| Undine, behind you! |
Simplicity is the Ultimate sophistication. ~Leonardo DaVinci I cannot believe it's been almost seven weeks since my last post. What's even harder to believe is that I have been here for over 13 weeks now. Time is moving quickly and I stay Busy. So busy in fact, that I rarely get my thoughts written down, let alone posted on this blog. Facebook sits silent and when I do get time for Skype, messaging and emailing people, they say that I'm not Missing anything, nothing is new back home, same old same old, but I don't believe it. Of course things are happening, I'm missing things, people, events like my sister graduating high school, and I can't help but wish I could just pop back and forth from the States to Tanzania! But I have managed to fall in to my groove here, letting the photo taking and blog entries take a back seat to living life. I spend a lot of time in the Kitchen after eventful market outings, I'm still sticking with the Swahili lessons, meeting people and exploring new places, reading a lot more (and getting excited by Kentucky and Cincinnati references in the Toni Morrison and Norman Mailer books), and I have even started painting again. I showed a piece last week at a sculpture garden in town, so the creative juices are definitely flowing. It's hard not to be inspired here. Adding some local art... and my own art... and plugging my friend Jared's amazing art! As far as culinary pursuits go, I happen to think it's pretty top notch. Some people Complain about the food and missing this or that, but I am in heaven here with the produce. As it turns out, there are just other forms of fruits and veggies that I wish were more readily available here, but all in all, how can I complain with an abundance of food that I can only get fresh and local a few months out of the year back home? I've gotten a lot more back to the basics in the kitchen. I've come to prefer doing things from scratch and doing more baking and pickling. It's all about the process rather than the convenience here, whereas at home you just buy whatever you want or need. Here, no soymilk, no problem. I have soybeans, so there had to be a way to do it, thanks to Google. And it's my ultimate favorite principle of waste not, want not, so from the left over okara (soy bean pulp) there have been veggie burgers and falafel. Next up, making some vanilla extract and tackling my traditional Tanzanian coconut grater to make coconut milk. Love, love, love! Building up my pantry Pretty proud of my soy milk! And when I'm not in the kitchen, there are things like Sunday hikes with the monkeys and baobab trees to keep me occupied...but hopefully I won't be so long in posting again. I'm missing everyone back home and hope to stay connected! xoxo Spotted a mama monkey and her baby on Mother's Day :)I always see so many rainbows here! |
