The view of Mt. Cameroon, or old Mt. Fako was absolutely incredible tonight. It was a very clear day and evening and as the sun set the colors were amazingly vibrant. The picture is a sad portrayal of what it actually looks like in real life. I wish you could have all been standing there with me to see it with your own eyes! I stand in awe!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Indescribable Beauty
The view of Mt. Cameroon, or old Mt. Fako was absolutely incredible tonight. It was a very clear day and evening and as the sun set the colors were amazingly vibrant. The picture is a sad portrayal of what it actually looks like in real life. I wish you could have all been standing there with me to see it with your own eyes! I stand in awe!
Koki!
Lea and Christian, the two nurses who work here taught us how to make Koki! Lea came over around 5 and we dug in! There's lots of steps, kind of a process! But so worth it! Christian joined us when she got off work, it was so much fun and such a YUMMY result! So, to make Koki, you start with Koki beans...
Sort them,
Wash them! :)
We had to take the prepared Koki beans over to the machine to be grinded, we are pretty amazed with the African talent of caring thins on your head, EVERYBODY does it here, from little kid on! Today I saw a guy carrying two bags of sement mix on his head! Mary was trying and Lea is an expert... she tried to help Mary but after trying just said "hmmm, I have a spot on my head where I know I can carry things... I can't find yours"
The grinder which saves HOURS of grinding by hand on a stone!
Heating the banana leaves over the fire to clean them and make them soft and flexable.
Mix it up GOOD!! had to keep "stiring" all one direction to fluff it up!
Fill the Banana leaves.
The two cooks who actually knew what they were doing! :)
(notice our colorful notes on the wall behind Christian! :) thank you to all who sent them! :) they make me feel so loved!)
Boil it for... at least an hour... ish ;) It is just such an amazing concept for this ND girl to wrap her mind around the fact that I am cooking with BANANA LEAVES! And I can go out in "my yard" and get them!! Doesn't this just look so, ....wow!?
The finished product!! Several hours later, "Koki" and boiled plantains... It was SO SO SO SO good! But I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of the plantains, the Koki however, was incredible!
Sort them,
Wash them! :)
We had to take the prepared Koki beans over to the machine to be grinded, we are pretty amazed with the African talent of caring thins on your head, EVERYBODY does it here, from little kid on! Today I saw a guy carrying two bags of sement mix on his head! Mary was trying and Lea is an expert... she tried to help Mary but after trying just said "hmmm, I have a spot on my head where I know I can carry things... I can't find yours"
The grinder which saves HOURS of grinding by hand on a stone!
Heating the banana leaves over the fire to clean them and make them soft and flexable.
Mix it up GOOD!! had to keep "stiring" all one direction to fluff it up!
Fill the Banana leaves.
The two cooks who actually knew what they were doing! :) (notice our colorful notes on the wall behind Christian! :) thank you to all who sent them! :) they make me feel so loved!)
Boil it for... at least an hour... ish ;) It is just such an amazing concept for this ND girl to wrap her mind around the fact that I am cooking with BANANA LEAVES! And I can go out in "my yard" and get them!! Doesn't this just look so, ....wow!?
The finished product!! Several hours later, "Koki" and boiled plantains... It was SO SO SO SO good! But I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of the plantains, the Koki however, was incredible!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Visit to the Tole Tea Feilds
This evening the two nurses from the clinic came and taught us how to be African cooks!! It was great and a frist time cooking with banana leaves for me! I can't blog those pictures now, but here's a late post I didn't get to on Sunday! :)
Sunday afternoon Trixy took us on a nice walk out to the Tole Tea feilds, it is a BEAUTIFUL walk, the plants are just more than you can imagine!
We met Elizabeth and Joey on our way out to the tea feilds, they ran back to their house and all of a sudden were back to meet us with a gift of bananas! :)
This is another little "friend" we found on our walk... how he got here... so far from water is the real question.
Sunday afternoon Trixy took us on a nice walk out to the Tole Tea feilds, it is a BEAUTIFUL walk, the plants are just more than you can imagine!
We met Elizabeth and Joey on our way out to the tea feilds, they ran back to their house and all of a sudden were back to meet us with a gift of bananas! :)
This is another little "friend" we found on our walk... how he got here... so far from water is the real question.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Monday 10/10 =)
Hope you all had a very marvelous Monday! :) it was a good day! I went on the "tour of Buea" That Bill took our new student missionaries on, and then got dropped off at my school. I taught my class and it went really well, but then the teacher left for the afternoon and I was in charge till school let out! The French teacher came and taught his lesson after recess and then had ME grade the French homework! :S
This morning I decided to tackle the challange of making pancakes in Africa! Our two new SMs don't have food or a stove yet so we've been trying to keep them fed! I started with a little recipe that I found on Google the other day and improvised drastically from there!! The real trick was getting them loosened and flipped... with a fork being my only weapon! Plus I didn't have a real smooth non-stick pan... just the cover of our pot, so I learned to make them a little smaller than your average pancake and it worked real well :)
if I must say so myself... I thought they were real good!
This is a banana leaf in the garbage can at school... You know you're in africa when a little boy brings his lunch to school wraped in a banana leaf!
I got to pick up my skirt today!! and I LOVE IT! :) I dropped off the fabric I got at the market on Thursday, picked a picture I liked, she took three measurements, and voilà! A BEAUTIFUL skirt today!
A simply pretty bridge bridge on the walk home from our favorite store.
right under the bridge is some nice trash (clothes and all) and it looks like the water has been washing over them for awhile!
An icecream cone fore everyone at Bill's favorite icecream lady :) at less than a quarter each it's a nice little treat!
This morning I decided to tackle the challange of making pancakes in Africa! Our two new SMs don't have food or a stove yet so we've been trying to keep them fed! I started with a little recipe that I found on Google the other day and improvised drastically from there!! The real trick was getting them loosened and flipped... with a fork being my only weapon! Plus I didn't have a real smooth non-stick pan... just the cover of our pot, so I learned to make them a little smaller than your average pancake and it worked real well :)
if I must say so myself... I thought they were real good!
This is a banana leaf in the garbage can at school... You know you're in africa when a little boy brings his lunch to school wraped in a banana leaf!
I got to pick up my skirt today!! and I LOVE IT! :) I dropped off the fabric I got at the market on Thursday, picked a picture I liked, she took three measurements, and voilà! A BEAUTIFUL skirt today!
A simply pretty bridge bridge on the walk home from our favorite store.
right under the bridge is some nice trash (clothes and all) and it looks like the water has been washing over them for awhile!
An icecream cone fore everyone at Bill's favorite icecream lady :) at less than a quarter each it's a nice little treat!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Another week in Africa!
Wednesday, the 5th was teacher's day and I was invited to the celebration! They honored me at the head table with the 5 "big wigs" of the school!! it was incredible!! I very big production and a VERY big honor!
Mary had to work the night shift last night and I got to spend it with her!
She even let me help with a few tasks I could handle!!
Mary got mail! =D
I just love the key for our mailbox!! it's a super old-looking skeleton key and it's just rough and looks homemade! But it works!
Christain gave us a wonderful sample of real African food!! We enjoyed learning and tasting at her house and even got to take some "home" for our meal!!
This is something... it's Gari wrapped up in a banana leaf until it gets stiff, Hey AFRICA!!
This is the food we got to take home!!
We've been getting pretty good at making our own German from Russia American African food!! This was SO tasty!! I think it's of resturant quality!! Unsalted beans on the bottom smothered with a delicate Gari Potato/Carrot stew and topped off with an exquizit Okra sauce with extra flavor. When eaten all together the beans on bottom added a wonderful texture and the Okra sauce complimented the beans with an exact salty ballance.
Trying to take matters into our own hands when it comes to our lighting situation! Than goodness for Big Iron Ford tools! :P
Thank goodness for duct tape
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Sunday in Buea
Mary and I started a "nap" yesterday afteroon which for me ended up lasting until 8:30 this morning... 16 hours of sleeps means two things... you were REALLY tired, and you wake up feeling wonderful! Haha, then it was a full day of all sorts of fun with Mary. Since we working in different places we feel like we never get to see each other haha, even though we do live together... :P but we had a wonderful day!
Do you know how to cook palm nuts? ... yeah, we don't either :P
We went for a nice long walk down the main road, we were going to walk for as long as we felt like (down hill) and then get a taxi back, but then decided when we turned around that we might as well keep walking, and it would be good for us! :P
on the shoulder of the main road :)
A Yummy treat toward the end of our walk :) Cold, Soy Strawberry/Banana Smoothy!
I was too overwhelmed to look for the ingredients at first but we located what we needed for a "German meal" and this German from Russia who has never left the United States till now, made Kneophla in Cameroon, Africa! :)
The progress!
Add some potatoes and carrots...
... And share with friends! (Mary, Trixy, Bill, and Andrea).
MMMMmmmmm a little taste of home! it was Amazing!
Do you know how to cook palm nuts? ... yeah, we don't either :P
We went for a nice long walk down the main road, we were going to walk for as long as we felt like (down hill) and then get a taxi back, but then decided when we turned around that we might as well keep walking, and it would be good for us! :P
on the shoulder of the main road :)
A Yummy treat toward the end of our walk :) Cold, Soy Strawberry/Banana Smoothy!
I was too overwhelmed to look for the ingredients at first but we located what we needed for a "German meal" and this German from Russia who has never left the United States till now, made Kneophla in Cameroon, Africa! :)
The progress!
Add some potatoes and carrots...
... And share with friends! (Mary, Trixy, Bill, and Andrea).
MMMMmmmmm a little taste of home! it was Amazing!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
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