Ginger Pumpkin Souffle

On my recent trip to the US, a friend gave me a little treasure to bring back to Nicaragua, a beautiful can of pumpkin. Needless to say, pumpkins are not plentiful around here and I haven't had this flavor for two years!

So I thought long and hard about how I would use this precious commodity well and eventually decided on 'Ginger Pumpkin Souffle' from Epicurious.

Soooo creamy, so good, so embodies the taste of fall.

A few notes -

Top it with dulce de leche and you won't be sorry.

It calls for 3/4 cup sugar, but in the actual directions call for it two times, so you actually need 1 1/2 cups of sugar.

It calls for soymilk, I used reguar, no problem.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unsweetened soymilk, not low- or no-fat
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup solid-pack canned pumpkin
8 large egg whites

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 8 6-ounce ramekins. In medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, bring soy milk to boil. Add ginger, remove pan from heat, cover, and let steep 30 minutes. Strain soy milk, discarding ginger, and set aside.

In large nonreactive bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk in flour until well combined. Gradually add hot milk, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. Return yolk mixture to saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until custard boils and thickens enough to coat back of a spoon, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl, whisk in pumpkin purée, and set aside.

Using electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg whites until foamy and slightly opaque. With mixer running, add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/3 of egg whites into pumpkin mixture to lighten, then add mixture to remaining whites, folding in gently but thoroughly. Spoon batter into ramekins, filling almost to top, and lightly run finger around inside rim to create a "moat." Place ramekins in large baking pan. Place baking pan on middle oven rack and add hot water around ramekins to depth of 1 inch. Bake until soufflés have risen well above rim and tops are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Serve immediately.

Note: Silk brand soy milk, available in most supermarkets, is recommended for its rich, fresh flavor and creamy consistency.

We've Got a Lot of Work to Do!

So we're getting back to work!

What? We weren't working?

Ok, well we were always working, but over the last month, we were just finishing up jobs that we had already started, like a temporary school and kitchen for the 80 kids moving into the four houses in December. But now we can start the next houses!

All because NPH's National Director had a meeting with the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega yesterday. Well, him and many many other people.

You see, for the last several months, the government of Nicaragua has been talking about non-profits being the center of money laundering in Nicaragua. NPH received notice about two months ago that we would be audited (along with lots of other non-profits). And about a month ago, it was announced that street children would go to foster homes and all other children's homes would be shut down (and here at NPH we stopped making contracts for future construction work).

Remaking an cow feed shelter into a four classroom school

Apparently that was a miscommunication.

In the meeting, the Sandanistas announced that they would not be shutting down all of the orphanages in the country, but that with teamwork and financial transparency we would continue on together.

So we're getting back to work!

Closing up the fire stove to funnel smoke outside (and it's being painted)

Hypercolor Capitol

Photo taken on a little trip in October

One week to go, are you ready?

When Life Hands You Limes

Make Limonada! Seriously! It sounds cheesy, but sooooo good.

Just grab a bunch of limes from your tree.

Peel them (it makes the juice less bitter).

For every 1/2 cup lime juice, add: 1/8 cup sugar and 3/4 cup water.

Notes: squeeze through a sieve or cheesecloth to keep seeds out.

Enjoy in front of your favorite volcano!

Longer Nights

Winter is coming. The last ferry sails through the darkness.

But it's still hot.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Rainy rainy rainy season. Today we've got the tail of a tropical depression swinging through and so everything gets soaked: the ground, the plants, the dogs, you, the roof (which then starts to leak for the first time ever).

It's this time of year, these last few months, that everything grows like crazy preparing for the months of hot and humid air.

Gunther fights his way through the baby-elephant-eye-high grasses that have grown up covering a dirt road in the last six months.

This leads to pruning season, it is generally any time before the end of the rainy season. Pruning here, I think, would generally be considered something along the lines of chopping in less fruitful climes.

Here, it's just getting things a little under control, because soon, they'll be back with a vengeance!

Chop, chop, chop!

What do Hurricanes Ike, Hanna, Gustav and Faye Have in Common?

There are times I feel very lucky to been in a country as relatively well off as Nicaragua (no extremely catastrophic natural disasters to affect every corner of the country in almost 10 years!).

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

The Dominican Republic isn't far behind.

They both occupy the island of Hispaniola and they both have been hit by successive hurricanes Faye, Gustav, Hanna and Ike in the space of a few weeks.


They also both have NPH homes for orphaned and abandoned children and those homes are struggling to meet the needs of the children and their surrounding communities in the wake of such disaster.

For more information and ways you can help, go to www.nph.org. Following is a letter about the desperate situation from Father Rick in Haiti.

The NPH truck of water and supplies.

"Hello to all,

With much difficulty and facing raging nature in the form of winds and rains and flash floods we were able to get to Gonaives to help the sisters of Mother Teresa who are friends of ours as of 20 years they have sent many children to our orphanage over the years and we have helped them with many medical cases.

Some of their patients drowned in their house and the sisters were on the roof for 3 days unable to come down.

In any case we made it to Gonaives with 5 truckloads of help.

(We supplied) Mostly drinking water which is rare we went with 21,000 servings of water it is prepared like a glass of water in a small plastic bag.


We brought a ton of food and dry clothes and a pump, generator and gas to pump the water out of the compound.


We left last night but got caught between 2 raging rivers and spent the night in the trucks wondering what would happen to us and how we would cross but we fought our way through mud and waters today and made it to Port-au-Prince where all the bridges around our hospital are destroyed and there is massive flooding in parts of Port-au-Prince, and cabaret it is a very tragic situation.

As you know our orphanage had extensive damage but no one was harmed we will be without electricity for a few months I am sure.

As you know we had the effects of hurricane Ike last night so even though we left Gonaives it is flooded again to 3 meters as i write and by cell phone we know the sisters are back on the roof.

Tropical storms Faye, Gustav, Hanna and Hurricane Ike have displaced about 1,000,000 people in Haiti due to floods from a government source I heard today.

Best regards your prayers are appreciated.

fr rick"