As I savored a pumpkin muffin yesterday morning it hit me that it was a truly amazing feat to live in Bogota for two years where they did not have pumpkin. I mean we could hoard from the commissary if a shipment came in or we could happen upon it in a random shipment, this is in a can. But when you think of mums and large, happy pumpkins they just didn’t exist. I so missed the seasons shifting and the fall abundance! Come to think of it while Seth is allocating US monies for South America I should really help him see the need for aid workers to be teaching Colombian farmers the pumpkin growing trade. Great for the country’s economy, or maybe just for morale of Americans in the country.  Multiple news stories have advertized Colombia getting more and more attractive to tourists and expats alike. But let’s be honest, a world without pumpkins is still not fully seeing the light.  Sending you Bogota folks lots of pumpkin love!

Last week I made Edie’s (from Life in Grace) soup that I shared with you last year. It’s Chipotle Pumpkin Soup with Barley and Chicken!  When you read the recipe it will sound strange but it is oh so delicious! And even the boys eat it and love it! It’s kind of like a fall curry.

Trader Joe’s is hopping with pumpkin goodness these days!! I grabbed a box of their pumpkin cranberry scones.

Next up on the pumpkin docket are…

Frosted Pumpkin Cake 

Pumpkin and Sage Sausage Pasta

and of course there will be pumpkin bread and pancakes as the fall months go on!

Speaking of pumpkins, I feel like I have a large one growing inside me. Her limbs often feel like a pokey pumpkin stem! 35 weeks on Wed and counting down!! We were worried on Friday night that I might be in labor but things slowed down. I am slowly lowering my caseload numbers and really crossing my fingers that my water won’t break in a patient’s home.

In Bogota, I had the privilege of being in the South African ladies club. It wasn’t actually a club, I am being silly but I met 2 great girls that were my age and in the baby phase and we spent lots of time together. We did lots of playing with babies, planned trips, went through a couple of exercise phases together, shared recipes, chatted about parenting, husbands and dreamed of when and how we would be living somewhere a little cleaner and safer that the BOG. A visit with Kima and Bronwyn rarely took place without Bronwyn’s bran muffins…or a cup of tea. The group slowly expanded as we met new friends. And the muffins and tea continued!

We now all find ourselves in places much cleaner and safer than Bogota. Whew. And even now, every couple of months I get a craving and mix up a big double batch to pop in the fridge and pull out when we need them. They are the kind that you can mix up and will last 30 days in the fridge. You scoop out batter into muffin tins and you have fresh hot muffins in minutes. They were the perfect solution post-baby because we were all growing tired of cereal and yogurt. They are so easy to mix up and you can add or subtract based on what your family likes. Owen is my super picky guy as I have mentioned before and I was able to make him think he was getting cupcakes for breakfast. After seeing that he would eat them I stirred in some pumpkin puree to his batch and sure enough I bamboozled him on that too! He loves them.

ta da! don’t they look yummy!

I asked Bron if she would mind me sharing this around and she agreed! So here it is in her writing! If you need me to decode for you let me know (hint: bi carb is their word for Baking Soda)

Is nice and easy so here goes:

2  EGGS
half cup OIL
1 and a half cups BROWN SUGAR
2 and a half cups MILK
2 cups DIGESTIVE BRAN
2 and a half cups NUTTY WHEAT FLOUR OR JUST NORMAL SELF RAISING WHEAT FLOUR  (I use whatever flour I have..normally a mix of wheat and white all purpose flour)
half tsp SALT
2 and a half tsp BI-CARB OF SODA
1 tsp VANILLA ESSENCE
2 tsp CHOPPED OR SLICED ALMONDS (or any other nuts) – optional
500g DATES or RAISINS – optional
half cup COCONUT – optional
1 cup RAW OATMEAL- optional

Mix all ingredients together and place in an airtight container overnight in the fridge.  Half fill muffin pans and bake for 20min at 350 degrees  on middle shelf.  This mixture keeps for 30days in the fridge so you can just bake them whenever you want fresh.  Most of the time I double up the mixure as I make everyday.  It doubles up fine.  You can add or take out any of the following as you please to your taste: raisins, dates, nuts, coconut, oats

ENJOY!

Thanks, Bronwyn! Hope you are surrounded by some friends eating these now! I am sure they will be asking for your recipe!

I seem to be catching up from early December. This cannot be unblogged because it was an exciting moment in the Kolb household.  The second weekend in December our friends Nick and Kima along with their cute kids Ben and Erin made there way to Bern for a fun time of visiting and of course eating. Nick and Kima live in Zug which is about an hour and a half from us (I previously posted pics of when they came back in August).

Kima offered to bring dessert for our meal. Nicholas had been traveling all week in Bogota and was arriving the night before coming to visit. Never once did I even consider our dessert may be from Bogota. When people ask what we miss from Bogota it is normally our friends and some of the treats like Rausch cookies and Myriam Camhi triple chocolate cheesecake. Nick and Kima came with a bag of surprises that contained, you guessed it, Rausch cookies and Myriam cheesecake!   They were amazing! We all sat a little speechless as we ate every crumb of cheesecake, including scraping the sides of the container! Thanks for the fun treats Nick and Kima! Brought back fun memories of Friday night take away and Wii competitions!

Well, it is good to be able to post on this end of things having had survived our packout. It took weeks of prep with our things being divided between storage, DC short term (our things for the next 8 months), DC long term storage, Bern and giveaway! I threatened after this packout that next packout I might take Jackson and Owen away and let Seth do it! Jackson was more than enthusiastic and helpful which made things interesting. The movers were in our home for 3 full days, not because we had that much stuff but because in true Colombian style our packers were late, didn’t show up and worked like snails! We were so relieved to see the trucks drive away.

Here are a few pictures!

Jackson on his last day at school. He carried in bouquets of flowers for his teachers

saying good bye to Sonia and Santiago

saying good bye to our guards and getting the chance to hold the walkie talkie and wear the official hat

helping with the luggage.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5JJKZ4XfA0]

his backpack was so heavy he fell over carrying it!

Our traveling family. USA here we come!