What I'm munching!

Picture to prove I'm alive and well (and vagually food related!)

This is *almost* a work free entry. I don’t really know who’s reading this and therefore what you want to know about. So here’s one about food for the chefs of my fans! If you read it you also get to find out when I’m coming home!

I have encountered lots of new fruit and veg and new combinations of known foods since I’ve arrived and I’ve really been enjoying cooking.

So, in the manner of the game…. We went shopping in Lichinga market on Saturday and we bought:

• A 10 litre paint can of onions – these all make me weep A LOT! I have no idea why they’re so much worse than onions from Sainsbury’s!
• Okra – a new vegetable for me – but I like it!
• Chillies – I’m impressed – they’re so hot that we won’t even get through one in a week. We put some on the roof this morning to see if we can dry them!
• Garlic – pre peeled – the cloves are so small that they’re a real pain to peel so most market vendors sell them pre peeled.
• Carrots, Cabbage, lettuce and tomatoes
• Strawberries – this was very exciting – we perhaps got a bit too excited and bought too many because they’re all going squishy and we’ve still got loads left! They’re very yum though. I feel like I need to be on the backs of Cambridge with Pimms!
• Green beans
• Eggplant (Aubergine!) – lots of it!
• Zucchini (Courgette – I’m living with an American!) – we didn’t actually buy this, we were given it by some friends with a farm.
• Some amazing green peppers which actually look like Sainsbury’s ones! The ones you usually get are very thin and small.
• Summer squash (we also got given this!) – it’s yellow and more like courgette than butternut squash – good though.
• We have lots of mangoes stored up from our trip to the lake
• Guava
• Papaya
• A weird fruit that is called “Coração de boi” in Portuguese. Translates as cow’s heart but we think it’s maybe a custard apple in English, though it’s nothing like an apple!!? I haven’t tried it yet!
• Bananas
• Eggs

So, lots of fruit and veg.

In terms of protein I’m eating lots of peanuts and peanut butter. Rebecca made houmous which was yummy. Otherwise tuna or beans. Today as a special treat we defrosted some cheese Rebecca bought in South Africa! I’m enjoying natural yogurt too.

We had a lovely weekend including a film night with a couple of girls working with Iris Ministries with popcorn and “peanut butter candies” made by yours truly! We had dinner out at MGK in Nomba on Sunday after church which was lovely. On Friday we’re leaving for Morumbala which Rebecca says she thinks is the poorest area of Mozambique. We’re visiting communities along the River Shire which get flooded every year. We’re not sure what the situation is yet and whether the solution will be social or technical but this week involves some prep for that and more pump stuff!

Also, I’m waiting to hear back from the airline but I will probably be back in the UK at the end of February (27th ish). We’re delaying our Christmas break and are thinking of spending a week or so in Lesotho at the beginning of Feb and then I’m going to take the opportunity to have a wander round South Africa.

:-)

ps. Erin has described our trip up the lake last week slightly more eloquently here if you're interested!