Friday 1 October 2010

Funny flower

Language learning I want to learn a very important phrase – please show me how to prepare a fillet of fish! So come Monday I will be learning how to prepare a tilapia fish.

Monday afternoon to Wednesday evening I am going on a trip to a place called Kisabe on the island called Mysome the journey by boat is an hour and then an hour’s hike once we arrive. It will be a new experience for me – Swahili only. It will feel like a million miles from anywhere.

Figured out why nothing I was making with flour was working, I have been using cassava flour and not wheat flour, cassava flour is made from pounding the root of the plant (called cassava I guess). Cassava flour doesn’t have the same proteins in as wheat flour, so that’s why the pancakes never worked and always fell apart.

We went to Mwanza on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, it was good to see the city and have an ice cream – what a treat that is. Arne couldn’t find a single magnet anywhere, our bedroom walls are metal so magnets hold things on them, it’s pretty cool. Blue tack will have to do for now.

We eat out at a place where there was a TV and we saw some Rugby and cricket so I had fun trying to explain those to Andy and Arne. Didn’t involve to too many glasses, salt and pepper holders, tomato ketchup to explain some of the Rugby laws.

On the way back to Kahunda we got a flat which made it more interesting, with six guys in the car it was changed in seconds, literally you would have missed it if you closed your eyes for two mins. Possibly even world record time. I can now make chi, which is tea with some tea masala spice in it the tea is half milk, half water and sugar.

We a have a kitten –not decided on a name yet. The novelty wore of incredibly quickly for me, but it came near enough toilet trained –bonus! Still waiting for it to catch it’s first geko.

We (Arne and I) went to the church ‘youth meeting’ on Thursday, but where was the youth? Ah there’s a difference. Youth in ‘the west’ is generally below 20 I’d say. Here however it’s 45… yeah 45 years old. Funny, people in the west would probably like to be called youth when they are that age, am I right?

My cooking skills are broadening quickly, made butternut squash soup with squash from Mwanza, have been taught how to make cabbage coleslaw, a secondary student tried to teach me to make chapattis and Mandazi (close to a doughnut) but failed due to wrong flour, remember the process though.

6 comments:

  1. Were you a great cook in the UK? I seem to remember the Brownies you sold to raise money came from Greggs!?

    Cassava although a staple, has I'm sure arsenic in it - but then so does asprin so perhaps eat it when you have a headache!

    Keep cooking and keep blogging!

    Roger

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  2. Not brilliant, because I never practised! The chocolate brownies came from Connors Bakery.

    Made chips yesterday, not exactly the same as going to your local chippy but next best thing.

    Thanks
    Jonny

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  3. Nice to hear that you are eating healthily ;)

    how are you finding the fish?

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  4. Yes I would like to be 'youth' - if I was over there I'd just make it!
    You are a good cook and have been for a while - I remember you phoning for my lime pie recipe! We had Tilapia fish in Holland - the boys still remember it because it was the best fish we've ever had - the restaurant was right next to the sea which always helps.
    How can the novelty of a kitten have worn off already??! Having said that I know they can be a bit of a trial when they're bouncing around and especially of they're not quite reliably toilet-trained - hope it settles down soon and makes itself useful as a hunter and companion. Archie is nearly one now and mainly sleeps, although He did catch his second baby bird last week when I had company, very embarrassing! xx

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  5. Hi Jonny
    Trying to explain how to play cricket?
    Try this
    Love from Dad

    You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out. When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been given out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

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  6. haha.. now i find the magnets quite interesting :D
    and the youth meeting :D:D
    they want to be foverer young :D

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