who doesn't like the gingers?

in keeping with my goal # 6 to eat more balanced, regular meals (and the recap of the disaster of pub food that was last week), i made a delicious dinner tonight.  my sister, who can sniff out a piece of ginger from a mile away, would certainly not agree, but i thought this soup was rather tasty (and not to mention, so easy) and whipped up a salad to go with it.

ginger carrot soup

3 tbsp butter or olive oil

3 leeks, white part and 2 inches of green, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 hand of ginger, cut into 8 pieces

2 pounds of carrots, trimmed, peeled, and chopped

1 russet potato, peeled and quartered

salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 cups chicken stock

minced green onion for garnish

1 - in a large, heavy pot, melt the butter over medium heat.
2 - add the leeks and onion and cook, stirring often, until soft (about 10 minutes)
3 - add the ginger, carrots, and potato, season with salt and pepper, and stir with a wooden spoon to mix together.
4 - pour in the stock, raise the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil.
5 - reduce the heat to low, cover partially, and summer until the carrots are very soft (about an hour).
6 - remove from the heat and remove and discard the ginger.
7 - let the soup cool slightly and process until very smooth in a food prcessor or blender.
8 - season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with sprinkle of green onions.

my basic stand-by greek salad

put the following in a bowl, after chopping to your preferred size:

tomatoes

red onion

cucumber (but not too many or they are always left over)

red or yellow pepper

add:

capers (or olives, if you like those better or are in an olive mood)

oregano (this is essential)

salt & pepper

feta cheese (the kind in the brine that gets a bit gooey)

make a simple dressing with lemon juice and olive oil in equal parts and drizzle over the rest.

i didn't take any photos, but i think i will make this for a friend later this week so perhaps i can get a few snaps then.

i adapted the soup recipe from The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market Cookbook, which also says you can add sour cream as a garnish or serve it cool.

if you like the flavour of ginger, you will enjoy this soup.  if, however, you are like my sister, and can pick out ginger in anything, i would suggest staying far away from this soup or anyone cooking it.  the finished product has quite the bite and the green onion garnish is perfect to cool a burning palate.

yum.

food links if you find yourself in san francisco

i finally got myself up and running yesterday and battled the hangover with a mixture of starbucks coffee (where is a t ho's when you need it?), a panna cotta from miette (it was divine and they gave me a dollar bill back when i returned the jar, which made me smile), two mahi mahi fish tacos from taylor's automatic refresher (oh, i forgot how good real mexican food really is), 3 organic heirloom tomatoes purchased from the farmer's market, and a drip coffee from the bluebottle coffee co.

all of these delights (sans starbies) were found in the ferry building and if you are going to come to san francisco, i must insist that you get yourself to this place to eat your way through it. even if you do not have a hangover. there is a man who sells nothing but mushrooms! and a real cheese shop! and produce that made my insides warm! i do love a market.

continuing on with my theme of food, i went out for passable indian food last night and then to an indy club called popscene to see a band called music for animals. it was good. the beer continued to disappoint, but the company was fun and meeting the band afterwards made me feel sort of like a rock star. or more like a groupie.

and then this morning (hangover free, yippee!), i tried to get to mama's for their famous brunch, but was scared away by the length of the queue and happened upon a gem of an italian cafe called cafe divino that serve some of the best eggs benedict i've had along with an excellent cup of coffee.

and i still have one more evening, an entire day, and another morning to finish eating my way through san francisco!

vegetarian 100

The Vegetarian Hundred
same deal, but now with veggies. the original list can be found here.

1. Real macaroni and cheese, made from scratch and baked
2. Tabouleh (yum, yum, yum)
3. Freshly baked bread, straight from the oven (preferably with homemade strawberry jam)
4. Fresh figs
5. Fresh pomegranate (one of my favs)
6. Indian dal of any sort (my favourite was my malaysian friend's grandma's that she froze and sent to him at uni)
7. Imam bayildi
8. Pressed spiced Chinese tofu
9. Freshly made hummus
10. Tahini
11. Kimchi (i have always wanted to try this)
12. Miso
13. Falafel
14. Potato and pea filled samosas
15. Homemade yogurt (made some for grade 4 science fair)
16. Muhammara
17. Brie en croute
18. Spanikopita
19. Fresh, vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes
20. Insalata caprese
21. Stir-fried greens (gai lan, bok choi, pea shoots, kale, chard or collards) (used to live with 3 chinese girls and they loved to fry the greens)
22. Freshly made salsa (viva mexico!)
23. Freshly made guacamole (otra vez!)
24. Creme brulee (la joie de vivre)
25. Fava beans (or at least i think so)
26. Chinese cold sesame peanut noodles
27. Fattoush
28. New potatoes
29. Coleslaw
30. Ratatouille (made it for the first time last year)
31. Baba ganoush
32. Winter squash
33. Roasted beets (i love a boiled beet too)
34. Baked sweet potatoes (but blech)
35. Plantains (i think i mentioned this before, but thank you africa)
36. Chocolate truffles
37. Garlic mashed potatoes
38. Fresh water chestnuts (i think, maybe there were not fresh?)
39. Steel cut oats
40. Quinoa (i really, really want to try this complete protein, but have yet to do so)
41. Grilled portabello mushrooms
42. Chipotle en adobo
43. Stone ground whole grain cornmeal
44. Freshly made corn or wheat tortillas
45. Frittata
46. Basil pesto (homemade! but not sure if all that processing was worth the output)
47. Roasted garlic (is sort of like a 5th food group in my diet)
48. Raita of any type (indian flatmates, woo who!)
49. Mango lassi
50. Jasmine rice (white or brown)
51. Thai vegetarian coconut milk curry (but not my favourite, that coconut milk)
52. Pumpkin in any form other than pie (fritter style in rsa)
53. Fresh apple pear or plum gallette (no, but my little bro was just eating one tonight, perhaps by tomorrow i will be able to bold this one)
54. Quince in any form
55. Escarole, endive or arugula (or rocket, as i like to call it)
56. Sprouts other than mung bean
57. Naturally brewed soy sauce (maybe, is the stuff they give you at fancy sushi restaurants naturally brewed?)
58. Dried shiitake mushrooms (i have mixed opinions on dried mushrooms, but i wouldn't turn them down)
59. Unusually colored vegetables (purple cauliflower, blue potatoes, chocolate bell peppers…) (sometimes the vegetables in kenya don't come the way you are used to seeing them...)
60. Fresh peach ice cream
61. Chevre
62. Medjool dates
63. Kheer
64. Flourless chocolate cake
65. Grilled corn on the cob (sold on street corners throughout central america and africa)
66. Black bean (or any other bean) vegetarian chili (i actually made chili with meat for the first time this summer)
67. Tempeh
68. Seitan or wheat gluten (sick, and not the way the kids are using the word 'sick' these days - i lived with seventh day adventists for a few months and they ate this stuff like it was candy)
69. Gorgonzola or any other blue veined cheese (i have recently developed a love for the mouldy cheeses)
70. Sweet potato fries
71. Homemade au gratin potatoes
72. Cream of asparagus soup (and i made it myself)
73. Artichoke-Parmesan dip
74. Mushroom risotto
75. Fermented black beans
76. Garlic scapes
77. Fresh new baby peas (if you must eat a pea, it better be fresh)
78. Kalamata olives
79. Preserved lemons
80. Fried green tomatoes
81. Chinese scallion pancakes
82. Cheese souffle
83. Fried apples
84. Homemade frijoles refritos (they are a staple in mexico and something i learned to love) 85. Pasta fagiole
86. Macadamia nuts in any form (some from a macadamia nut farm in guatemala. don't try them raw, they are not nice)
87. Paw paw in any form (but i call it papaya)
88. Grilled cheese sandwich of any kind (cut into 4, of course)
89. Paneer cheese (as mentioned before)
90. Ma Po Tofu (vegetarian style–no pork!)
91. Fresh pasta in any form
92. Grilled leeks, scallions or ramps (i love leeks, plain and simple)
93. Green papaya salad (i have yet to try this but i once lived with someone who had lived in thailand and swore it was the best ever)
94. Baked grain and vegetable stuffed tomatoes (but yum)
95. Pickled ginger
96. Methi greens
97. Aloo paratha
98. Kedgeree (the original Indian version without the smoked fish, not the British version with fish) (nope, only the fish version, which was quite good)
99. Okra (=slime)
100. Roasted brussels sprouts (never roasted, but i would gladly try it because boiled or fried, i love them)

and i was hoping to try out my new trick of the strikethrough, but alas, things made out of vegetables are much easier for me to imagine putting in my mouth. i may see another meat vacation in my future...

i think the thing that i love about lists about food (thanks again k for this one!) is that i enjoy the memories that come with food. i can so easily remember what i ate, where i was, and who i was with when a food is mentioned.

omnivore's 100

i stole this from k this late sunday evening when i am not in the mood for bed, or for writing much else (as witnessed by my inability to post for the past few weeks). it is the omnivore's 100 and was fun to do. i copied it from her and deleted all the hyperlinks, but check her blog out if you want to know what half this stuff is (i had to look up a bunch).

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (except here they are red because i cannot figure out how to strike anything through)
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos Rancheros
4. Steak tartare (just the other day and i loved it)
5. Crocodile (it tastes like salty chicken and is gross)
6. Black pudding (surprising considering my proximity at times to the places that eat this 'delicacy.' but no, i wouldn't try it.)
7. Cheese fondue (but i don't know what the big deal with the fondue is)
8. Carp
9. Borscht (i don't think i've ever had beet soup, but i surely would try it)
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich (raspberry j is best)
14. Aloo gobi (i am not sure i have had exactly this, but things very similar to it)
15. Hot dog from a street cart (my most recent one was a sausage in a bun in prague and it came with a pickle!)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (i think so, but cannot remember an instance and i'm sure i would not like it)
19. Steamed pork buns (nothing about pork excites me and if i were to eat it, it would have to be some sort of pork roast)
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (a life without tomatoes would not be worth living)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras (i don't know a whole lot about foie gras, but have heard of some unethical farming practices to get those livers to grow so much. and liver, ew)
24. Rice and beans (it is a staple is so many countries i have been in and has its own name in cuba, but i cannot recall it at the moment)
25. Brawn or head cheese (had i wanted to try it, germany would have been the best place, it is everywhere)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche (one of my favs in mexico)
28. Oysters (raw or smoked, delicious)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda (but yum!)
31. Wasabi peas (i once ate a few bowls of these in the coolest restaurant in hamburg, germany - then proceeded to steal a beer glass)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (i have this issue with soggy bread)
33. Salted lassi (i have never liked the idea of the lassi and have yet to try one)
34. Sauerkraut (again, the germans)
35. Root beer float (the best kind of float!)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (but not together, so i don't think that counts)
37. Clotted cream tea (in the lake district in england... so rich and so good)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail (twice in the last year - south africa and paris and i enjoyed it much more than i thought i would)
41. Curried goat (i have eaten goat in many forms - thank you africa - but never curried)
42. Whole insects (chapulines in oaxaca, mexico. blech, but i did it)
43. Phaal (maybe i would try a bite)
44. Goat’s milk (not just plain milk, but cheese made with it)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (i had a scottish flatmate, he introduced me to nice scotch and hot toddies)
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala (just not with the chicken)
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (heavenly, and i don't typically like doughnuts)
50. Sea urchin (no, but i did have one stuck in my foot for weeks)
51. Prickly pear (mexican street food includes cactus)
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone (there is some nasty poaching going on with this stuff in south africa, and i am pretty sure my former next-door neighbour was in on it when i lived there and when he pulled hods of it out of his freezer, i politely declined)
54. Paneer (my favourite is the paneer tikka from hashmi in nairobi - if you go there, order it!)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle (something i should have tried while i was in deutschland, apparently)
57. Dirty gin martini (i had my first last year and it is surprisingly delicious and dangerous...)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (i think)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores (back in the brownie camp days)
62. Sweetbreads (like maybe if i was on amazing race and this was the only thing keeping me from being a millionaire, then maybe)
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst (funny, i read a lot about this this past summer and there is even a museum devoted to the stuff in berlin, but it did not appeal to me so alas, i have not eaten it)
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (mmmmm..... churros)
68. Haggis (in Edinburgh and it was pretty tasty)
69. Fried plantain (hello africa, and not too bad, but i am off bananas because of the many and varied uses of all things banana-like in east africa)
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (no, no way)
71. Gazpacho (i made it once and described it as tasting like blended salad, but it was good blended salad)
72. Caviar and blini (wait, not together, but this one confuses me)
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu (and mostly because i am afraid of exported food products from china at the moment)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail (and one time in paris, which was so parisian and delicious)
79. Lapsang souchong (sure, i like tea, just doubt that i would like a smoky tea)
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum (sounds nice)
82. Eggs Benedict (hollandaise is not my favourite, but the avenue diner in calgary does a fantastic version of these eggs)
83. Pocky (no, but i have had a very similar italian treat)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (oh, yes please!)
85. Kobe beef (what do you think the chances of the kobe beef fast food at u of c is actually kobe beef?)
86. Hare
87. Goulash (my mom made this a lot when i was growing up and i never cared for it, but had it again in hungary this summer, not bad, not bad)
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (unless i ate it when i was little, i don't think i have ever eaten spam)
92. Soft shell crab (never the soft shell variety)
93. Rose harissa (not yet, but i will)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano (i did not like this one bit and have no idea how the mexicans go so crazy for this national dish)
96. Bagel and lox (i think i have lived off of this for days on end at times)
97. Lobster Thermidor (never the thermidor variety)
98. Polenta (the first time at an italian dinner party and i only give it a medium)
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (is that like code word for marijuana?)
100. Snake

right bank/left bank

oh, paris...

confession: i think it had taken me so long to get myself to the city of love, the city renown for joie de vivre because i was partly afraid that it would overwhelm me or that the parisians would eat me during a 7 course gourmet meal because i can barely stumble through pleasantries en francaise (bad canadian, i know).

but i am not afraid to admit when i am wrong. and apart from the occassional surly server and the woman who snubbed her nose at me for whipping out my guidebook on the metro, parisians did not even want to take a nibble. they were lovely.

actually, i wanted to package up the loveliest amelie-esque woman who worked at our local bakery and bring her home with me, she was just that sweet. and yes, because i was in paris for 5 days i get to say that i had a 'local' bakery.

i am going to miss that city. all of the regular culprits included - that food, that wine, that architecture. but for all that we saw and did, i am mostly going to miss wandering the streets of paris, looking in the shop windows, finding my way around the streets, and stopping whenever i damn well felt like it to have a croissant, a meal, a glass of wine, or a rest in a park.

highlights include, in no particular order:

- the best creme brulee i have ever had. and i didn't even think i liked creme brule. i was wrong. very, very wrong.

- croissants and espresso in plastic cups from the local bakery in the mornings

- staying at the ideal hotel design. if you are going to paris, stay there. (and book it on ebooking.com so that it is only 60 euro a night). it is artsy and funktastic and just my style. the night guy was surly and did nothing to dispell the parisian myth (ok, that makes 3 sour parisians), but the other staff were very nice and they actually had a pink reception area, purple hallways, and olympics in french on fancy tvs!

- the centre pomidou. i loved this place. it was like a croissant, a cafe creme, and creme brule all rolled into one museum of deliciousness.

- going up the eiffel tower. now i thought, yeah, sure we are in paris and we MUST go up the tower but i cannot be arsed to stand in a line to go up an elevator and i am too cheap to pay more when i can just walk up, but my legs are protesting when i even lift one to put it in front of the other because touring around europe for 3 weeks is tiring, whine, whine, whine... so we went back first thing the next morning and walked up. mild panic attack and begging the soldier to let us turn around and walk back to the 1st level aside, it was pretty damn cool. sort of like a delicious bottle of bordeax sipped on the bank of the seine.

- sipping a delicious bottle of bordeaux on the banks of the seine. as per a great suggestion, we bought some wine, a baguette, some cheese that made me want to cry it was so good, and some vine ripened tomatoes and had a little riverside spread. at first we felt a little sheepish drinking straight from the bottles (one of which was purchased at printemps and was actually not the least expensive one there, proving that i am not cheap and have lots of class, and the other for 2.50 at a grocery store - i think they were equally delicious), but soon got over that and just enjoyed the sunset with other picnickers/drinkers and watched the world go by.

- checking out armour at the musee de l'armee and then nosing through the pinkness of fauchon and smelling the teas, drooling over their pastries, and picking up a few little treats (because that is what you call COMPROMISE)

- eating crepes on the street in all their goozy cheesey, eggy (who knew?) goodness

- meandering through the pere lachaise cemetary and finding the gravestones of jim morrison, oscar wilde, heloise & abelard and some french dude whose package is apparently full of such vigor, if you rub it, you will become pregnant (i just pretended)

- eclaires! in the morning!

- the gargoyles at notre dame, but not the line to stand in and the entry fee to pay to get up there to see them. but it was much more enjoyable for me than the soldier when i was all hyped up on caffeine and sugar from coffee and eclaires in the morning and bounced up and down the entire way.

- having a nap in jardin de tullieres

- all the people who take photos of art in galleries like the musee d'orsay. there were some people that i am pretty sure were not even looking at the paintings themselves (matisse, picasso, van gogh, seurat...) and just fitting them irregularly in their digital frame and snapping away to bore their neighbours back home during the slide show

- speaking of cameras, fearing that someone was going to run away with our camera at the louvre. i think i'd been in nairobi too long. but it gave us a laugh.

i miss paris already. and i must find a way to get back there. and ideally, find a way to get paid while i go back there because that city makes quite the dent in the pocketbook. i also made a little commitment to my life's To Do List to go back to paris when i speak french. i better get on that.

weather karma

i was having a thought on my run today. i was running on the road because i get these shin splint-type pains if i run on hard surfaces like sidewalks and i was noticing how wide the roads are here, but how drivers are still noticeably nervous when i am running on their turf.

this brought me around to some other thoughts i have been having lately - that our culture is so afraid of so many things happening. or, possibly, that companies, corporations, or any type of authority does not want to be held responsible for anything and then push safety and security down our throats. thank you, litigation.

so we wear helmets, reflective running jackets, and now we can't eat tomatoes. it just seems a bit obsessive. perhaps i feel this way because i have been living in a place where the options are a) go for a run on the road and risk getting hit by one of the cars that regularly speed by you on narrow roads, potentially rabid dog bites, or twisting an ankle on uneven surfaces or b) stay at home. staying at home gets old after a few weeks.

not that i do not think that any of these precautions are bad ideas. bike helmets keep your skull intact, reflective jackets allow you to have a less worrisome run, and salmonella is no fun (although the chances of dying from salmonella are low and it seems a bit alarmist to pull my favourite vegetable off the shelves after a sort of warning that they might be responsible for a salmonella 'outbreak').

in a way, this is linked to the craze about 'going green' and again, i believe some of the principles behind it, but i struggle with the idea that eating organic is 'going green.' actually, i downright disagree. growing things organically is not better for our environment, but i will save that for another post.

during these running thoughts when i was thinking, 'calgary, what a city of wimps!' it began to pour rain and i was thinking, 'i love running in the rain.' and then it hailed on me. and hail hurts! like lots of tiny bee stings all over your exposed skin, including the sensitive skin of the neck, ouch! i think that is what you call weather karma.

and i hope that weather karma does not rear its ugly head on me next time i try to be healthy, active, and non-wimpy.

raw only - day four

(february 28, 2008)

i am feeling rather cleansed today, but at night i notice an ache in my kidneys, i am hoping that is the ache that comes with the cleansing of the kidney rather than the strain on the kidney.
i also tend to get rather hyper in the late afternoon and i’m sure it is because i am eating a lot of fruit and no starches to absorb that so it goes zap, straight into my veins as pure, short-lived energy.

the nice thing about eating this way is that it makes me think about all the fresh produce i can eat. i must admit that i have not been too adventurous and just stuck with what i know, but i have rediscovered the beauty of the tree tomato and the mango, which i had given up on because it makes you so sticky. today, as i had predicted, i was able to get mangos and bananas right next door to an idp camp, glad to know some fine young entrepreneurs are profiting off the existence of the camp.

but earlier today i had this incredible craving for a pbj. the kind that gets a little warm and mushy because you have been carrying it around for half a day. i could also go for one now too, now that i think about it.

and i am afraid (but not really, because i think this is sort of madness) i will have to cut the 7 days off early as i have a farewell lunch with a friend leaving nairobi and there has been talk of wine. and i cannot say no to wine at a friend’s farewell. it is actually physically impossible, especially if the weather is going to be gorgeous and delightful as it has been in recent midafternoons.

dinner:

raw only - day three

eating only raw food is boring. and takes a lot of chopping and a lot of chewing.

i have noticed that i am tired earlier in the day and i surprisingly only have cravings in the middle of the day when i am at work and usually for coffee and chocolate cake. this chocolate cake thing is getting out of hand!

i can still concentrate fine, i am not moody, and i feel otherwise normal. apart from starving right now, but that is because i am staying at work late in preparations for my upcoming visits to the camps, where i assume i will be able to buy bananas if i am in need of some raw food hunger satisfiers.

raw only – day one

february 25, 2008)

today is the first of 7 days of eating only raw food. don’t ask me why i am doing this because i really have no idea. my flatmate has been doing it for 3 weeks and had a week left to go and had been asking me to join her so i figured i could do it for a week. here is the deal, i can eat anything that has not been cooked or heated, including spices that have been heated in the processing and salt. i have no idea why there is no salt allowed, but i am just going to follow instructions and wait to see what happens. i anticipate a lot of gas happening and not sure what else, but apparently this is supposed to be good for your body and your spirit. we’ll see.

thus far, i have not really noticed anything and this hasn’t been so hard but then again, this is only day one. apart from being so ridiculously tired at 8:30pm, but that could be because i had a busy day and have a busy week ahead of me. but the good kind of busy, the fun kind where i get to do things that actually lead to some measurable results and get me out of the office. and, if all goes well, i will get to go to some of the displacement camps in and around nairobi. i know that i should not necessarily be excited for that, but i am.

bonking sticks

(february 19, 2008)

i was walking to work this morning and passed a masaai man with his bonking stick and his stretched ear lobes and i thought to myself, ‘there are some things i am really going to miss about kenya.’ and then later that morning, i heard gunshots from my office.*

all signs are pointing to me leaving kenya in the next 4ish months. and as plans are solidifying on
The Next Step, i am already thinking about the things that i will miss when i leave this country; here they are in a user-friendly list:

· flip flops in february
· my housekeeper
· having a housekeeper
· being able to afford to have a housekeeper
· eating a brilliant indian dinner out for less than $10
· going to outdoor markets
· filling my entire fridge with fresh produce for pennies
· 10 shilling avocados
· constant availability of fruit like passion and tree tomatoes
· my friendly neighbourhood taxi drivers
· going to parties with people from all over the world
· renting pirated tv shows and movies
· flowers blooming all the time, including frangipani, hydrangea, and hibiscus
· chocolate fudge cake
· fresh cut flowers bought on the roadside
· the tailors
· weekend trips to other african countries
· the women carrying their huge loads on their heads or their backs walking down the street

*the gunshots were from the police who gunned down thugs who had carjacked someone in the ploy to escape the police. because that always works. and this information courtesy of the all knowing friendly neighbourhood taxi driver.

a recipe for A Perfect Weekend

• a nice and long saturday morning walk full of sun and flowering jacarandas
• brunch of huevos rancheros with bacon (for him) and toasted bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon (for her) at a newly discovered restaurant with a lovely garden, impeccable service, and strongly brewed coffee
• replacement of a newly purchased cheapo brand of fridge that was delivered without freon with a brand spanking new shiny white LG at no additional charge
• grocery shopping to fill a new fridge with vegetables and cheese
• a visit to a photography exhibit of one of the refugee camps in kenya
• cold beers on the patio of the Stanley hotel on a hot afternoon with great convo and lots of laughs
• dinner at a friend's house with homemade bruschetta, jokes about kenyan idiosyncracies, and chats about terrorism, immigration, and elections over good red wine
• a sunday morning run to maintain the fitness, harvest the freckles, and try out the routes around the new homestead
• collaborative kitchen efforts to make delicious omelettes and hashbrowns for a leisurely breakfast in the peace of the patio with oj and coffee refills
• pedicures with two lovely ladies while sipping a capuccino that resulted in the reddest toes ever
• sunday evening at the bowling alley with a canadian, a brit, a south african, a kiwi, and an american sipping tuskers while sporting the sexiest velcro shoes and marvelling at the canadian prowess on the lanes
• gooey roast beef and tuna melts in the crisp evening air to round out the best nairobi weekend in a long time

clearing the funk

i am not sure what my problem is today but i have a touch of the funk. it started this morning and has settled in to make me rather unmotivated with a bit of worry on the side. and i had a wonderful worry-free weekend and was feeling a lot more positive than i have recently. runs and sunshine and new paint and evening walks and indian food and repaired hot water heaters and sitting at coffee shops with a new book and good wine and movies will do that to you. let's hope it is just this miserable weather that is responsible for this mood and that an afterwork run and some sunshine will remedy me.

and going home to my kitchen might help... i have been a cooking machine lately. risotto (by candlelight and headlamp because our electricity was on the fritz), vegetable and lentil soup (complements of my new flatmate's repertoir), and vegetarian chile (which was cooked in a huge witch's cauldron and included everything we needed to get rid of in our fridge). our freezer is now stocked and we haven't had to throw out any vegetables.

i am coasting and relaxing and waiting and enjoying these days. apart from this cloud above my head today, i'm confident that some things are sorting themselves out. with an upcoming phone call with my sis and a double capuccino with skim milk and lunch with a new friend and a pilates class and a night of movies and furniture delivery on their way, i trust things will make a turn in the right direction.

i just had a bit of a brainwave... i think this mood is the result of my restless sleep last night which was the fault of the 2 cups of coffee i drank after work. which is a bit ironic considering the night before i had the most amazing sleep and barely even stirred when there was an earthquake (just a 5.2 in tanzania that we felt up here). the moral of the story - no coffee after 5pm for me.

i want a hippopotamus for christmas

i got out of the big stinky city this past weekend and headed to lake naivasha (where lots of the fresh flowers sold in europe are grown) for some hiking, mountain biking, and camping. after the 1 1/2 hour matatu ride out there and the set up of the campsite (and by set-up i mean having someone move a tent for us and me throwing in my sleeping bag to prepare for its maidan voyage), my friend and i rented mountain bikes and headed towards hell's gate national park. my bike was a bit like frankenstein, with mismatched pedals, different gear changer things, and bits of bikes lost since passed. starting a bike ride in the heat of the high noon sun might not have been the best idea but we had to bust a move to make it back before dark.

and what did i learn on this afternoon of mountain biking through a national park and hiking through a gorge?

that cycling through sand is tough. that the gears on my bike actually did change (this was learned AFTER going through all the sand). that when you don't think you need a guide to prevent you from getting lost in a gorge, sometimes you do. that being outside and getting sweaty makes me so happy. and that i hate biking uphill after hiking through gorges.

we made it back to our campsite in time for me to eat a cheeseburger (so that takes care of my red meat intake for another few months), have a cold beer, and some amaretto cheesecake (no chocolate fudge cake for this observer of lent) before heading to bed before 10:00pm. i had a great sleep and was only woken up to the sounds of the hippos coming on to the shore of the lake. they sound sort of like motor boats.

since i had still had only heard and not seen a hippo, we hired a boat for a half hour the following morning to take us out on to the lake so i could see a hippo. we found a family of about 18 of them and they were so cute with their little twitchy ears. but our boat captain made sure we stayed far enough away since hippos (along with buffalo) are as dangerous, if not moreso, than lions. we also saw waterbuck, pelicans, and a bunch of other birds that thankfully did not fly anywhere near my head.

i made it back to town by midday and my flatmate and i took another matatu (my 4th and 5th of the day) to an area not far from my house called kangemi where i spent less than $10 for a fridge full of fresh produce. we had a lot of fun asking all the vendors what to do with the vegetables and normally i don't like more attention being drawn to me because i am a mzungu but this time, we just laughed along with the other people at the market when we asked what to do with half the stuff we were purchasing. my flatmate is an agricultural guru and we both were happy to support local producers and try local vegetables.

my first times

this past weekend was a weekend of firsts for me.

i had my first ‘Jager Bomb’ shot (and then another). i also had my first kenyan hang over and i think that it might be connected to the other ‘firsts’ of the previous night – first ‘Springbok’ shot, first time a drunk brit from the military flailed his arms and spilled my red wine down the front of me, and the first time i have ever personally witnessed someone demonstrating the ‘Studman’ shot (snorting the salt, shooting tequila, and squeezing the lime in your eye) – proof that it can be done.

but the hangover was quickly followed by the first time i have gone second-hand clothes shopping in nairobi and i think i will become addicted to this. imagine Winners, but on the side of the road with bargaining! a lot of the stuff is a bit scruffy looking but there are a lot of familiar british and american labels and stuff that has clearly never been worn. i picked myself up a new Gap wool sweater (nairobi mornings are cool, i can even see my breath), a black Top Shop shirt, and a pair of shoes for wearing out (in the case that i ever decide to attempt a do-over of my friday night, but maybe with fewer shots…). all of this cost me a grand total of approximately $9.

this saturday afternoon, during which i was really only saved from the depths of the multi-drink hang over by a take-away double black kenyan coffee to nurse as i wandered around the market, was followed by my first date in kenya. and come to think of it, also the first date i have ever been on with an irishman. it was quite enjoyable and may just be followed up with my first second date in kenya with an irishman. but we will see.

to wrap up my weekend of firsts, i had a most perfect sunday. i went to the local gym and worked out for the first time since i arrived (well really, the first time in a few months). it felt great to run, to get sweaty and feel as though i’d used my body especially because i had exposed it to some serious abuse with the aforementioned alcoholic consumption. after the gym, which is more like a palace than a place of exercise with showers capable of inducing euphoria and the aroma of tea tree oil wafting out of the change rooms that just lures you in, i went to a fruit and veg market in a nearby community, which looks eerily similar to the slums that Rachel Weisz’ character visits in The Constant Gardener. we loaded up with tomatoes, peppers, garlic, cilantro, apples, oranges, limes, beets, avocados, papaya, guava, watermelon as well as witnessed my first matatu argument, of which i am still unclear as it was all exchanged in kiswahili as we sat patiently in the overcrowded vehicle on the side of the highway.

this weekend of firsts was followed by my first spinning class which i took last night and now i am easing my way into any and all movements as my whole body hurts. all that up out of the saddle, back into the saddle, hovering over the saddle, sweet jesus. but the shower afterwards made it all worthwhile.

if you try sometimes, you get what you need

i am almost there. almost done my dissertation. i re-read parts of it yesterday and started the conclusion and i am pleased with what i have done. but it is now sunday afternoon, i have a touch of the hang over, and i haven't even started working today. let me explain.

yesterday afternoon, a perfectly wonderful autumn saturday afternoon, a friend and i went to the shop to get some tomatoes and milk (the necessities when tomatoes are your favourite vegetable (fruit, whatever) and you love lattes) and that is when i had what i will now refer to as The Sighting. the first time you see an exboyfriend following a break up. now sometimes this happens immediately after the break up and is not so awkward, just tough. but when the last time you saw the person was almost 4 months ago and at that time you were still together, it is incredibly awkward.

so what do i do when he smiles at me? yes, i give the ummmm.......yeah.......sure.......hi smile. it was not a nice one and one i wasn't sure i was even capable of that sends the message of ef off. which is not the message i want to send at all!

and then all those wounds that you have been tending and mending for the past 3 months felt as though they were torn back open. as i was mildly (ok, more like totally) shaken by the entire encounter, i procrastinated my way through the afternoon and then got motivated to work only after i was invited out for drinks by a gentleman suitor. i managed to write half a conclusion and put make up on and do my hair (which once i took out of its permanent bun-like contraption, realised has been neglected and is far Too Long) to which aforementioned suitor remarked, 'you look like a girl.' and i don't even think we can blame this one on language barriers.

a night of drinking and dancing ensued and i had a really great time. no thinking about how foreign aid is disastrous or about The Sighting. red wine, late night pasta, hips don't lie, and lots of laughing. however, now i am doing anything and everything (save for clean and pack) to avoid finishing this conclusion. i kinda don't want it to be done. partly because i have really enjoyed doing it and partly because that means that the next phase of my life has to begin and i have no idea where my next home will be.

i had heard of this "Your Name AND needs" google thing before but did it today and the results were too good not to share. i never thought having the same name as a video game super heroine and a cricketer would be so entertaining on a lazy sunday afternoon.

Lara Needs...

• a hair cut (how did they know?)
• to make the running water around a small barn stop
• to use stealth just as much as she does combat maneuvers and jumps (my favourite)
• new breasts (i kid you not, that actually came up, however, i disagree!)
• a Sussex lift (maybe related to the previous need??)
• him to be happy
• to move boxes from one side of a giant balance to the other (with an impending move, this one seems pertinent)
• 212 runs
• to be praised for her tenacity and courage
• a magnetic grapple
• to interact with her environment to solve a puzzle (another fav)
• the help of some of her friends to accomplish this goal (i don't know what goal, but i couldn't agree more)
• 6MB of hard disk space
• to be stronger
• no lessons on tact or diplomacy from anyone (i could seriously use lessons on tact)
• to go to Chen Lo in China (sounds good to me!)

a proper waste of my time

Four jobs I have had.....
1. Cultural Activity Leader at Mount Royal College
2. Community Resource Worker at DDRC
3. Smiling Happy Employee at The Gap
4. small business owner/operator (sounds fancy when i write it like that)

Four movies I would watch over and over...
1. Love Actually
2. Brokeback Mountain
3. Heat
4. Napoleon Dynamite

Four places I have lived...
1. Mazatlan, Mexico
2. Lancaster, UK
3. Bredasdorp, South Africa
4. Lacombe, Alberta

Four TV shows I love to watch...
1. The National (online, as I am without a tv)
2. ER
3. old episodes of My So-Called Life and Dawson's Creek
4. Jeopardy! (seriously, i couldn't think of anything else because i don't watch tv, but i do like alec)

Four places I have been on vacation...
1. Havana, Cuba
2. Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras
3. Australia, New Zealand, Fiji
4. Italy

Four websites I visit daily...
1. BBC/CBC/Globe and Mail
2. all my email accounts
3. blogs, blogs, and more blogs
4. i check the exchange rate pretty much daily

Favourite foods...
1. sushi
2. vegetables (any kind apart from cooked peas, cream corn, or raw cauliflower and broccoli)
3. anything mexican in mexico
4. auntie joey's milk tart

Four places you would rather be right now...
1. running beside the fields of sheep
2. argentina or guatemala, since i have been researching them both recently
3. ottawa, because i actually love politics that much
4. sharing tea or wine with my ladies in a warm kitchen, there is actually no where else i would rather be than doing this