What to take to the bbq

We went to a bbq a few days ago and because it was potluck, I had the opportunity to cook for more than my usual one person.  

When I found out I should bring something, my mind was going a mile a minute trying to decide what to take.

I settled on some basic stuff, green beans (which to me are always good) and a Moroccan salad.

Then came the fun/fried part.  For desserts I battered some bananas in a cinnamon, sugar, flour mixture and fried them. 

The bananas came out warm and gooey inside and slightly crunchy on the outside.  Do try at home.

I was going to make regular samosas that day, but since I had some pineapple jam I had made, I decided to make sweet ones.  I stuffed them with sugary, goopy pineapple and fried them as well.  When you don't have an oven, I think the next best thing for desserts is frying.  

The pineapple jam was sweet and tasty in the samosas, but I think I like straight pineapple best.  

The Gendarme

Anyone looking for a good book to read?  I wholeheartedly recommend The Gendarme by Mark Mustian.  I finished this book in tears, but then again, I finish most books in tears.  I don't want to say too much about it because I think half of the fun is the mystery of what is actually happening.  But in the most brief ways this story follows a man during early 1900 Turkey.  It's a page turner and addresses a period of history you don't often see in fiction.  

The other day the wind caught my book where we keep it above the door.  The pages were rapidly turning and flapping about as if an invisible hand were thumbing through at maximum speed.  I managed to take a picture before the wind died down.  

Australia Day

We went to a party to celebrate Australia Day.  I still don't have a very clear conception of what Australia Day is, but it has something to do with James Cook "discovering" Australia.  

That's the end of what I'm going to say about Australia.  This is the view from the apartment building, aka, the view that will soon by mine! Mua hahaha. ...We are thinking of moving to a new apartment.

Yes, people did swim in this.  

Peter lets me take pictures of him.  He's a good model.  

This guy on the other hand...Just kidding, Derrick is just very sensitive to the camera.  If you could see his expression right now it would be mostly uncomfortable.  It's too bad I have to focus on the back of his head whenever I want a photo of him now.

End of post dreamy picture.  

Avocado Pasta

I've mentioned this before.  I love avocados.  So I decided to make avocado pasta.  

I mashed the avocados really well.  I should have used a food processor, but I don't have one.  I mixed in oil, water, salt, lime, lots of garlic, and some dried oregano.

This was definitely one of my more experimental meals.  

The final product was actually really good.  

B Boys of Kampala

Last week we went to a break-dance and hip hop tournament that happens every January.  The show was somewhere around seven hours but we were there for about two.

This style of dance is used as a community building tool.  They teach classes and hold workshops throughout the week for people of all ages.

Forgive the photography.  I'm still learning to take action shots.  

He reminds me of a cat pouncing on it's prey...in a silly way.

The guys we saw compete were extremely talented, agile, and STRONG.  

In between the dancing there were hip hop artists.  Some sang in Luganda, but I had to take the MC at his word when he said the lyrics were "very deep."  

During the dance offs, the competitors would just watch each other perform from the other end of the stage.

Look at me!  Look at me!

Two young Finnish girls choreographed and performed a hip hop dance.  I thought it was particularly cool that they had become so involved with this community of people since coming to Uganda.  

                             

These guys were more amateur hip hop dancers, but still quite good.  They seemed to have a fondness for doing robot and vogue-like dance motions.  It got a little tiring after a while.  

Graduation Party 2

So another friend of ours had a graduation party last week.  John has been studying for his MA at the University in Kampala and wanted to celebrate his degree.

Camera hands!  This graduation party was a lot less formal than a typical Ugandan grad party.  The main fare of the night was goat and beer.

Tee hee hee!  

John scoffed at the head table (a table embellished with flowers and sodas that is elevated and covered).  Tables such as these are usually meant for the graduates, but John spent most of the night mingling with his guests.  He did not scoff at the awesome cloth fire.  In fact he placed it directly by his side for his speech.

Sometimes I let Bridget get a hold of my camera so that there are also shots of me.  She does a pretty good job and is a very eager picture taker.  

For all you supernatural believerfreaks, what do you make of this picture?  I guess Ann's hand was moving so quick that it was somewhat transparent in the photo?  Or she temporarily transformed into a ghost...

He is watching you!

Chicken Satay, Ginger Carrots, and Sweet Potato Fries!

I've been cooking a lot of Thai inspired dishes.  Probably because I'm completely absorbed with this Thai food blog.  

I always like to have a veggie with my meal.  It just feels right.  So we had ginger carrots with some of the crystallized ginger that DERRICK made.

This isn't the most attractive photo of peanut sauce used in satay, but it is actually really delicious. 

I also made a sweet and sour dipping sauce to go with the suite potato fries.  Soooo good.   

The sweet potatoes were ginormous.  

But I sliced them up real good.  

Oh yeah, sweet potatoes are white in Uganda.  So is corn flour.  I have no idea why.

The light in our room sucks, but this is the final product.  Chicken lathered in peanut sauce.  Yes!

Graduation Party 1

Last week Derrick and I were invited to our friend's graduation party.  It was really neat to see how these parties differed from those we're used to the the States.  Overall we had a really wonderful time and it was great to be a part of an event that meant so much to our friend.   

The party was actually for five graduates, and each of them gave a speech.  Some had a knack for claiming they weren't going to speak for very long and then plowing on through never ending monologues.  

Our friend's uncle was the one who threw the party.  He seemed peeved that he had to give a speech.  

On the other end of the spectrum, one man with a phd was not even asked for a speech, but rose to share some "advice" anyways.  He basically held our hands through his entire CV, continually mentioning how the graduates should look to his achievements when thinking about their futures.  Very modest.

My friend and some of her guests.  Many of the women adorned themselves in their most vibrant outfits.  I love how everything is so bright and dramatic.

They shoot confetti onto the graduates and, unfortunately, the cake.  This seems to happen at a lot of special occasions, like the wedding I went to way back when.

Have I mentioned that cake in Kampala is a sham?  My standards have gone down, so I eat it here, but sometimes I wish I could have a rich, soft cake with creamy frosting. This is basically the opposite.  

Friends!  They all look sickeningly happy don't they?

Pumpkin and Potato Curry

Derrick and I have a friend who just moved to Kampala for work.  He flew in from Hong Kong and stayed with us while he got settled.  I tend to finish a flight hungry or tired, so I made a big batch of pumpkin curry in case he was hungry when he arrived.  

When I told one of my coworkers that a friend would be staying with me she asked "What did you prepare?" I ignored the assumption that just because I'm a girl I'm the one who is expected to cook for visitors and I told her that I made pumpkin curry.  

At the word "curry" she squinched up her nose in disgust and said "What?! No Matoke?"  (Matoke is  boiled plantains that are usually eaten with peanut sauce).  I bit my tongue when I started to respond that I was sure my visitor would get plenty of starches while in Uganda so she need not worry.  No need to be Sassy-Stacey.  

If anyone makes a curry like this, I recommend adding golden raisins.  Their sweet flavor really complements the mix of spices.

Potato Chips!

Not much to show today, but this is a snack I made for a party we went to a while ago.

A mix of sweet potato and regular homemade potato chips.  Need I say more?  

Lazuli

One of my necklaces broke, so I decided to take the wooden beads and make something new. 

My aunt gave me some Lapis Lazuli beads that I basically adore.  I think it's one of my favorite stones.  

It turns out the original place what Lapis Lazuli was mined was a place called Lazhward, which is Persian.  Lapis is Latin for stone, and Lazhward underwent some linguistic changes to become Lazuli, so it means a stone from Lazhward.  What I thought was interesting is that the way of saying "blue" in many romance languages is derived from this name and the blue color of the stone.  Lazuli = Azul

The necklace is kind of heavy, but it's worth the extra poundage.