The Flavors of Life

Did you know that you can make pumpkin pie from scratch...haha!  My housemate, Corinna, is from Australia and she didn't know that you can buy pumpkin in a can...weird...:)  Well, we bought a pumpkin the other day and we've been eating it for days: pumpkin soup cooked in coconut milk, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin and beans, and pumpkin bread...it was a big pumpkin :)  It's been fun learning how many ways you can eat pumpkin!

Here is Ginger curled up in the dust pan...it can't be comfortable, but he sleeps there often :)

There have been many wedding dances lately.  A wedding here usually lasts for up to two week.  The first week is full of fried bread making by the women.  Then the wedding happens on a Friday and almost everyday after that for the next week there is at least one dance a night...they don't usually start until 9 or 10PM and they turn the speakers up loud enough that the next village can hear the celebration.  Most of these dances have been happening a few yards down the street from my and Corinna's house...:)  We've gone to a few of the wedding dances mostly to take pictures for friends.  This is Mama Hannah.  She is our next door neighbor and a joy to hang out with :)

This is Mama Hannah's sister  Zoey.  She is all dressed up having come from one of the many wedding dances.  My friends love getting their picture taken when they are all dolled up :)

This dance is called the Ngoma Nyombe, "the dance of the cow."  This is a man's dance where women dance into the circle and place a lei of jasmine flowers around a man's neck...hence why I am watching from a distance :)  It's called the dance of the cow, because they tie a cow right next to the speaker.  Sometimes at the end of the dance they will let the cow run through the street and chase people and other times they slaughter the cow and have a big feast.

Daisy helped me cook the other night.  Can I say that I think headlights are quite possibly one of the awesomest inventions for those who live in places with limited electricity!  I love it!

We cooked rice over our newly created firepit!  Our grill grate is made out of wielded re-bar...it was so fun!

We also grilled/roasted/smoked chicken...I was so proud I cried, then again I may have been crying because of all the smoke in my eyes :)  But the chicken was pretty amazing too!