Cooking in Africa...a journey for me

yes, I have totally felt this after moving to Africa. Many new foods, pots & pans I was not used to, not my spices I was used to, a different store, cooking from scratch for 3 meals a day x 7 days a week, no drive-thru or take-out or delivery, not having my cookbooks, etc, etc. I understand!! I was telling a friend that I went through phases with cooking after I moved to Africa. 

Phase 1 - (0-3 months) 

Buy anything I recognized the label in the store no matter the price. Ok, for a while, but got expensive and repetitive after a while.  It felt like it was fun, we were living an adventure and trying new things, but felt like a temporary solution

Phase 2 - (3-6 mo) 

Get bold and try downloading recipes online since I didn't have my old cookbooks. Pick out 3 recipes, go to the store and can't find 2-3 items on each recipe. Come home with no complete recipe. Try to make it anyway without the missing ingredient. Frustrating, defeating. 

Phase 3 - (6-12 mo) 

Got a cookbook by american missionary women living in Africa which had recipes I was familiar with but with local ingredients. Took one recipe at a time, slowly, trying and feeling successful with the result. Little by little, felt more comfortable with what I could buy and find and make at home. 

Phase 4 - (second year) Cooking from Scratch, Really

Moving to Rwanda! It felt like I was start over again when we moved to Rwanda in Dec 2010, but I felt a little more prepared this time, after what I experienced in Kenya. This time was different because I was able to bring some of my cookbooks from home and many of my pots, pans, kitchen utensils, etc. and I had a bigger kitchen. So, I felt a little more ready to face the challenge, until I found out that everything had to be made from scratch herein Rwanda. There was very little if any prepared foods, things like a can of cream of chicken soup for casseroles or a dessert recipe that starts with a box of yellow cake mix or a dinner meal that calls for a bag of frozen vegetables or a soup recipe that is a can of corn, a can of beans,  a can of whatever. Can't do any of those recipes! I realized how much I didn't know how to cook. I mean I cooked meals, nice meals actually, I thought for my growing family for 10 years, but now I was paralyzed because all of my cooking relied on some element of prepared food from the grocery store. Now, everything was from scratch. 

If you live in the United States, bring a cake to a party and someone says "Oh, did you make that yourself?", and you say "yes". That means you opened a box, added 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of oil, and 1/4 cup of water and cooked it in your dish, in your oven. You did not buy it from the bakery section at the store and you are a super mom for baking your own cake. Here in Africa, if you make a cake from scratch it means something different. It means you put flour, 125g butter, caster sugar, eggs, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), cocoa powder, buttermilk (or milk and yoghurt), and vanilla essence mixed together in your oven at 175 degrees Celcius to make the "Super Easy Chocolate Cake" recipe from your "Cooking in Kigali" cookbook compiled by ex-pat (American, British, Canadian, German, etc) women. 

whew! This whole process has been very frustrating, but eventually it has gotten better as I have slowly tried different things and became more confident of my cooking. Now, the other ex-pat ladies and I try to share recipes with each other, since we are all in the same boat. And we even find ourselves sharing where we found certain food items. For example, you might find yourself having an entire conversation about where to find mozzarella cheese in the city. Or you text your friends from a store when you find maple syrup. It really is hysterical! And maybe I should talk about buying food from street vendors, I mean a guy walks up to your car with a bucket of strawberries and you are actually thrilled to see him and buy the strawberries! Maybe that topic should be another blog post....

I Love African Fabrics!

Oh, I think I have fallen in love with the fabrics here in East Africa!  There are so many bright, fun colors. And the way the colors are paired together with the different patterns, I think it really shows about the culture of an area.

Kitenge - Rwanda

Here are two samples I bought today for a skirt for my sister. A close up and then distance shot of each. Lots of bright fun colors and some crazy patterns too! Some of the patterns will have a picture of a shoe, a purse, apples, or whatever. 

The three pictures at the bottom are from a local coffee shop wall that used tons of different fabrics from the market to make a wall of color. Each piece is wrapped around a wooden baton and attached to the wall. Very dramatic. I had Lane and Abigail pick out their favorite fabrics on the wall. 

Khanga - Tanzania or Mombasa, Kenya 

Rectangle piece of fabric with a 6 inch border around the edges. Used to make women's dresses. I loved to use them for tablecloths and still do. They come in al colors! The unique thing about these fabrics is that they all have a quote at the bottom of the fabric.  There were also khangas with the U.S. President Obama's picture on the whole fabric since his father is Kenyan.

Khanga - which comes from the old Bantu (Kiswahili) verb ku-kanga to wrap or close. www.wikipedia.com

An East African khanga is a rectangle of pure cotton cloth with a border all around it and printed in bold designs and bright colors. It is as long as a person’s outstretched arm and wide enough to cover from neck to knee, or from waist to toe. Khangas are often bought in pairs and are usually worn in a most attractive and useful way. Most traditional outfits require a matched or unmatched pair. Women also use khangas to cover other clothes and to carry their young children on their backs. Khangas are also used as tablecloths and decorative wall hangings.

Khangas use a variety of African sayings, idioms, proverbs, slogans, expressions, idioms and riddles in Swahili and English. These sayings must be understood in their cultural and social contexts. It is important to understand that many of the sayings are intended to be a commentary on the lives of East African women and their complex relationships. Many of the sayings are messages (hidden/coded or otherwise) that women communicate to each other. Usually the saying is printed on the bottom middle of the cloth. More recent East African khangas also contain informational and educational messages.

"Asante sana kwa wema ulionitendea." means "Thank you for your good deeds to me."

"Apendaye halipizi." means "The one who loves does not take revenge."

"Yataka moyo." means "[Marriage] needs patience."

"Yote ni matawi shina ni mimi." means "All are branches. I am the root." (Meaning: The legally married woman is the root. The rest of the women/wives are branches to the man.)

"Zawadi ni zawadi." means "A gift is a gift."

Source: http://www.deproverbio.com/display.php?a=3&r=106

Kikoy - Kenya 

From the Kenya coastal areas. More pastel or lighter shades of colors. Solid color with small stripes in the fabric. Often a fringed or braided edge on 2 sides. Used as a shawl or wrap, but also sewn into clothes. 

Maasai Fabric - Kenya

Red plaid fabric used by Maasai tribe who live in the Mara area of Kenya. They wrap this fabric around them to designate their tribe from other tribes. It is worn by the Maasai warriors and the cow and goat herders in the fields.