Just Add Water...

Back home we have all manor quick, cheating type foods. I mean those little boxes of pancake mix that say just add water, those boxes of cake mix that say just add eggs, mexican food kits all ready for you to assemble. I have always, always much preferred to cook/bake from scratch...but I admit it...I have used those types of evil boxes. 

Here, if I want pancakes I don't have the option of a little box that tells me to add water...or if I did, it would be in Chinese and all I would be able to do is read a few characters here, miss a few, then read a few more...having no clue what I was actually supposed to do. Instant noodles and instant Taiwanese food are abundant, but not so on the Western front. I've enjoyed it being this way. If I fancy pancakes, from scratch it has to be. I previously despaired because we have no weighing scales. But when a girl wants pancakes bad enough, she thinks outside the box and into cups! Cups! How could I be so dim! Recipes can always be converted from grams to cups! I don't have measuring cups, but we have real cups. Turns out they do the job just fine. So it got me to thinking how much do I actually use stupidly pre prepared things to cook back in England. Not very much but enough to make myself feel silly now. I swear making pancakes from scratch took just the same amount of time it would to use a pre prepared mix. Why use taco mix, or fajita mix...I have most of the spices myself, what stops me from mixing them together? Do I really need hot chocolate powder to make hot chocolate...nope, just hot milk and a bit of chocolate. Why use curry paste if I have the spices to make it myself? Do I really need a little individual packet of oats to make porridge?...no I just need a cup! Why bother with a frozen pizza or a frozen pie? It is more than possible to whip it together. A culinary epiphany. I will be very pleased when I am reunited with the oven back home and can much easier try out all these things...and not be chased out of the kitchen by bugs! 

Thinking outside of the box is one of my favourite things about travelling. It's a real eye opener when you are no longer in your comfort zone. Back home, if anything out of the ordinary happens, I pretty much know where I can go to sort it, or how to get around it. In another country you don't always have that ...everything is out of the ordinary! But it's wonderful as it really keeps you on your toes. It's fantastic opening your mind to alternative possibilities. I think a lot of the time we do things out of habit, or because it's the only way we know how. I find it funny to think there are likely some things I would have previously done a certain way...but now after living a totally different lifestyle I might have a new fangled method. Which in reality isn't new at all, it's just another way of thinking! I'm intrigued to see what happens next...in the UK will I revert back to British ways or will I be even more of quirk, doing things a mix of a Brit-Taiwanese style? We shall see...

Eeh in 6 days time I will be leaving for the Philippines!

India Bourne - In His Arms. I love her awesome skills on bass and harmonies with Ben Howard. And now she's totally rocking in her own right. Super talented lady. 

even though I now personally won't be buying a ready made cake...that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this ready made pumpkin pie from costco any less! it was que rico!! it just means I'll be making one from scratch back home!