Haus Kuk

We have just completed our second haus kuk weekend.  Haus Kuk is the Tok Pisin word for kitchen.  Most of the people that live in the villages in Papua New Guinea have a separate, outdoor haus kuk.  To prepare us for life in the village, the weekends are dedicated to us cooking on our own in our own haus kuk. 

This is the final product for our haus kuk.  Well, that would be final as in at this point in time.  Tim keeps thinking of more additions and improvements- a gutter system to collect water, flooring...

Building our haus kuk was very interesting.  We watched the workmen here at POC build the example.  It took them just over an hour to build the complete haus kuk and a table.  We aren't quite as good, so it took us a bit longer.  OK, so Tim did most, ok so all, the building.  Someone (that would be me) had to make the design decisions! 

We started with a couple of hours to build one Thursday, but figured we would finish up that Saturday.  Of course that proved to be a bit of a challenge.  I had asked a very pertinent question earlier about the threat of cyclones (aka hurricanes).  Having grown up in Florida, and knowing that we are now living on an island, this was a concern for me.  I was assured that they are not typical at all, and in fact they hadn't had one.  The Saturday we were trying to finish up our haus kuk gave us a ton of wind to battle.  I commented several times, "Gee, this is just like when a hurricane is off the coast or approaching- gusting winds, but not the rain."  Apparently I was right.  We found out the next week that a cyclone did hit a neighboring island, and yes, we were getting the strong winds from it. 

Notice the blue tarp- not something good to have when you having wind gusts of 40+mph.  It literally was pulling the entire haus kuk out of the ground, so we took it off.  Tim spent most of the day shoring up our haus kuk, so it wasn't going anywhere! 

He was able to get more work done without the top!

Those trees normally stand straight and not leaning at that angle!

Look, I got to use the bush knife to cut wood for a fire!  The amazing part- there were no injuries!

Enjoying our first lunch in our haus kuk!

Not exactly the sink and dishwasher I had back home, but...

The view is amazing!!!!

My stove top- a single burner.  We are fortunate enough to be behind the school house, so we took advantage of cooking on their picnic table. 

My oven requires lots of babysitting, but it makes some good cinnamon rolls!

These were made by Bekah and some of her friends. 

We enjoy the haus kuk weekends for the relaxed atmosphere and the ability to set our own schedule as a family.  Yes, there are challenges to having to cook outside.  Saturday morning we woke up to a steady rain. It had been raining most of the night pretty hard.  Fortunately it cleared pretty soon, so we were able to make the all important coffee!

This has definitely given my culinary talent and skills a challenge.  I love to make lots of food for leftovers, but we have no way to refrigerate them.  I'm learning to make enough for our family.  I'm also learning to be quite creative with my cooking.  All rules about "I would never…" have been thrown out the window.  We've had corned beef from a can two weeks in a row.  I'm loving the challenge, though.