G is for Got Milk?
After living here in Ecuador for almost a year and a half, Sean and I have made a startling discovery. There is somewhat decent milk available in Ecuador. We've always just bought the kind that comes in a box off the shelf. The boxed milk won't expire until the next century. Yeah, and it tastes just as good as it sounds. You can even buy milk with added fiber here. I'm pretty sure the "added fiber" is the cardboard that leeches into the milk while it sits on the shelf and "ages." It isn't natural and it can't be healthy but it is cheap and easy to store - which has worked for us since we try to stock up on milk in Ambato and store it in our pantry for a month or two before drinking it. Some people have wine cellars, we have a milk cellar. As long as you can't taste the stuff, it works fine. (That sounds like a joke but I'm really serious. I use it in recipes and we use it in our coffee or hot cocoa and it works great.)
I have to admit, we crave milk from the supermarket in the States. Cold, frothy milk poured into a cold glass from a clean plastic gallon jug. I was amazed at how good milk tasted when I made my quick trip to the States in February. It was like I had been drinking chlorinated water from a cardboard box and I suddenly got a taste of creamy 2% Lucerne. Okay, that is exactly what it was. I'm not much of a milk drinker but I have a feeling that I will become a serious milk addict the moment we go home for furlough. Brooklyn always loved milk when she was younger but never asks for it here in Ecuador...unless it is filled with chocolate.
Anyway, now that Maddie is one year old, I decided it is time for her to drink cow's milk from a sippy cup. It just felt wrong to give her that weird boxed stuff, so I bought another kind of whole milk that comes in a plastic bag. This milk expires and it has to be kept in the fridge. I took a swig before giving Maddie her first cup the other day...and my world changed forever. The moment Sean came home, I pulled him into the kitchen, poured him a glass and said "Try this!" He, too, was impressed. I made cookies to celebrate and we had cookies and milk for the first time in almost 2 years. Now, this bagged milk still isn't the same as good old American dairy, mind you, but it is better than that horrid boxed whatever-it-is. Of course, we can't buy cases of the bagged milk to store in our pantry. And the store ran out of the good kind of milk over a week ago. But there is hope. Sort of.
I have another option... that would be to buy fresh, raw milk every morning from somebody who has cows. I see the milk trucks all the time and watch neighbors buy a pitcher or two in the morning. But I can't bring myself to do that. It isn't that I'm against raw milk (I've read that it's actually very good for you) but I am concerned about the sanitary habits of an 80-year-old man wearing a tin hat and a plastic cape. I know, I could boil it - pasteurize it myself. I hear that makes it taste funny. Would it be worth it?
There. That is my story about milk. Next time you take a swig of that sweet, creamy dreamy liquid say a prayer for your poor, milk challenged missionaries. And please pray for a new shipment of "El Ranchito" milk to Shell, Ecuador soon! (Or you could ask for a Grade A dairy farm to move in next door....On second thought, we'd better make that a few blocks away - we have enough bad smells wafting through our windows into our house as it is...and, no, I don't mean Sean.)
I have to admit, we crave milk from the supermarket in the States. Cold, frothy milk poured into a cold glass from a clean plastic gallon jug. I was amazed at how good milk tasted when I made my quick trip to the States in February. It was like I had been drinking chlorinated water from a cardboard box and I suddenly got a taste of creamy 2% Lucerne. Okay, that is exactly what it was. I'm not much of a milk drinker but I have a feeling that I will become a serious milk addict the moment we go home for furlough. Brooklyn always loved milk when she was younger but never asks for it here in Ecuador...unless it is filled with chocolate.
Anyway, now that Maddie is one year old, I decided it is time for her to drink cow's milk from a sippy cup. It just felt wrong to give her that weird boxed stuff, so I bought another kind of whole milk that comes in a plastic bag. This milk expires and it has to be kept in the fridge. I took a swig before giving Maddie her first cup the other day...and my world changed forever. The moment Sean came home, I pulled him into the kitchen, poured him a glass and said "Try this!" He, too, was impressed. I made cookies to celebrate and we had cookies and milk for the first time in almost 2 years. Now, this bagged milk still isn't the same as good old American dairy, mind you, but it is better than that horrid boxed whatever-it-is. Of course, we can't buy cases of the bagged milk to store in our pantry. And the store ran out of the good kind of milk over a week ago. But there is hope. Sort of.
I have another option... that would be to buy fresh, raw milk every morning from somebody who has cows. I see the milk trucks all the time and watch neighbors buy a pitcher or two in the morning. But I can't bring myself to do that. It isn't that I'm against raw milk (I've read that it's actually very good for you) but I am concerned about the sanitary habits of an 80-year-old man wearing a tin hat and a plastic cape. I know, I could boil it - pasteurize it myself. I hear that makes it taste funny. Would it be worth it?
There. That is my story about milk. Next time you take a swig of that sweet, creamy dreamy liquid say a prayer for your poor, milk challenged missionaries. And please pray for a new shipment of "El Ranchito" milk to Shell, Ecuador soon! (Or you could ask for a Grade A dairy farm to move in next door....On second thought, we'd better make that a few blocks away - we have enough bad smells wafting through our windows into our house as it is...and, no, I don't mean Sean.)
Careful Woman!!!
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