Letter to Saydee

Dear Saydee,
Your letter to me on the Abel Family Blog made my day. You are such an amazing girl. I miss you so much when you are at home in Idaho and not here in Utah spending time with us. So many times you have made my day a little brighter. Sometimes, when I am sad, I think about you and then I am happy again. I know we are always going to be the best of friends. Thank you for loving me.

Love,
Aunt Kirsten

Christmas in Taiwan

I was just sitting here, thinking about my Christmas in Taiwan. That was an unforgettable experience. Christmas in a non-Christian country is something one should try to experience if at all possible. My roommate and I decided to open presents at midnight. She had put up a green tinsel tree. It was realIy cool and made an apt pine tree substitute. I remember I gave myself a camera and my roomie said it matched my hair. I don't remember what I gave or anything else I got. Sunshine (as much as comes to Taiwan in December), and rain, not snow were the main patterns in weather. I remember being so glad that I didn't have to deal with the snow. I remember we didn't get a couple of weeks off. We got Christmas Day off. Instead of hearing Christmas Carols in September, (okay, I exaggerate) I remember hearing some pretty lame Australian carols in the super market about a week before Christmas. My ward met and we barbequed. Taiwanese BBQ is pretty amazing. If I recall correctly, the brethren barbequed fish so tender it fell off the bones and sweet potatoes and corn, I think. One of the counselors in the bishopric picked me and my roommate up and drove us to the lakeside where we met for the BBQ. I took a walk with friends around the lake and got to see the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. It was really awesome to celebrate the birth of the Savior with my dear friends in Asia.

I've got some pictures and I'll have to post them later.
As promised...here are a couple of pictures.

La multi ani, draga mea prietena!

The following is meant for a dear friend on her birthday.

Ce pot sa spun? Cuvintele au scapat. Esti prietena mea cea mai buna. Fara tine cred ca m-as simti pierduta. Din cauza ta, ma simt nevoita. Multumesc pentru memorii frumoase. Eu sper ca in aceasta zi minunata in care sarbatorim ziua ta de nastere ca vei avea tot ce iti doresti. Iti urez fericire deplina si o zi senina. Ma gandesc la tine in continuare si imi pare rau ca nu pot sa fiu chiar in prezenta ta.

Cel mai bun dar care ti-l pot da este cunostiinta mea in legatura cu evanghelia restaurata. Tot ce s-a intamplat, tot ceea ce am predat ca misionare este adevarata.

Te iubesc, draga mea sora.

Techies are Getting Younger

Here's a picture of my 3 year old niece, Emma, watching "Dora the Explorer" on my iPod. She looks a little too comfortable with the technology, doesn't she?

Thanksgiving Afterword

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Like many of you, perhaps even most of you, I spent the day with the majority of my family. It was grand fun. The day was a gorgeous day. I can't actually remember a warmer Thanksgiving or one with as much sunshine as this one. Adults chatted, children played. There was food galore. The turkey was amazing. The ham juicy and the pies...well, they would have won first prize at any state fair. Here are some pictures of the day and a couple are from Friday and Saturday.

Girls' Night Out

The day before Thanksgiving, I had a sleepover with four of my seven nieces. We watched "Barnyard," ate popcorn and all slept in my room. Before we all woke up, I had four young girls in my bed. They all slept well, I on the other hand, didn't get much sleep at all. That is a small price to pay

Cozonac

Where else but Romania would you find a recipe for something with a prep time of one hour forty-five minutes and a cooking time of one hour, yet, in the actual recipe there is a wait time of 2-3 hours? Gotta love it. Here is the recipe for the famous Romanian Panetone that I have in a book by Nicolae Keppler called, Taste of Romania. If you make it, I hope you enjoy it. My first Christmas in Romania, I ate gobs and gobs of this stuff and even though I thought I might burst, I enjoyed every bite.

5 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 oz. yeast*
1/2 cup milk
8 egg yolks, for the dough
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
8 oz. raisins
grated rind of 1 lemon
7 cups all purpose flour
8 oz. butter, melted
2 tbsp. dark rum
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. cooking oil
2 egg yolks, for glaze
2 tbsp. cold water
2 oz. walnuts, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup powder sugar (optional)

Makes enough for one 9 x 5 x 3 in. loaf pan, and one 9 in. round cake pan.
Preparation time: 1 hour, 45 minutes, not counting standing time., cooking time: 1 hour

• In a small bowl, put 5 tbsp. flour.
• In a small kettle, h eat 3/4 cup milk to boiling. Stir it into the 5 tbsps. Flour, and beat with wooden spoon until the mixture becomes a smooth paste without lumps. Let cool about 10 minutes.
• In the same kettle, heat another 3/4 cup milk until it is just lukewarm. If it gets hot, let it cool down, as hot milk will kill yeast. In a small bowl, pour the lukewarm milk over the yeast. Crumble the yeast with a spoon, and stir until it is completely dissolved.
• Add the yeast mixture to the flour paste, and beat with a fork or wire whisk until large air bubbles appear. Cover the bowl with a cloth and keep near a source of warmth, such as a radiator or on the stove if other food is cooking. Allow the mixture to rise (at least 15 min.)
• In the same kettle, heat the rest of the mild until it is lukewarm. Do not overheat.
• Warm a large bowl to room temperature. Pour lukewarm milk into the bowl. While you start the dough, keep the bowl warm. Add, one by one, in this sequence: first the 8 egg yolks; stir with the wooden spoon; then the superfine sugar, and raisins, followed by lemon rind, the yeast mixture, and finally the rest of the flour. At first, continue to use the wooden spoon to stir, pushing the dough inward from the edges of the bowl. Then start kneading the dough with buttered hands.
• Keep kneading the dough energetically. From time to time, add a bit of melted butter. After kneading about 15-20 minutes, the dough will begin to detach itself from your hands and bowl. Use just enough butter to free the dough completely from your hands and form a moist, pliable ball. It will probably take about 6 oz. Save the rest.
• Wash your hands to remove the rest of any sticky dough. Then add the rum, vanilla, and oil. Continue to knead the dough for another 2-3 minutes. Cover the bowl with a cloth and, if possible, also warm a blanket or towel. Keep in a warm area for 2-3 hours. Yeast grows best at a temperature of 80-85 degrees F. Check after two hours. The dough should rise to double the original size.
• Punch the dough down with your fist, then with your hands dipped in melted butter, knead the dough for another 5-10 minutes.
• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Keep your hands lubricated with butter and butter deep baking tins. It doesn’t really matter what shape they are. Twist big pieces of the dough several times, and place in the baking pans so to fill them not more than one half of their height. Then cover the tins with a cloth and blanket. Keep in a warm place and let stand another 1-1 1/2 hours. The dough will rise to the top of the pans.
• Mix the remaining egg yolks with 2 tbsps. Cold water, and brush the top of the dough with a pastry brush. Sprinkle walnuts and a few raisins on the dough. Bake for one hour, or until a knife plunged through the middle of the cake comes out clean and dry.
• Remove cakes from the pans, cool on wire racks away from drafts. If you wish, while the cakes are still hot, you can sprinkle them with confectioners sugar or walnuts, or both.