Alchemy on 3 Stones

Chocolate cake and English muffins in the village? Just another lovely time at my sitemate's house.

Though it's far from being a goal of Peace Corps to cook up goodies over a wood fire, it's one of the most pleasing things I do in Malawi as a creative outlet. Since every day here contains some element of a Junkyard Challenge/Fear Factor. I tried some fried ants the other day, by the way, which tasted sorta like chicken/crabs. The creativity we use in the absence of American excess has really become a satisfying habit that gets applied when I'm hungry as well as when I get a hankering for Christmas decorations or when I want a mud-free pathway from my gate to my door.

Recent Food Fun (past 6 mos or so):
- Goat and Khobwe burritors w/homemade tortillas
- Fried chicken, starting with a live rooster
- English muffins with chicken gravy
- Crepes with mango jam
- Chili & cornbread
- Bean veggie burgers
- Soya veggie burgers
- Ginger beer
- Breaded & fried okra
- Gnocchi
- Spring rolls in peanut sauce
- Breakfast frittata
- Chocolate individual cakes
- Pizza w/milk cheese

Yes, this is a proud list of accomplishments! But I'd love some other succestion for a challenge; most of the ideas we have here come from random cravings. It usually goes something like this: "man I want some cheese" or, "if I had oreos I wouldn't bothering lighting a fire," etc.

So what have I gotten out of this? A happy belly for one and great fire-starting skills as a bonus. I always wanted to be a *real* girl scout, forget that crafting shit we did for all those years. But it is actually really comforting to see something familiar - and a little tastier than porridge - at food time here in tropical Malawi. I get a feeling also that when I am accepting the limits of life here, and bending those limits to my own will, that I am proving that doing things differently here is actually possible and can have great results. So then the challenge really becomes to apply that confidence to school and to secondary projects around the village.

But back to the goals of Peace Corps - who says sharing an English muffin with a village abambo isn't cultural exchange? So check that one off the list.