Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Mystery Photo

Some of you may remember our Mystery Photo posts where we posted something to see who knew or could guess what it is.  Today's Mystery Photo is a mystery to US!!

Last week Dr. Debbie Eisenhut and I were taking a back way through Sinkor and stopped at a fruit stand, where a girl had a table of these:


She called them bush cherries.



The ripe ones are burst out of a husk of some kind.


Here are some unripe ones, this must be what they look like on the bush or tree or however they grow.  The girl selling them did not really know much about how or where they grow. The cherries (I think they are some kind of berry actually) were very sour, like a cranberry, and they have a soft pit inside, that you just eat along with the berry.  Even though they are sour, they are not entirely unpleasant to eat plain.  As it turns out the pit is the bitter/sour part. 


I discovered that when I tried to make jam, but the seeds stayed whole when I mashed the fruit and when I chewed one, it was quite unpleasant.  So I strained the fruit to make juice and made jelly instead.  It's not low sugar, and it's still quite tart, but I like my jelly that way.  Also it didn't set up quite right, but African Bush Cherries are not on the list on the pectin container. 

So if anyone knows anything about these fruit, fill us in.  In the meantime, we will enjoy our jar of homemade jelly!  


Friday, December 06, 2013

I've always noticed how God has taken care of me as I move around Monrovia and managed to avoid having car trouble at times or places that were dangerous or without access to someone to help me.  Yesterday, I was reminded again of how He is looking our for His daughters. Dr. Debbie Eisunhut and I went to Vai town on Thursday to look for some clothes and household things in the used goods market.  Just as we were looking for a place to park the car, she noticed that the brake pedal went to the floor under her foot. She was alarmed and pulled right into a parking space (amazing thing #1 -- there was one). Amazing thing #2 -- we were just a one mile (maybe a tad less) walk from our mechanic's shop -- so we hiked over there and got the mechanic and he came and got the car, took it to the shop and fixed it while we did our shopping. My legs were exhausted by the end of the day from all that extra walking, but we reflected on how amazing (thing #3) it was that she was not alone, not going 40 mph and stopping suddenly for a pedestrian, and really so close to the shop (which is no where near where we live!) Our Father's watchcare is so personal!! and amazing, right?!