Wednesday 13 April 2011

Rain and Sludge and Stuff

Rain and Sludge and Stuff
 
I have just completed a most satisfying job. It is one of those jobs that I am always meaning to do and never seem to have the time nor the inclination to get round to. I cleaned up one of my pen sticks. Actually I cleaned up three pen sticks. I no longer have double folders with the same names and documents with the same name just numbered 1 - 6 and I now know where everything is. And I am re-familiarising myself with all my school documents before this August. It only took me all afternoon yesterday and all this morning. But a strangely satisfying feeling! Only one small problem - I managed to completely delete my Poetry folder - and from the looks of things I teach a hell of a lot of poetry. I was quite blase when I realised what I was doing as I thought I'd simply recover all the documents and data from the recylce bin! But alas and alack no joy. Apparently when cleaning up and deleting from a pen stick the documents do not go into the recylce bin - I never knew that - so I have learned something in my time in Ethiopia! Thank goodness my hubby to be is an IT Guy, who spent an incredible amount of time recovering my data last night. That would be enough reasoon to marry him, but to be honest I am marrying him for his pancakes and the fact he has the complete series of West Wing!
 
In practice of my role as the dutiful wife I said I would cook dinner - we had agreed some time ago that as an example to Ethiopian men and young women Paul would do most of the cooking. Men here NEVER cook and would never dream of even entering the kitchen. Our (female) day guard's daughter thinks it is strange that Paul is even in the kitchen never mind he cooks while I lounge on the sofa reading my book. But it is all in the name of capacity building and setting a good example in the name of development! We had little in the house in the way of food, some tatties and a couple of ends of raggedy courgettes, so tatties and veg it seemed to be - till I was enlightened. A few days previously I came into the kitchen to the smell of raosting something. Almaz was roasting chick peas in the back patio. It was a lovely sight, her crouched over the tiny charcoal burner roasting chick peas. It was a delicious smell. The next day she arrived with a small bowl of shiro - chick pea powder - which she had obviously ground herself - truly amazingly fine - and she made a point of handing the bowl to me and not Paul - was she trying to say something? I think she is worried for Paul. She also likes to call me Jenny! So, I thought, we'll have shiro. Shiro and Tegabino are two of the most common dishes in Ethiopia. They are simply powdered chick peas made into an orangey paste and eaten with Injera. I love tegabino, which is usually thicker and spicier, having the spice berberry in it - a tastier version of chillie powder. From my vast knowledge of Ethiopian cooking I was aware that the shiro powder is usually cooked with some onion, garlic and burberry - which also gives it the lovely orangey colour and so I set to. The tatties were boiling and the veg roasting as I set my mind to the shiro - onion in, garlic and shiro powder in, cooked with water till the right consistency and eh viola - a lovely brownish sludge which tasted of nothing!!!! Serioulsy it was a brown sludge. I threw in the raosted courgettes and things seemed a little better, but it was fine with the mashed tatties - turned out to be a comfort food. But I think I'll stick to eating tegabino from restaurants. I also needed to hide my disaster from Almaz or she will probably seriously consider marrying her daughter off to Paul just to ensure he is being fed properly!!! But another reason for marrying Paul is he said he really enjoyed my sludge. We did try out other names for my cooking sensation like gloop - but gloop is always beige coloured to be and this was definitely a greeny-brown colour!!!
 
Or maybe it was simply that the electricity had gone out which gave the sludge its characteristic palate. You get used to the power going off here often, but last night it was perfect - we couldn't see what we were eating but we witnessed the most amazing thunder and lightening storm I have ever seen. The sky was electric with both sheet and fork lightening - it was like fireworks! And the constant rumble of thunder was strangely comforting. A truly amazing sight!

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