Sugar and other surprises

This afternoon as I was making brown sugar, so I could then make cookies, I started to think about all the "normal" sorts of foods I have had to learn how to make since coming to PNG.  Maybe some of you in the US make these sorts of things too, but I had honestly never ever even considered making them.  I guess because every time I walked in to the grocery store, there they were, oh-so-convienent and ready to use.

Here, it's a little different.  Sometimes we have a well stocked store and are able to get many things from Australia and the US.  Sometimes we don't.  And then there are just those things that we never have here, and if I want/need to use them in cooking, well, there's only one way to get them:  make it!

So I thought I'd make a little list of stuff I make here, that I would never have thought to make (or had any need to) back in the US.

Stuff like:
brown sugar
cottage cheese
caramel
yogurt
cooked salsa (like Pace or such)
sour cream
cream of chicken soup (for all those recipes that call for a can!)
tomato paste/sauce (I haven't actually tried this yet, but I will be in the next week or so, as there are NO tomato products available in our store currently)

I'm sure there are plenty more, but this is just what's coming off the top of my head.

None of these things in and of themselves are super complicated (in fact, some are suprisingly simple), but it just adds more time to preparing food.  Like today:  I needed to bring a dessert to Bible study tonight, but I had no brown sugar.  So I had to make some first.  Or yesterday, I had to make the cottage cheese before I could assemble my lasagna.

I must confess.... as much as I do love to cook (especially when I don't feel like I'm just about to throw up everywhere), I am already looking forward to our time in Cairns (I know, it's months away still), where I can just go to the grocery store and buy most anything. =)