Bread Pudding

One of my new favorite desserts is bread pudding.  Mostly because it's extremely easy to make.

The main ingredient is stale bread.  I sometimes use regular bread from a loaf/baguette, but this time I used breads that were a bit sweeter to begin with (banana bread and mango bread).

Melt the butter in the milk.  

Mix all of the ingredients together and stick it in the oven.  

This bread pudding was particularly sweet and addicting because the bread I used already had a strong flavor.

Chicken and Beads

Back in February, a friend had his birthday party at the bead shop.  

He hired a guy to grill chicken for his guests. Inside the shop.  

There was pizza.  And jewelry of course.

It was probably the best chicken we've had in Kampala.  

Fresh Corn

There's an Indian grocery store here that always seems to have a surprise waiting for me in their produce section.  I've found okra, beets, and even delicious orange oranges.  One day some time back I also found the most perfect looking corn.  

I cooked a mix of corn, tomatoes, green beans, and mango.  

And chicken of course.  The man needs his meat.

Unfortunately I haven't seen corn in the store since.  

Qaddafi's Mosque

There aren't many tourist sights in Kampala.  But there is a cluster of religious buildings (a mosque, baha'i temple, and cathedral) that get some attention from sight seekers.  

In certain parts of town, the Mosque dominates the view.  It's huge.  But it hadn't even occurred to me to visit it until some friends decided to go.

For the tour they wrapped us up in scarves (heads and legs).  A man wrapped me and he didn't seem to confident in what he was doing.  At one point he seemed to be getting frustrated and asked "Don't women do this where you're from?"  I told him yes, but I don't.  So I ended up stumbling about, trying to hold my scarf up while taking pictures.  

The inside of the mosque was really peaceful and impressive.  

The mosque was started by Idi Amin and completed with funds donated by Qaddafi.

We climbed up to get a view of Kampala.  

While at the top, we managed to get attention from the male tourists and guides.  Once we made our way down they were very eager to have photos with us, and take English lessons, and hold our hands...

Another day in Uganda.  

Back to Business: Pumpkin Smoothie

I've been away a while, but I'll try not to abandon the blog anymore.  Promise.

One of the nifty new things I got when we moved into our new apartment was a blender.  We have mango and banana smoothies every few days.  

But when I saw a pumpkin sitting on our counter (it magically appeared, because at the time I had no idea where it came from) I decided that pumpkin smoothies were in order.  So I boiled the pumpkin and mixed it with coconut milk and some other goodies like bananas, honey, and lime.

Thick smoothies are the way smoothies are meant to be.  And because of the pumpkin these were so thick they were better eaten with a spoon.  

Om nom nom smoothie :)

Brass and Blue

I had some leftover lapis lazuli beads from the necklace I made.

I seem to always make necklaces and time seems short these days, so I made a bracelet.

Either I'm excited to have something new, or I am obsessed with these beads because I wear this bracelet all the time now.

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

A few days ago I finished a book called A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.  I definitely wouldn't describe it as an exciting read, but I am so glad that I read it.  It's one of those books that seems to take on the crazy, ambiguous subject of "life" and somehow manages to nail it.  The characters also strike me as real people more than fictional ones from another era.  

It can be a slow read, but A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of those simply written, but incredibly thought provoking books that you won't forget once you've finished.