Hobbies

Sorted the cranberries and almonds out of some trail mix friends left me. 

You may not think this is blog worthy but it made my day so it gets a post. Yesterday I managed to make a cranberry, almond rugelach (Rug·e·lach  /ˈrəgələKH/ Noun: A bite-size cookie of jewish origin made with cream-cheese dough rolled around a filling of nuts, poppy seed paste, or  jam) which tasted awesome!! I shared with team mates and the nurses out in the clinic.

Cut them, rolled them then baked them up! 

Tried to take a picture of the clinic staff having out usual "breaktea" together, this time with American tea and the sweets, but they were horrified that I was going to take the picture with dirty cups and plates in it. So they cleaned them all up before they would let me take the picture. Oh well. 

On another hobbies related note I’ve also built a hydroponics system in my back yard. One year ago a visiting team build this system for the street boys home (history here and here).  The homeless boys and their "counselors" had managed to get it to work but it was really not flourishing the way I expected it to. So last month when they had to move from their previous location to a new place I offered to help them move it and they said they were not in a position to reconstruct it at their new place yet, so because it had 4 living fish in it and I couldn't just let them die I ended up with the whole mess. And because I don't have a bath tub to keep tilapia in, I took a day, dismantled it, transported it, reassembled it and refilled it back at my house. I've been adjusting and tinkering with it for weeks now and it finally seems to be taking off. The fish have grown about a 1/2 inch and there are a variety of fruits and veggies in it.  I don't expect to be here for harvest but in the not so distant future I expect the Tiesenga family will be having  a dinner of fresh fish, green beans and watermelon!

I estimate that I lose almost .5 liters of water a day to evaporation but it is better now that it is partially shaded. 

The top section where the fish food grows. 

You will have to trust me that there are fish living in there. 

Beans for the nitrogen, watermelon for future shade, and lettuce and spinach because I like them!