Written Monday, December 17, 2012
Hello hello! Sorry it has been a bit since my last blog
post. . . time has just been sliding right along, and I find myself busy in a
manner of speaking.
So last week went as expected, had some meetings with my
organizations (the last ones of the year due to holiday travels for everyone)
and so Friday I packed my backpack and headed down into the Gaza Province.
Friday afternoon I met some friends in Xai Xai, a large city
that has just about anything you could possibly want or need. The market there
is about as big as my town as a whole, and the produce possibilities are
endless. I stocked up on some dry goods in another store (lentils, yeast,
popcorn, brown rice etc) that I cant find here in Quissico. I also took a walk through
the seemingly endless rows of second hand clothes – I’m telling you, this town
has everything that any western-style lifestyle could ever possibly need. We
had lunch at a small barraca (stall) for 25Mtz, a giant plate of feijao and
rice (beans). It was delicious. We then headed down to the beach.
We had rented two small cottages for the weekend, fri and
sat nights. I elected to just stay Friday night. It was a “welcome” party to
the new volunteers who were just sworn in two weeks ago. Very nice to meet some
new faces, and see some old ones. It was a fun day and night spend at the beach. Lots of laughs, dancing,
some soccer on the beach, swimming in the ocean etc. I couldn’t believe that I’ve been in this country for 6
months and this was my first trip to the OCEAN! Yes I go to the lagoon just
about every weekend, but its totally different than a beach with waves, the
salty breeze etc. It was a fantastic evening. The stars at night were
incredible. I sat in front of the surf, staring at the sky for a good few hours
just thinking. I saw some shooting stars, and made a wish on every one.
Saturday, I had breakfast on the beach and hung out until
about mid-day, than my friend Linda and I headed back to her site –Manjacaze,
Gaza. A nice rural town about an hour west off the EN1 (the national highway).
We walked around a bit that afternoon, and made an incredible dinner of peanut
noodles, a veggie stir-fry with eggplant and green beans, and of course,
brownies for dessert. YUM. It was so nice to spend time with such an incredible
friend, cooking, listening to music, and just hanging out.
Sunday I was originally planning on leaving about mid-day to
come back to Quissico, but what do you know, I ended up staying another
day/night. Sunday started off with a breakfast of cinnamon/nutmeg pancakes with
a banana compote, and coffee with coconut milk. . . .sensing a trend of
incredible eating this weekend? We
wandered around town for a bit, going to her site-mate’s (and friend of mine)
house. Evan is incredibly talented with plants, so his house and yard are full
of interesting plants, fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants, baby trees etc. He
has recently started drying mango in a homemade dehydrator. I took pictures of
it, and will take it down to my one organization that has a carpentry – dried
mango with a chili pepper infusion anyone? That way I can continue to enjoy
mangoes during the “winter” here. Also I want to see how people here respond to
it. . .potential income generation project.
So after spending time at Evan’s house and organization,
Linda and I walked back towards her house, stopping in at one of her neighbors
houses. They were on their way to a wedding reception, and of course we were
promptly invited to come along. Only in Mozambique can I feel comfortable going
to a wedding reception in a pair of dirty jeans, sweaty tank-top, and hair in a
pony-tail. Of course upon arriving we were immediately told to grab a plate of
food, and were brought a drink. Wedding crashing – Mozambique style.
Good food, nice company. . . but we didn’t really want to
stay long. We mingled for a bit, but felt a bit awkward, so we made a smooth
departure. Running into Evan in the road, we went back to the market together
and discussed what we wanted to make for dinner. (yes I get it, my days here
revolve around food)
We decided upon some tortillas and salsa for an appetizer, a
salad of moringa leaves, cucumber, tomato and onion in a homemade red-wine
vinegar and mustard dressing, and a beefed up version of the Mozambique dish
Couve. For dessert, there was papaya with lemon juice (try that combination,
its incredible). Needless to say, it was another truly wonderful night of
cooking, conversation, and eating. How I am so lucky to have such amazing
friends, and the ability to cook such good food is still something I’m trying
to figure out haha.
This morning, we made some coffee-cake and again, had
coconut milk infused coffee. Delicious beyond words. I have started taking
pictures of all the food dishes I make that are noteworthy. I will try to post
pictures soon. . . internet has been very slow lately.
So I hitchhiked back to Quissico this afternoon, arrived at
my home (so nice to be back) did some laundry, hung out with the neighbor kids
and the dog, did a bit of reading – started a new book by Elizabeth Gilbert,
and started cooking dinner. On the menu tonight were Coconut Beans. You cook
beans in coconut milk (substitute for water) for about an hour, adding in
sautéed garlic, ginger, onion, green pepper and tomato. I tossed in some cumin
and cinnamon too. Let it all simmer for another 30 minutes or so and BOOM.
Delicious nummies. Savory – that’s a great way to describe this dish. I will be
making it again in the future.
Oh! Don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I finally had
a new table/cooking counter built for my house! It is a game-changer. I can
chop, cook, stir and anything else I need to at an appropriate level INSIDE my
house. No more porch cooking haha. Yay!! I re-arranged the house a bit, and
have been enjoying the new setup and cooking station very much.
There isn’t too much going on this week, work-wise. I will
be going down to my one community based organization, trying to plant the idea
of mango drying, and checking in on a Jackfruit tree that we planted a few
weeks ago, I absconded with some nice plant bags from Evan’s organization, and
will be using these to germinate some new plants with this organization, as
well as some fresh basil plants, and hot peppers (called piri-piri) for my own
personal use here at home.
Well –with this blog being mainly about food, I will leave
you to go enjoy a nice juicy mango for dessert.
Big hugs.
Mom will be here in 10 days!!
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