Dear Diary,
How odd it is that a land proclaimed to be a dry, hot land is now cold and frozen. It’s been 3 days since this city became covered in a one-inch layer of ice, in what I have just found out has been labeled “icemageddon”. No sun has appeared; it has remained hidden behind the clouds that enveloped the sky. Thankfully, I had restocked my provisions before the storm, not even aware of its imminent arrival.
I managed to trek the frozen tundra twice, but not without slipping once and some very careful footing on hazardous terrain. The natives here do not seem to know that salt melts ice, or that ice is treacherous for walking and driving. On my exploration, I found humans who had decided to attempt moving around in their vehicles, both large and small…some only to obtain food provisions from the local drive-in.
We are fortunate than most, having resources that many do not have. We have done what we can do remain warm, fed and sane. Still, provisions are waning and morale is falling. There is only so much Arabic one can study and movies one can watch in a period of time before one goes crazy.
Thus, the baking bug took hold of me rather quickly. Thursday evening, the night of the storm, I made chocolate chip cookies, using Chocolate Covered Katie’s Chocolate chip cookies for two…tripling the recipe to make it cookies for “six”. Feda, the person with which I share my living space, liked these of all the chocolate chip cookies I’ve made so far. I used all-purpose flour and made no changes to the recipe (besides tripling it).
The next day, feeling the need to bake once more, I made CCK’s double chocolate chip brownie cookies, using carob instead of cocoa and regular chocolate chips instead of mini ones. I had made these as instructed the previous week (no pictures, unfortunately), but for whatever reason, the dough was quite crumbly and fell apart before and after baking. I found that refrigerating the cookies kept them held together, as the coconut oil (used in the recipe) hardened. Therefore, this time, I lessened the coconut oil to 4 TBSP and added (unsweetened vanilla) coconut milk (carton, not can), as needed until the dough held together well. I used sprouted whole wheat flour.
It almost seemed like the end was near on day three, when Feda and I ventured out to the cold and icy world and found that much of the ice was melting. Not wanting to bake any more sweets (especially since many cookies were still remaining from the previous bakings), I decided to make and bake sweet potato fries and chips, adding in some Brussel sprouts. After cutting them up into the desired shapes and sizes, the fries, chips and sprouts (which came frozen in a bag) were coated with Trader Joe’s coconut oil spray, sprinkled with salt and smoked paprika (one batch) and curry powder (the second batch). They were placed in a 425 degree oven until tender.
If Cabin Fever hasn’t hit me yet, it may hit by tomorrow. We’re praying for sun and warmer weather to melt this ice so that we may escape the confinement we have been placed under. Hope is all we can hold on to….
Done in the oven 