Welcome to Cindyville

My Week in Food

Friday (date of my last blog) –
Lunch: In town at local eatery. Fried fish, rice with coconut milk, and a lone piece of island
cabbage that looked even lonelier when it was the last thing left on my plate. I did not eat it. I dislike island cabbage (it is kind of slimy) and I try to avoid eating it when possible.
Dinner: “Hamburgers” – 50% lean, 50% grissel and fat. Patties with regular slices of bread
for buns. Kumala (sweet potato) cakes with ketchup. Burger toppings available: onion and ketchup.

Saturday -
Breakfast: Bread with Peanut Butter and Jam, and hot drinks (tea for Aaron, coffee for me,
hot cocoa for the girls)
Lunch: Rice with pumpkin leaf and ramen noodle soup and a chunk of pig meat on top. (I
think I got the knee joint)
Dinner: Manioc laplap with chicken pieces

Sunday (Aaron, Kaela and I got a stomach bug Saturday night) –
Breakfast: The usual for Aaron, Kaela (they were better by morning) and Melia. No
breakfast for me. I was still sick.
Lunch: I boiled some kumala and sent cucumbers down to Loun Village for them to share
after woship. I stayed home with the bug.
Dinner: Ramen noodles and canned tuna

Monday (feeling much better!) –
Breakfast: the usual
Lunch: Boiled susut leaf with coconut milk, rice and canned tuna
Dinner: USA night! Spaghetti (no meat) with chocolate pudding for dessert

Tuesday –
Breakfast: the usual
Lunch: “Tortilla soup” (only without all the stuff in it – broth only) with onions and ramen
noodles in it. Flour tortillas on the side
Dinner: Tuna fish cakes, rice with leftover soup

Wednesday –
Breakfast: The last of the bread. :o(
Lunch: Boiled manioc root with coconut milk and rice noodles with curry on the side
Dinner: Corn cakes and baked beans

Thursday –
Breakfast: 1 leftover corn cake a piece, plus breakfast crackers with PB and Jam
Lunch: Boiled susut leaf with coconut milk, ramen noodles, canned tuna
Dinner: Not sure yet. We are scheduled to walk (45min.) down to Loun for a Bible study. I
will take rice and canned tuna just in case we share some food there with the people. If we don’t eat there, we will come home and have flour tortillas with eggs for dinner.

We had hoped (and planned) to buy blocks of ice in Lenakel town each week, but last week found out the machine was broken and who knows when it will be fixed or a new machine will arrive. The ice would have provided us with meat for several days, as well as, cold milk and such. What to do?

Our food situation is of daily concern to me because I realize that we are consuming more starch than we ought and not nearly enough veggies and meat. And yet, there seems to be no way around it. The recent cyclone hit Tanna’s crops pretty hard, wiping out their green beans, eggplant and other veggies. At least we have cucumbers. I look forward to breakfast each day simply because I know we will NOT be having ramen noodles or tuna! Ha! We certainly have enough to eat – just not much variety. I have promised myself that I will take cooking meals one day at a time. In the mean time, I’m learning what it means to trust God to provide food for our family as I never have had to before. Pray for us (and that we might find a way to get some refridgerated food).