Home made :)

Homemade….yum, yum. It must be good, especially when it’s home made. I’m thinking of so many homemade goodies from my own mother’s and grandmother’s kitchens. Like, split pea soup, baked beans, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with au jus gravy, banana bread,
jello cake, and yes, even home made root beer! I’m sure your thoughts are returning ‘home’ and maybe your taste buds are wakening up. It’s no different here in Peru. There are favorites that everyone gets excited about. We have enjoyed some of them and wish we could whip ‘em up in our kitchen, but even getting the recipe leaves much to be desired. Recently when we were in the city of Lima we stopped in a bookstore and asked if they happened to have a section for those of us who are English readers. Sure enough they did. It was a rather large section, too. During our brief visit, we came upon the perfect cookbook. It was bi-lingual! How cool is that? Well, we bought it and I’ve read it from cover to cover. A lot of the ingredients are still a mystery to me, but it has definitely whetted my appetite!

Homemade….aww, that’s beautiful, did you make it? That’s another whole take on the ‘homemade’ thought process. We have found the Peruvians to be very creative and there are many who are to be considered artisans. From wood working, knitting, crocheting, jewelry making, the list goes on and on. Again, it takes me back to the days we made our living doing professional craft shows. Yes, we were one of those craftsmen that set up at fairs, in the mall, and worked days at a time selling the wares we made at home. That may be why we so appreciate the arts and crafts we see here, at such affordable prices, we cannot imagine how the Peruvians can make a living. Our neighbor is such a craftsman and his home workshop is on the roof top of the house across the street.

Homemade….do what you can with what you have. You know what I mean, the Christmas crafts, the Mother’s and Father’s Day gifts you made as a child, or recently received. They are often made from recyclables, or kits, or craft items. But they are treasured because of the maker. Other things we may have homemade years ago, were a baby’s first bed out of a dresser drawer with a cozy quilt. (You may be laughing, but some of us know others who actually slept in dresser drawers those early days!) And, what about the button on a string that we played with, or the pin the tail on the donkey, or maybe “nose on a pumpkin” we drew on a large brown paper bag from the grocery store?

I want to relate an observation we made the other evening. We stopped in at the pizza parlor down the street. As we sat and enjoyed our dinner, we noticed the sales girl (possibly the owner) as she took a large piece of white cardboard, pencil, ruler, and pair of scissors in hand. Believe it or not, she handmade the take out box for the next order! It was amazing to us to think that they didn’t come already made and just needed assembling. She had to start from scratch and make the box.

Homemade…nothing, absolutely nothing is like ‘homemade’. In other words, the time, effort, patience, resources, are all wrapped up in one word – love! Homemade has a connotation of being made with love; whether it be a meal, an item to use or enjoy, or a gift. Do you and I take the time to make things with love?

Nothing deep here today, but a glimpse into life in San Juan de Lurigancho.