A Traveler's Home

I'm home! I want to be with my family, be surrounded by my things, and start cooking again. It is fall, so I decided pumpkin soup looked good. I've never made it before, but how hard can it be? I looked on line for a recipe and found many. Not having the exact ingredients for any of them has never stopped me before.

I grew up in Brasilia, Brazil, where supplies could never be found on a regular basis. We ate what was in season, and stuck to the regular staples. I still remember the Thanksgiving someone found celery, and the arrival of dried fruit in the mail from England for our Christmas pudding. We only had tortillas when my father traveled to Mexico and brought them back in his luggage.
Not finding pumpkin at the local market, I got butternut squash and carrots instead. I added some curry and cinnamon because I read it in a recipe somewhere, and whatever herbs that are growing on my balcony. It didn't turn out too bad, but I'm the only one eating it anyway. This is the way I cook. I rarely have the precise ingredients needed, so I hunt for what I can find, and make the best with that.

  Fortunately, I have friends who can point me towards where to find ingredients, and share recipes with me. A Brazilian friend gave me this mix for pao de queijo she had brought over from Brazil. I love this stuff, and will always remember another gift of this cheese bread from a friend on the other side of the world.
I didn't know Jane well, and she certainly had never been to Brazil. That is why I was so surprised to have her come round with a gift of pao de queijo one day to my home in the Marshall Islands. She shared her recipe with me that used tapioca starch, which could be bought on the neighboring island of Ebeye.

So now the hunt was on for tapioca starch in Sofia, Bulgaria, which is where I now call home.
Some research on line told me that it can also be called tapioca flour, and can be found in the gluten-free section of health food stores. I went to the only organic/health food store I know in Sofia, introduced to me by another expat colleague as a place to find vanilla. They had one bag! If I can now find Parmesan cheese, I will be baking pao de queijo again.
It is good to be home, but some would argue that I am still overseas, still dealing with a foreign culture and language. I am a TCK (third culture kid).You can google it, it is a thing. I can't immediately answer you when you ask me where I am from. So, in a way, I am eternally traveling, always away from home. But I am home!