with hopes of poking hot lava with sticks and getting a beautiful view of Guatemala from up high! Then on Sunday we are heading to Xela to meet our families and start our intensive Medical Spanish program.

Will update soon and post photos asap!!

Personal Notes: While looking for a diversion avoid studying for midterms and still be productive, I decided to try making this curry. It is quick and makes a delicious curry, though nothing will ever be as good as my favorite from Pho Grand in St. Louis. It has been almost 3 years since I’ve eaten there. Anyone want to bring me some?

You can use any vegetables you want (or take out any that you don’t want). Other good options are broccoli, baby carrots, water chestnuts, you get the idea. The walnuts add a really nice savory flavor so I suggest keeping those for health fats and lots of vitamins and minerals (and a satiating effect to boot)

Next time, I would increase the amount of chili powder I use to make it spicier, and perhaps increase the curry I use. In terms of the amount of vegetables, it was perfect as is.

Cost: $8
Servings: 6

Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 can (13.5 ounce) coconut milk
• 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 Tablespoon minced fresh garlic
• 1.5 Tablespoons curry powder
• ¼ Teaspoon chili powder
  1 pound carrots, chopped
• 1 red pepper, cut in strips
• 1 cup cauliflower broken into pieces
• 1 cup snap peas
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 cup water
• 1 can (15 ounce) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch whisked into 1/4 cup cold water
• 4 cups cooked brown rice (use frozen pre-cooked to save time)

Toppings:
1-2 limes, juiced
3 green onions, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. In large pot, simmer coconut milk, ginger, garlic and curry power for 2 minutes.
   

   Don't stick to the vegetables listed here. You can use any that you like!

2. Add in all vegetables, salt and pepper and simmer for 8 minutes.
3. Add in water, beans and walnuts and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add cornstarch-water mixture. Simmer for 3 minutes, until sauce is thickened.
5. Serve on brown rice and top each serving with drizzle of lime juice and green onions.