Day 21 - Carrot stew with smoked pork

Today is parent-teacher conference day at the project. Therefore (and because the teachers are attending a training), there is no afternoon classes. Maggie and I volunteered to supervise the children between 11:30 am and 1:00 pm. The children can still have lunch, but then everyone has to leave because then the parents are expected. As I later heard, 75 parents, mostly mothers, came out of a total of 220 children. I find that very impressive for a neighborhood like Pantanal. This speaks for the project, but also for the parents.

Yes, and afterwards I had to go shopping for the typical German dish. I had actually decided on minced meat or meatballs as the meat side dish. But then I actually found smoked pork chops at the supermarket! I bought carrots, potatoes and an onion at the market. If I hadn't been so busy watching my pink bike and my backpack, I would have taken photos. They sell whatever their own garden produces. Some people have only a small table, some have a real stand. The produce doesn't meet Euro standard curvature and uniform diameter. The carrots, for example, are lumpy and some are burst. It's fun to wander through the narrow aisles. There are many unknown fruits and vegetables. And in between, there's all sorts of other things: clothes, household items, spices, etc.

I started sweating a lot while cooking. There was no sharp knife in the drawer, I couldn't handle the antique peeler, even with instructions from the daughter of the house. The trick was to use it upside down, but I couldn't even manage that. Katia took care of it for me. It looked very easy for her. Then suddenly (from the bedroom?) a large sharp knife appeared. Thank goodness. Cutting four kilos of vegetables into 1x1 cm cubes with a small blunt knife...

I left half of my culinary delights for the family to have for dinner. I'm excited to hear what they'll say tomorrow.

Our meeting took place at Keeley's house. An old, typical colonial house, beautifully renovated. Lovely. It just lacked the turkey for the Thanksgiving happiness.

Photo 1: in Keeley's house

Photo 2: Marianne's house.

Mariana is in the "Cats" class. On Fridays, when there is no classes, I regularly see her in front of her house. She stands next to a simple grill and sells something ... grilled, that is. Today I took a photo, without Mariana. Beautiful contrast.