ម្នាស់ | Pineapple

In 2021, I shared a post following the journey of a Mango from Flower to Fruit. I couldn’t quite go as in-depth here, because I don’t grow pineapple at my house, but I thought you might be interested in seeing a pineapple in it’s early stages followed by the same pineapple near harvest. I took…

Briquettes from Coconut Waste

Last year, Charlotte was studying environmental enterprises at school and watched the video about a new business in Sierra Leone that transforms coconut shells into briquettes. This manages coconut waste, prevents deforestation, and provides a charcoal alternative that burns cleaner. In 2021, I wrote about Grilling on our Pot… What I didn’t share is that…

ក្រូចថ្លុង | Pomelo

Pomelo is a large citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia that bears more than a passing resemblance to Grapefruit. However, Pomelo has a light green skin, pale yellow flesh, and – often – a thick layer of pith. It’s citrus flavor is gentle and mild, without the acidity that I usually expect from citrus. Pomelo…

Grocery Shopping at Boeung Tumpun Market

Last week, I read a Times magazine article which shared that 25% of all dollars spent on groceries in the US are spent at Walmart. This made me realize that it’s been awhile since I last posted about shopping at our local market – two years – and I thought I’d share some more about…

Airplane Meals

I’ve been meaning to write about airplane meals in Asia for awhile. The quality of the in-flights meals, snacks, and drinks surprised me when I first flew here back in the early 2000s and that hasn’t changed over the last two decades. It was a particularly stark contrast during our visit home last year when…

អង្រ្គងជ្រក់ | Pickled Red Ants

Last month while we were out in Prey Veng province I picked up a container of all natural pickled red ants from a seller in Ba Phnom. It can be quite expensive to purchase these in Phnom Penh but I got a good price on them out in the countryside. These large red ants are…

នំបុ័ងខគោ | Bread with Braised Beef Soup

Rice with Pork/Chicken/Fish/Egg, Rice Porridge, and Kuv Teav soup are the most popular breakfast items in Cambodia. However, there are other less common but equally delicious breakfast items like Bread with Braised Beef Soup. This delightful breakfast soup is tangy, sweet, and hearty. There are heavy flavors of anise, lemongrass, and mint grounded by a…

100 Mangoes

The MCC Cambodia office was closed on Monday in observance of the Easter holiday. Normally we would have had Friday off but we already had Friday off for the national Khmer New Year holiday. Crystal spent her day off picking 100 mangoes from the trees around our courtyard. The ripe ones that we didn’t immediately…

Sharing Food Together

In the New Testament, we often see Jesus breaking bread to share with the disciples and others. There’s something powerful about sharing food in community. This week, Sokea from the MCC Phnom Penh office is out in Prey Veng at our field visit helping with some work and the Prey Veng team has been sending…