Pumpkin Chowder

Something I noticed almost immediately after arriving in Kampala was that a majority of the staples in a Ugandan diet are foods originating from other places, namely the Americas.  Sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, corn, and pumpkins are all widely eaten and grown in Uganda.  It makes me wonder what they were eating before these foods made it across the ocean...

I've never cooked with fresh pumpkin before, but I see it often sold in the markets and decided to give it a try.

So I made Pumpkin Chowder.

I enjoyed it, although I think pumpkin soup would taste great as a puree.  Unfortunately I don't have the equipment for that, but I do have my Kitchen Magician (the frying pan), which assisted with the toasted bread we ate with the soup.

Orange Chicken!

As many of you know, I'm not a huge fan of meat.  But on Orange Chicken night I scarf it down.  

Subconsciously I eat a lot faster on Orange Chicken night.  Derrick eats so fast that I'm afraid I won't get as much as I want.  He calls it the "multiple sibling syndrome", or something like that.

But there was enough chicken and our tummies were very pleased.

Taloso workshop

I recently was helping out some friends who run a jewelry store and workshop (called Taloso) by taking photos for their website.  I had a great time playing photographer and Taloso is one of my favorite places to hang out.  This is why: 

Beading Stacey is pleased.  

My friend Ann runs Taloso, and she is a gifted jewelry maker.  

I brought some shells back from Zanzibar.  My mother would be so proud.  A few of them make a cameo in this basket.  

It sparkles.  These beads aren't really my style, but I like how they capture the light.  

For part of the shoot they decided to match necklaces with bags.  What do you think?

Lavender bomb!

These are paper beads.  For those of you that don't know, this is the style of jewelry I worked with throughout the fall when I was working with the women's cooperative Women of Kireka.  Paper bead necklaces are all over Kampala.

The camera loves these colors.  Me too.

Local Food 3: Zanzibar

I think I mentioned this in one of my past posts, but Derrick and I went on a spice tour while in Zanzibar.  Zanzibar is like an exotic cornucopia, so we actually saw much more than spices. 

The guide liked to make his group of food-illiterate tourists guess what he was showing us.  I had no idea that this was cocoa.

The coca beans are coated in this slick, fruity layer that people suck on like candy.  

Ginger!

Avocados in East Africa get huge.  I wish I had some tortilla chips to go with my guacamole.

Flowers.

This poor cinnamon tree is meant for tour purposes, so it gets further mutilated every time a new group passes through.  It was interesting to learn that not only do they use the bark from the tree for what we know as cinnamon, but they also put the leaves in porridge.  

Chilies!  I think it's funny when white guys eat chilies straight like it's some kind of macho thing: "Dude, it's not even hot!"   I really couldn't care less if they want to shove a chili down their gob.  

Any guesses?  Cloves.  Who would've thought they start out pink.

Nutmeg.  I was also really creeped out by the guide's super long cocaine nail.  I couldn't stop thinking of witches every time I looked at it.

Star fruit.  It was disappointingly bitter.  

My all time favorite: vanilla beans.  This is before they're dried.  In college my friends...and I...talked about starting a tote bag business (Jamal's Totes) with wonderfully non-annoying sayings like "If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?"  I love vanilla beans so much...

Kitchen Magician

Sometimes I just really want to bake something.  Alas, we don't have an oven so I sometimes improvise with the Kitchen Magician (frying pan).  Most of the times the frying pan is not a magician, but a regular old frying pan.  Yet when it comes to making foods that are normally baked or toasted, the Kitchen Magician has proven itself worthy time and time again.

I mashed up some sweet potatoes in coconut milk and made dough for flatbread.  Then I loaded the flatbread with the sweet potato mixture folded it and sealed it.

Put it in the frying pan.

(We also make toast in the frying pan)

And wala!  Sweet potato pies for dinner.  

Do you know Sabudana?

Kampala has a sizable South Asian community.  Fortunately for me this means Indian spices and ingredients are prevalent in the supermarkets.  These are a couple of my experiments in Indian food:

Chickpea, carrot, and potato curry.  Until recently Silly Me thought curry was a spice, but it turns out curry is just a general term for a mix of spices. 

Do you know Sabudana?  Pictured here, sabudana is a tapioca pearl that is common in some South Asian dishes.  Sabudana, and all types of tapioca pearls, actually come from cassava.  Say what?!  That's right, cassava root is ground and dried into a flour and and there is a lengthy, but oh so necessary, process by which the flour is turned into tapioca balls.  Cassava is really popular in many African countries, but tapioca seems to be more of an Asian fad.  

Zanzibar in Sepia

Stonetown windows.

Sunrise.

From the ferry.

Lunch at House of Spice.

Baobab tree.

California Hair Cut.

Passing Show restaurant.

Swimming.

Persian baths.