ON GROCERIES AND THINGS........

YES!!! Finally a HOT, large, delicious cuppucino!! maybe a miracle?! Thank you Hotel Talinjoo and thank you to the young lady who works at the Hotel Kaleta's Coffee Shop for teaching me the Malagasy word for hot! And thank you Bafana Bafana for helping me to remember it! Mafana be (with a little stroke on the e.) Up until now, ordering a cuppucino has been pure disaster. Cold coffee is like weak tea for me. We enjoyed a most flavoursome fish lunch at Hotel Talinjoo with an unusual tasting chocolate mousse for dessert and then of course the cherry on the top was the hot cuppucino!!
Not to be out done, I heard the ice whispering: "What about me?" So when a really cold drink is ordered and one requires extra ice you ask for - mangatsika be. Ice in French is glacon, don't pronounce the 'n'. (So I've been told!) Sure my French speaking sister is enjoying a chuckle or two!

Should I reveal this?.......Guess what will be tucked safely away in my suitcase when I return from our R & R in April? Spices and packet sauces amongst other things!

Mrs Epi-Dor (the name of the shop) has once again come to the rescue. She sells cake flour and baking powder amongst some other well-known South African brand names. Methinks it costs us an arm and a leg to shop here. But desperate need, leads to desperate measures, especially when it comes to groceries! As our son quipped: "You guys really get excited about groceries and food!" We were also able to purchase two stunning silver containers to keep our flour and mielie-meal in. Another two silver containers we purchased in the lower down "oriental plaza." Would nearly have missed them if I wasn't invited to come and take a look behind the counter. The shelves were that full. So our sugar and rice also live in new containers! We purchase our chicken from Epi-Dor. E-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e we are told. But until my stomach lets me know its quite okay to eat any other chicken purchased at various other outlets, I will continue to buy at this shop. The chicken is clean and I don't see any of those long legs 'cos we just buy the breasts! How I drool with longing for a Woolies chicken.

Back to the baking. Before I knew where to buy the lovely fresh flour, I bought a packet of something that I assumed was cake flour........not being the least proficient in French or Malagasy, it really was a guessing game. However, there was a little niggle at the back of my mind. I needed to bake banana bread otherwise we would have to throw the bananas away. So away I baked. Facing some challenges in the process. Gas oven temperature and no measuring cups! I popped the loaves into the oven and so they baked & baked & baked &baked in the shiny aluminium loaf tins I was able to purchase. Eventually I could stand it no longer and removed them from the oven. Outwardly they looked perfect, but alas! inwardly they were anything but what they should be!!! Cake flour?? After depositing them in a plastic bag I waited for Hilton to come home and with a giggle I suggested that he put the plastic bag in the outside bin! He wanted to know why I was throwing rocks away they were that heavy!! I will re-attempt this baking exercise with a few changes......proper cake flour for one, will borrow some measuring cups and try and change the oven temperature!

There is another little shop called Prix Unique Botik. E-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e we are told. Bugger that! (excuse my language) when I find, Iwisa Maize Meal, All Gold tomato & onion mix, Simba chips, Magnum ice cream, apples & grapes!!! There is a Shoprite Checkers store in Tanna!

We're so excited about the maize meal Hilton invites his buddies, Gerry & Andre over for breakfast on the Saturday. A proper "pap" breakfast! They've all been drooling over the thought of mielie-pap,
krummel pap, stywe pap, any kind of pap. There is no English explanation for these terms. They are typical and proudly South African! Oh for a braai (bbq) with chops, wors & pap!!! Andre enjoys his mielie-pap, gourmet style. Orange juice instead of milk! with a sprinkling of sugar! Quite yummy I might add. I tasted some.

Gerry on the left, Andre centre & Hilton enjoying their breakfast!

Staying with the kitchen theme. I have hand-sewn kitchen curtains. We needed a little privacy only having some lace on the windows. I discovered some interesting facts about fabric and traditional Malagasy dress after I stitiched the curtains. I bought the fabric from our shop in the "Oriental Plaza," the Twin Towers shop!

The Malagasy, males and females where a traditional garment called a "Lamba." The fabric has various designs, mostly geometric designs with pastoral scenes, or stripes or just plain white woven fabric, which the wealthier women wear much as a pashmina. Obviously the fabric varies in price and quality. The wealthier men wear the striped lamba draped over their shoulders. The ordinary Malagasy woman, is fond of wrapping a cotton lamba around her body, tucking it in just beneath her breasts. Much like a skirt. She normally wears this over her other clothing. The cotton of everyday use is quick drying and non crease. What is particular to this lamba is it normally has a "proverb"printed on it in Malagasy. My curtains, made of this cotton fabric have a "proverb" printed on them. Needless to say I was curious as to the meaning of the proverb and the Malagasy men who work with Hilton did the translation for me. Did I have a chuckle, seeing as though they hang in my kitchen and those who know me know my aversion to cooking that besets me every now and then.I guess there are many other Moms who can relate to this as well. Here is my kitchen proverb:
"Nothing changes, same thing every day!"

I leave you to ponder these "wise" words as I include a photo of the embroidered hanging covering the window in our bathroom.

"Nothing changes, same thing every day!"