Some of my favourite things

I remember liking this time of year first time around and now it is back again! Winter is slowly on its way here with the evenings getter colder where now a blanket is needed to sleep at night, though not quite the extra layers and socks that will be required come August. The days are still warm but as I wander around town going to various meetings now I don’t arrive drenched in sweat. This season is also great for the local fruits and vegetables on sale. The avocados (locally called cotapela) are huge, deliciously creamy and cost only around 40 pence. The small bananas are plentiful and sweet to eat, and the satsuma like green oranges (called manachi) are also in abundance. A good time to be in Zambia. 

Nshima making night

Nshima is a strange white, almost mash potato like, substance which Zambian’s have a never ending appetite for eating. When it cools slightly after cooking the Nshima is moulded into palm sized balls using your hand for eating alongside meat or fish and some vegetables and beans. Nshima is a cooked porridge made from ground maize – using either breakfast meal maize which is very refined and starch like, or with roller meal which is less refined, maybe not as attractive presentation wise but with more nutrition so healthier. Both types are very filling. And the nshima even comes with its own special wooden stick. So the girls, and our neighbours Abigail and Ingrid, gave us a lesson on how to prepare nshima, expecting that we will take this tradition back to our home countries. It was tasty meal though if I ate it daily like a Zambian my weight would double.

   

On your marks, get set, go .... sushi rolling time

To celebrate a Japanese friend's birthday she trained us all (or at least tried to) in the art of making sushi. This meant rolling out our seaweed mats of nori, wetting our hands, spreading out the sticky rice and then happily staring at the wide range of ingredients to fill the sushi rolls. Whilst there was no traditional fish, we were not lacking in tasty ingredients. For the record I think I managed to squeeze in some strange combination of rice, beef, egg, carrots, mushrooms and beans. The super Japanese chef kept a close eye over her trainees, especially when we began to roll out the sushi. Then it was a case of adding the finishing touches to the sushi rolls with pickled ginger, wasabi and soy sauces, and sesame seeds. If that was not enough to fill our bellies, the birthday girl had also made a Japanese style beef curry to further feed the partygoers. So the feast of wonderful food continues and just gets better and better – stranger things will happen but making sushi in Zambia could be one of them.

Food glorious food

The trip around the Western Cape was a culinary delight though probably not so great for my wallet and waistline. Here is how I enjoyed my foodie evenings:

1. Sat @ Cafe Paradiso, Cape Town: Vegetable anti-pasta; 6hr slow roast pork belly, stuffed with pancetta alongside balsamic potato wedges; and crème brulee
2. Sun @ Simply Asia, Cape Town: Chicken, chilly, cashew nut and vegetable stir fry with rice noodles; and chocolate and hazelnut brownie
3. Mon @ the Codfather, Cape Town: Chunks of grilled tuna and monkfish with sauté vegetables and a choice of four dips (the chilli, and apricot chutney were my two favourite)
4. Tues @ Tokara, Stellenbosch: Kingklip fish with a pesto crust on a bed of pea mash potato, tomato gravy and sauté vegetables; white chocolate ice cream, raspberry sorbet, crushed biscuits and small cubes of mint jelly
5. Weds @ the Blue Olive, Wilderness: Tapas of jalapeno peppers, feta cheese, olive tapenade, black olives and garlic ciabatta; West Coast sole with roasted vegetables, rice and tarta sauce
6. Thurs @ Pomodoro, Wilderness: Four cheese pizza (brie, mozzarella, feta and goat cheese) with an Italian salad
7. Fri @ Caveau, Cape Town: Homemade vegetable soup; Beef fillet with green vegetables, cumin and red onion sauce and sliced crispy potatoes
8. Sat @ Sotoro, Cape Town: Baked flat bread with four dips (hummus, tzatziki, taramasalata, and chilli); mushroom and pea risotto with a baby green salad
9. Sun on Zambezi Airlines, somewhere up in the air over Zim: Back to reality with a soggy chicken sandwich and warm orange juice.

Naturally, all the good food was enjoyed with some tasty South African wines.

Lebanese food

The little things out here can make a big difference or go a long way. Our neighbours in Mazabuka are a friendly Lebanese family. Bilal runs a restaurant in town called The Good Time Investment Restaurant; great name(!) but it only serves local food which is mainly nshima, chips, chicken, t-bone, pies or burgers. So not bad but not particularly exciting either as it is the same food served by pretty much all of the other restaurants or cafes here in Maz. However, we recently found out that we could order Lebanese food from him which he and his wife cook at home, and then would deliver to us. So one Saturday they made us some hummus, tabbouleh, pitta bread and other mixes of bread with cheese, with onions and tomato, and with onions, tomato and mince on top. I doubt it will be the last time we place an order as it was all very tasty.